Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-08-16
RUM0RS OF PURGE
FILLING MOSCOW
Tension Is Most Apparent
Among Government
Officials.
BY RICHARD MASSOCK.

lhbrSh supposed NINIililo vi W.
be of the purge which is rubbing out
enemies of the Soviet regime.
He hears it whispered for instance,
that an admiral of high rank is be-
lieved to be on the skids.
He hears that 1000 officers of the
Red army are under arrest that So
andso. who was dinner guest few
weeks ago, has disappeared, that new,
sensational trials may be expected
soon.
Such rumors may have no founda-
ton. They may only be the Pigment
Of nervous preoccupation with the
hunting down of enemies of the
people" which is in full cry. Their
confirmation comes, if, ever, not from
officials, but more likely from some
announcement of shake-up in the
Soviet hierarchy or some denuncia-
ton in the newspapers
Tension Shown in Government
The tension is most apparent in
government offices, where the higher
a mans post the better target he Of
fers to the critics and enemy hunters
IN the administration. 1t has become
virtually impossible to obtain official
comment on any subject, even though
it be non-political If the censor
passes an unofficial report, that is
considered a sign of its accuracy.
Outside official circles there is less
OF tension and nervousness. The
tourist, who finds army officers dane
ing in the crowded restaurant of the
Metropole or having their hands man
toured in the hotels institute of
beauty, is unlikely to detect worry in
their faces
Foreigners complain they are closely
watched, but the surveillance is not
obvious. except when they must show
their credentials to the guards of the
N. x. V. D., formerly the Gaypayoo,
at office doors Even the line of Wis
itors to Lenin's tomb is Red Square
Is closely watched
Customers Crowd Stores.
The department stores are crowded
with jostllng customers, the street
cars are packed to the steps with pas
sengers who find them preferable or
more convenient than the new SUBJ
way, and people go about their busi-
ness IN the street with seeming uncon-
Germ.
Yet I saw an old woman twice make
the sign of the cross Immediately after
passing an N. K. V. D. guard who was
on duty outside foreign legation
which might or might not have been
significant.
1t is difficult to obtain the rea elton
Of the Russian in the street to the
purge and the streets are full of Rus
slams. Contacts between them and
foreigners, long rare under the Soviet
regime, now have been almost COM
pletely severed
The foreigner is told that no Rus
sian dentist will treat him, so that
even diplomats must go to Helsingfors
for tooth pullings. Foreigners who
were studying the Russian language
say their teachers stopped coming to
the lessons several weeks ago The
dentists, teachers and others are hold
ing aloof from contact with anybody
whose foreign nationality might bring
the spy chasers to the door.
The newspapers remain virtually
the only source of learning what goes
on behind the Russians stolid face,
They indicate the drive against spies,
wreckers and enemies of the people"
has had profound effect
The purge now is reaching the
smaller fry in the provinces Hun
dreds of comparatively little men have
been arrested.
lzvestla, the government newspa per,
and Pravda, the Communist party
mouthplece, uncover case after case of
Trotsky-Bukharin. Japanese German
spies, Ureckers, diversionists and trait
ors." Three words almost always ap-
pear ogether-"spies, Wreckers, diver
sionists."
Spies" appears to apply not only to
foreign shoppers, but to supposed
agents of Leon Trotsky, exiled ultra
Communist. Diversionists have been
described as those who willfully try
to undermine the regime by acts of
destruction and sabotage. Wreckers
include those who, through negligence.
inefhclency or incompetency, hinder
the output of factories and farms
They seemingly are the most numer-
Gus.
Low Efficiency in Newspa pers.
With reports of Soviet Russia's fur
Their technical progress in industry
and agriculture, the newspapers also
reveal low efficiency and wasteful pro-
duction. Much of this is blamed by
the Soviet leaders on>enemies who are
shot, imprisoned or exiled.
Unlike earlier purges of Soviet
enemies, such as that in 1928, which
put many bourgeois followers from
the old Czarist regime in prison. the
new Wreckers are described as "hold-
ers OF Communist party cards who
were trusted by the Soviets and were
working for enemies of the Soviet
Union"
Some appear in the records as bu-
feaucratlc, detuddled, careless or
inept officials who were overwhelmed
by their jobs. Others are accused of
misusing their authority to embezzle
funds, shake down workers and
peasants within their power or in
dulge in profigate living Many are
revealed in the accusations as too
timid, frightened or indifferent to as
sumo responsibility.
The diversity of misdeeds charged
against industrial and farm execu-
tlves include such examples as ex-
plosions, accidents and fires in mines
factories and collective farms, manu-
facture of defective tires of synthetic
rubber by an untested formula and the
emptying of factory waste into a river
causing an epidemic among drinkers
of the water.
Boosting of achievements which fail
to show on the balance sheets has
been condemned by Stain and othe,
leaders.
Free State Imports Pigs.