Sunday, 27 October 1929

Russia: 

THE SOVIETS KILL 26 more OF THEIR CITIZENS.  Today it's mostly “kulaks” (rich peasants), who oppose having their lands confiscated as part of soviet collectivization.  In the village of Gari, one of those shot is a priest, allegedly for spreading a rumor that the government would destroy the local church cemetery and close the church.  In Maly Penky, two kulaks are shot for burning their grain and terrorizing local communists in opposition to collectivization.  Five more are shot in Taskoava for killing a government grain inspector.  

In Kimri, another priest is sentenced to death -- in his case, when soviet authorities showed up to close his church, he ran to the church tower and rang the bells, bringing out a mob who attacked the government officials.  

Rome:  

Dictator Benito Mussolini gives an inflammatory speech before a raucous crowd on the 7^th anniversary of the “March on Rome” that put him in power, saying his fascist Italy is strong, ready for war, and courageous.  "Italy today is really as I wished it, an army of citizens and soldiers ready for works of peace, laborious, silent and disciplined."  He follows this, however, with a question for the crowd: would they respond it he called on them should any country disturb Italy?  The crowd responds with a resounding yes.  "After seven years, we are younger, stronger and more implacable than before," he went on.  

Standing on the balcony of the Venezia Palace, Mussolini also reviews 40,000 “blackshirts” – his fascist militia -- and army regulars.  Mussolini makes fond references to the “Manganello,” a club which his blackshirts used to beat anti-fascists in earlier years.  “This club,” he says, “has now been laid aside, but could promptly be dusted and made to refunction.  Besides this instrument we also have rifles and machine guns.”  His speech is interrupted at times by shouts of "Death to political exiles," thought to be a reference to the would-be assassin who fired a shot at Prince Umberto last week in Brussels.  

London:

Several hundred communist demonstrators attempt a march from Trafalgar Square to the U.S. Embassy to protest the treatment of textile workers in North Carolina.  Bearing signs and banners reading, "Textile Workers Starved and Murdered in Gastonia," the marchers try to smash windows on vehicles as they march past.  The real trouble starts when they are informed that the U.S. Ambassador won't receive them; the communists then rush police near Victoria Station, and the police counter-charge on horseback.  It takes roughly 30 minutes to restore order.

Vienna:  

The nationalist Heimwehr paramilitary organization holds a 10,000-man parade, complete with cavalry.  But there is no violence.