§ 1. Lieutenant-Colonel Sir SAMUEL HOAREasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can give the House any information as to the fifty-seven peasant risings that took place against the Bolshevist authorities in the month of November?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGNAFFAIRS (Mr. Cecil Harmsworth)It is reported that during November from eighty to one hundred peasant insurrections took place in Russia against the Bolshevik authorities, the reason being that the peasants refused to be conscripted or to permit their grain, horses, and cattle to be confiscated. The different areas involved in these insurrections varied from a few villages to whole districts. They were specially numerous in the north, and in the Nikolski district of the Vologda province it is stated that they could not be put down for several weeks. It is reported that these risings have been suppressed with extreme rigour, and that frequently entire villages have been destroyed by artillery fire, and the inhabitants exterminated.
§ Sir S. HOAREDoes not the hon. Gentleman think that the fact of these 186 risings taking place every month is very good evidence that the Bolshevik Government is universally detested in Russia?
§ Mr. SPEAKERThat is a matter upon which the hon. Member can form his own opinion.