The Denver Jewish news., 1924-02-07
PAGE

touching ballads dealing with this hero.
When one. however. reads the mono
graph of KoStomarov. dealing with the
uprising of Stenka Razin a work based
upon exhaustive study OF all available
documents. one gets chilled to the mar
row The rebels killed drew and quar-
tered, burned alive. tore people limb
from limb, and dropped them from high
towers: they hung ten-ycar cid chill
dren by the legs they flayed them and
tortured them. all for no apparent rea-
son. plan or purpose, hut only from
sheer savagerS. anger. feeling of re-
vengc and lust for destruction
This revolutionary career Razin be-
gan after he had witnessed the hanging
Of his brother, with whom he had
! served in the army as n paid Free
COssack, for attempting to desert
from the service. Quite lnvoluntarily.
one recalls the fact that Lenin also lost
II brother on the gallows in a more or
less similar manner. in the days of his
youth.
| Stenka Rain ended his revolution
airy career. beaten decisivcly 10y the
Czarist armies. on the shores of the
volca. in the province Of SimbirSk: in
the very Simbirsk where several CEN
turies later. there was born the con-
1uering leader of the BOlsheyist revOlu-
tion, Vladimir IIyitch Unianov Lcnin.
In this very same Out-of-the-way
,lt,tt.
stamped out. two hundred and forty
Years later was born the leader of the
greatest revolution in modern days Is
this not one of the mysteries of his
tory an omen. n portent:
I.enin does not represent political
logma-is no4 n dogma, but Russia 5
embodied power. the social. dynastic
force OF hundreds Of millions of peas
ants, accumulated throughout many
centuries and just recently exploded
with the force Of world -sha ttcriI:;
earthquake. Ienin is Russia
The western parts of Europe. and
the New World as well. will under
stand us little. or feel-and it Is neccs
s,ry to feel it.4Bolshevik Russia. n
1t understood the fur greater Russian
spirit of Michael Bakunin. The great
critical ncumen and the depth of Kari
Marx proved too weak. and shallow Il
understand the great and unqucnchablt
Dire of genius that burned 81 brightly
dogmatici nature of Marx. Bakunin ap-
pcarcl as the embodiment of revolu
tionary abuormality. as man in whom
enc could repose, n, more trust than in
any one uf the enemies of the socialis
tic faith. AZ ii matter of fact, BalluniI
WAS no hing more nor less than Il true
sui of Russia. blood of its blood and
bone of its bone lie was quite read.
to mobilize the forces of the entir,
huinnn race in order to overcome The
| sian CzariNm. And the destructive tnc
tcs Of Lenin are but the faint cchoe'
of Bakunin's destructive spirit.
II is not true that Ienin's entire be
ing WIS expressed only in dcstructiv,
work. If the destruction of the OLE
Russia is not in itself Il constructive
piece of work if the breaking cf th'
shell in which had been enclosed the
great pcasnntry of Russia WAS not il
= Itself constructive piece of work. on'
can point to the fact that having fol
: lowed in the footsteps of the I;ussial
revolutionary movement cf his Owl
day and that of the Dcccmbrists. III
achieved much for the non. Russiai
people who had been drawn into th
Russian Impcrialistic net in bHgon
ages.
Tile traditional Slavic gcncrosit.
was amply displayed in the manne
Of the ending OF the agc-Cld problem
! OF the submerged natiGnaliticS. Villa
} indeed did Ieuin think of one or an
other piece of Russian territory: IL
felt that RussiaS past sins had to b
ntoncd for. He felt that il WAS ncces
sary TO recall the singular earnestneS
b aud sympathy with which AlcNande
IIcrzcn. that splendid soul and In
Heading spirit i'll the editorial sanctuu
of The BIZ" published in London
; studied the Polish uprising of 1SG:; an'
followed its tragic fate. For the newl.
rising RUSSIA il was indeed n question
> of having, first Of all. clear con
| science.
+, And not only Poland which had bcel
| dreaming of freedom; and not onl.
t Iitlluania which had no notion what
ever of independence: hut even sucl
; national uncertainties Hs Esthonia an,
| Intyia received their freedom and he
t came Independent nations. Even tn
lJcws. whose commercial activities hat