Evening star., 1937-07-24

by his quondam friend and brother
one imagines that this will be most
annoying. For it is easy to be con-
temptuous while the sun is in the
zenith. But nobody likes to be re-
minded that an hour may come when
shadows grow considerably longer,
This is the gist of the present vol
ume. In greater detail, it is a pub
llcation of certain documents, records
and speeches designed to show how
Stain and his associates have con-
slstently falsified the history of Rus
Sla since 1928, the aim of their falsi-
fcatlon having been to cover their
own betrayal of Lenin's revolutionary
plans by the creating of straw vii
Observation-Disclosures whom charges
were to be brought so sensational
that the attention of the people would
be drawn away entirely from the real
course Of political events. The set
ting up of this bogey proceeded by
the device of pretending that, in the
early days of the revolution, Trotsky
and Lenln were diametically opposed; I;
the corollary, OF course. would be that,
IN order to carry out Lenins aims,
Trotsky must be gotten rid of. All
lies! snorts the indignant Leon David
oVlch in the present volume. He and
Lenin worked in harmony and mutual
respect. The aim of the Stalinists
is not to follow Lenin's plans, but
to destroy them, and Trotsky is recog-
nlzed as the impla cable (they are very
earnest) foe of this destruction. Hence
Trotsky has to be framed. 1t is as
simple, or as complicated, as that.
The reviewer confesses that, on the
basis of these allegations (and Com
rade Davidovich supports them pretty
welD she was moved to a certain ad-
mlration for the object of his accusa-
tions-for Conrade Stain, that is.
Can it be that this fine Georgia gen.
tleman has sense of humor? Is it
not humorous that he should rid him
self Of the man whose presence is
reminder of his own betrayal of Len
inlsm by charging that same man
with being the betrayer? 1t is not
only effective; it is the stroke of an
artist.
1t is not the end of Stains in
genuity, however. For Trotsky, of
course, has been out of Russia for
some 10 years, and. consequently, his
usefulness as a Scapegoat might have
been considered at an end. But, hav-
SjSrNnSnI Sf hic
Stain has been, by no means, dis
posed to lose the useful legend of
TrotSkyS counter er-revolutionary pur-
poses. To take the place Of the man
Trotsky he has created the blanket
crime of "Trotskyism," and whenever
any of his comrades give him trouble
he sorrows to find them guilty. 1t is
an opera bouffe, carried out on SOL
emn and immense proportions. One
has to feel that this Stain is an
amusingly clever fellow.
Plainly his tactics drive Leon Da-
vldovich to the point of frenzy, and
the contrast between the two men
can only make one mourn that Ana
tole France died before he saw it,
Consider Stain, if you will, after q
romantic youth spent in dynamiting
banks and such humors, now having
achieved respecta billty and position,
now having laid the ghost of his
young sense of inferiority in the
czarlst social scale, being now indeed
czar himself-consider him plagued
in Trotsky's name by the gadfly of
the memory of ali the promises he
made in order to help himself to that
emInence and turning that gadfly into
the accurate weapon of destruction
for his enemies! Making it one of
his chief instruments of tyranny!
And then consider Trotsky incon-
Venlently incorruptible, enragingly
consistent lin his exile. seizing every
instance of that tyranny as an occa-
sion for loud weeping before the
world for Russia, the revolutions
conscience at large, as it were, dis
credited and undesired anywhere. 1t
seems the perfect spectacle of all
revolutions, the spectacle which the
French dlscreetly avoided bv gull
lotlning consclenceS promptly as each
became the least bit retrograde. But
the Russians were never neat.
1t IS this picture which comes
most clearly out of the present vol
ume. Page after page Of it is given
over to the meycIless exposures of
Stains inconsistencies. his oppor-
tunlsm, hls betrayal of old friends
Yet there Stain sits, very comfort
able IN power, as solidly enthroned
as any dictator IN the world in this
Gay OF Octators. And Trotsky hurls
ms anathema from several thousand
miles away. Would ne have done
much better, one wonders. if he had
succeeded in getting that coveted
place?
For the reviewer at least the his
tory OF revolution was written for all
Time IN Anatole Frances Revolt
OF the Angels" And the dignity of
human history received it's perfect
comment in Penguin Island All
that happens in these parIous times
serves but as confirmation. Trotskv
IN MS present book has done no more
IMAM agree to that.
NOTHING IS SAFE. BY E. M De1a.
held, New York. Harper & Bros.
HIS IS the story of divorce as
seen by the children of the nar4ea
couple, 1t IS told entirely through the
mental processes Of Julia, the 1o-vear-
oIo oaughter of parents who. HAVING
oIoKen with each other. have both
married again. The story covers the
ilfSt Summer holiday after the re-
marriages, during which Julia and ber
IZ-year-old brother are shifted about
uilcefemonIously from the home of
lhelr mothers new husband 10 the
'llV fiat which their father shares
with his new wife, and then. when
helther can make room for them are
uflloaded upon their grandmother who
diSapproVlng Of divorce, surrounds
them with an atmosphere of criticism
Whlch they find strange and dlsheart-
enlng. Terry, the brother, being nor
mally sensitive, develops alarming
symptoms as result of the sudden
! Q NJ i1ssF ftv <,F g.,