The Washington times., 1922-03-28

EVEN SEED
I AXE EN.bY.
RED CHIEFS.
CONTINUED from First oage)

(COntlnueO from FlrSt Edge.D
proper time, and freely, at least GER
tain areas would have been in q
position to help lessen the famine
on the Volga.
The punitive expeditions. follow
ing upon a villages resistance to the
Governments food collectors and
always in charge of Communists,
would attack the place by force of
arms and often literally destroy 1t
In vain the peasants protested to
their local authorities and finally to
Moscow. No redress was to be
found. A significant ancedote is
current in Russia which throws
light upon the peasants view OF the
Bolshevik method Of food "collec-
uon."
A peasant committee is received
by Lenin. "Well. dedushka, little
grandfather" says Lenin to the old.
est peasant, you should be satisfied
now; you have the land, the cattle.
the fowls: you have everything"
Protest at Seigures.
Yes, God be blessed" replies the
peasant, yes, little father. the lanc
Is mine, but you get the bread; the
cow Is mine, but yours the milk; the
chicken mine, but yours the eggs.
The Lord be blessed, little father"
The peasants. thus robbed and
duped, turned against the Com
munists. The Razvyorstka, the puni-
tive expeditions, the brutal methods
and injustices, resulted in produc.
ing q strong counter-revolutionar
feeling in the country. Some writers
on Russia have taken the govern
ment Interpretation Of the antagon-
ism Of the peasants.
Thus, Bertrand Russell by far the
most sincere and honest critic OF
Russia, states in THE Practice and
Theory of Bolshevism': 1T must be
said that the peasants reasons Tor
Cisliking the Bolsheviki are very in
adequate" 1t is evident that Mr..
Russell did not see the effects of the
Razvyorstka, or he would have re-
ceived a different impression.
The truth is, If the Russian peas
ant were not so phlegmatic and
passive the Bolshevik state would
not have endured so long. AS it Is.
their passive resistance has come
near terminating the Bolshevik
regime. This realization II was-not
the fact that the Razvyorstka was
inhuman and counter-revolutionar
which forced Lenin to his new
policy of taxation and free trade.
Cooperation Influential.
The co-operatives Of Russia repre-
sented a great economic and cultural
force in the life of the people. In
1918 they covered the country with
q chain of $4,000 branches, with q
membership Of 100000. Their In
vested capital at that time amount
ed to 15,O0O.00O rubles. while the
business transacted the previous
year exceeded zoe, 100000. OF course,
the co-operatives were not reVolu-
tionary organizations, but they were
an Indispensable medium between
the country and the city.
Whatever counter revolutionary
elements there were in the co-opera-
tives were or top and could have
been eliminated without destroying
the entire organization. But to per-
NIT the co-oItratives to function
would have meant the lessening OF
the centralized power OF the state.
Hence, the co-operatives had to be
''liquidated." and a great factor for
tie reconstruction of Russia was ut
terly destroyed.
Now. after the co-operatives are no
more, and the men and women that
have done such splendid work in that
movement have wasted their lives in
Rolshevik prisons, Lenin again says,
"Mea culpa." The co-operatives are
now to be re-established, the corpse
II to be revived. Shortly before the
co.cperatiy.s were again legalized.
Peter Kropotkin-then on his death.
bed-expressed the wish that the six
Dmitroff co-operators should be re-
leased. He had known them init.
mately us earnest and devoted
workers.
Recovery Doubtful.
They had then already spent eight
cen months in the Boutirka. the
Moscow prison. because Of their 10y
sltN to their work. They were re-
leased only after Lenin had declared
that the co-operatives must be resur-
rected. II is hardly probable that the
CO operatives will ever attain to their
former strength and Importance
within the Bolshevik state.
To call present Russia Soviet Rus
sia or the Bc.shevist regime a Soviet
government is preposterous. The
Soviets had Ineir inception in the
revolution of 1905, and again came
into being af.er the February revo-
luton. They have about as much re-
lation to thu Bolshevik government
as the early Christians had to the
Christian Church.
The Sovtets Of peasants; workers,
soldiers and sailors were the spon-
taneous expression of the liberated
energies of the Russian people. They
represtned the needs of the masses
made articulGte after centuries of
silence. Already in May. June and
July OF 1917 the dynamic force OF the
Soyiets urged the workers to seize
the factories and the peasants to
take the lane.
The Soviets spread with great ra-
pidity over Russia, famed the flames
of the Octoner revolution and con-
tinued to function for many months
after that event. Some social poll
ticians faile1 to grasp their signifi-
canoe. The latter simply swept over
them. The same would have happen