4 July 19.
Tanks to the plausibility of the Soviet delegates abroad, most people have wavered from time to time in their beliefs as to what our attitude towards © Russia should be. We admit the cleverness of these crafty individuals from Moscow, likewise the success of Lenin in his choice of them, for only superlative cunning could hope to hoodwink the men versed in statecraft and business of Europe as at times they seem to have been hoodwinked. Everything that could be adduced to show that the Soviet was not what it appeared to be has been applied to the situation. Take the case of General Brusiloff, for instance, who year ago Or More was announced as the commander-in-chief of the Bolshevik forces, Even Russians allowed themselves to be deceived by his presence there, and hailed it as a sign that the Soviet had advanced into a liberal organ of government. Whatever Brusiloff was, said they, he could not be classed as a Bolshe-yik, and therefore neither could the army. Yet the reputation General Brusiloff had among foreign observers of the war was that he was an opportunist in battle, in politics and everything else, and accordingly that particular line of pleading could well be dismissed. But in spite of a careful study of all such representations, the Soviet has succeeded from time to time in creating a: was the better way. favourable impression, although happily subsequent events have always transpired to counteract it.
Those whose duty it has been to peruse the voluminous propaganda messages, given under the guise of news telegrams, issued by the Soviet bureau of information, have noted from time to time reports of increasing prosperity among the peasant classes. There have been suggestions of contentment, even of greater production on their farms, When such insidious stuff is abroad it is an excellent thing to have firsthand information of the real state of affairs, and we have that this week, in our very midst, through the arrival of the Polish refugees from the Amur district. Granted that the influence of Moscow in that district is neither very strong nor very direct, it would only be the merest. fiction to say that the Soviet has no responsibility for what happens - there.
fact, it is more than likely that the troops who dispossessed the peasants of their heritage on the land were in the nature of invaders from its dependency of Chita or at the least acting under their influence in opposition to any government there might be in Vladivostok holding different views. Had the Soviet the will, had it at all changed for the Uctter, it could surely to-day insist on some manner of order under which the much vaunted doctrine of work for the good of the community might be carried on. Yet in this case we have seen numerous families of Polish farmers virtually expropriated {rom their holdings by a Red farce, and no doubt what was probably one of the greatest assets of the countryside will now lapse into barren wilderness, Obvionsly if the Soviet were making the progress towards good government which it would have us believe, these settlers would be cherished, and their loyalty to the existing regime ensured by the knowledge that they would be able to go about their vocations in peace. This is not an episode which happened in the reddest of the red days; it is of comparatively recent occurrence. They iliad the alternative of joining the Bolshevik forces or getting out of the country, and no one can blame them for choosing the latter, although as we have seen it has meant ruin for them. Tt was, however, ruin no matter what course they chose, but this One can
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.