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