Evening star., 1937-12-26
BY ALEXANDRA BARMINE.


BY ALEXANDRA BARMnNE.
By Radio to The Star.
PARIS, Dec. Is (by N.A.N.A).-
Among those who were executed In
Moscow last week along with Leo M.
Karakhan and Avel Yenukidze were
Boris Sheboldayev and vitality Larin,
both members of the Central Control
Committee of the Communist party.
Their names do not have much sig
nificance outside Russia and even out
side the region of the Caucasus, where
they rule, one as secretary of the party
and the other as president of the
Soviet But these two men were ex-
tremely well known there and per-
haps their execution at this time has
more significance than those of 9TH
ers more famous in the outside world.
For they show the trend of Stalin's
policy. They indicate where all that
has been happening is leading.
During the last few months many
party secretaries and Soviet presi-
dents have been removed from power,
but 1t was these two who were chosen
first for execution. Why?
Doctors Son.
Sheboldayev was a doctors son, AZ
years old. In 1914, he was already a
member of the Bolshevik party and
during the civil war in Caucasia was
severely wounded. Later, in 1882,
when he held an official position, he
showed determined energy in sup
pressing counter-revolutionary move
ments among the Stanitsy Cossacks
who were opposed to collectivization.
He was hated locally because he car
ried out energetically. perhaps excess
sively, orders and policy dictated By
Moscow. That policy was then Sta
Inns, or, If it wasn't his personal pol
icy, was one which he at the time
sought to impose.
Sheboldayev hadn't changed. He
was the man who deported whole viii
lagos of rich Cossacks to Siberia. where
they were forced to work building
railroads and canals. But the ground
on which he stood when he did these
things had shifted under his feet.
These Cossacks whom he deported are
being liberated; they are returning,
and lie has been executed as kind
Of peace offering to them on their re-
turn. Stain couldn't have chosen a
better method of showing that he has
completely changed his policy and
that he has cut away fundamentally
from his Communist past.
Larin was Sheboldayev's second. He,
too. has paid the penalty of Stain S
change of mind. and it is now clear. if
1t wasn't clear before. that henceforth
the dictator of Moscow is going to base
his power on the rich farming class on
what is called the millionaire Kolkhas
in the most productive districts, to the
detriment most probably of the work
ers in the cities. 1t would seem as if
the circle has been completed and that
Russia is back again in the time of the
Czars with its Cossack guard.
Contented Person.
1t is already the peasant. with his
share in collective farm and with his
two acres and stock which he can ex-
plot on his own account, who by far is
the most contented person in the rich
agricultural districts. at least, of the
Soviet Union. He gets share in prd-
uce and cash from the collective
farm after sale of the harvest to the
state. Often enough he can sell in the
open market a large part of his share
in the produce of the collective farm,
and prices are kept high. for the prod
use OF the state farms, which are
sold in state shops, are also high.
Butter costs IA to Is rubles per kilo-
gram. At the same time the peasant
has also for himself and for sale his
vegetables and produce from his two
acres of private ground on which he
can keep pig, COW and chickens.
During the recent election the Sec
retary of the Moscow party, seeking to
vaunt the prosperity of the people un-
der Stalin's reign, gave figures showing
how, despite the revolution, the peas
ant received Is to 20 pouds of wheat,
13 to is pouds of oats and 80 to 100
pouds Of potatoes. This wheat supply
lasted only until Christmas. In the
same villages now, on the average, a
Kolkhosian receives 240 pouds of
wheat, 1900 pouds of potatoes, 470
pouds OF vegetables. 200 pouds of beet
root and $3.50 rubles of money as his
share of the collective farm, without
counting the profit from his private
ground.
That's all very satisfactory in so far
as the farmer goes, and there is no
doubt that the agricultural policy of
tho government during the last few
years has been entirely satisfactory.
Both production and stocks have in
creased greatly. What hasn't hap
pened Is that prices have not come
down. 1t was planned that, as food
production and profit increased, prices
should be lowered so as to limit the
accumulation of wealth by the peas
ants and avoid creating disparity be-
tween the situation of the peasants
and that of the working classes in in
dustry.
Two years ago, Premier Vyacheslav
Molotov in an interview declared that
within these two years the cost of
living would be lowered so per cent.
But that hasn't happened. Times
have changed and government policy
also.
WORKER Conditions Not Improved.
While the situation of the peasant
has improved according to Russian
standards, there has been no i'm
provement in the condition of in
dustrial workers. In the light in
dustries, salaries which will be paid
next year according to the State
plan-and although the fiction is
maintained that workers share in the
benefits of their industry, they in
reality receive salaries-amount to
1888 rubles per year. In the heavy
industries, the average wage will be
3.7O0, which means that unskilled
workers. who form the mass, will re-
ceive less. These figures cannot be
translated into dollars. They can
only be understood in terms of the