Evening star., 1937-02-02

Stain regime, by alliances with its
capitalistic enemies, in the hope Of
| establishing capitalism and maybe
some kind of Socialist regime later on.
"Trotzky himself was relatively q
newcomer in the Bolshevist ranks. He
had previously been in a peculiar
| group, allied with the Mensheviks. He
Joined with Lenin just before the
October revolution and thereafter
differed with him on many points"
Couldn't it be said" asked, that
Stain lacks persuasiveness, inaSmuch
as after nearly 20 years since the rev.
olution and many years since Trotzky
was exiled, Trotzky rather than Stain
was still able to WELD influence Of
these men in close association with
| Stalin?"
80 far as these particular men are
concerned" was the reply, Stain has
not won them over. But inasmuch as
millions of others are devoted believers
| in Stains policies it could hardly be
said that he lacks persuasiveness."
Many Side With Stain.
"But," persisted. "these men were
outstanding among the old revolution
lists and. like Stain. they had been
associated with Lenin. Yet they do
not side with Stain"
Opposed to that" said Troyanov-
sky, lis the fact that many others
among the old revolutionists do side
with Stain. Kalinin, Voroshilov.
Ordzhonikidse, Molotov, Petrovsky.
Litvinow and a long list OF those who
helped to overthrow the czarist regime
| have important roles in the present
government-SOme in high positions
and scores Of others in less conspicu-
GUS places. Moreover, 1t 50 happens
| that those now with Stain were in
accord with Lenin. had no differences
with Lenin, heart and brain Of the
revolution. This Is not true OF those
who have tried to undermine Stain"
Many newspaper readers" I re-
marked, have persistent feeling that
Stain Is intolerant OF opposition and
that these trials have been inspired by
motives OF revenge"
THE absurdity Of any such idea. I"
commented Troyanovsky, calmly. "is
accused have received great kindnesses
and trust from Stain, even after he
knew they had been ardent Trotzky-
lists. Piatakov and Radek, for exam
pie. had each engaged in Trotzkyist
| activities. and yet, later. because Of
Stalin's influence. were placed in high
positions where they had his complete
| confidence"
Says Free Speech Granted.
wouldn't 1t have been better"
suggested. IT there had been more
free speech. If men opposed to Stain
had been permitted to express them
selves freely?"
'"They could have spoken freely"
declared the Ambassador IT frankly
opposed to Stain as party leader. they
might have been expelled from the
party. but it is not criminal offense
in the Soviet Union to criticize or
merely express opinions. Obviously.
though. it is crime-treason-to plot
to overthrow the government and be-
tray the government to its enemies"
"A belief by many people still ex-
lists" I said. that these recent trials
have been framed that the various
confessions were not genuine"
Il know some people say that" nod
ded the Ambassador. "and yet am told
here in the United States that it is
a common thing in criminal courts for
an accused person to confess after he
has been confronted with incontro-
vertible evidence against him. But I
cannot imagine how 1t could be pos
sible for II to confess and yet for their
stories to dovetail together"
"A frequent criticism Of the trial is
that little documentary evidence was
introduced in court"
Procedure Different.
"You must remember that our court
procedure is not like yours, but more
like the French system, and much Of
the evidence is used before the actual
| trial. In this case important evidence
was not always documentary-for
naturally plotters are reluctant to
write down records Of what they are
doing. Some of the documents that
were used referred to representatives
of foreign nations and it was not con-
sidered wise to make their contents
| public"
"Trotzky is quoted as saying that no
| foreign plane arrived at the Oslo Air
port in December, 1885, when Piatakov
is supposed to have gone to see him"
eyes, and such q statement h OBJ
viously silly. OF course there must
have been planes reaching Oslo in De-
cember, 1885. But on 50 dangerous q
mission piatakov naturally would not
have heralded his arrival and he would
not have Travelled under his own
name"
"Trotzky also emphatically denies
ever having heard Of vladimir Romm,
who says he conferred with Trotzky in
L
Paris"
There again." quietly declared
Troyanovsky, his statement Is untrue
on the face Of it. For many years
Romm was a well-known writer for the
Tass Agency and for the newspaper
Izvestia, and his name was frequently
signed to his articles. Would Trotzky
have any one believe he has not seen
leading Moscow newspapers and that
the names of writer's appearing in those
newspapers would have escaped his at
tention?"
Another comment one hears about
the trial" I remarked, "is that the
sentence to prison Of men who were
expected to receive death penalties Is .
sign Of weakness"
Eyes, it Is not always possible to
please everybody" replied the Ambas-
sador, smiling. If all had received
death penalties, then doubtless that