Evening star., 1937-07-24

mas Deen shocked and astounded.
Mr.. Wilson does not agree with Mrs.
Gerould, however, in feeling that tho
English people have great sympathy
with this bitter wrath against their
former King.
1t Is not mass hatred" he savs.
that is concentrated against Edward.
1t Is class hatred. 1t Is the privileged
few, not the people as whole. who
are determined that he shall be
hounded out OF society as a 'pariah.'"
He Is in accord with her, however,
in declaring that British prestige in
America has not been helped by tho
unjust treatment heaped on Edward.
Millions of Americans have MI
grated to this country from a back
ground OF oppression. They and their
children are sensitive over what they
consider to be an unfair use Of au-
thorlty against any individual who
insists on being himself Britons also
are beginning to talk that way. They
also see in Edward a symbol of the
individual and his right to be him.
self"
THERE is some significance, surely,
in the fact that two articles ap-
pear simultaneously on this subject,
treating 1t in essentially the same
| manner. But it is not a wonder.
Edward was the most popular man in
the world, and that on the basis of his
personal quality. No matter how his
own people react, the world could not
stand by without word while, as
Mrs. Gerould puts it. his enemies,
| after they had got him down -
kicked him, not once, but many times
kicked him over a period OF
months, and, as far as We know -
have not yet got through kicking
him" 1t is too much against any
warm human nature.
WITH two books on Russia reviewed
on this page, the reviewer feels
that mention should also be made Of
two magazine articles on that coun-
try which appear this month. Both
are in the Atlantic Monthly. They
are grouped together under the title
Crisis in Russia" The first, by
Wickham Steed, bears the subtitle
THE Long View" and the second, by
William ResWick that Of The Human
Equation" Together they make up .
very considerable portion of the At
lantic for the month.
Mr.. Steed considers the inferences to
be drawn from the recent Soviet trials
and comes to the conclusion that
there are deeply interesting possi-
bllltleS in those ordeals which have
not yet been fully brought out. He
suggests that Stain, since the murder
OF his close friend Kirov, has been
obsessed by fears of assassination, and
that he adopted the purge of the
1TotSkyltes' as a means of removing
enemies who might treat him as Rus
sian reyolutionaries have customarily
treated those in power. This u
fairly simple possibility.
A somewhat more complicated one
which he takes up is that NaA Ger
many, realizing that the internal sit
uauon in Russia has for some time
been one Of delicate balance. has un-
dertaken to Wreak havoc among the
Communists by giving every possible
aid to TrotSkyites among them, lust
as IN 1917 the German Imperial Gov
eminent sent Lenin in to wreak havoc
with Czarist politics. This is 4 hu-
| morous speculation, certainly, II one
looks at it from detached point of
VleW-the engineer hoist by his own
petard Is always comic. II, however,
one sees Trotsky or his adherents
| made the agents of Nazi dictatorship
TO destroy the workers state, why, it
becomes just a little too ironical. 1t
cloys the palate. 1t is an exaggeration
OF the comedy, if you please.
Yet Mr.. Steed points out that rrot-
sky must feel degree of bitterness at
his treatment by Stain; that he sin
cereIy believes that Stain has be-
trayed the original aims of the revolu-
| tlon, and that the technique Of &C
ceptlng foreign assistance would be bv
no means an innovation in revolution
ary practice. And so, he says, this
might be the case.
THE second article THE Human
Equation" takes up the question
as to why Stain suddenly revived
the old specter of Trotskysm. 10
years after Trotsky had gone into
exile, and insisted that the menace
was so acute that some of the most
honored veterans OF the Bolshevik
party must be condemned to death
IN order to lay it, as he did In the
recent trials.
Mr.. ReSWlck suggests two answers.
One is that Stain feared to put his
own popularity to test in the ballotinp
promised by the new constitution. and
preferred to remove any possible rivals
by legal assassination before the con-
stitution should come into effect. The
other is that, because of conditions
IN Spain, he believed that war was
impending, and that he ought to
crush any international Trotskyist
party as movement OF defense to
his own regime. Neither is a verv
pretty solution of the puzzle, but then
the puzzle is not pretty one either.
And one does not envy Stain his
place today.
The reviewer, for her part Is re-
minded of passage in Edna st. Vim
cent Millays book, Conversation at
Midnight treviewed on this page).
IN which one of the characters saws
that the enemies Of communism have
begun at last to drive an effective
wedge into party ranks, and that
that wedge is Trotsky. His wrongs
will divide the bolsheviks as no other
cause might, And from division will
come weakness Well, there it is. No
one seems to understand just what 1t
is about. But all agree that 1t n
tremendously serious.