The New York herald., 1922-12-24


Russian nationality. Even in the
army all pride in Russia's great past.
in the battles she won and the ter
ritory she acquired, is sternly frowned
upon by the Communist chiefs, who
look on Peter the Greats campaigns
as criminal wars of conquest and even
on the war Of 1912 as a struggle be-
tween two emperors, into which Rus
slams and Frenchmen Of the laboring
class were dragged to be butchered In
hundreds of thousands, though the
matter did not really concern them
at all.
Russia Interests Lenine
Only for, It's Communism
In the same way Lenine's first anx-
iety. as 1 shall show directly by quo
tations from his speeches, is for Com
munism as world force, and he Is
only interested in Russia because Rus
sia is at present the sole Communist
State in existence. Anything, there
fore, that threatens the destruction of
this Communist State, and conse-
quently of it's Government. he op-
poses with all his might. He is try
ing hard to save Russia's heavy in
dustries. not because they are Rus
sia's but because they are Commu-
nisms M. Tchitcherin's foreign pol
icy seems very often to be exactly
that of a Czarist Minister. His in
sistence on Japan restoring Saghalien
and on Rumania restoring Bessarabia
and the stand he has taken with re-
gard to Russia's right to be heard in
connection with the Dardanelles ques-
ton are all in the style Of Count
Lamsdorf or Baron Rosen. Tchitch-
erin's object, however, in raising the
question is rather to annoy the i'm
perialist enemies OF Russia and to
!. prevent them getting any kind OF
strangle hold on the Soviet Republic
of which the Peoples Commissar OF
Foreign Affairs is the accredited
mouthpiece.
If Japan and Rumania were Com
munist countries and the Dardanelles
were held by Socialist Power 1t is
doubtful IL Tchitcherin would worry
much about them. IT is also doubtful
If either Tchitcherin or Trotzky rep
resents the purely Communist point OF
view. Lenine is rather amused than
otherwise by the antics of them both
Tchitcherin, it must be remembered
SERVED his apprenticeship in the I'm.
perial Foreign Office at Petrograd, ant
cannot help fighting his diplomatic
battles in what is substantially the ole
style, more especially as he is a mas
ter of polished irony and has. as q
rule. an extraordinarily good case.
Moreover. until he left Brixtor
Prison. in 1918, Tchitcherin was. like
Trotzky, a Menshevik Trotzky, with
his craze for militarism, is to Lenint
what Mr.. Winston Churchill was Il
Mr.. Lloyd George. He Is a brilliant
man. without any very strong con.
victions.
Like Mr.. Churchill, Trotzky take:
his color from his surroundings, anc
takes it with great enthusiasm. Had
he been placed at the head Of the
Comintern he would have ceaselessly
organized revolutions in foreign coun-
tries. Had he been Peoples Commits.
sar for Agriculture he would have de.
voted himself heart and soul to the
cause of the peasants. But he was
made head of the army and the navy
with the result that he devoted him.
self with extraordinary ardor and sue.
cess to the organizing of the Rec
army. IL is quite characteristic Of the
man that while engaged on this wori
he also wore khaki. Now that he 4.
trying to reorganize the fleet--a more
difficult, in fact, quite impossible
job--he appears at public meetings ir
naval uniform.
Western Labor Leaders Fail
To Comprehend Communism
Not only the conservative states.
men OF the West, but also the labor