The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1921-01-13
communism
IN RUSSIA IS
ROBBER|SM'
Says American Socialists Back
from Russia.
STARVATION AND DEATH
Have Been Chief Fruits Of Lenlne and
eTrotzky Experiments in
Government.

Berlin, Jan. 11.--"Communism in
Russia is roDberism! It tolerates i'm.
prisonment, persecution and execu.
IN thoUt tr al; II has brought
Russia starvation, disease and death.
lneie ID no Government. II ia a
worse autocracy than the Czanstic
Government. and / lived there for
over twenty years under the Gear and
had the experiences necessary to
make comparisons"
Mr. Schwartz, an American Social
ist Of San Francisco, who was recent
ly released from four months i'm.
prisonment IN Soviet prisons in Mos.
COW, maze this declaration today.
With his wife, known for twenty
years in America as Socialist work
er under the names OF Jessie NJ.
Mole, he went to Russia last June
and attended the second congress Of
the Third Internal onale
The couple were thrown into pris-
on August 6 because they failed to
express approval OF conditions IN
Russia. They were released on De.
cember g. after Mrs. Schwartz went
on hunger strike and had sent to
Lenine, Trotzky and Thitcherln Motif.
cation that she preferred TO have her
death advertised TO the working
classes OF Amer ca rather than suffer
further hardships al the hands of the
Beashevists, whom she had believed
to be exponents of justice to the work
ers until she arrived in Russia.
Mrs. Schwartz died at Reval on De.
cember 20 from tho effects OF her long
solitary confinement and hunger In
Soviet prisons. and her husband liz re-
turning to America alone to give even
worse pictures Of conditions in Russia
than many Of the Italian, British and
German delegates to the congress of
the Third Internat.onaie have paint
ed.
The Communist leaders IN Russia
\ have XII led my wife" said S,hwartz,
"and am going TO America to tell
the working people there the truth
about the ScTiet Government, which
| formerly sympathized with thorough
/ " and supported on the platform
from New York to San Francisco.
II want to tell them what that sec.
ond congress of the Third Internal on.
ale was II was only Zinovieff Buk-
haria, Lenin and Trctzky 1t was all
cut and dried. The members were
told what action to take; they did not
dare do otherwise
Before their Imprisonment Sch.
wartz and his wife travelled through
fourteen Governments. They Wis ted
Samara, Tomboy, Nizhni-Novgorod,
Tula, Kazan and many other import.
ant centers Schwartz. who is a
member OF the American Federation
of Labor. was sent to Russia by Otto
Branstetter, executive secretary Of
the Socialist party of America, to
make a thorough investigation, as he
spoke the Russian language and knew
The pre-war condition.
Describing the cary part Of his
visit, he said. Everywhere We went
we were met by brass bands and
crowds waving red flags shouting for
the Soviet Government, but we
weren't fooled. From the moment
we landed In Petrograd we saw misery
lelap dation and squalor there. We
suspected that something was vitality
WIZ ng, which could not be explained
merely by revolution.
81 instantly began talking to per
sons OF al classes, and broke ava!
from our Bolshevist conductors, VIII,
we're showing us emily what they wan
ed us to see. | soon found that tn,
shouting crowds had to shout or thei
food ration would be reduced or en-
= brely taken away. can truthful,
say that | never talked with a singl,
! person, outside of officials, who haC
4 coed word to say for the Soyie
. Government"