Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-28

GEN. BUDENNY.
and technique, but he was sure the
Soviet Union was uncomfortable.
Here is the way he put 1t:
For every blow aimed as us We have
q counter-blow. Our enemies have
artillery We also have artillery. They
have airplanes. We also have airplanes.
Our infantry is as good and in some
air forces OF our possible enemies are
superior they cannot do US any great
harm. They cannot interfere with
operations on land In Russia. Whatever
we lack in military technique We make
up by other advantages. Our adVer-
SarieS can put in the field millions OF
well trained men. We can put into the
field millions Of inspired men, who viii
know what they are fghting for.
me, strategy foreign power might
conceive for campaign against us can
be carried out in Russia. Let them
come in and they will be smothered
as in huge feather bed. On our own
territory we can overcome any army
that might invade our country, and
beyond the borders of the Union we
do not expect to fight We will not
make war upon our neighbors, and we
will take to arms only when we are
forced to defend ourselves. We have
too much to do to undertake wars Of
aggression. Remember also that i'm
perialiStic wars have no place in the
program of the workers and peasants
republics"
Grips Popular Mind.
What sort of a man Is Budenny?
How did he rise from the drab existence
Of peasant to one Of the highest
N,I@ 49,
facts IN his remarkable career?
While travelling in Russia in the Fall
of 1927 tried to find answers to these
questions. But the truth about the
national hero Of simple. naive people
like the Russians is hard to get from
the people themselves. The embellish-
ments and the legends that make up
the Budenny saga expressions are Of
the longing Of the revolutionary mass
mind for hero. Russian history since
dramatic fgures. there y were indeed
many heroic figures who gave their
lives in the long struggle against alb
Solutism, but none Of them had cap
tured the national imagination.
1t is the man on horseback that grips
the popular mind, and Budenny to the
Russians is the traditional hero; a
peasant, poor but brave, victorious and
just.
So fantastic is the Bundenny saga
that the traveller IN Russia must be
cautious in accepting even simple and
plausible statements from secondary
sources. On that score have been
warned by Budenny himself Conclud-
ing a three-hour interview at his once
in the Revoen-Soviet twar Department.
at znamenka 3. Moscow. he said:
Most Of the things you have heard
about me in your travels and which
you ask me to verify are absolutely
absurd. How. for example could I have
ridden my army 100 miles in ons day?
1t is not true, that's ali; but suppose
1t satisfies the Imagination of the
simple country folk like those of my
village of Polotovsk Ninety-nine per
cent Of the stories about my adventures
have no basis in fact" For this reason
I shall relate some of the facts of his
life as he told them to me himself.
Not even in Russia Is the humble
origin Of Budenny generally known
The country folk sing about Budenny
CosSacks). But Budenny denied even
that. He stated a fact. well known to
me, that no one in old Russia could be-
come CosSack, as Cossacks are q
hereditary caste. "Cossacks are born,
not made" he said. He admitted that
to be CcSsack had been his childhood
dream as it had been the ambition of
most children in old Russia. But that
could never be, as his father was
Voronezh peasant.
Simple and Unaffected Leader.
1t is not difficult to understand why
men followed him. Ito battle, to glory
and to DEATH" as the men of the Kras-
maya Konitsa, red cavalry, sing about
him. The commonplace phrase simple
and unaffected" fits him perfectly. The
sunburn of many years behind the
pillow still is in his cheeks. His blue
eyes look out from a good natured face
that changes expression with the
thoughts that run through his mind.
Hear him talk about the bravery and
devotion of the 'Budennevtsy" tBuden-
ny's men, as his cavalry was lsnown,)
and his face beams with the naive
happiness of a boy. but when he re-
calls that his black colt was stabbed
to death. the fury in his heart is visible
through his eyes
\ Memories of Polotovsk, the suffering
Of the people in the civil war, the death
ofNa comrade in battle, spread melan-
choly over his face and his eyes sink
deep under his forehead. The mention
of possible attack upon Russia on
the part OF its small neighborS curls
his lips In a sardonic smile. "YeS, If
they wish to commit national suicide"
he says calmly. He was IS years old
when I saw him, but there was not
a touch of gray in his soft black hair.
OF medium height, he carries himself
with a quiet dignity and poise. A
Kaiser Wilhelm mouStache makes his
face look stern in q picture, but his
cheeks are cleanly shaver and he Is
IN rnI0fVN -
The story Of his life is the story of
a Cincinnatus, except that In his case
the Red leaders did not permit him to
return to the pillow, but elevated him
to high ONCE In the republic. At the
age of 81, like hundreds Of thousands
of other youths, he was drafted into
the army and assigned to the cavalry.
His native intelligence and alertneSs
won for him q place as orderly to the
general Of the division and the stripes
Of q sergeant. He remained in the
service eight years. Being close to the
divisional commander, he had an OPP
portunity to observe and study the rudi-
ments of military tactics and science.
Upon his discharge he returned home.
Four months after the outbreak of
the World War he was sent to the
German front. There he saw his
mounted comrades led into the Mas
silrian swamps. 1t was Hindenburg's
greatest victory in the war. Budenny
saw how the army was betrayed, de-
feated. In his heart there was help
less rage.
Found Home Had Been Burned.
When the great collapse came in
1917 Budenny was with his regiment
lighting the Turks at Bagdad. When
the news Of the revolution trickled into
that remote corner of Asia Minor Bu-
denny did what several million other
Russian soldiers did at that time; he
left the front without going through
the formality Of being dennobilized.
The armies Of his country were de-