Evening star., 1921-12-23
1%1AHARD YEAR
FOR SOVIET RUSSIA
Monopoly Of Trading Aban-
doned as Communistic
Ideals Are Crushed.
BY the Associated Prass

By the Associated Press.
| MOSCOW. November 30.-Nineteen
hundred and twenty-one has been a
year of diplomatic and economic
battling for soviet Russia. 1t brought
the abandonment of the government
| monopoly of domestic trading and
gradual reversion to capitalistic
| methods, tempered in such way as to
prevent dangerous splits in the small
communistic group which dominates
| the government. But the trade for
1921 has been many times what it
shops on the old capitalistic basis
has afforded an opportunity to sell
in legal way manufactured articles,
which are in great demand.
Hampered by the triple desire to
establish trade relations with i'm
the third internationale, whose head
quarters are in Russia, and to hold
! the communistic party in Russia In
! tact, Lenin and his associates were
| in a precarious situation, even be-
i fore the drought produced wide
F.! spread famine in the Volga area.
Large Supplies Unbound.
Krassin managed to negotiate
| trade agreements with England, Ger
many and several minor powers, but
| the foreign trade commissions which
came to Russia failed to find the
| large supplies which the bOlshevist
| leaders had heralded throughout the
! world. The concession plan which
| vised did not appeal to foreign in
vestors. Confidence was lacking.
Old owners had no desire to invest
| more money in factories which had
been taken away from them and
! other foreigners could not be induced
| to take factories whose titles were
| clouded.
! The bolshevist government lacked
! the gold necessary to buy abroad and
could not find creditors. The govern
ment announced it would make i'm
port and export business possible Tor
government control. This belated
statement came in October. Commits
sions are working out customs tariffs
and 1922 probably will see far
larger export and import trade If the
government makes good it's promise
to release its grip on foreign busi-
ness.
Cheka Held Handicap.
Leslie Urquhart. British mining
man. who attempted to obtain con-
cessions to work the mining proper
! ties which he controlled in Russia
| before the bolshevist regime, said 1t
would be impossible for him to oper-
ate in Russia until the government
stops the activities of the Cheka, or
secret service, which he insists Is
| stronger than the central govern
ment with which concessions are ne
gotiated.
The Cheka always has had an i'm
! portant part in directing foreign
trade arrangements. Many commits
| sioners selected by the foreign trade
council have not been permitted to
! leave Russia Foreigners are unable
| to understand the relations between
the Cheka, which operates under
Umslicht. and the so-called central
government. 1t is not clear whether
| there is a dual government. OF
whether the men who are generally
| recognized as heads of the govern
ment use the Cheka and thus avoid
| direct blame for acts which meet with
public disapproval.
Exports 100000 Tons.
| OMcial figures for the foreign trade
OF Russia during the first nine
months Of this year show that the
exports totaled roughly 100000 tons.
These exports were chiefly raw ma
terials or partly manufactured ar
| ticles, such as timber. railway ties
leather. further. bristles. hair. asbes-
| tos and graphite. Thirty-three per
Forty-six per cent, chiefly wood and
| fax, went to Letvia for expectation
to various countries. The value OF
| goods exported abroad from January
| / until August 81 was about $1,140,-
| nn0