The Washington herald., 1919-02-16
BY JOHN l.. BALDERsTON.
Copyright, 1919. by the Mcclure Newspaper
SyndicAte,)

BY JOHN l.. BALDERSTON.
Copyright, 1919, by the Mcclure Newspaper
Syndioate)
Paris, Feb. 15.-Lenine, the Ma
poleon of the Proletariat, has sue
ceeded. to the surprise of the world,
in consolidating his Bolshevik king
dom and making 1t not a house of
cards likely to collapse at any mo-
ment on himself and his associates
but a powerful offensive weapon
whose terrible menace all the ooun-
tries of the world. including even
far away America, are compelled to
take measures to withstand.
How Lenine. who is unquestion-
ably one of the most brilliant geni-
uses, as we'll as one of the most
sinister and malevolent personali-
ties OF our time, succeeded in turn
ing his tottering and ridiculed en-
pire into a mighty force has puzzled
the outside world.
IenIne German Tool.
The explanation is now known here,
for NJ. Sazonoff and other leading
Russians recently arrived at the Peace
Conference. and their descriptions OF
what has happened can now be out
lined. The facts given below have
been obtained from competent and
first-han nd sources
Lenine began his career with Ger
man money and under German pro-
lection. He took orders from Ger
many, not because he liked Kaiser
ism, but because 1t helped him. His
able lieutenant, Trotsky. was able 10
organize an army strong enough TO
defeat antI-BoIshevik forces all over
Russia and to keep the troops OF the
Czecho-Slovaks and the small allied
contingents in check because of tht
help OF German instructors. German
artillery and German and Hungarian
prisoners.
But Lenine last summer found that
his chief difficulty was not military,
but economic. His red army had TO
be we'll fed and clothed, the peasants
refused to deliver their grain for pa
per money. and the town manufactur-
ers were unwilling to part with their
merchandise.
The first measures OF "nationaIiza-
ton" of the banks and great indus
trial concerns and the sending OF
armed companies of Red Guards and
workmen to the villages to seize grain
The COMMISSIONERS placed in control
OF the banks. in spite Of the inter.
diction to pay any individual more
than $50 roubles a week out OF the
current accounts. were always willing
to deliver huge sums for a big bribe
thanks to which the bourgeoisie came
into possession OF money with which
to maintain their existence. The man.
- ~, 81,
OF the workmcn's committees, man.
aged also to bribe them and hide q
part of their output. which they Sc
cretly sold to spectators, thus con
tinuing to raise a means for Iiveli-
hood. In addition. the Socialist op-
position press, however pitilessly per.
secuted. was able to maintain a
strong and active revolt among the
population.
As soon as Lenine felt last summer
that Kaiserism was weakening under
the blows of the allies. and that there
fore the breathing space" allowed to
him by the Brest-Litovsk treaty was
coming to an end he completed hk
scheme OF subjussting the Russian
population to his plans. He achieved
that by organizing committees of the
BoOi III lO"lls anu NIlihStS.
The committees OF the poor in tho
villages gave him the grain which
both the TSarIst and Kerensky gov
ernments tried in vain to obtsir
from the peasants Armed ba-sd,
coming from the cities were unable
to discover the gram cleverly hdder
in the ground. above which frest
corn was sometimes sown. or to finc
the cattle. driven to the forest al
the approach OF the peasants en-.
emy.
But nothing could be hidden from
the rich peasants neighbor. the pool
peasant. Lenine organized the poor
est members of every village intC
committees, under whose control h
placed the property and life of their
richer neighbors. Thus, in every vii.
laGe. a committee Of spies was es'
tablished. which became q local or
gan of the government. and disclosed
the hidden reserves to agents sent
from the central government Cen
trail depots of grain and other eata.
bles were ORGANIZED in the great
cities, and commerce was national
lied Even the "sackers'
and small merchants who at frs
were alloWed 10 bTlng q sack oI
grain. weighing not more than sixty
pounds from the country to sell II
the towns-were declared enemies ot
the nation and shot when caught.
similar fate awaited those peasants
who refused to yield up their reserves
to the state. Thus. with the help oi
terror and the committees of th'
poor, Lenine had succeeded durins
the last few months in Obtainins