GalleryWe bolded the section with Benenson's observations on the state of Latvia in 1927, still struggling to recover from the ravages of war. We have not been able to corroborate Benenson's account of Poland building new chemical weapons plants. This is possibly propaganda in the tradition of Russia accusing others of its own conduct—Bolshevik troops gassed Russians to put down the 1921 Tambov Rebellion.
FacsimileRussia Today
By A. BENENSON
(The author of the following article, the the twelfth1 of a series which The Citizen is publishing, is a former resident of Ottawa and district. He was engaged in various capacities in the city but spent most of his years on a farm near Arnprior. He now occupies an executive position on one of the Soviet’s state farms near Crasnodar.)
CRASNODAR, U. S. S. R., Feb. 1.—(By mail.)—Here in Russia the specter of war is like a distant fire on a dark night, which every now and then blazes up, then goes down but to blaze up again.
By all evidence Russia does not seem to want war—not because Russia’s diplomats declare for peace (diplomats of almost every country declare themselves for peace nowadays), but because there are no direct reasons, either economic, political or territorial, that should make Russia want war. She has enough land to accommodate several times her present population. She has almost all the natural resources that are to be found on the face of the earth. Those of which she has not enough, such as cotton, rice, rubber, or even tea, she is trying to develop. Her economic plans are based upon self-support and independence. She is not suffering from economic derangement, such as unemployment, dire want and overproduction, which is troubling the heart of so many countries at present.
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It is not so with Russia’s neighbors. They, too, of course, declare for peace; but there is too much evidence in the existing conditions of these countries that speaks for war.
If we take Poland, one of the most powerful of Russia’s neighbors, as an instance, we find that she has, according to official reports of Jan. 23rd, a registered army of 321,540 unemployed, or 18,392 more than she had a week previously. Poland also has great labor unrest. She is much troubled by the dissatisfaction of national minorities, which she is trying to settle by terror and punitive expeditions. On the score of national occupation Poland has no doubt bitten of more than she can chew. The parts of White Russia, Ukraine and German Silesia which she has annexed are sure to be sources of trouble to her. In addition, Poland is but a buffer state, which is an uncomfortable position in itself.
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Or let us take one of the lesser countries. Latvia. Before the revolution when Latvia was still part of the Russian Empire, she was one of the most advanced and prosperous of Russia’s provinces. Bordering on Germany, she had a large number of Germans in the country. The Letts themselves are an advanced, sturdy, clean-living and industrious people. Latvia had a well developed industry, and modern agriculture, also one of the best built open seaports in Russia, and the large Dvina river that extends far back into Russia. This river has large tributaries branching out into the depths of the medieval White Russian forests. By these tributaries and along the Dvina, hundreds of thousands of rafts used to reach Riga every summer. Riga had the largest lumber industry in Russia.
But what is Latvia like now? During the spring of 1927, at a time when world economic conditions were good, I had occasion to pass through that country while travelling from Russia to Canada. At Riga we stopped for five days. There was no activity of any kind to be seen anywhere. Riga had the appearance of a large, fine, clean but dead city. The well-kept department stores were lined with cheap goods, mostly English and German. The people were inactive, slow-moving, as people usually are in a country where activity is at a low ebb. At the hotels waiters received no pay, but existed on tips.
The most disheartening spectacle, however, was Libau. Here is a fine port, indeed one that can harbor hundreds of ships. It has large warehouses along its docks. The city itself has many big plants and factories. But how depressing all these looked in the presence of only one small passenger boat with which we were to sail for London.
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These conditions in themselves would not, of course, be cause enough why these countries should want to war against Russia, were it not for the fact that there is but little hope for their recovery so long as Russia remains what she is now. The present position of these countries is similar to saplings that have separated from the main trunk, and by that separation have stopped the flow of nourishment by which they lived. It would not have been so bad if Russia’s economic system had remained the same as before. But Russia’s system has changed, and along with it have also changed the avenues of economic coneyance. Now it is Archangel, and not Riga, that is the large lumber depot of Russia. Hence there are but few rafts floating along the Dvina river, and Riga’s lumber mills are idle.
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Then there is competition. Poland cannot produce wheat as cheaply as Russia does. The Polish press openly declares that should the Five-Year Plan succeed, then Poland is done for. If, therefore, a war could be started against Russia that would change the Soviet system or the geographical position of Russia, such a war would be welcomed by her neighbors. That Russia’s neighbors are preparing for war, there is some weighty evidence, too. Here is what the German Allgemeine Zeitung for Jan. 16th has to say on this subject. “Poland’s war industry has a hundred factories which produce two-thirds of Poland’s military supplies. The other third, which is largely composed of heavy guns, big tanks, etc., Poland gets from abroad. Poland produces every month 18,000 rifles, 500 field guns, 20 heavy guns, 40 aeroplanes, 20,000,000 cartridges, 60,000 shells. The output of these factories may be increased five times that amount at a moment’s notice. Besides these, there are two large new poison gas plants built in 1930 at the city of Tarnoba. During 1929 Poland’s entire field artillery was replenished by 75 mm. French guns. At present there are 540 aeroplanes in Poland instead of 160 which she had in 1923.”
No one country seems to want war. All speak about disarmament. Yet when Russia proposed actual measures for disarmament at Geneva she was scoffed at. Is there any wonder that Russia does not believe in the sincerity of the other countries, that they are actually for peace?
| 1 | We have also located the eleventh in the series. |
