Jan. 29.
The statement issued by Mr. Sokolnikost, the new Russian Ambassador to Great Britain, after: he had presented his cre-denials Cand which we reproduce on P. 200), is interesting for more reasons than one. Mr.
Sokoluikoff gives some remarkable facts of the economic progress of Russia. The pace of the five-years' development programme has actually been exceeded; the output of industry in, 1928-29 was twenty-four per cent, ahead of the previous year's, and the increase in the next twelve months is expected to be still higher, There is a great demand for all kinds of machinery, such as Great Britain is well equipped to provide, particularly the electrical, which she leads the world. And as a first-fruits of what may be expected from the renewal of relations between the two countries Mr. Sokolnikoff pointed to the fact that orders from Soviet organizations in London during Qetober and November 1929 amounted to $3,687,000, as against £1,195,000 in the same period of the previous year. On the delicate question of repudialed loans, Mr, Sokoluikoft deered that his Government: would be quite ready "to take steps toward a settlement of the financial claims which are being! made upon it, taking into account, our—counter-claims. On the last occasion of this subject being discussed, we think] We are right in saying that Moscow. managed to bump up ite counter-claims toa figure much. in excess of the claims of British holders of Russia? bonds, We may have every confidence that history will again repeat itself.
No one doubts that Russia can place large orders in Great Britain and the figures quoted above certainly suggest that she may do so. The point of misgiving ies in respect of what} else she may do for British industries. The assurances of abstention from propaganda exchanged between Mr. Henderson and Mr. Sokolnikoff have been. criticized for the weakness of their wording. But the weakest part about them is the fact that they were found necessary. Me, Sokolnikoff says that "we have. every intention fulfilling loyally: any obligations which we undertake." But craft and deceitfulness are the very essence of the revolutionary propaganda which. the Soviet Government has never: relaxed, whatever else might have to go short of funds; and those qualities do not go well with any pledge, The fact of the matter appears to be that Russia speaks with two voices. Mr. Krassin, the former Soviet envoy in London, was well liked by those who knew him, By all accounts he was fully aware of the fallacies of Bolshevism and he is said to have girded privately against the sheer stupidity of the Third International, which consistently spoiled all his} attempts to build up satisfactory' relations between Great Britain and Russis. There seems rea: gon to believe that Mr. Sokolni-Koff is much the same sort of man; he is described as "the doubt continually report upon him to Moscow. In the background sits the Dictator Stalin, whose ignorance of foreiga affairs is only to be equalled by' his obstinacy in seeing them only as he wishes and in refusing to accept any facts contrary to his prejudices and plans.
It is impossible to rid oneself of the distrust bom of twelve years of Bolshevism for any mere verbal pledge. If there really is a change of heart in Moscow, if her promises are sincere and not merely traps] to delude the over-trustful, she will have to convince us' by! deeds. But as yet there is no sign of such a change. Quite the contrary. Even while Mr. Sokolnikoff is speaking, the "Pravda" gloats over the renewed opportunity to stir up the British miners, looking forward to "another war in April"; the Third International sends encouragement to the "Daily' Worker" to redouble its revolutionary efforts; and the anti-Christian demonstrators in Moscow burn the effigy of Mr. Ramsay MacDonald as the arch-bourgeois imperialist. This is the other voice of Russia and we cannot be deaf to it, If Bolshevism were only a political system, there would be hope of its learning sense and changing! its ways. But it is a philosophy which seeks to mould every activity of life, Its aim is to substitute in its creatures the herd mind for the individual; and thus it tries to permeate all human interests, art, literature and the drama, and is especially vindictive against religion which centres its efforts on the appeal to personal individuality. It is a most serious thing for the! world that already tons of thousands of Russian boys and girls have grown up steeped in these doctrines and apparently' prepared to stick at nothing for their furtherance. With such a philosophy it, is necessarily all or nothing. To admit that may be in error at avy point, is to undermine the whole structure; and we can actually see that in recent years the! tendency has been all to rivel the Bolshevist system more tightly on the Russian people! than to relax it. To proselytize is, for fanatics of the Stalin type, as the breath of life and no pledge hitherto has ever had the slightest mitigating effect on! their propaganda. It is clear! from many indications that the renewed relations with Russia evoke no general enthusiasm in Great Britain; and if the story we print elsewhere of the King refusing to shake hands with Mr, Sokolnikof is true, His Majesty accurately expresses the feelings of millions of his subjects. There is no wish to be personally rude to Mr. Sokolnikef. But it is not easy: to for get the hideous record of the Government he represents, TurouGH train services ea the Peking-Hankow Railway have resumed, the rst train from Peking since the outbreak of hostilities between the Government forces and the Kuominchun having arrived in Hankow on the night of January 29 after being searched in Bevan. by' the troops no. fewer than six times, The through train to Peking. left Hankow on-the following evening.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.