Evening star., 1938-01-03
only live II there was Q world revo-

only live II there was . world revo-
luton.
Discipline and natioualism q ap-
piled by Stain have changed So
Wet Russia In the last 10 years
Trotzky calls 1t "the revolution be-
trayed." Whether the revolution has
been betrayed or not, things have
changed. Lenin used to walk into
the hotel where am staying In
Moscow. with no guard at Ill, and
90 right up to the room Of an Ameri.
can journalist like Albert Rhys VII
lian1s Stain Is inaccessible, sur
rounded by guards, carried in bullet
proof car.
But If Lenin was affablesand demo-
cratic he did not hesitate to Use the
| same broom of steel" with which
Stain is sweeping out traitors" And
Trotzky, who built the wartime Red
Army, would be as quick to kill. This
Is the secret Of the purge. I believe.
Men who came to power by intrigue
and violence, men who have lived all
their lives in that atmosphere, cannot
| understand that there are men of any
other mentality. Revolutionaries who
fought to build their kind of Russia
are going to fight anybody who is
against their kind of Russia.
Death for Criticism.
The economic plight OF the coun-
try is oppressive; but no man can
voice the unrest, or quarrel with the
policies Of Stain. If he does he
is shot, for the Communists have
no other technique for dealing with
minority opinion. In the mentality
OF bolshevism a man who differs with
you Is man who will plot your over
throw and death.
Is Stain despot? Certainly. Does
Stain think that he knows better
than the workers and peasants what Is
best for them? Certainly. He looks
at what he has done for them. He
has given the most backward country
both light and heavy industries. He
has taken the hodgepodge of un-
profitable little farms and turned the
land to big and successful bonanza
farms. He has made Russia a great
military power
But in doing these things and in
building his personal power Stain
offended many men. Old bolsheviks
were frozen out Of the Stain ma
chine. And, as Stain knew better
than most, old bolsheviks don't stay
frozen out. They intrigue and they
kill. But In political sagacity Stain
was the master Of them all He went
his way doing what he thought was
best and nothing succeeds like sue
cess.
A dictator like that may be all
right-for a people which likes die
tators-if he doesn't get scared.
Stain got scared.
Assassination Of Kiroy.
One cold day in December, 1884,
a man named Kirov was assassinated
in Leningrad. A death more or less
under q dictatorship doesn't mean
much. The dictator had only two
confidants, Kirov, who was his man
OF action. and Kuibyshev, who was
his one-man brain trust. Stain went
posthaste to Leningrad. 1t is gen.
orally believed here that Kirov was
killed by a man who had a personal
grudge against him. but the murderer
was clearly in touch with Zinoviev
and Kamenev. old bolsheviks who
were disgruntled and were said to be
in correspondence with Trotzky. While
Stain was trying to decide the COM
plicity Of these and other old bol-
sheviks, Kuibyshev died-a natural
death, but great blow to Stain nev-
ertheless.
Stain is . man to beat foes to
the blow, but he moved slowly and
stealthily, and the great public trial
Of zinoviev and Kamenev was not
held until August, 1885. Stain found.
or thought he found, evidence Of 4
widespread plot against his regime.
The police began to check and sift.
Stain played the army OF against