Tuesday, 18 February 1930

Moscow:  

The communist newspaper Izvestia publishes more defiance against world criticism of religious persecution in Russia.  The newspaper boasts of the truth of Russia’s “godless state,” and predicts that the Pope will one day be exhibited alongside the medicine man as an example of primitive human thinking.  Church closures, meanwhile, continue, and clerics are reported being turned out of their homes.  Izvestia likewise takes aim at British Foreign Minister Arthur Henderson, who recently said before Parliament that religious persecution in Russia was of great concern to the British government.  Henderson’s statements are a “bold violation of the recently concluded Anglo-Soviet agreement which obliges both sides to refrain from interfering in the affairs of the other.”

Germany:

Berlin:  Communists battle police in multiple skirmishes around the city after 250 police raid the headquarters of Rote Fahne, a communist newspaper.  Rote Fahne is suspected of distributing inflammatory pamphlets, and police report finding materials on starting communist cells within the police force.  Disturbances start as police leave the building – communists have filled the street outside, and when the police come out of the newspaper building, the melee ensues.

Meanwhile, the effects of the worldwide economic depression deepen: Paul Moldenhauer, Minister of Finance, proposes a new “national emergency sacrifice” tax on those with jobs, to benefit the unemployed.  The measure would require the approval of the Reichstag.

 

Dresden:  Also meanwhile, the government of the state of Saxony has to resign when the nazi, communist and nationalist members of its legislature join forces to vote a motion of no-confidence in the cabinet.  This was in retaliation for the cabinet’s earlier voicing approval for Germany approving the Young Plan.

Elsewhere:

Athens: Police arrest two communists and confiscate thousands of fliers urging workers in Macedonia to revolt on Feb. 26 or March 6.