Gwaith haearn a dur a thref oedd Hughesovka a sefydlwyd gan y Cymro, John Hughes ddiwedd y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg yn ne’r Wcráin, rhan o Ymerodraeth Rwsia bryd hynny. Roedd nifer o weithwyr medrus o Gymru a gweddill y DU yn byw yno gyda’u teuluoedd a rhai wedi ymgartrefu yno am sawl cenhedlaeth
Serch hynny, roedden nhw wedi cadw cysylltiad clos â’r DU a phan dorrodd y rhyfel ym 1914 gadawodd nifer o ddynion i wirfoddoli gyda’r fyddin Brydeinig. Wedyn, ym 1917, ar ôl Chwyldro Chwefror (February Revolution), daeth yn amlwg i’r gymuned Brydeinig nad oedd hi bellach yn ddiogel iddyn nhw aros, a gadawodd y rhan fwyaf yn ystod haf 1917.
Ond arhosodd rhai. Helen Clark oedd un ohonynt, dyma’i llun yn blentyn bach gyda’i thad-cu a brawd ieuengaf ei mam.
Ym 1917, roedd Helen yn dair blwydd oed. Prydeiniwr oedd ei thad, ac roedd yn un o’r gwirfoddolwyr a ymunodd â’r fyddin ym mis Tachwedd 1914. Rwsiad oedd ei mam ac ar ôl i’w gŵr adael am y rhyfel, aeth â Helen gyda hi i fyw gyda’i rhieni a’i brodyr a’i chwiorydd iau. Roedd y teulu’n gefnog ac roedd bywyd yn gyfforddus – hyd nes y daeth y chwyldro a’r rhyfel cartref.
Flynyddoedd wedyn, gadawodd Helen Rwsia ac ymgartrefu yng Nghymru. Dyma ddisgrifiad hynod ddiddorol o’i phrofiadau yn Rwsia ar adeg o newid mawr. Dyma rai dyfyniadau byr o’i heiddo.
Prinder bwyd yn ystod y rhyfel cartref
“Shortages of food in those days were unbelievable…..Sometimes I went with our servant or Aunt Sonia to the shop to collect our bread ration and I remember seeing people sitting or lying on the ground by the roadside with their hands stretched towards us, begging for bread. They were gray-faced and emaciated and could hardly move”
“I must have been about 5 or 6 years old….. One day [Uncle George] came with a stray puppy he found somewhere. I went out to see this puppy and gave it a crust off the slice of bread I was eating. [Aunt] Sonia called me from the house and when I came in she asked me where I had been. I told her I just went to give a crust of bread to uncle George’s puppy and she said: ‘Why didn’t you give it to me, I am so hungry’. I was shattered with guilt and burst out crying. Of course I knew there were shortages of food, even small children could not help knowing this, but as I myself never went really hungry, I did not realise how desperately hungry the growing teenagers must have been all the time.”
Arian yn colli ei werth
“During the years of the Civil War money lost its value almost as soon as it was received and by the end of the War mother was receiving for her work as an accountant something like several million roubles a month, which was equal to almost nothing in purchasing power, but occasionally part of her salary was paid in kind – she might be given a bag of coal, a few pounds of flour or some potatoes”
Papur mil rwbl a argraffwyd gan Uwch Reolaeth y Lluoedd Gwyn gwrthgomiwnyddol yn Ne Rwsia rhwng 1918 a 1920. Roedd yr arian hwn yn perthyn i deulu Helen Clark
Gorfod gadael cartref yn ystod gaeaf 1923/4
" ....grandfather received notice to leave his house within a week as it was needed for the club [for workers]....It was absolutely impossible at that time to find another house........My uncle Konstantin had some weight on the [village] Council as an ex-commander in the Red Army, and he asked for some help in finding us accommodation, but the eviction took place. All our furniture was taken out of the house and dumped in the yard, and only the little back room where our servant slept was left for the whole family. It was the middle of winter, bitterly cold, with thick snow on the ground....This lasted for a few days, during which some of our belongings were stolen and the grand piano cracked with frost.....Then one day uncle Konstantin came from work with good news: he had obtained a permit to move into a spacious room on the ground floor of a large house which stood half-way between the town of Hughesovak and the village. Before the revolution it belonged to a landowner, Nesterov, but then it was converted into three flats. Nesterov himself was luckier than most people – he was not turned out of his house completely, but given part of it as a flat. The ground floor flat was occupied by a married couple with a son of about 11, and one of their rooms was given to us. …we moved in. It was quite difficult to get all our furniture into the one room, so most of it was stacked in the hall and the corridor where the men of the family slept. We also had to share the kitchen with the other family who lived in the other two rooms. However, they moved to another town a few weeks later and we received permission to occupy their rooms and have the kitchen to ourselves. So in the end we were very fortunate."
Cwestiynau
- O’r dystiolaeth yn y ffynhonnell hon, sut wnaeth y rhyfel cartref a sefydlu’r wladwriaeth gomiwnyddol effeithio ar ffordd o fyw Helen Clark ac eraill o’r un dosbarth cymdeithasol?
- Gan ddefnyddio’ch gwybodaeth bersonol, a’r wybodaeth a gewch yn y ffynhonnell, sut effeithiwyd ar ffordd o fyw’r werin a’r gweithwyr?
- Pa mor ddefnyddiol yw’r dyfyniadau hyn i hanesydd sy’n astudio’r rhyfel cartref a bywyd yn Rwsia yn ystod blynyddoedd olaf Lenin?