Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-28
Pledged to Free ProIetarians
OF World After 1920's
Triumphs.
Loved by Lenin for Daring,
and Given important
Command.
BY SAMUEL CAHAN.


OF VoroneZh, received oflcial notice to
report for military duty. For months
there had been rllnors that there was
war, but now with the arrival of the
imposing looking document ordering
Senior Michailovich to the colors, the
war became a reality in Polotovsk.
1t was sad day in the village when
Senior Michailovich had to 90 away.
Three years before that he had fin-
1shed eight years of service in the cav
airy Upon his discharge from the army
ne returned home to his family and farm.
NOW ne mad to 60 away again. AYE, IL
was hard to live in Russia. A man
can't till his few acres in peace" So
everybody cried, drank ma proschanie
for his safe return, farewell and for
givenesS and saw him of. That was
toward the end Of 1914.
Six years later, In 1920, while states
| men in Europe were stunned by the
series Of cataStropheS that befell the
anti bolshevik forces under Deniken,
Wrangel, Kolchak and the Poles, the
Russian people were joyfully acclaiming
new national hero, a red commander
named Senior Michailovich Budenny.
His name was written in the song and
story Of the revolution. Military ex-
pertS in Europe were puzzled as to the
identity Of the Red Napoleon" Had
it not been for him and his motley
army of reckless fighters on horseback
there would be no Soviet government
in Russia today.
At time in the late Suninner of 1919
when the end of the red regime seemed
to be a matter of days he came out OF
the steppes of the Kuban region at the
head of ragged army of riders and
struck the enemies of bolshevism. So
fatal was the blow that the whole anti
Soviet structure wsvered and collapsed.
Champions Pedestrians.
Within a year, by the Fall of 1920, he
had annihilated Denikin. driven Wran-
gel into the Black Sea and turned back
deep into Russia. Then he led his
squadrons beyond the boundaries of
the Soviet Union, and before attacking
Lemberg, formerly Austrian Poland, he
stood up on the back of his horse and
spoke to his followers:
We will make war until the prole-
tarians of the world are free!'
In response his army shouted:
"Give us Warsaw! Surrender Berlin"
That was no empty threat. It was
the vague expression of the world revo-
luton which the red leaders promised
the Russian people. Soon the new
leader and his men were hammering
away at the gates of Warsaw, their line
extending toward the German border.
At the head OF his ragged. grotesque
force he moved like a Colossus and cast
a red shadow over Europe.
In the Spring of 1920 Budenny
turned his mobile force and attacked
the Polish armies at Poltava. The Poles
had occupied nearly all OF UkIania, in
GLIDING the capital. Kief. BY the end
of September Of the same year the
Polish dream of an empire stretching
from East Prussia to the Black Sea was
shattered. In November Budenny stood
miles from warsaw, with French and
Polish troops in desperate defense OF
the capital. At this point Trotsky Of
fered peace terms. The Poles accepted.
Caught Lcnin'S Eye.
In that eventful month Of November.
1920, history could have repeated itself
with remarkable precision. The OBJ
scure peasant, Semion Michailovitch
Budenny might have emulated the eX-
ample Of the Corsican who rose from
obscurity to rule France. But the peas
ant, Semion, did not know the Cor
sican's example, although the leaders
in the Krennlin feared that might
But Budenny had no such intentions.
The civil war over, he led ms squad
rons Of freebooters into the Red Square
at Moscow, swore loyalty to the gov
eminent and was about to return 10
the obscurity from which he came. the
Red leaders-TrotSky, then commlsSar
of war, and Lenin, at the head OF the
government-did not permit that. Bu-
denny was now the symbol of revolu-
tionary sacrifice and unexampled hero
ism. He must not go back TO the
village. :,
Lenin put him In command of all
the mounted forces of the Soviet Union
He gave him a free hand in reorganz-
ing that branch of the service and
drew him in close to the government:
come when the government would neeo
Budenny again. The time came within
the last three weeks, with dispatches
from Moscow telling that the Soviet
government had placed Budenny IN
Command of the armies that the union
of republics was mobili5ing for conf1ict
with China.
Budenny FavOrs Cavalry.
Should the present crisis develop
into war, with Budenny In command
of the Russian army. the world Is likely
to see q strong blending Of the military
tactics of the nineteenth century with
some Of the most up-to-date methoos
of warfare. One thing is certainty
the war, should 1t come to that VIII
be fought In 1.-The OPEN" Trench war
fare as employed on the Western front
in France during the World War will
play an insignificant part in the Far
Eastern struggle. 1t will be Chinas
infantry millions against Russian cav
airy supported by . powerful air force.
Budenny favors cavalry action above
all other methods Of warfare. In MS
campaign against Denikin, Wrangel
and the Poles he fiung military science
to the winds. 1t is true, OF course,
that he knew little Of the modern
science and tactics of warfare at that
time. Dash and courage, the Robin
Hood way, were most enective IN the
revolutionary conflict.
Lenin loved Budenny for his ex-
traordinary daring, but he insisted that
the peasant leader should familiarize
himself with the most modern meth
studied the military science OF western
Europe, but he was not converted to It.
except for his recognition Of the value
Of q large air force as an auxiliary TO
cavalry action, led by himself, not by
telephone from the rear, but at the
head of mounted workers and peasants
inspired with the revolutionary ideal.
FOresaw Peace In Far East.
He is one of the few men In high
Office I met in Russia who did not
burst out in a fow of warlike senti-
ments when the possibility of war was
mentioned. He did not deny that such
q possibility existed, but re did not
expect that the danger would come
from the Far East. He was appre.
hensive as to what England might do
In melting the Baltic powers against
his country, but rs to the Chinese peo..