The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1949-01-27
Comment On
World Events

Baltic States have reached Swedel
in the last months, some of then
railwaymen who have had oppor
tunities to travel widely in Euro
pean Russia. They bring some in
teresting information about tn,
spirit prevailing among the peopl,
of the Soviet Empire, says tn,
"Newsletter from Behind the Iror
Curtain" compiled by the Balti,
Review, Stockholm. The newsletter
continues:
That the Soviet rulers are pre-
pairing for a new war is no longer
subject to any doubt and the
masses of the people know that il
is coming. This is largely due to
official propaganda which is de-
liberately accustoming the people
to the thought that a war is immin-
ent This propaganda is particul
arly outspoken in the army, as the
officers and politruks of the troops
stationed in Estonia are telling
their acquaintance.
Knowing the technical superior
ity of the West, the soldiers are
not very confident of victory but
would welcome war for the sake of
the greater freedom from the in
fluence, and surveillance by, the
Communist Party and MVD as we'll
as the chance of plundering new
areas that might be occupied.
i j. y
The masses of the people, how
ever, seem too long unreservedly
for the outbreak of war. Nothing
has been done to improve the liv-
ing conditions of the people since
the war, all the efforts of the auth
critics are concentrated on rehabil-
itating or building new war indus
tries. Remembering the promises
of better life after a victorious
war made by the government in
order to fire the resistance of the
people to the German invaders, the
masses have voiced their disap-
pointment here and there (Lenin-
grad, Odessa, etc. in the first
postwar years by rioting when
their bread rations were not avail
able and generally been sullen and
unamenable. This has brought
about Tightening of the reins on
the part of the government.
The result is an almost universal
longing for war, particularly in
the countryside, as the kolkhozniks
remember vividly, that during the
recent war surveillance relaxed
considerably, they were able to in
crease their garden plots and hide
enough of the harvest to last them
until the next one.
The war also offered opportun-
ties to appropriate agricultural
implements and state grain re-
serves. Now and then some article
Of clothing could be obtained from
the army warehouses and, oh won
der! even a tin of American bacon
or packed meat rewarded the eff
forts of the most enterprising.
Now the army trousers are worn
out, no new supplies are forthcom-
ing and a war seems the only way
out of the misery.
i I. i
Moreover, the struggle now wag-
ed against Western influences in
Soviet Russia is actually a stern
and vital necessity All the Soviet
citizens, whether soldiers or civil
ans, who have had a glimpse of
The West are spreading defeatism
N the country and representing it
as most desirable that the USSR
should lose the imminent war. The
are the most outspoken,
when in their cups, and
alcohol is plentiful in the Soviet
Union.
AS regards a resistance move
nent there is none in Russia pro-
per. Only in the recently independ-
mt states, such as the Baltic coun-
sries and the occupied part of
Poland or the national minority
areas, such as the Ukraine, the
Jossack Territory or the Caucasus,
where separatist tendencies have
always been strong, opposition to
.he Soviet regime, whether armed,
active or latent, continues unabat-
I'd and is liable to break out open
L