Evening star., 1933-02-05

and fed, leaving four field guns, hun
|. dreds Of rifles and other booty.
But Soviet authorities realized their
initial mistake and concentrated a
whole army near Tikhoretzkaya. For II
days an unusually cruel and bloody bat
tie ragged. Heavy artillery and tanks
were sent into action by the Reds.
Yet, in spite of the lack of ammunition.
the rebels beat off all attacks for five
days and inflicted great losses upon the
Reds.
Then the rebel forces began to re-
treat: And it was only on the thir-
teenth day that their ranks broke.
The number Of killed and wounded,
concludes the consular agent who was
quoted by VoNozhdeniye, could not be
established, but all of the territory
around Tikhoretzkaya was strewn with
dead bodies; the Reds were ordered not
to take prisoners, and the surrendering
Cossacks were shot on the spot"
Finally, We learned only recently the
sequel Of that story. In the middle OF
January. cable dispatches from Moscow
authorized by the strict Soviet censor
ship announced that $4,000 Kuban
Cossacks, men. women and children
alike. were being banished from their
homes in the Caucasus to the freezing,
desolate lumber camps in Northern
Russia and Siberia. Several entire vii
lagos were pulled up by their roots and
loyal Soviet settlers" were sent to re-
populate them
The official charge against the ban
ished villagers, as it is announced, is
failure to cooperate with the govern
ment In increasing the agricultural
production" Yet does not the bar
barous cruelty Of this measure indicate
that perhaps the residents of this dis
trict are being punished for the up
rising, the story of which we just have
told? These dispatches announced
too, that "kulak bands" caught in the
forests of the Kuban-and apparently
these are the last remnants of the de-
feated rebel army-are being tried by q
Soviet court in Rostov.
What is the cause Of these, at the
first sight dissimilar symptoms of re-
bellion within the Communist party
and in the population? The answer
Is what the foreign correspondents sta
scribe as food shortage" or grave
difficulties with food" and which per-
haps it would be more accurate to
designate as famine
The brilliant victory Of the farm
collectivization movement" which the
Soviets have celebrated with such
triumph, has proved to be heavy de-
feat of RUssia's agriculture Trans
formed Into a government agricuk
tural employe," or, rather. into the
governments agriculture serf whose
grain is taken away from him by the
state, the peasant has lost incentive to
work, and, indeed. frequently has ceased
to work. The crops of 1881 already
were insufficient to satisfy the country's
needs; yet in 1882 the crops were 20
or Is per cent below those of 1891. Dur
ing these last months Russia has been
living on the verge Of starvation, and
large percentage of her people, both
In cities and rural areas, have been
actually suffering from undernourish-
ment.
The recent flight of 100000 i'm
poverished. tattered peasants from the
Ukraine and other regions where food
conditions are the worst to the north;
the mass migration of city workmen
from one industrial area to another,
which clogs the railroads, hopelessly
disorganizes the industrial production
and exasperates the Soviets, and finally,
the recent decision of the Soviet gov
eminent to Tighten up" the large
cities by deporting hundreds of thou
tion to less crowded areas-all these
typical facts, which have unsettled the
Russian masses and which have trans
formed the "Socialistic realm" into q
strange nomadic country, are due to the
driving power of hunger or to fear Of
imminent hunger.
As for the leading Communists in
Moscow, many of them at heart disap-
prove of Stalin's policies, and when a
moment like the present comes. when
they feel that they might find support
in the Communist ranks, stirring and
plotting begin. It is for this reason
that serious dissensions in the party
always have coincided with periods Of
great economic stress.
So far Stain, with his secret police
and effective espionage organization,
always has triumphed. This time,
however, he seems to have come to the
conclusion that the situation Is more
serious. Alongside of the ruthless
struggle against all treason" in the
Communist party, he, at the recent
session Of the Central Committee in
Moscow, promised reforms - although
rather vague ones-to peasants. VIII
these reforms actually materialiZe, and
If they do, will they be sufhcient to
end the seriousness Of the present crisis?
These are the things that remain to be
seen