Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-25
starving Russians at cost O,
$21 100000.

starving Russians at a cost of
S21 100000.
The Soviets have suffered dissension
Within their own ranks. Upon the
death OF Dictator Lenin, his power
was taken over by a triumvirate-
kaminieff, Zenoviev and Stallin.
Trotsky,s who had stood closest to
Lenin. was deprived of his comma nd
| or the military and sent into Danish
ment, under pretenSe that his health
| required a rest. He was not expelled
from the supreme council, called the
Political Bureau. which has power of
veto over all other functions OF the
government, but that leniency was
due to the support at the moderate,
Stailin. Within the past year the
tr1umVirate has been abolished, and
Stallln, as secretary general of the
Political Bureau, is highest in Rus.
sian power. Through him Trotsky
has returned to power and is now
| in charge of all industrial concessions.
| In speech to the heads of several
enterprises few days ago he de-
nounced their inefficiency and dishon.
esty. Matches, he said, sold in boxes
supposed to hold 60 counted only 56.
He declared:
Il am tired Of matches that almost
strike, of pencils that almost write
and knives that almost cut. Unless
quality of production is radically i'm
proved, some of you fellows are 60
ing to be almost dead"
That his threat was more than
rhetoric is indicated by his own ar
ticle published last December, in
which he boosted:
I'm Russia, officials unfaithful to
their duty are punished by death.
The other day we hanged by the
neck II grafters. In England such
men are remembered by the King on
the occasion Of his birthday; in Amer
lea they are considered great states
men. and If they die they are given
sumptuous burials. while in France
they erect statues to the memory
That Is where we Bolsheviks are
cruel and ruthless When we enact
a law it is not intended as joke.
We do not allow some distant tri-
bunal to set aside the express will
Of the masses because the printer
has omitted a comma or semicolon."
X X + \
The proletariat-working class of
the cities and villages-have one rep
resentative In the law-making Con-
gress for each $4,000 population; the
/
statecraft-have one for each 1875, 900;
the bourgeoisie-the inteIligentsia, the
former property owners and business
men-have no representatives. Until
recently all prosperous peasants were
considered parasites-called "Kulaks"
to be taxed and prosecuted.
Trotsky. addressing a meeting Of
textile workers last January 81, con-
tradicted the peace talk Of Ambassa-
dor Rakovsky: "Can the European
bourgeoisie hold back the revolution
and re-establish economic progress on
capitalistic foundations? No, it can
not.
Can the European proletariat I'm
the near future make use Of the shaki.
ness OF the European economic con.
ditions and the crisis in the bourgeois
state for the revolutionary movement?
That, and only that, is the question"
X X X
Stallin, the new Lenin in power, adj
dressing the Fourteenth Congress Of
the Communist party, as reported in
the Moscow Izvestia, December 20,
1925. thus contradicted Tchitcherin's
allegation that the Soviets would rec
ognize Russian debts ''tn principle"
Stallin said:
They say that our pre-war indebt.
edness to Europe equals 5000, 900 900
rubles; the war Indebtedness is cal
culated at 1000, 900 odd rubles-
in all. thus, 10000 900 rubles.
Counting the fall Of exchange and de-
Quoting from this the share of the
border states, then it comes out that
we owe Western European states not
less than 7,O00, 000. 900 rubles.''
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