The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-01-19
BY YAROSLAVSKY.

MANI tHlHgS Will lie written ana
:" many thousands of people will
talk of Lenin, of his doings, his
words, and his deeds. But even
those who never met I,enin, who
never saw him or spoke with him,
who never had any direct contact
with him, felt his power. What was
the secret of his influence which was
felt in the most out-of- the-way cor
ners of the earth? 1t was that Len
in managed to be a really great
leader and at the same time to re-
main a simple, comprehensive man,
kin to the most ignorant peasant and
the most backward worker.
He was extraordinarily simple in
everything he did. When Lenin
spoke to the workers or peasants,
his speech was not beyond the scope
of the vocabulary of the mujhik and
the worker. He spoke a simple
language, without strain or affecta-
ton, and it always seemed to the
workers and peasants that Lenin
guessed their thoughts, that he was
speaking of that which they them
selves were thinking.
Wherein lies the secret of this
tremendous influence over the work
ers and peasants? 1t lies in the
fact that Lenin knew how to listen
to the voice of the workers and
| peasants. The Mensheviks have fire.
quently remarked that Lenin knew
how to issue very simple slogans
which the people were capable of
understanding. This, in fact, was
one of Lenin's strong points: he
knew how to select simple and
comprehensive slogan which united
millions of people, comprehensive
call for clearly defined purpose.
From conversation with individual
workers, from chance talks with
peasant men AMI peasant women,
Lenin was able to guess, to sense
what the people were thinking,
what interested them and what
troubled them. In order to under
stand such people he would some
times speak for hours with the six
teen-year-old son of the worker,
Emelyanov, who was an anarchist,
and regarded himself as being more
left than Lenin. From converse
ton with Finnish peasant woman,
who said that there was no need to
fear certain mSn with rifle, be-
cause that man with the rifle was
Red Guard, Lenin sensed how the
peasantry regarded the Red Guard
How often did workers and peasants
come to Moscow in their great need
They knew that if they got to Len
in" if they wrote to him, Lenir
would do something. He would listen
to them and would help them. When
Lenin spoke to the workers and
peasants, they felt that he was
speaking from his heart, that he
was laying before them his intimate
thoughts and ideas.
But surprising all this, was Len
ms extraordinary modesty. Those
who know how he lived abroad must
admit that in Soviet Russia, wher
he became president Of that vast
Soviet Republic, one-sixth. of the
territory Of the globe, when he was
chairman of the Council of Peoples
Commissars, he lived in the same
simple manner, a simplicity with
which no president of any other re
public lives or has ever lived.
In his apartment In the Kremlir
the most extreme simplicity pre-
vailed. Lenin lived just like .
skilled, comparatively better pait
worker. A simple oilcloth covered
the table, the dining room was small
and narrow, with plain flower pot'
on the window-sills. The bedroom
was severe, without decoration o.
any kind and the blankets wer,
plain, almost like soldiers blankets
The same simplicity was maintained
in his clothing. Lenin was often Il
be seen with patched boots ant
threadbare jacket. He was not con
tent with talking Of economy; HI
was sparing Of every kopeck Of II!