The daily Alaska citizen., 1920-01-28
REVOLT IS NOT THOT POSSIBLE
 IN PETROGRAD


 HELSINGFORS. Finland. lP)-
 There is no Hklihood of d rising Of the people of Petrograd against the bolsheyih this winter no matter how
 terrible their plight may become, says I. Saponen, prominent art dealer of
 that city who sacrificed a fortune of of 5000,oOO rubles to escape from Russia.
 The belief of starving the popula-
 ton into starting a revolution is
 heresay." he declared. " So far as
 the Russians are concerned. they will
 simply die
 General Yudenitch, without Fin
 lands help. has no chance of taking
 Petrograd for he began his campaign a month too soon. Ii he had waited until Trotzky's men began to feel tho pinch of the cold along with insufl- ceint food. their lowered morale might enable the attack to succeed"
 Aided by the wife of Maxim Gorky
 NJ Saponen contrived, by lavish brib- cry of the bolsheviki, to leave Petro- grad He arrived at Helsingfors a month ago. To a representative of the Associated Press he related the first time for publication his remark able experiences from arrest in June while serving as a representative of the Finnish government in negotiat- ing for the exchange of war prisoners. NJ. Saronen Is native of Finland. who has resided in Petrograd for the last ten years.
 "Untn March" he said we foreign CTS were never molested l had been representing the Danish Red Cross until took up the exchange of pris- o0crs on March il
 "After securing a written guarantee signed by Schlovsky, the Petrograd commandant and TeChtcherin (com- missioner of foreign affairs) that my life nd property would be safe, I was allowed 10 roturn to Finland Never theless from April g until May II l was kept in detention in my own house and was formally arrested on June ? I was then taken to Moscow thrown into a military camp and treated worse than a dog simply be cause I was a Finn I was kept in prison until August when Schloysky ordered me to be released.
 "The contents of my Petrograd house consisting of works of art jewels valued by Russian experts at 100000 rubles are undoubtedly carried off and I have no hope of seeing them again"
 Commenting on the conditions in Russia, M. Saponen said:
 "The allies blockade Is destroying White Russia for the bolsheviki na- turally feed their own followers first and there is little left for the gov ernments enemies who are perishing
 "I wish to reiterate that there is no possibility of a counter revolt for the Russian peasants are incapable of acting without strong leaders. It was the Germans and not the people who brot about the revolution which overthrow the emperor and later Ker- ensky Before the revolution people could obtain two or three pounds of bread Afterwards they were only allowed one-eighth oI pound, but they were too terrorized to protest
 There are only three to five per cent real believers in bolshevism ill Russia, and they, by using drastic measures, are able to swing the great masses over to their side"
 M. Saponen said that the central government, despite the control of the army, exercised little power over the local soyiets but the bolshevill1 have done considerable construction work principally in the establishment of trade schools. Eager to educate the masses they have opened mum erous new kindergartens and the state takes care of the children until they reach fourteen years of age.
 He criticised the allies military aid to the White Russians as ineffective by saying that the allies do not send supplies regularly and in sufficient quantities.
 The Finnish troops could them selves capture Petrograd as the boI- sheviki fear them above all others. As a result of the bolsheviki propa- ganda during the war bolsheyik officer announced that he would rath- CT fight the devil himself than the Films who never know they are defeated. Seventy-five per cent of the task of conquering the bol- sheviki would be accomplished with