The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-29
oday'sInstaIIment of "AWeek'

est tremor myself carried out
death sentences. And all that be-
cause / knew for certain, yes and
l know it still, that this was a
bloody road, but the only road out
of the horror that ruled over the
lives of people in this world. l
was sorry for people, and suffered
from their sufferings, but knew
that only thru the death Of the
enemies Of the Revolution was pos
sible the road to Communism.
Wherefore l was so merciless. /
had re-embodied my great pity as
a great hatred. And / think that
that is what every Communist
does.
1.-THE time will come, and ! hope
it will come soon, when this great
human pity will make the life of
man on earth most beautiful. Then
the suffering of one near to him
will wound a man painfully. People
will treat with extreme care an
others organism, that beautiful
human body, built like yours or
mine, which like them suffers and
is hurt. 1t will be so. But, just
now, that pitifulness must be turn
ed into hate. And, up to that shoot
ing, l was able to do that.
'But now, it is just as if the
blood Of those naked White Guards
has splashed my soul. They stick
in my memory, undressing in the
light Of the moon, their trembling
naked bodies, the rattle Of the
shots and their groans. :. Those
terrible groans that sounded from
the quarry! The groans of a body
beside itself, dyingl You may call
this softness but, you know, when
they took their clothes off, / sud-
denly very, very clearly imagined
that it was I who was undressing,
that it was my body that the frost
was laying hold of, that the bull
lets were threading thru my own
bones and muscles, that it was /
who was groaning with terrible
rending groans.
81 was no longer able to write
death sentences. You cross-ex-
anime, you look yourself into those
living eyes, see those hands, follow
the play of wrinkles over the face,
never for a moment forget that
you are enemies, but all the same
you think, surely not my hand will
send this organism to death?
"The boundary of hatred, for me,
is crossed. But ] do not want
to leave the Cheka, because think
the work of a Checklist the most
revolutionary, and the most neces-
sary at the present time.
$50 let death come rather >.
And, when / suffer before death
=. l shall certainly be thinking
of the fact that have myself hurt
and shot.
"But perhaps this is indeed
weakness! Perhaps in the work
that lies before me, shall harden
myself, and again be stoical and
firm. Let this mission be my
ordeal.
+ or che Conffnufffsc, every any'
is test and an ordeal, as in all
of us the attraction of the past is
strong.
GAS for US, the young Commun-
lists, there is no question about it.
Few have even their heads out, for
the majority of the old world
surges over their heads, darkens
sight and hearing and muddles
their brains. Wherefore one has
always to watch oneself. Has not
one left the right road? Is one
not mixing things up? Is one not
becoming Philistine? And / do
not want TO become fearful, Toll
stoyan intellectual. :. F. So let
there be an ordeal of physical suf-
fering, Of hard nervous work, per-
haps of death. From that work
l shall either return reborn and
strengthened, or not return at all.
"But / shall know that If /,
growing weak, have dropped out
of the ranks, men such as you, the
root and trunk of the Party, re-
main, and that the struggle will
60 on, and that Communism will
be turnout the world.
olive and work well.
rs. SURIKOV."
Ito be continued Saturday,