Page:The Czechoslovak Review, vol3, 1919.djvu/105



In the Československý Denník published at Ekaterinburg, are found frequent sketches of life in European Russia under the Bolsheviki. Here is a story by a Czech journalist who was fighting on the northern Ural front at the time he wrote to the daily paper of his army.

Russia is ruled by famine and terror. Against the famine the Bolshevik remedy is: “Destroy the Czechoslovaks,, [sic]and then there will be plenty of bread from Siberia.” Against the dissatisfied individual they employ powder and shot. Their newspapers publish a daily list of unfortunates who were shot in retaliation for the so-called white terror; here is an example from our front. When we marched on Kungur in September, the railroad bridge between Perm and Kungur in the rear of the enemy was blown up. The commander of the Second Bolshevik Division had 29 men shot; men who according to his own declaration had nothing to do with the destruction of the bridge, but who were accused of harboring sympathies for the Czechoslovaks. The Bolsheviki threaten that they will keep up this procedure and will punish every hostile move of local population by massacre of prominent local men.

In the Red Army there is still much disorder. The barracks are empty, because the majority of the soldiers live in private quarters and come to the barracks only for meals, but the rooms are full of dirt and refuse. Admonition to keep the barracks clean and maintain discipline seems to have no effect. At least the Bolshevik newspapers confess that quite openly.

Complaints are also voiced against employees of soviet authorities who are supposed to work six hours a day, but spend most of the time in drinking tea and talking to each other. Death penalty is threatened to those who are convinced of grafting, but nevertheless bribes are constantly given. A soldier guarding the depot will pass through for a pound of bread a trades man who smuggles flour, and a judge will decide a case in your favor for as little as three roubles.

The Bolsheviki are trying to raise the morale of their army by various means. They carry on agitation among former army officers to enter the Red Guard. The All-Russian Soviet established on September 19th a military Order of the Red Flag to be awarded for bravery. The first man honored by this Order is commander of division Bluecher who cut his way through from Orenburg to Krasnoufimsk, a distance of seven hundred miles, and brought with him thousands of wagon loads of booty.

Desertion is now severely punished in the Red Army. Trotzky’s last order fixes the responsibility for desertion on the man’s family, if it is found in the Soviet territory. The commanders also warn their soldiers not to surrender, because the Czechoslovaks are supposed to kill their captives. To raise the spirits of their men the Bolsheviki paid 250 roubles to every soldier who participated in the re-capture of Kazan.

In order to be admitted to the officers training schools all that is necessary is to be able to read and write and understand the four fundamental rules of arithmetic.

The Czechoslovaks are particularly hated by the Bolsheviki; sometimes the Bolshevik papers speak of Czechoslovakia instead of Siberia; they call us the 20th Century beasts and accuse us of killing babies.

To carry on war regularly means to organize an efficient supply service. Up to June of 1918 this problem was handled in a haphazard way which resulted in serious shortage of food and clothing. Every regiment, every operating column looked after its own needs. The difficulties of the commissariat at the departure from the Ukraine were tremendous and those of our men who had the unevitable assignment as providers deserve great credit for doing as well as they did. In April, before fighting broke out, an army corps supply service was established, but under the conditions then prevailing this branch could not furnish all that was necessary; it had to beg the Bolsheviki for what it needed or buy it at night from dealers who smuggled, so to speak, food supplies in small amounts. The situation was rapidly improved after the break and especially after we occupied Kurgan and Petropavlovsk, the richest districts of Western Siberia. Purchasing commissions were sent out in all directions to buy supplies for the entire Army and to make contracts for future deliveries. Right then provision was made for winter, and i tappearsit appears [sic] that our army has now about 70 per cent of what it needs in winter clothing. Our quartermasters took over a number of factories and shops which are now producing at full speed. In Omsk there is a tailor shop turning out 750 overcoats a week, also a shoe shop makig 700 pairs a week, another at Petropavlovsk which delivers about 1250 pairs of boots a week, half of them for the Russian Army. In Omsk we have a machine shop making cans and roasting machines, in Petropavlovsk a soap factory which turns out daily 200 poods (one pood equals 36.113 pounds). In Kurgan we have a brewery which makes about 12,000 gallons of beer a week. In Novonikolajevsk we have a chemical laboratory in which is manufactured tooth powder, black and tan shoe polish, disinfectants, etc. In Kurgan we have a tin shop which makes pots, tea urns, kettles, cans. At several places we have