The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-01-21
MEMORIES OF LENIN--
HIS STAY IN FRANCE
Paris Election; THEATRE With
LGfGrgUe, Kart Marr's
SOn-in-L0LU
BY N. X. KRUPsKAYA.

worker. Parts Of the book APP
peared in last Saturdays issue.
The book will be made available
soon by International Publish
ers.)
ALTHOUGH Lenin's thoughts were
n almost entirely taken up with
Russia, he nevertheless made a
careful study of the French labor
movement. At that time the So
cialist Party of France was oppor-
tunistic to the core. For example:
In the spring of 1909, a great strike
of postal employees broke out. The
whole city was in state of excite
ment over the event; but the Party
kept aloof. 1T is the business OF
the trade unions and not ours" the
party leaders said. To us Russians
this division of labor, the Party's
aloofnesS from an economic Strug-
gle, seemed positively monstrous.
FOLLOWED ELECTION
Ilyich paid particular attention
to the election campaign. The
campaign did not seem to concern
immediate political problems; il
was all taken up with persona
pickering and muCual abuse. Only
few of the meetings were inter
esting. At one of them 1 saw
Jaures. He had tremendous influ
ence on the crowd; but 1 did no.
like his speech--every word seemed
to be deliberately chosen. 1 liket
Vaillant's speech much bette.
Valiant had been a fighter in tn
Paris Commune and was particu-
larry loved and esteemed by the
workers. ] can recall the figure
of tall worker who had come to
the meeting straight from work,
with his shirt sleeves rolled up.
This man listened to Valiant with
wrapt attention and suddenly he
exclaimed: Fine speaker, the old
mani" Two young lads, the sons
of this worker, sitting beside him,
were equally enthusiastic. But not
all the orators at the meetings were
Jaureses and Vaillants. The ordi-
nary speakers played down to their
audiences: they spoke in one way
to working class audience and in
another way to an audience of in
tellectuals. BY attending French
election meetings, We got a clear
insight into what elections mean in
democratic republic" To an
outside observer, the thing seemed
simply astonishing. That is why
Ilyich was so fond Of the revolu-
tionary music-hall singers who
poured ridicule on the election
campaign. 1 remember one song
which described how candidate
goes to village to canvass for
votes; he drinks with the peasants,
tells them lot of cock and-buII
stories, and when the peasants are
drunk they vote for him and sing
"T'as ben dit mon gal" (What you
say is true, ladD. After having got
the peasants votes, the candidate
begins to draw his $1,000 francs
salary as deputy, and betrays the
interests of the peasants. On one
occasion a Socialist member OF the
Chamber of Deputies named Dumas
came to visit us and related to us
how he went around the villages
during the election to canvass for
votes and umvoluntarily called to
mind that music-hall song. One
OF the most popular music-hal
singers of that time was Montagus,
the son of fighter in the Paris
Commune:
fLYICH was fond of visiting the
4 suburban theatres, and OF watch
ing the working-class audiences
there. I remember on one occasion
we went to see a play which de-
picted the tortures of soldiers in
penal battalion in Morocco. It was
most interesting to watch the audi
ence. They we're quick to respond
to every incident. The perform
ance had not yet begun. Suddenly
shouts went up from all over the
theatre: Hiatt Haiti" This out
burst was caused by the entry of a
lady wearing a fashionable hat
trimmed with feathers. The audi
ence demanded that the lady re-
move her hat and she was obliged
to submit. The performance began.
In the play q soldier is sent to Mo-
rocco and his mother and sister re-
main at home in poverty. The
landlord of the house in which they
live is willing to allow them to live
there without paying the rent If
the soldiers sister agrees to be-
come his mistress. "Brutel Dirty
dog!" was shouted from ali parts
of the hall. have forgotten all the
details Of the play, but remember
that 1t depicts how the soldiers who
do not submit to the officers are
tortured in Morocco. 1t ended with
a mutiny and the singing of the
Internationale. The performance
of this play was prohibited in the
center of the city; but in the sub
urbs it was performed to enthusi-
astic audiences. In 1910 huge
demonstration took place in which
about 100000 persons took part, to
protest against the Morocco adven-
ture.
rHE LAFARGUES
Through Charles Rappaport, Via
dinir Ilyich was introduced to Paul
Lafargue, son-in-law Of Karl
Marx, a true and tried fighter of
whom Ilyich had very high opin-
ion. Lafargue and his wife, Laura,
Marks daughter, lived in Dravelle,
about Is kilometers from Paris.
They had already retired from ac-
tive work. One day, Ilyich and I
cycIed to Dravelle to visit the La
farr1fes They received lis very