132 HUMAN LIFE IN RUSSIA
Latvians, Czechs and others, used to live in distinct and
prosperous settlements in the centre of Russia, most of them
east of the Volga.
The German Volga Republic is in the same position as
Karelia and most of the other independent or autonomous
regions of the Soviet State inhabited by these nationalities.
On paper they possess a considerable degree of autonomy,
while in fact control rests with the delegates of Moscow.
Administratively the Volga Republic is covered by the decree
of July 285 19185 which placed the Germans of that region
under the control of the newly formed Commissariat at Saratov
(later renamed Marxstadt). The decree provided the basis for
the domination and tyranny of foreign elements. This applies
especially to such important matters as the contribution,
confiscation and requisitioning of grain, for which this decree
provided the "statutory foundation." From now onwards these
matters were handled solely in co-operation with "proved
Communists," who had been despatched to the Volga region
for the purpose of these expropriations.1 The decree was thus
the opposite of that issued on July 23,1763, by Catherine II, in
which the German colonists settling in the Volga region were
granted autonomy.2
It should be particularly emphasized that the decree of
1918 opened the Volga district to the activities of Communist
emigrants from Germany, Austria, Hungary, Latvia, etc., i.e.
to people who naturally hated everything that the Germans
settled on the Volga venerated—religion, family, nationhood
There is thus a profound gulf between the adherents of Bda
Kun> Liebknecht and StutchJka who, exiled from their own
countries, found here a new sphere for their activities, and the
1 See InKcmpfund Todesnot^ by Johannes Schleunig.
2 In this connection it should be pointed out that the Germans settled
along the Volga and in South Russia on the strength of definite assurances
and privileges granted by the Russian monarchs. Thus, while their pro-
tection is not guaranteed by provisions binding in international law, the
Russian State—which is at least important from the standpoint of principle-
did bind itself constitutionally.