Evening star., 1937-08-01

~ ME more llle puUllC plOScCu-
tor and the executioner are
kept busy IN the Soviet Union
~ During these two last months
there must even have been days when
they were working overtime.
This, in itself is neither surprising
nor new. In a sense. all of the 30
year history of the Soviet regime. born
in blood and reared on blood, may be
measured by mass executions.
The present wave of terrorism orig
mated year ago with the trial and
execution of Znoviev, Kamenev and
their IL "accompliCes' for TrotzkylSm.
"wreCking activities and plotting
in favor of Germany and Japan It
progressed through a series of other
mass trials on the same charges and
last June reached a new high with
the shooting of eight Red army gen.
erals and the arrest of hundreds tif
not thousands) of other ''plotters,"
There is a striking new feature
which sharply dlfferentiates this wave
of executions from all earlier Soviet
blood-lettlngs.'
Consider the selection of victims.
All of those whom the terror struck
before August, 1886, had this in COM
mon: justly or unjustly, they were
regarded as great or small. active or
passive anti -Bolsheviks and counter
revolutionists Practically no Com
p,,piSYS and certa iplv No o,,tct q pdipC
members of the party ever were exc
cuted. Joseph Stain strictly ablded
by the rule laid down by Lenin
Should some of the comrades err,
rebuke them or divest them of all
authority, but never shed their blood :;
reserve that last method for the
other camp alone
But since last August it has been a
different story. Among the victims
Of these last u months, the great ma
jorlty have been real Communists
and extremely ardent Communists, at
that, Some 36 or 81 of the oldest
and most illustrious members of the
Central Committee of the Communist
party-that is to say, good section
of the party's social register have
been shot or jailed!
Lenin Lieutenant Victim.
Zinoviev, for example-the oldest
and closest of Lenin's lieutenants
Yagoda, for six years chief of the
O. G. P. Ia man before whom all
Russia trembled. Marshal Tukha-
chevsky. famous military leader who
was vice commlSsar of defense-and
who won many notable victories for
the Reds over the Whites" and the
Poles in the early days of the Soviet
Indeed. IT, a couple of years ago.
in a wild and impossible dream of
vengeance. a rabid counter revolution
ist had had his choice of Communists
whom he would wish to see eliminated
he would have picked exactly those
men!
For all Of these men were frst-rank
makers of bolshevism, of its doctrine
and of the Soviet revolution. In the
wake of these first-magnitude stars
fell hundreds of thousands of their
minor lieutenants, from popular So
Wet writer's to important and unim-
portant provincial officials.
Facts speak for themselves. DELHI
eratelv and Systematically. with typi-
cal ruthleSSneSs, Joseph Stain, Rus
sia's dictator and unrivaled boss of
the Communist party, is eliminating
and exterminating the personnel of a
very important section of his own
party. Why?
Most observers agree that the Off
cial charges against the traitors" re-
peated without the slightest variation
in one mass trial after another, were
false.
Theoretically it is not impossible
that among these thousands of men,
the Soviets-perhaps to their own sur
prise-really fell upon a foreign spy
or two
But to believe that inveterate Com
munists and internationalists who all
their lives had hated with the bitter
est Of hatreds all that which Hitler
or the japanese patriots stand forte
believe that such men could suddenly
have gone pro-Nazi or pro-Japanese
| is to ignore all human psychology and
logic. And to presume for moment
that they were so extremely stupid as
to dream that they could separate
| the Ukraine or Vladivostok from Rus
sia by the childish means of wrecking
a factory or derailing few trains is
equally ridiculous. The abjectly do.
cile. suicidal confessions" of the
TRAITORS s''-Which bear all the ear.
marks of ntimidation-and an almos
complete absence of other evidence
against them fully confirm ones i'm.
preston that these trials were but E
comedy, and a poorly staged comedy
at that.
| Real Reason for Terrorism.
No, the real reason for Stalinl
campaign Of terror in Russia obviously
is to be sought elsewhere. Nor is i
| difficult for one who is able to grasl
the general trend of Soviet life tt
find it.
The latest mass trials are but J,
| chapter-although undoubtedly yer,
important one-in the momentou!
process of the Soviet Unions trans
formation from an internationalisti
cally Communist into a nationalist
cally Fascist state This process ha
been going on for about four year
and is now approaching its final stage
In 1882 and 1888 Stain and hi
lieutenants found themselves con
fronted with a new and alarmin,
depression ridden post war worl,
which heretofore, in answer to sub
versive speeches broadcast from Mos
COW, meekly babbled paciflsm, ther
suddenly arose two very real an
earnest threats to Russia's territory
the threat of Nazi Germany covetous