DEAK LIKENS SOVIET TO RUSSIA UNDER OLD REGIME

After tracing the development of the Russian revolution and Soviet government through the nineteenth century to the present day. Mr. Franz Deak in his talk at the Liberal Club last night, arrived at the conclusion that the same tendencies and especially the same internal situation are evident in the Russia of today as in the Russia of fifty years ago.

Has Studied Russia

Mr. Deak, who is vice-president of the Confederation Internationale des Etudiants, has been a careful student of the history and present conditions of Russia. "No accurate understanding of the situation in Russia now can be obtained without a knowledge of the forces and elements which have been operating there for over a hundred years", said Mr. Deak in the introduction to his speech.

He then briefly outlined the important developments in social and political Russia from the time of Alexander II to the World War. He then turned to a discussion of the revolution and its outcome in the Soviet government and the communist party.

Lenin Hoist With His Own Petard

Although not criticising the Soviet government, he pointed out how very much like the former regime the present one is. The first act of Lenin, who was the most ardent and idealistic of the pure communists, was a contradiction in face of the communistic principles he had been preaching. It was to give the land over to the peasants for individual, not communal, ownership.

Differs Little From Old Regime

"And now," Mr. Deak asked, "Is this so different from the rule of the former aristocracy? There are, moreover, many other indications of Russia's fundamental return to a capitalistic system. Germans and other foreigners have been invited to undertake industrial enterprises on a capitalist basis, the stock market has reopened, the inheritance of money and property, specifically banned by socialistic theories, is again allowed.