Evening star., 1937-12-29
bUKHAR|N HELD
STAIN VICTIM
Former Member of Soviet
Diplomatic Staff Believes
Editor Was Executed.

hdrtn, FORMER chFJ edttOT OF the
Moscotp newspaper Ispestid, has
been secretly executed is expressed
here by former member OF the
Soviet diplomatic stat. The writer
recently resigned his post as
Charge d'A1aires at Athens,
Greece, and fed to Paris, fearing
tor his life.
BY ALEXANDRA BAARMINE.
PARIS, Dec. 20 (N.A.NA).-I am
now convinced that Nikolai Bukharin,
former chief editor of the newspaper
1zvestia. is among those who have
been executed by Stain. Although
no official announcement of his death
has ever been made, there is no doubt
IN my mind, or in that Of any one
else who knows the situation in Rus
sia. that he has been killed.
Even Stain. however, has not yet
dared to avow his crime. His victim
was too big. for Bukharin was un-
doubtedly, after Lenin and Trotsky,
the best brain among the bolshevik
leaders and was indicated by Lenin
in his will as one of two Of his
eventual successors.
All signs and indications, however,
point to the inevitable conclusion that
Bukharin has incurred the same fate
as George Piatakov, Gregory Zinoviev
and Leo Kamenev. Very soon after
tho campaign against traitors and
enemies of the people" began, one
found in Soviet newspapers the de-
scription "Trotskyist spies" replaced
by the more up-to-date phrase '"Trot-
skyist- spies" The whole
press began soon to affirm that the
Bukharinists were the more danger
Gus Of the two. Public opinion had
10 be prepared for q new crime.
Leaves No Doubt to Fate.
In the November issue, of the re-
view. Soviet Justice" which Is the
official organ Of the ministry of justice,
an editorial article, probably by Andrei
Vishinsky, Soviet prosecutor, con-
tanned these sinister, calculated words:
Soviet Justice has brought to the
execution post desperate series Of
inveterate and hardened criminals
which began with Pourichkevitch and
Krasnov and finished with Zinoviev,
Kamenev, Tukhachevsky and others"
To that list was the added comment
that among these the Bukharinists
have been revealed as the most dan
serous."
This passage, appearing where it
did, leaves no doubt that Bukharin
was assassinated without trial.
by announcing the news indirectly,
two objects were being served. First,
1t was intended to get public opinion
and conscience acquainted with the
fact that the crime already had been
committed, and, secondly. it was
thought to neutralize Indignation and
revolt by permitting a feeble hope
that perhaps Bukharin was still alive.
That hope can be abandoned. AS
In the cases of Leo M. Karakhan and
Avel Yenukidze. announcement that
Bukharin, Alexei Rykov and Y. E.
Rudzutak have been executed after a
secret trial may be expected when
the necessary work of psychological
preparation has been done.
Anticipated His Fate.
That Bukharin anticipated his fate
probably before the others of the old
guard is likely. At his last meeting with
Kamenev, before the latter was ar
rested. he said: I'VE are all lost. This
monster, this sinister Genghis Khan.
will strangle us. If We resist, he will
crush us; if We submit, he will pick
US off one after another"
That prophecy has proved only too
true. Bukharin was dismissed from
the post of director of Izvestia and
arrested with Rykov some days after
the trial Of Piatakov and Karl Radek.
AS they still were members of the
Central Committee Of the party, Buk-
harm and Rykov were called before
q full meeting last February. They
refused, in spite Of pressure, to con-
fess the absurd crimes which were
imputed to them.
It is said that at the close of the
meeting which was fierce and noisy,
Rykov broke down and wept. Buk-
harin not only defended himself, he
accused. For few minutes he seemed
about to carry the meeting with him,
when Stain shouted. Take them back
to prison! Let them defend them
selves there" Their fate was then
sealed. They could no more come out
alive.
Case Of Dybetz Characteristic.
To understand the extent to which
hate and evidence" can be carried,
the case Of Dybetz is very character
istic. Dybetz was my close friend
During nearly 10 years he was head
Of the Russian automobile industry
and well known to Americans as the
chief constructor of the Ford factory
at Cork and later when he visited
America and, while buying great
quantities Of American machinery, en-
gagged also hundreds Of American
engineers and mechanics for work in
Russia.
When the campaign against Buk-
HARM began, Dybetz became a marked
man. Finally it was found that, in
1920. when Bukharin was secretary
Of the Central Committee, it was he
who recommended Dybetz as a good
revolutionary for inclusion in the
party. As soon as this damning evi-
dence was discovered. Dybetz was
dismissed from his post as an enemy
Of the people and Bukharinist ban
dit" Soon he was arrested and since
then has disappeared.
Those who seek to understand all
this tremendous drama should never
forget that Stain has an Asiatic
mind. He has never been outside
Russia. These others whom he de-
stroyed were men of wider experience
and view than he and as such were
inimical.
(copyzisht, 1887, by the North Amsricsn
Newspaper Alliance Ine.)
HANGS Gel r lN nAIpv