New Britain herald., 1922-10-07
COLONY RENT WITH
 MANY DISSENSI0NS.
Difficulties in Starting of the "KiZbaZ Autonomous Commune"

Ekaterinburg, Russia, Oct. 7.--Dif- Nculties and dissensons have char acterized the starting of the "Kuzbaz Autonomous Commune" the Ameri- can and hyphenated American colony beyond the Urals, according to mem- bers of the community who have made their way back to this city. | Hundreds of men from the United States went to the colony to work in the mines which, 1t is safd. the Soviet | government allotted to William E.
 Haywood. the American l. w. w.
 leader, and a number of Russian and | American associates. Now some of them are beginning to come out, and | they bring tales Of the turmoil which l they say obtains at the two towns | where coloniss have settled.
 Both at Kamerovo, where the coal | fields are located, and at Nadajenski. where are the steel works, there is nothing but confusion. say the men who have quit. Some hitch has de- veloped as to the concession, they de- clare, as q result of which the prom tsed activity in production has been turned into wrangling and jealouAas.
 The leaders of the Kuzbaz colony are striving to hold their men togeth- CT, and say they hope for actual pro- duction this winter. But, according to those who have succeeded in leav- ing the colony, most of the remain ing members would be glad to get away and back to the United States if they had chance to do so. Many of them, however, are without money. .. According to one recent arrival here, the first group. composed of 30 persons. left the United States In March Another of 7S persons left in April, and three other groups, to- talling in all about 800 men, women and children, had arrived up to Sep tember 1. Some Of these were sent to Nadajenski. others to Kamerovo
 One member of a group which left New York May 13 on the s. S. Rot terdam said the trip was continual row from the Statue of Liberty to the Urals. The practical engineers and mechanics. who came largely for the adventure and possible fortune of the thing, found their companions most ly radicals, more interested in argu- ments on politics than in real work.
 The whole trip was nothing but one dispute after another" this man continued. Meetings were held every day. but what they amounted to no one knew. When the crowd finally reached Petrograd, every one was criticizing the other Haywood spoke to us at Petrograd, after the Red Army had welcomed us and the first thing he wanted to know was If we had brought along any money.
 We left Petrograd for Kamerovo and Nadajenski in box cars, women and children and all. Mir. Doy1 a practical engineer from Texas, was supposed to be in charge of the Nad- ajenski group, but the theorists blacklsted him, and the whole trip on the train was one squabble after another.
 When we reached this city we were divided into two groups, one of 25 going to Nadajenski, the other to kamerovo. At Nadajenski we were met by the engineer in charge. Will liam Won Hoffer, formerly of Gary, Indiana. We soon found that every thing in Nadajenski needed repairs. We cleaned up some houses and | moved in. Our diet consisted of bar ley and beans.
 Won Hoffer forbade meetings, our mail was censored, and we lived con- tinualy in an atmosphere of forced | confinement. Nothing was being ac- complished at the plant. for the Americans had not yet the right to work there. The Russian workers and engineers showed their disapprov- al of the American colony by contin- ual sabotage. |.
 Men wanted to quit but could not because they had put all their money into Kuzbaz. Sixty-f1ve per cent of the colonsts want to return to the 1 United States. It is the same at ! Kamerovo. Nothing is being done l There is not a concession. People are forced to live under the worst | conditions, and will be compelled to remain until such time as a conces- sion actually is granted. This may come after October 1.
 "As for me, I sold all my clothes , and am beating my way to Moscow Kuzbaz looked like a beautiful dream, but is a nightmare"
 Those who are sticking 1t out at | the colony look upon those who have gone away as auitters. They admit 1 difficulties, but say everything will ,-lk L..