The Washington herald., 1921-03-27
CLAIMS AMERICA
ANDBRITAIN NEAR
BOLSHEVlST RULE
Head of Bulgarian Soviet
Sees Rosy Future for
Communism.
Especial Gable to The washinrtsn Herald
End Chicago rribuns.)
BY LARRY RUE.


SOFIA, March 2e. - The United
States and Great Britain are closer
to communism than Bulgaria They
are industrially far advanced in
comparison with the latter. Com
munism is impossible in an indus
trially undeveloped country. Amer
lea is on the verge"
The speaker was Vassil Kolsrof,
secretary of the Bulgarian Commu-
mist party. which claims paid
membership of $4,000. II polled a
NTH of the entire vote at the last
election. Mr.. kolaroff is a polite,
mild hammered man of medium
build. He has blue eyes, a light
brown Vandyke beard. He wore
Prince Albert. He reminded me
Of an American economic professor.
His home is comfortably furnished
and he evinces a love for home life.
which might be regarded as incon-
sistent with his theories. -
Hopes Bright.
II don't mean by this" he con-
tinued. that we are further from a
Soviet form of government than you
are. We hope TO establish a Soviet
republic here soon, although condi-
tions are unfavorable now In Bull
garia for q revolution"
He criticized in an almost imper-
sonal manner the measures adopted
by the government to suppress Boil
shevism. Ny comment was that the
Bulgarian government at least was
much more liberal in permitting
freedom Of speech and press than
Soviet Russia ever was. He said
conditions were different. Soviet
Russia being either at war or on
the verge of war had. he argued. to
protect itself from being internally
overthrown.
1T has been difficult for US now
to communicate with Moscow. The
government here has prohibited any
liaison." he complained. We hear
right along from our Russian COM
rades through Germany or Vienna.
That is a roundabout way and rather
awkward.
Wide PropaEands.
In Bulgaria our propaganda is
far more extensive than that OF all
the other parties put together. We
run twenty newspapers and issue
numerous books and pamphlets.
Our daily organ has a paid SUBJ
scription of 10000. The agrarian
paper. issued three times weekly,
has only $1,000 subscribers. the pro-
gressive paper. $4,000: the demo-
cratic organ, 5000. and organs Of
other parties. 5000. Effectiveness
of our propaganda has been dimin-
ished by censorship. Besides refus-
ing to let US hold public meetings.
the government seeks to deprive US
Of clubrooms.
Economically, conditions are un-
favorable for a revolution in Bull
CARA. An attempt by the govern
ment to get the people to go to
war would help us. II we could
count on a large manufacturing
center in Bulgaria our appeal to
the working classes would be more
effective than now because most OF
the people are working on their
own land.
Despite this. our organization
grows stronger daily. We are al
ready operating cooperative stores.
We buy merchandise from Italy and
Germany. More than 10000 people
have a voice in the operation OF
these stores. There is no proft."
Kolaroff does not believe the Reds
will start an offensive on the Bes-
sarahian front. So far. he said, the
Bolsheviks have fought onlv in self
defense or to retake former Russian
territory.
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