The Washington times., 1936-06-08
By RAouL LAsZLo.RUDOLF

thTotD ertStt71g governments ana
con1n1unize the tDorld.
BY RAOUL LASZLO-RUDOLF
The Soviet environment finally
became unbearable, and there be-
gan an exodus of Communists who
had flocked to the U. S. s. r. in
high hopes.
These erstwhile revolutioniStS
were now returning to their native
capitalist countries bitterly diSil-
lustioned and crushed in spirit.
Many of these were foreigners
who in their native lands had
fought the police, had spent many
years in capitalist prisons, and
had even risked their lives on the
battlefields.
There were some who had lost
either an arm or leg or an eye
in clashes for the revolutionary
cause in which they believed.
Know Many Fighters
I knew a number of "Schutz-
bundlers' who in February, 1884,
had participated in the historic
battle against the Austrian Fascist
government. During the first two
or three months Of their stay in
the U. S. S. r., they were shown
round the country, they received
money, food and all privileges, in
cluding quarters in the best rest
homes.
But as soon as they got
acquainted with the everyday life
of the common people, when they
started to work, one after the
other said to me:
"It is simply unbelievable that
We had risked our lives, that
many of our comrades had died,
for thiS!"
Two of the "SchutzbundlerS"
went to the Austrian Embassy in
Moscow and asked to return home,
stating that they preferred prison
in Austria to live in the U. s. S. r.
The assassination of Kirov, like
a flash of lightning, showed some
aspects Of this situation to the
world. In Leningrad, where I
lived in those days, the peasants
in the markets said almost openly:
Nov, at last, some courage
Gus man has extermfnated a
leading member Of those who
OppreSS the people"
KILLING A CHANCE
Others commented:
"It is just q chance that
KirOv was the victim. Ger
tainly they would have preferred
that it should be Stain, but he
is guarded too WE'LL"
The numerous conversations
which I had in those days in
Leningrad as well as in Moscow,
where I had gone to attend the
funeral of Kirov, showed clearly
that both the masses and the
leaders of the Communist Party
understood perfectly that this
assassination was an explosion Of
the growing dissatisfaction of the
population.
In this situation, my final de-
cision to leave the U. S. S. r. took
definite form. I remembered my
last holidays spent in August, 1884,
in a militarized camp in the eau
casuS. While the government
spent considerable sums for the
instructors who gave military edu-
cation to boys and girls from IL
to is years old, there was no bread
in the village.
Hard to Leave
I saw all this. Nevertheless, It
was not so easy for me to leave
the country. I had come to the
U. S. s. r. full of hope, believing
to find-not paradise, but the un-
miStakable signs of development
towards a better social order.
And what did I find after my
experiences of 80 months? In
stead of Socialist enthusiasm" I
found indifference and bureaucrat-
ism, ruthless selfishness. the right
of might.
Instead of Classics society,""
found social caste system grow
ing from day to day.
And, what was most important,
I came to the conviction that
these difficulties and shortcom.
ings were by no means difficulties
of growth"
These three years of thorough
investigation convinced me that
they were typical n.aladies Of the
system, caused and developed by
its own wrong methods.
From the material point Of
view, I had everything to lose. I
lived on the level of the new
aristocracy," far above that of
the masses. I had brilliant fu-
ture before me, if had been pre-
pared to simulate enthusiasm"
for policy of which I could not
approve.
Couldn't Sell Self
But I could not sell myself. I
could not forget all those, who,
under the influence of skillful
propaganda, believe Soviet Russia
to be a paradise. I thought of
those who-alaS, in vain-suffered
and died for this idea.
could not be coward. I
recognized that it was my duty to
society to say to everybody that
1t would be a crime to sacrifice
even a single life for the establish
ment of an order such as the
Bolshevik system is, an order built
on a mountain of corpses. This
mountain, 18 years after the most