Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-19
yContmued Prom Faru. Paes.Y

he certainly does not lack other things
He has the clear, sane common sense d
o "shfewd peasant" It long since hnl
become an unavoidable banAlity X
mention that stain means, IN RUS.
sian, ''Inan Of STEEL Indeed. thil
Georgian has an iron character. ne 1.
made Of the stun Of which dictators
main thing--he has an unquenehAhle
thirst for power: his whole lie was, !.
and apparently VIII Be . continuous
effort to conquer.
Stain the Son Of Peer CoNbler.
Stain Is the son Of q poor cohbler In
THIS (the Caucasus: he grew up IN
misery and darkness; he learned 10
hate IN early childhood. In 1898. when
he was 10, he was elected from the
seminary for "subversive ideas" In the
same year he secretly joined the Rus
sian Social-D Democratic party. When
this party split into two groups-the
moderate ''Mensheviks" and the ire
concileble "Bolsheviks" headed by Lenin
--he Immediately sided with the latter.
And he took an active part in the
unsuccessful revolution of 1905.
Apparently the seCretive young man
burned with the will to become q Boil
shevist leader; yet he remained but an
insignificant wheel in the Balshevist
machinery. And how could it be other
wise? He knew the Scriptures" (Karl
Marz), but otherwise his outlook was
confined to the garbage pals of life,
TO the lower depths" Besides, he was
unpopular, even among his comrades.
Those who knew him then describe him
as q little Georgian, repulsively dirty
and tattered, frowning and wild. spit
ting ire and cursing at the slightest
provocation. People shrank from him
in instructive fear. Yet 1t was at that
moment that fate Unexpectedly smiled
to him.
Drained by the unsuccessful revolu-
ton, the Bolshevist treasury was empty.
Lenm realized that unless it was re-
pleniShed the struggle with Czarisrn
could not continue. With his typical
lirscrupulousness call is permitted for
the sake Of the cause"), he resorted to
number OF most adventurous "finan-
ciap' operations, including even the
(unsucceSsfuD printing of counterfeit
money in Germany The late L.
Martov, an outstanding Russian So
cialist and q former friend of Lenin.
described In detail this interesting
attempt in his article entitled "The
mysterious Stranger" ('Tainstvenny
Neznakometz'O, In "Sotzialistichesky
= 4bAG11n1l
Berlin, In 1922. Yet the main means
OF raising funds which Lenin Invented
ana which he boldly defended from the
criticism OF the squeamish ''Menshe-
viks" in his pamphlets printed abroad
Sand now reprinted in Volume VII of
MS collected works. were "expropria-
tions'-that Is to say, banditry.
Heads BoIshevist Fighting Squad.n
Apparently Stain understood what a
chance It was. He always was fearless.
And ne seized the opportunity. He be-
came the leader Of the Bolshevist
ngntlng squad" in the Caucasus.
During there two years Cfronn lo0e
20 1909, Stain soaked himself IN blood
lAvishly. With the quickriess of iieht-
ning men Of the lighting squad broke
INTO Russian and Armenian Stores
piundered them and disappeared, ffrfnR
revolver shots, leaving dead bodies
pennd them; on picturesque nounfaiy,
roaos they attacked mail coaches and
ricn trayeleEs; they raided private
But the masterpiece of Stains
ssn0aeity was q holdap in Tiflis IN june.
Svvt ~ created sensation through.
On that morning two carriages. sur
rounded BY convoy Of mounted Cos
s ss' started from the treasury to the
ssate bank. They were transporting
SoO,OOO Cor, according to other informao
uon. S41 ,OO0) roubles received for ad-
mlnlsua6ive needs from st. Petersburg
as the cortege was nearing the vicerov's
palace several bombs were whirled at
" ana terrific explosions shook the air.
Inc square was plunged into chaos
enatsered window paneS the smoke, the
gIoanlng, bleeding mass of mutilated
mixed. Meanwhile some men were fir-
ing revolver shots at the SURVIVING
GUARDS, and man disguised as an ON.
Ger saatched something from the debris
OF one OF the carriages and Ralloped
away in cab.
It was Stain who planned and d.
Fected this hold-up. The bombs he re-
Ceiveu from Lentn, who then was hiding
N Finland. It was to Lenin, too, that
ne conveyed the money thus canned"
Lenin forwarded 1t to Paris, to Maxim
LhtVlnov lnow peoples comnissar for
foreign af7airs), who converted II inio
foreign ctlrrencies. Let it be added that
Ienins and Letvinov's role in this af-
Iar Is now no longer dissimulated by
6olSnev1St authorities 1t was described
thus In s. Medvyedeva's book. "a Hero
% Revolution" which was published in
Moscow In 1925.
Promoted TO Rank Of General.
Naturally these services rendered TO
the party Immediately promoted Stain
TO the role OF one Of its generals. He
became Lenin's right hand. His imme-
uiate purpose was attained.
What Is striking is this: Between
1908 and 1913 Stain was arrested six
times and exiled Ito Eastern Siberia.
70 Vologda, etc). But he was exiled
Tor strikes, for "instigation to disorder
and other trifling matters.
No matter how well the imperial DO
lice worked, the Georgian. with his in
Irritable genius Of conspiracy, outwitted
1t. 1t never learned that it was he who
was the organizer Of terroristic acts in
the Caucasus! (Otherwise he naturally
would have been hung.) Moreover, he
nniraculously managed to flee from five
OF these exiles month or two after he
arrived there (from the sixth he was
liberated by the revolution Of Isi7)
Indeed, with the fiuidity Of a snake he
wriggled, slipped out Of his enemies
hands and stung again.
Looking at the calm, shrewdly smil-
Ing face Of RuSsia's dictator, who would
think Of his past? Yet he Is the
product of these days Of loanditry, when
he daily gambled with his life, when
the metal that Is in him was definitely
stamped.
Having risen to power, some Of Rus
sia's new rulers display great greed for
"life's joys" Suffice it to say that
Soviet citizens long since have rebap-
tiled vodka into "RykoVka,' after the
name Of A. Roykov, Russia's premier,
and that the girl stenographers Of an
other leading Communist have been a
subject Of general gossip in Moscow.
CIassed as Having No Vices.
Unlike his colleagues, Stain literally
has no vices. He neither drinks nor
CANDLES nor runs after women. More
over, his high boots and simple military
f1lnic ara M decoration He has ftilIv