311.6124/—
Mr. L. Martens to the Secretary of State
[Received November 17.]
Sir: In behalf of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic I have the honor to call your attention to the following facts:
[Page 688]Many citizens of that Republic residing in the United States are at this time subjected to unwarranted persecution and cruel treatment by federal and state officers, as well as by violent mobs acting without any authority. The Government of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic has accorded American citizens in Soviet Russia civil and considerate treatment even in cases where active hostility on the part of such American citizens toward the Government of Soviet Russia has been proven beyond all doubt. Only in some exceptional cases, where offences of a particularly grave nature against the Russian Government had been committed by American citizens, were they prosecuted by officers of the law. American soldiers taken prisoners in the Archangel district, which was invaded by American troops without a declaration of war, have been treated in Soviet Russia with especial consideration, and were unconditionally released as soon as it was practicable to send them home, so that there remain today no American prisoners of war in Russia. Property of American citizens who have complied with the laws of the country has not been interfered with, and wherever any complications have arisen in this respect the Government of Soviet Russia has been, and is, ready to adjust matters so as to safeguard the rights and the interests of American citizens.
This attitude has been maintained by the Soviet Government toward the United States and its citizens, resident and sojourning, in Russia notwithstanding the fact that Soviet Russia, against its will, finds itself in a state of war imposed from without, and in the midst of a revolutionary struggle which naturally makes the conditions in the country abnormally critical. Yet, contrary to the comity of nations, citizens of Soviet Russia in the United States have in effect been denied the protection of the law.
The lot of thousands of Russians in the United States today is exceedingly unhappy, through no fault of their own. Through daily abuse in the press and the prejudice created by a virulent campaign of misrepresentation, their Russian citizenship has become a bar to employment and advancement. They are indiscriminately accused in the most sweeping terms by government officials, of criminal and subversive acts and intents against the Government of the United States, of which they are quite innocent. They have been arrested without warrant and subjected to oppressive treatment against which they have no adequate protection, as citizens of a country whose Government is not recognized by the Government of the United States. Within the past few days great numbers of Russian citizens in the city of New York and elsewhere have been arrested and have suffered the most brutal physical violence at the hands of public officials. Their homes, and the places where they associate, were invaded by public officers and arrests have been made [Page 689] on suspicion of alleged unlawful activities. No effort, however, had been made by the police first to ascertain the probable guilt of the Russian citizens who were to be arrested. So, for instance, in the City of New York alone, according to press reports, over one thousand persons were recently arrested, among them many citizens of Soviet Russia, and although these arrests were made in a manner which caused much suffering and physical injury to these Russian citizens, and although property belonging to them was wantonly destroyed during those raids, it developed that very few of them could be held for further investigation and criminal prosecution.
In behalf of the Government of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic I deem it my duty to protest against such acts.
A number of affidavits bearing evidence to the fact that the lives and liberties of Russian citizens have been threatened without reasonable ground will be submitted to the State Department in a few days.
According to reports in the daily press, a number of citizens of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic are being held in custody by United States immigration officers, and it is proposed to deport them to parts of Russia which are under the control of enemies of the Soviet Republic. Having no means to ascertain the truth of such reports, I still deem it my duty to call your attention to the fact that such deportation would mean certain death to those Russian citizens and would constitute a most flagrant breach of all principles of international law.
Moreover it is quite unnecessary for the Government of the United States to take the trouble of deporting citizens of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic. My office has received thousands of applications from Russian citizens who desired to return to their homes. They had been driven by the political, economic, and religious oppression of the Czar’s government to seek refuge in the United States which they believed to be a haven for the oppressed of all nations. They had hoped to make their homes here and to become useful members of the community. Now, however, that they are daily insulted in the press and by public officials too, with intimations that their presence is not wanted in this country, they are only too anxious to leave. But they are prevented from leaving America by the authorities of the United States, who have made it practically impossible for citizens of the Soviet Republic to receive the requisite papers without which they cannot secure transportation.
I therefore respectfully suggest that the United States Government could be easily relieved of the presence of unwelcome Russian citizens, if all those citizens of Russia whose lives are becoming unbearable in the United States were permitted to depart. I desire to assure you, Sir, that the Government I have the honor to represent [Page 690] is ready and willing to provide means of transportation from the United States to Soviet Russia, for every Russian citizen in this country who desires to return home, or whose presence in this country is undesirable to the Government of the United States.
Trusting that this suggestion will receive your favorable consideration, I am [etc.]
Representative in the United States of America of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic