The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1920-04-10

CINE their polished statements would
not hive n~ought him near the truth
and would not have satisfied hm---hc
/ went to the victims OF that regime
and the STORIES OF their lives, their
pitiful revelations were laid at the
foundation of George Remnants two
volumes on siberia and the Exile
System" which thrilled the world and
which will forever remain remark
able contribution to the English lit
erature on Russia
Some of the modem American
journalists prefer to act in another
an easier-way. In investigate con-
ditions in Russia under the Bolshevist
regime. they apply first Of all to Boil
sneFist commissaries and, what is still
worse, very often accept their state
ments as the full truth in the tragic
Russian situation. TO quote only one
instance, we will mention the recent
correspondence by Lincoln Eyre on
the Bolshevist terror in Russia
printed in the New York World OF
March %, 1920.
- ~r@"avor to. establish the
truth about the Bolshevist terror in
ferrous Botshevist commissary, Peters,
who. as Mr., Eyre states in the article,
is known in Russia as peters the
Killer. At the very beginning of the
Striking interview Peters the Killer
asks Mr.. Eyre: Are YOU going to the
opera toniEht7 Shaliapin is singing.
YOU know and SO the correspondent
and the Killer eniov the onera to-
gether Mr.. Eyre finds out, in gen.
erai. that the Killer is not bad fell
low after all, and remarks that lin
his homelike room in the first Soviet
house, formerly hotel NATIONAL
quite proper residence for a pro
ietarian' dictator---"books, mostly
poetry. were all over the place"
Peters the Killer supplied Mr.. Eyre
with the information that the total
number of persons executed by the
! Bolsheviki from November. 1918, to
November. 1919. was 4,444 The
Killer also gave the information that
now the victorious Bolsheviki have
abolished capital punishment. and
added: The stronger we grow the
weaker grows the terror am
glad Il is over
If instead of visiting and chatting
with Peters the Killer. Mr. Eyre had
visited Some CT the relatives - tho
unfortunate victims OF the Poi ,hev,s.
terror in Russia he would hav- been
abe to send 20 the New YORK World
n very much more distressing, but. at
the same time. more Illuminating
story OF the Bolshevist treatm ent OF
their political adversaries IF he did
not desire to associate himself with
ter-revolutionists he could have
visited. for instance. the leader of the
so-called Observation-Disclosures
J.. Martov. who UP to the moment OF
the Rolsheyist revolt, in November
1917, shared many of the Bolshevist
views, L. Martov, we are certain
would not have refused to supply Mr.
Eyre with a copy of his pamphlet
written in August. 1918. !. e.. before
the official date of the beginning Of
the Bolshevist terror. Even in this
pamphlet l. Mar,ov speaks Of tens
OF thousands Of men assassinated by
the Bolsheviki without trial" and one
can easily imagine what n height the
hecatombs reached in Russia during
the fifteen months OF the reign OF the
official Bolshevist terror Peters
the Killer, the lover OF books poetry
and music, speaks gliblv of the muir
ders committed by the Bolsheviki II
is OF interest to listen to what l. Mar
TOW has to say on the same subject
Says L. Martov.
From the very first day OF their
coming into power and proclaiming
the abolition of the death penalty the
Bolshcviki began to kill They killed
prisoners captured in the battles OF the
civil war. They killed enemies who
their lives would be spared, SO it was
in Moscow, during the November days
t1917), where the Rolshevik. Smido-
witch certified by his signature that
, the lives of the military cadets would
he spared ii they surrendered. and
then allowed the surrendered men 10
be killed one by one So il was In
Mohilev, where General Dukhonin sur
rendered to Kryienko: and torn to
pieces in the iatters presence by muir
derers whose crime was never pun
ished. SO 1t was In Kiev, Rostov and
many other towns taken by the Boil
shevist troops. SO 1t was in Sebasto-
mol. Simferopol. Yalta. Evpatoria
Theodosia, where bands OF murderers
had lists of possible ''counter-revolu'
! tionaries'' and killed them without
trial. including women and little chill
/ dreh.
These wholesale murders, crga niZed
at the inatieation OF the Bolsheviki,
were followed by murders directly or
dered by the Rolshevist government.
Human life became cheap-cheaper
than the scrap OF paper on which the
order for its destruction was written.
1t was cheaper than the increased
bread ration for which the hired muir
derer was prepared to kin his fellow
| creature al the order of any sceundrel
who managed to seize power
| Having assassinated tens OF thou
sands OF men without trial. the Boil
sheviki started their executions by
vcrdicts Of their courts. +" The party
| of executioners-the Bolshevist party
! is just as much an enemy OF the
! people as the party OF pogroms."
So much for tho Bolshevist terror in
/ Russia Mr.. Eyre is an able CORE
spondent and from time TO time his
! articles contain data of great interest
and value. But this is only when he
! investigates a question upon his own
responsibility, without limiting him
! self TO Bolshevist statements in which
! 8 per cent OF truth is usually mixed
with 81 per cent of deceit and propa =
panda. In the correspondence printed
! in the New York World of March FL
! 1920, Mr. Eyre reports about the edu-
| caticnal system in Bolshevist Russia
4 And AGAIN the report is insufficient and
! misleading. being built almost entirely
4 on the interview with the Bolshevist
! comm issarv. IunacharskY. The main
Z point in this renort is that the system
I of education--that is. the number Of
schools--is expanding in Rolshevist
/ Russia Mr.. Eyre forgets to add that
! the number of schools was continu-
! ously growing in Russia even under
| tho czar's regime Not long before the