Evening star., 1937-08-01
Stain and other SOUiet
leaders atop Lenin's tomb.

as untouchables by Soviet law, have
been fully equaliZed by that consti-
tuition with proletarianS and peasants.
There are no more privileged and
unprivlleeed citizens in our country;
we all are equal" Stain has solemnly
declared Incredible as it may sound,
even servants of religious cults, !"
formerly prosecuted with venomous,
unrelaXlng hatred, are pronounced by
the constitution full-fedged human
beings and citizens. Religion, gener-
ally speaking, is forgiven the fact
Of a citizens affiliatlon with this or
that church must IN no way lmpeach
his rights. AS a symbol of it. the
Christmas tree. which had been banned
for years from Russian life, reappeared
at Christmas-rebaptiz it Is true,
into the New Year tree" ..
Thus almost unnoticed in the rest
Of the world. an entirely new entity
gradually has arisen from beneath the
outWorn shell of the Red realm-an
entity which, let it be noted. strlk-
ingly reminds one, in its atmosphere
and political and social structure, Of
the Nazi Reich.
AS rule, It is a dangerous thing for
a ruler to condemn that which he used
to worship and to start Worshipng
that which he used to condemn. Stain,
however, did it with amazing skill, and
he has succeeded Nay. his success
seems to have surpassed his ex-
pectations.
People Welcome Change.
The real truth is that-no matter
whether the Russian people like or
dislike. the Soviet regime IN geQeral-
they have welcomed Stains back-to-
natlonahsm reforms with whole
hearted JOY. Intensified by the idiot
ically artificial, l6-year-long suppress
sion that preceded 1t. the natiOnalStic
feeling now beats forth in mighty
fountain of enthusiasm
Indeed, the spiritual fundamentals
by which the Russian nation thrlved
during the long centuries of its history,
and which the revolution made an
ing to be fully. vigorously alive. And
among those who have received per-
mission to call themselves Russians
without apologizing and to pray with.
out being spled upon. there are many
who thank Stain and forgive him his
long series of earlier misdeeds. This
in turn is a new announcement for
the dictator to go even further along
his new path.
And the Communist party-hoW has
it taken Stains reforms?
1t is here that the clue of the present
wave of trials and executions lies.
1t is no secret that large part OF
even majority of the three million
odd members of the Communist party
are merely Russians who never have
cared a wink about Karl Marx or the
Chinese proletariat. and for whom
communism always has been no more
than protective coloring and q
chance of getting good Jobs. These
like most of the Russians in general
welcome the change. Stains imme-
dlate assistants-men holding the
commanding posts within the ma.
chinery of the Communist party, wht
have helped him in the performance OF
his about-face-they naturally are
behind him, too.
But there are-or Were-in tina
party people of another type. too
the "old guard of bolshevism. the un.
compromising dogmatics and fanatic!
of its old internationalistic religion
and of world revolution. the men WHIT
Haunted Russia's national feeling, his
tory and religion with special i'm
pertinence and hatred. Such mel
could not forgive Stain his "betraya
Of communism and of the revolution.
Stalin's Present Enemies.
Now, it is exactly these men-fron
| Zinovev, the fat, arrogant son of tn
ghetto, who spent all of his pre-
revolutionary life in the obscruity o
| Swiss, German and various other 'un
| dergrounds, to the tena cious book
worm of the Red dogma, N Bukharil
that Stain has thrown to the hrinl
! squad or into the dungeon.
Does this mean that if these mel
| did not connive with Germany an
| Japan (as the official charges woul
have it,, they plotted against Stain
It is possible that some of them triet
to form some embryonic conspirac
| or-which is more likely-merel
! dreamed about it. In any case, it i
| perfectly obvious that these thou
sands of men were not members o
any one large. Well-knit plot-the
knew only too we'll that such a plo
would stand no chance Of escapin
the watchfulness of the dictator
spies. Their chief crime consisted i
whispering against Stain and, Will
not daring raise their voices openl
against him, bitterly hated him an
his new policy.
In other words, the further he wen
toward nationalism. the more deadl
potential enemies these men became
should anything 60 wrong. they woul
avail themselves of the situation
Finally, there were among ther
figures of yet another variety, such a!
for instance, Marshall Tukhachevsk,
This brilliant offspring of an oil
aristocratic family was neither a ma
tionalist nor an internationalist, bu
merely man devoured by an all
consuming thirst for success an
power. Such men, generally speak
ing. are dangerous to Stain. Th
Red marshall was doubly so, both 70
his personal fame and for his clos
connections with the international
istic-type bolsheviks.
Thus, having shifted Russia fror
internationalistic to nationalistic rail.
Stain removes from its path thos
who might impede Its progress.