Evening star., 1937-05-30
BY F. BRITTEN AUSTIN.

BY F. BRITTEN AUSTIN.
r Y1TLER, Mussolini. Stalin-and
Of these three the most i'm
portant Is beyond doubt,
L L Stain. He despotically rules
65.0000 900 Russians, and through his
autocratic control OF the Communist
party machine-of which the Komin-
tern is the export department-he
exercises an immense influence in
every other country of the world.
At word from Moscow-Stalin's
word-not merely the Official Com
munist parties abroad Gall de-
| liberately kept absurdly small but the
vast welter Of obScurely linked left
wing organizations and groups, swing
into line and open up their batteries.
Stain denounces Trotzky as
| traitor to the revolution, and shoots
the principal survivors of those who
engineered the reyolution-men who
but yesterday were the idols of every
red and pink in every country-and
instantly, in London. Paris, New York,
Mexico and wherenot, practically the
/ entire leftWing shouts approval.
"Trotzkyist" is now almost a worse
term of abuse than Fascist" II
tomorrow Stain we're to denounce
Lenin as the arbitrator to the cause
OF revolution, the docile chorus would
promptly vituperate Lenin with the
same worldwide unanimity Such is
the power Of the machine
Which is not to say that in every
| country a large proportion OF those
who are genuine Socialist idealists,
and were until recently fervent ad-
mirers Of the Soviet regime. do not
equally denounce Stain. They do,
with impotent vehemence. They ac-
cuse him quite simply of having
sabotaged the revolution. They agree
with Trotzky.
Expelled From Seminary.
The basic fact in the problem of
DZugashvili, alias Stain, is that he
Is not Russian, but Georgian. And
he is not the typical wordily-romantic
Georgian but, at least on one side, an
Osset-allegedly the defendants Of the
ancient Scythians, one of the ethno-
logical remnants surviving in the
Caucasus. Son Of a poor cobbler. he
was born near Tiflis in 1879. The
family moved to Tifiis in his early
boyhood, and he Immediately became
prominent in one OF the gangs Of
quasi-criminal young ruf1ians terror
lzlng that patchwork capital. Perhaps
in the hope OF reform, at IS he was
sent to the Theological Seminary-a
hotbed of secret subversives. At le
he was expelled for revolutionary
activities.
From that moment his career was
uniquely that OF professional revo-
lutionary, and specifically the strong
arm" man. When, in 1908, the Social
Democratic party split. Dzugashvili-
still in Georgia and not until much
later acquainted with Lenin-joined
the Bolshevik faction
In the following years the outlaw
Bolshevik party subsisted chiefly on
appropriation" were merely
gangster hol- ups and robberies, and
as such denounced by all the other
revolutionaries.
Dzugashvili, taking the nom-de-
guerre of Stain, was the chief
"expropriator" of the Caucasus. Until
1917 he was in fact local brigand
chief-of legendary cunning and
courage-who brought off the most
sensational exploits and faithfully
remitted the booty to the party. His
desperadoes, most of them revolution
aries" only by courtesy, feared and
adored him. He was no doctrinaire.
He took Lenin's word for doctrine.
He was a man Of action, who, could
keep gang in order.
Lenin Repented Of Choice.
In the first years Of the revolution
conspicuous lieutenants; but in the
civil war, Stalinists allege, it was his
ruthless drive which energized Trotzky.
In 1921, Lenin made him secretary
general of the Communist party-the
head of the great new machine by
which Russia was ruled. Before
Lenin died in 1924 he repented of that
SAASASS. oGdlAA "oo WV POWC1Aul nllu
too ambitious. In his will Lenin bade
the party remove Stain from the job.
But Lenin was dead, and Stain had
his hands on the levers of control.
Trotzky disputed that control. and
Stain won. The man of words had
no chance against the ex-brigand
chief, the man of deeds.
Whatever vague doctrines Stain
privately holds, his effective purpose
Is quite clear He, Georgian, rules
Russia as the Russian cars ruled
Georgia. His empire must be in
dependent of the outside world.
Therefore Russia was industrialized-
the first and second five-year plans
and the food-producing peasants
reduced again to landless serfs: in
polite Soviet jargon, "collectivized."
Any one, important or not, who objects
Is accused Of deviation from the
party line" which the secretary
general of the Communist party is
alone competent to interpret, and
"liquidated."
Stain has built the biggest war
machine the world has ever seen.
Five years ago. talk Of patriotism"
would have sent any Russian, theo.
retically all international" to the
dEins party. Today ths loud speakers