Evening star., 1937-06-20
By CONSTANTINE BROWN


celleries once more are turn
ing An anxious eye toward eastern
Europe, where they see a connection
between the speech Hitler is making
from the castle Of Marienburg-the
cradle Of Teutonism-and the exc
cutions which took place last week
behind the walls Of the grim Kremlin.
Field Marshal Tukhatchevsky was
considered in Russia, and abroad, the
outstanding military leader of the
republic. Belonging to the small
nobility. he was a guards cavalry
omcer during the World War. Made
prisoner by the Germans, he made
six attempts to escape the prison
camps; succeeded on the seventh and
got into Moscow, haggard, hungry and
unshaven, in the midst OF the April
BoShevist revolution which overthrew
kerensky. He joined the Red Army
With enthusiasm. His short career in
the Imperial army. where he saw so
much rotteness ond corruption, had
made him revolutionary in the
early days Of the war His promotion
from a company commander to the
highest rank in the Red Army was
rapid and we'll deserved In Germany
he was spoken of as the one man to
be feared in the event OF Russo
German conflict. His knowledge of
modern strategy and his hold on the
men under his command were remark
able. His career was finished before
he reached his 45th birthday ami
versary.
Gen. Uborevitch. another traitor
to his country. according to the
ofncial reports, was scheduled to be-
. come chief of staff of the Red Armies
IN the event of a war, in which
Tukhatchevsky would have been COM
mander-ln-chi He, too, came from
the old czarist army and had reached
at the age of 40, the Soviet rank
corresponding to that of a major
general. Disguised with the methods
OF the czarist generals, he embraced
Lenin's cause at an early moment
During the peasants uprising in CEN
tral Russia he displayed such courage
and initiative that he was commended
by Lenin personally. A string of
medals for bravery adorned his chest
when top sergeant stripped him Of
all insignia OF rank and honor last
Sunday.
Yakir 4 Political General.
Gen. Yakir was a political general.
He also had just passed the fortieth
milestone Of his life. He had never
learned the military art in special
schools. His strong communistic con-
Victions, his fanatic enthusiasm for the
cause and his personal courage
brought him to the top of the ladder.
He had been twice wounded in the
Polish campaign.
The other generals who faced the
firing squad were equally young, and
supposedly ardent followers of Lenin's
political and social philosophy.
In country like the Soviet Republic
there Is no such thing as favoritism
and nepotism. A man to reach high
rank must do so by his own merits.
The men undoubtedly were guilty of
high treason-that is to say, they gave
information to potential enemies of
the republic. Yet none Of them, so far
as Is known, did this because of the
desire for money. They had no need
for it. The army has been the privi-
legged child Of the Soviets from the
beginning. At time when the popu-
lation was starving, when a cake of
soap or pair OF woolen socks was at
. premium, the Soviet soldiers-high.
and low-were well fed, well clad, and
well taken care of. When the time
came to change the pay system from
4 uniform salary to salary in accord
ance with the responsibility OF the in
dividual the army was the first to
benefit. And when the honor system
was re-introduced, the comrades
officers became colonels, generals
and field marshals. Hence there
could be no desire for better
and more luxurious living which
prompted these men to lend them
selves to becoming the informing
agents Of the German and the jap
anese general stats. 1t was not a
desire for material gains which de-
termined these men, and those who
had preceded them before the firing
squad, to destroy war materials and
sabotage the all important and still
ef1cient Soviet communications
system.
Evidence Is Circumstantial.
Until the Kremlin decides to take
the rest of the world into its con-
ndence and tell exactly what these
men said when the proofs of their
treason were placed before their eyes
the only explanation which can be
given must be based on circumstantial
evidence.
Last Summer, while discussing the
possibilities OF German Russian war
with q number Of responsible people
In Berlin, this writer was told that
there was much rottenness in the
Soviet Republic. These Germans as
serted that the COLOSSUS on clay feet"
as the U. S. S. r. is described, was
suffering intensely from disaffection
within its own ranks. These did not
come to the surface until Moscow be-
gan its spectacular high treason trials
But they were known in Berlin and
probably in Toxic. too, because these
two capitals had been directly in
volved in the undermining of the
Soviet power from within. Agents
long before had approached men in
key positions and had won them to
their side. They did not, however,
play on the human greed for material
advantages, but on the fanaticism of
these soldiers and politicians who were
brought up In the purist theory Of
Lenin's and Trotzky's doctrines. The
purists are alarmed at the tendencies
Of Stain and his followers to trans
form the first Communist state In the
world into a semi-bourgeois state.
State socialism, as it now exists in
Germany and Italy, is not compatible
with communism; and state socialism
seems to be the ultimate aim Of the