File 1341/1921 Pt 1 'Khorassan Intelligence Summaries 1921-1922' [‎347r] (341/1080)

(iv) “ The State currency of 1922 will be current throughout the KSFSE
equally with existing credit notes, and all citizens, institutions, and priv&te
individuals are obliged to accept and to disburse the same.
(v) “ The State currency of 1922 will be issued through the National
Komissariat of Finance within the limits of their demands for the national
economics of the Kepublic and it will be guaranteed by all the resources of
the State.
(w) “ Persons guilty of counterfeiting the State currency will be arraigned
before the llevolutionary Tribunal.”
“ Prom the above it is evident there is to be no change of currency ” says
an Askhabad apologist, “ and just as the issue of 1919 is maintained alongside
that ot 1920, so will that of 1922 function with existing currencies. ^It is
possible that the new issue will be superior in point of paper, tinting, difficulty
ot iiaudulent icproduction, etc., and no confusion is anticipated.
“ AH rumours,” continues the apologist, “ regarding a substitution of the
former currency are sheer nonsense. Similarly, there is not the slightest basis
for anticipating a transition to a metallic currency in the near future. The
new system is merely an adjustment of the financial system to the system of
taxation, the assignment of concessions, and the encouragement of individual
and collective initiative. Th° exchange equivalent of the rouble will soon
automatically readjust itself ”
The amount of calculation and accountancy which the unfortunate subjects
of the Bolsheviks will have to make in order to equate the existing to the new
system in the proportion of 10,000 to 1 baffles all ‘conception. In other words,
the unhappy citizen is a paper millionaire in one currency and a possessor of
only 100 roubles in the new currency.
Kushk.—The situation in Kushk is presently obscure and no indication
of its rendition to Afghanistan have been! observed. Judging by its reduced
garrison and the disrepair of its buildings it would seem as if the place has lost
importance m the eyes of the Bolsheviks.
A man who was a labourer in the railway depot reports that the engine
shops personnel is now reduced to 150.
PP® same narrator stated that rails of a light section were arriving in
Kushk, but he did not know for what purpose.
Tashkent —The municipal tram service has ceased running and several
works, including the arms factory An East India Company trading post. , are idle.
There is a school for Indians known
there are reported to be 200 pupils though
The principal is NurfMuhammad, a Tartar.
as the Hindustanski School where
this is probably an exaggeration.
The Indians at present in Meshed
Military
illiterate
and mentioned^ on pages 2 hereof have been through this school,
drill and shooting are taught. The Bolsheviks have little use for
Indians as they cannot be instructed in the duties of spies and agents.
The Turkestan Commission at Tashkent hasfbeen re-constituted as follows :
President—Sokolnikov. Members, Nogin,—Suritz, Tiuryalkov Peters, Pahim-
beyev and Atabaiyev. Yoffe officiates as President guntil the arrival of Sokol
nikov which is expected shortly.
The policy of the^ Centre (Moscow Government) towards the Turkestan
Bepublic will, according to Yoffe, remain unchanged. He summarizes this
policy as :—
{i) Equal rights for the indigenous native population and immigrants.
(ii) The abolition of all ideas of race inequality.
{Hi) The organization of the labour masses without reference to nation
ality.
The Commission will devote all its strength to assist in the rehabilitation
of economics which have been destroyed by war and revolution.
Ferghana. According to the statement of a recently arrived Russian
refugee the Amazon Marusa w r ho was conspicuous last year in rebel operations
m Daghistan aganist the Bolsheviks, has appeared on the Ferghana front. A
confirmation of this is awaited.
S19F&PP