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Gareth Richard Vaughan Jones

A Selection of his Soviet Diaries, Letters and Articles

 

 

 

Gareth’s Second visit to the Soviet Union and Ukraine with Jack Heinz II.

 

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In 1931 Gareth was appointed to the staff of the publicity tycoon, Ivy Lee in Wall Street, New York and very shortly after his arrival Gareth was invited to accompany young Jack Heinz II to the Soviet Union for a six weeks tour. The final part of their   trip was in Ukraine.  Gareth wrote a series of diaries and from these Jack published anonymously the book, Experiences in Russia – 1931: A Diary.  Gareth wrote the Preface:

 

“With a knowledge of Russia and the Russian language, it was possible to get off the beaten path, to talk with grimy workers and rough peasants, as well as such leaders as Lenin’s widow and Karl Radek.  We visited vast engineering projects and factories, slept on the bug-infested floors of peasants’ huts, shared black bread and cabbage soup with the villagers—in short, got into direct touch with the Russian people in their struggle for existence and were thus able to test their reactions to the Soviet Government’s dramatic moves.”

 

Gareth visited a German Kolkhoz near Dnieperstroy.  There he talked with a Communist.  Suddenly a man came and interrupted with:

 

“Tell him the truth!”  he shouted. “Why are you telling him lies?  We are being oppressed.  Nothing but taxes, taxes, all the time.  How can we live?  The truth! The truth.”

 

 

One peasant said: “They sent the Kulaks away from here and it was terrible.  We heard in a letter that ninety children died on the way - ninety children from this district.  We are all afraid of being sent away as Kulaks for political reasons.  We had a letter from one, saying they were cutting wood in Siberia.  Life was hard and there was not enough to eat.  It was forced labour!  They sent all the grain away from our village and left only 1,000 pounds.  I heard that in a village thirty versts away they came to seize the grain, and the peasants killed three militiamen.  They wanted to have enough grain for themselves instead of starving.  The Communists then shot sixteen peasants.”

  

Wife of Doctor: “The peasants have been sent away in thousands to starve. Didn’t you see them in Kazan? Being exiled, just because they’ve worked hard throughout their lives. It’s terrible how they’ve treated them –not giving them anything; no breadcards. They sent a lot to Tashkent and just left them on the square. They did not know what to do. Very many starved to death.”

 

 

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