(“Bolshevism, Reign of Torture at Odessa,” by the Rev. R. Courtier-Forster, late British Chaplain at Odessa and the Russian Ports of the Black Sea. Reprinted from The Times, December 3, 1919, pp. 2, 3 and 4.)
The Protocols speak of concealed executions as well as of open violence when making use of the weapon of terrorism to secure political domination. The Bolsheviki closely paralleled the Protocols in this respect.
While it is true that the number of victims of outright execution by shooting, drowning, etc., have run into very large figures, they are undoubtedly few in comparison with the number who have been deliberately starved by the Bolsheviki. In pursuance of their avowed policy of exterminating the bourgeois class the Soviet government divided the people into four categories with respect to the receipt of food, the bourgeoisie being placed in the last two categories as to which the allowance of food was insufficient to support life. A report by “Mr. E.” found in the British White Book, “Russia No. 1” (1919), relating to the conditions in February, 1919, shows that the last two categories have been done away with altogether. The report states that the Bolsheviki have published statistics “showing that the fourth category was not necessary, as there were so few members.” “This proves,” he says, “that the 4th category people have either been exterminated or have been forced to work under the Bolsheviks in order to live.” The same witness states that the amount of food given to the first category was constantly varying according to the supplies. The rations allowed the four categories in October, 1918, are shown by the Bolshevist paper Vooruzheny Narod (The Armed People):
“The Commissary of Food of the Petrograd Labor Commune states that on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, for four days, the following products will be given on the presentation of the bread cards, according to category:
| 1st category | — | 1 lb. (Russian) of bread and 3 lb. of potatoes |
| 2nd category | — | ½ lb. of bread and 2 lb. of potatoes |
| 3rd category | — | ¼ lb. of bread and 1 lb. of potatoes |
| 4th category | — | ½ lb. of potatoes.”[15] |
Many witnesses, have referred to the cruelty of this category system. Of course, these rations for the 3rd and 4th categories are quite insufficient to support life, and as the bourgeois classes were not only placed in these categories, but were also persecuted and prevented from getting employment in many cases, it is not surprising that hundreds of thousands of them were exterminated by these measures.
As to the question of how the Jewish element in the population came out on the question of food as compared with the Christian element there is little evidence at hand, but we may refer to one statement in a memorandum of a Mr. B. contained in the British White Book, “Russia No. 1 (1919),” as follows:
“At the Putilof Works anti-Semitism is growing, probably because the food supply committees are entirely in the hands of Jews—and voices can be heard sometimes calling for a ‘pogrom.’”[16]
Wholesale starvation in Russian cities is one of the most striking features of Russia’s tragedy. The bourgeoisie, and especially the intellectual classes of the Russian people, are systematically underfed by the treacherous rationing system of the Jewish Soviet officials. Manual labor as well as the intellectual workers are subjected to a most villainous tyranny, namely, to the tyranny of starvation. It is proper to propound the question: Is this policy carried out in accordance with the stipulation of the Protocols which reads as follows:
“Our power lies in the chronic malnutrition and in the weakness of the worker, because through this he falls under our power and is unable to find either strength or energy to counteract it.” (Protocol No. III.)