New-York tribune., 1919-07-13
Lenine, the
Automatic
Fanatic
Ne,c York Tribune
Foreign Press Bureau

Foreign Press Bureau
\VERY one who sees Lenine
X seems to come away with a
- different idea of him. Here
is description Of him by
a former Bolshevik, A. Sokoloff, a
political writer known in Russia
under the name Of Volsky. Mr..
Sokoloff gave his IDEAS Of Lenine
and Trotzky in an interview with
a correspondent of "The Manchester
Guardian" He said:
s'"Lenine belongs to those human
types that work with the accuracy Of
clockwork, being just as devoid OF
personal feelings and predictions.
He may be best termed an automatic
Socialist. He has at his disposal
number Of petrified principles which
he is organically unable to change or
part with. He believes in them with
the obstinacy of medieval inquisitor.
To what lengths he is sometimes prone
to carry this obstinacy small but
significant fact may show. In the year
1910 a wellknown Russian philosopher,
Mr.. Bogdanoff (who was member Of
the Bolshevik party, allowed himself
some original views on the philosoph-
ical meaning of the thing in ITSELF
He was Immediately declared by Le-
nine an apostate, and every care was
taken by Lenine's friends and asso-
eiates to eject him and his philosoph-
ical followers from the ranks of the
party.
Being a fanatic, Lenine never stops
at what he contemptuously calls
bourgeois conventions He does not
care about the sincerity or honesty Of
the people he deals with, his only aim
being to use them as obedient tools to
his political designs. The same stand
ard he applies to the working masses
in general, humoring their prejudices
and sometimes yielding to their vices.
He regards them also as mere tools for
his political machinery.
Trotzky Different
"Trotzky is of q different type alto
gether. If Lenine FITS his ambitions to
his politics, Trotzky adapts his politics
to his ambitions. He is stage mana
ger first, and writer, speaker and
politician afterward. 1t was very char
acteristic Of him that he sided with
Dolshevism only after failure Of his
attempts to organize party of his
own and after seeing that Bolshevism,
moro than any movement, was likely
to bring him to the position of a
leader. 1t was chiefly to serve his per-
sonal ambitions that he became a
leader of the extremist wing of the
Bolshevik party"
Mr.. Sokoloff's estimate of the Boil
shevik administration is as follows ::
"From the general point Of view the
Bolshevik policy has proved decided
failure. Lenine and Trotzky have sue
ceeded in nothing but in bringing the
country to q complete economic ruin.
Their own official information pub
lished in 'Pravda' and Izvestia' shows
that every branch Of industry, COM
merce, transport, and especially agri-
culture, Is in desperate state.
"The Soviet administration has de-
generated into the rule of new off,
cialdom, which, being recruited from
the politically uneducated and very
often from the morally unscrupulous
sections of the population, has proved
model of practical inefficiency
Soviets as such actually play no part
in the public life. Everything is done
by the officials nominated by the cen.
trail government. In November last, at
one of the sittings Of the executive
committee Of the Communist party
Lenine himself characterized the pres
ent state of affairs as a rule of knaves
There is hardly one number Of 'Pravda
CIR 'Izvestia' that does not give vivie
picture of the general corruption Of
the Bolshevik administration. The
honest and responsible elements of thu
Bolshevik government realize yer.
clearly the horrible state of affairs, bu
they are too timid to draw the tru
conclusions from it and recognize
their failure. They prefer, like a,
ostrich, to hide their heads in the san,
of fiorid talk.
Working Class Worn Out
"The fact is that all classes of tn,
people, workingmen included, are s.
worn out physically and exhausted
morally that they are unable to max
any effort or to venture any actua
opposition. 1t is very characteristic o
the situation that the peasantry, bein
less exhausted than the town popula
ton, show much more energy in thei
opposition to Bolshevism. Uprising
and revolts break out everywher
where the Communist administration
supported by Red Guards, tries to en-
force its law upon the unwillin
countrvside Tho peasants' diaconten