opening schools and scientific institutes all over the country, and have placed the distinguished Russian author, Maxim Gorki, at the head of an organisation which is reprinting the classics of Russian literature in the cheapest possible form, so that these treasures of wisdom and learning shall be at the disposal of even the humblest folk. Whilst in a remarkable article, which, it is claimed, actually represents the present situation, the "New Statesman" says:—
"Order in Russia is more thoroughly established than at any other time since the fall of the Tsardom . . . . . Factories are rapidly restarting work so far as raw materials can be obtained . . . . . The Bolsheviks are . . . . . clearing the country of bribery and corruption . . . . . Corruption is almost stamped out . . . . The great mass of the professional and petty bourgeoisie have gone over to the Bolsheviks . . . . . In the large towns the workmen are almost unanimous supporters of the Soviets . . . . . (The great majority of) the peasants (are) now keen supporters . . . . . Any Government established by us would have to be supported by foreign bayonets, as the Russian proletariat has been thoroughly imbued with Bolshevism . . ."
Reaction and Finance in Siberia.
In the meantime, what are the Allies doing, and what do they intend to do in the future?
In Siberia the Provisional Government, which had been formed at Omsk, has been overthrown, the Members of the Ministry clapped into prison, and the administration replaced by the dictatorship of the notorious reactionary, Admiral Koltchak, formerly the Tsarist Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, and a personal friend of Mr. Leslie Urquhart, who, as chairman of the Irytsh and Tanalyk Corporations, has recently been discoursing on the stupendous mineral wealth of Russia. Of one mine alone he said that its ores would yield £13,000,000 in net profits at pre-war prices.
The chief financial adviser of Admiral Koltchak (whose Government is supported by Allied troops, which include the Middlesex Regiment) is a Mr. Feodossieff, who is also the managing director of Mr, Urquhart's companies.
It can hardly, therefore, be described as strange that Mr. Urquhart is now strongly supporting Allied intervention against the Bolsheviks.
Referring to our support of Admiral Koltchak, an Englishman at present with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in Siberia, writes to a friend (in a letter printed by the "Daily News" on February 12, 1919) as follows:—
"We are this moment assisting in the most active way possible a man who in every way represents autocratic as against even the semblance of democratic power. He calls himself Supreme Ruler, has locked up all elected representatives, and deported many of them from the country.
Workmen Flogged.
"And his edicts make the declarations of the Tsar seem like the Sermon on the Mount. Political liberty of every kind has simply ceased to exist. No one dare say a word for fear of being dragged before a field court and either killed or getting penal servitude for life. Workmen have been flogged in numbers, the meetings of labour union committees forbidden; in fact, Siberia never had less liberty.
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