Evening star., 1925-05-19
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL y. COLLINS.

Lev Davidovitch Bronshtein has re-
turned to Moscow,
Such announcement does not thrill
| many readers today, but it is believed
| by observers of Russian DEVELOPMENTS
to be the beginning of the greatest
menace since the outbreak of the
World War. After the death of
Lenin, Lev Davidovitch Bronshtein,
alias L. Trotsky, commander-in-chi
of the Soviet army. was suddenly de-
posed from his command by the ma
tional executive committee, controlled
by the radical triumvirate-Satlin
Kamenen (Rosenberg} and Zinovieff
| Apfelbaum-because he had supported
Lenin's retreat from ultra socialism
and they feared his power with the
army and his potential coup d'etat in
seizing supreme dictatorship of Soviet
Russia and the Soviet world conflict.
Is it possible to convey an adequate
picture of the horrors of the Soviet
reign Of terror? Historians have not
yet agreed as to the French reign of
terror, a century and a quarter ago,
but the average student understands
that it was holocaust of death,
wherein life became too cheap to keep
account Of the tragedies. The num-
Der of victims of the guillotine of
France is estimated from 900 to 50.-
900. Some authorities assert that the
number ran close to 100000 before
the awful slaughter was stayed and
superseded by the dictatorship of
| Napoleon. In Russia, the terror
which still persists-iS reported as al
ready exceeding 10000 victims, yet,
| it is said, there exists no real social
ism or bolshevism in Russia, for
bolshevism implies communism,
wherein all people share benefits
alike. There is tyranny of the few
| in power, and suffering of the many.
There are over 600, 900 sworn bolshe-
visits in Russia. but not bolshevism.
These 100000 have taken the bias
phemous oath denying that there is
| a God, abjuring all faith in any re-
| ligion and recognizing no law but that
of self interest of the state, ruled by
| the proletariat. The great act of
treason to the Soviet Republics is to
| baptize a baby, or to teach religion
Of any kind to a child; 1t is punish
able by immediate death.
No one, except a farmer, may en-
ploy labor on any terms, for the
greatest conflict of civilization. &C
cording to Marx, is the conflict be-
| tween the eternal enemies-the en-
ployer and the employed. To employ
| help on any terms is to cease to be
admitted into the rights Of bolshevist
proletariats. At first, even the farm
ers were included in this prohibition.
When, under Lenin and Trotsky, it
was discovered that that theory did
not save ripening crops, Lenin made
| his famous retreat" and so modif1ed
| the original Soviet law as to permit
peasants to hire help to save the crops
! in harvest-that there might be more
of a surplus" of grain which could
be confiscated to supply the prole.
tariat of the workshops, laboring not
for money. but for pounds OF bread
and one or two herring per week.
While the Red radicals were exploit
ing their theories, Lenin and Trotsky
were making practical discoveries that
! theories of socialism failed to plant
crops or turn wheels Of factories
Lenin, the statesman, recognized that
the law must be modified. He pro-
claimed his famous decree, the IN. b.
P."-the new economic pOlicy-which
professed to reinstate the inspiration
of self-reward to endeavor. The radi-
calls disagreed with Lenin, and IL that
leader had not died, a new conflict
might have been launched dividing
practical Lenin and Trotsky from the
visionary Red radicals.
X X y X
What Lenin had learned by observa-
ton, 1rotsky had faced in practical
obstacles, which, as commander-1n-
chief of the greatest army in the
world, he had overcome by sheer
genius. That genius of organization
displayed by TrotsKy was superb. In
spite Of national distraction, in spite
of national poverty and ignorance,
Trotsky, who had had no previous ex-
perisnce In military science. organized,