31 OCTOBER 1925, Page 47

SIX PRISONS AND TWO REVOLUTIONS. By Oliver Baldwin. (Hodder and

Stoughton. 12s. 0d. net.)

Mn. Bar.nwrx, sometime Lieut.-Colonel in the Armenian Army, describes his unforgettable experiences, during 1920-1921, in Transcaucasia and Anatolia. The terse title is indicative of the contents. The terrible consequences to. Armenia of casting in her lot with the Allies and of Bolshevik domination are shown with painful detail. It is almost an incredible record -of human madness and crime. Of his own hardship, increased by uncertainty and the proximity of the death sentence, Mr. Baldwin says little enough. Famine, persecu- tion and torture are not pleasant themes, but no student of Near Eastern affairs can ignore this indictment. Mr. Baldwin points out that Labour in this country is hardly aware of the Imperialism of Soviet Russia, and his remarks on Pan- Islamism, as the present menace, are of equal weight. We may quote his considered opinion of Bolshevism : " It struck me as being far more of a psychological disease than a form of society. . . . • In its modern form it is a reaction : a form of perverted Tsardom, of anti-religious mania arising from persecution, too much religion, war strain and general racial degeneracy."