Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-06-16
When Len;ne Steaks


-HE last speech of Lenine, Russia's Soviet
dictator, was made some months ago in
the Moscow opera house to audience
of six thousand persons, for the most part his
flaming supporters. A news story of the occa-
sion, which finally has slipped through the
censorship, is worth noting because of the
strange, terrible man, now doomed by a third
paralytic stroke
The great opera house, bedecked with gold
and red velvet, was crowded to the last inch
of it's capacity. Armed guards held every en-
trance and exit; while without, mounted po-
lice galIoped up and down, cursing the over
eager proletariat. eve newspaper men,"
writes George Pepow, of Vienna, "were con-
Quoted through the cellars, where soldiers
with drawn bayonets were posted at literally
every two steps. Not even the czar was ever
so closely guarded"
The preliminary speakers were dull, as they
usually are; and Lenine was not in sight. At
length, however, those sitting near the rear
of the stage suddenly got up to let dimly-
discerned figurc pass. Then the audience rose,
the musicians played the Internationale, and
for five minutes or more there was an out
burst of those simian traits so freely displayed
at national conventions of American poll
tics. Lenine, giving not so much a glance to
the shouting multitude, shook hands deliber-
ately with those about him. After awhile he
made his way to the front, leaned against
red table before the footlights, and stared at
it's cover A moment later he was looking
out at the audience-and laughing.
Most of us are familiar enough with the
pictured physiognomy of Lenine-his bald
high dominating head; his long eyes, telling
at once of talent and sinister hardness; his
compact, dynamic, cruel face. But we rare
ly see graphic or convincing sketch of his
manner, his spirit in action, his personality
He stood there" writes IT Vienna CORE
spondent, "in simple suit buttoned up to
the throat. Men like him are not vain about
their personal appearance. Champagne does
not intoxicate them; they have perhaps only
one enjoyment, and that is power. A wave of
his hand is sufficient and all is silent"
In America we are getting away more and
more from the King Cambyses vein of ora
tory. Our most effective speakers of today do
not saw the air, or rip passion to tatters-
albeit some persist in doing so. Lenine is of
the conversational school. He speaks to thou
sands as if he were talking to ; small room
full of ow-students. He speaks in a lively
witty, sarcastic manner. One thought seems
to take the place of the other before the
first has been expressed. The expression of
his face changes frequently. One minute he
looks deadly serious, and another he winks
Jok1ngly with his left eye. He belongs to the
popular speakers such as only are to be
found in England (and America) In ancient
Russia there were speakers: The states
men and members of parliament in the czar's
time never thought it worth while to speak at
popular meetings. The Bolsheysts do so con-
tinually, and herein lies partly the secret of
their success. Lenine, the internationalist.
speaks the Russia dialect and often uses ex-
pressions familiar to the people, lus touching
the national side of the Russian peoples
heart. Nobody knows their heart as well as
he does. He leads the crowd without their
noticing it. He speaks like schoolmaster to
lot of boys. Every word is a lesson or if
necessary moral blow. He hammers his
ideas into the heads of the intellectuals. So
speaks the man without whom the Russian
revolution and a large part of history would
have taken other directions. He is a man in
the prime of life. He was born in 1870 in
Simbirskon, the Volga, the son of small
landowner. He is Of Tartar origin"
For five years Lenine has "uled. He is
credited with the most subtle and also the
most brutal passages of the BolsheVist record.
Now that he has made what is commonly be-
lieved to be his last speech and soon, no
doubt, must drop the helm forever, what
INjN be storm-broken Russias course?
e