Gareth said little about his
experiences while in the Soviet Union but as soon as he reached Berlin he
sent this letter home.
Berlin,
Near the Station for Saxony,
12.30. Wed. Aug. 26th, 1930
My dearest All,
Hurray! It is wonderful to be in Germany again,
absolutely wonderful. Russia is in a very bad state; rotten, no
food, only bread; oppression, injustice, misery among the workers and 90%
discontented. I saw some very bad things, which made me mad to think that
people like [I do not know who this is] go there and come back, after
having been led round by the nose and had enough to eat, and say that
Russia is a paradise. In the South there is talk of a new revolution, but
it will never come off
off, because the Army and the O.G.P.U. (Soviet Police) are too strong.
The winter is going to be one of great
suffering there and there is starvation. The government is the most
brutal in the world. The peasants hate the Communists. This year
thousands and thousands of the best men in Russia have been sent to
Siberia and the prison island of Solovki. People are now speaking
openly against the Government. In the Donetz Basin conditions are
unbearable. Thousands are leaving. I shall never forget the night I
spent in a railway station on the way to Hughesovka. On reason why I left
Hughesovka so quickly was that all I could