The Washington times., 1938-03-04
The Moscow Trial--Ghastly

OUR feeling about the latest Moscow treason trial
" third of its kinds that couldn't imagine such
things happening in the twentieth century world if
hadn't read of them in cold print
Twenty of these twenty-one Old Bolshevks, like the
defendants in previous trials, stand up in court and
bedaub themselves with ordure after months years
of being softened and conditioned for the trial by the
Soviet police One refuses to play the game and
says he lied when he confessed last June various charges
of "Trotskyism Next day. he recants joining the others
in acting if they puppets manipulated by strings
dangling from the curtained box above the courtroom
where Stain is supposed to be watching the trial
The stories these tell tales of the most despic
able plots against Stain and Stalins government In
former trials, the plotting against Russia Now it
is mainly against Stalin-whch makes the pattern of
these tragi-buresques little clearer Stain is evidently
striving to identify himself in the minds of the Russians
with the state.
We quote some of the more fantastic passages from
the Indictment read against these the trial hegan
accused Rykon gave the following why the
Right Troskyist bloc began resort to terrorism In
view of the illegal conspraora character of the Rights
counterevoluonary organization and in the absence of
base for its counterrevouonary work and the absence
OF any hope OF coming to power by other means the aoopo
Of terrorism and palace revolution seemed to headquarters
to present some sort of prospect"
Consequently, having become convinced that it i'm
possible separate Gorky San the United Center
compelled to adopt decision to hquidate Gorky
Totsky declared that W would be objectionable prudery
did not consistently proceed forthwith physically to
eliminate Stain all his closest colleagues"
"Yagoda told that must help him in physical elmna-
ton Of certain political leaders of the country. He bluny
proposed that advantage position physician
oubyshe and Gorky and hasten their deaths by applying
methods treatment tried to refuse but at last
forced to agree"..
"I plead guilty having deliberately adopted wrong
of having prescribed medicines
suited for the given complaint and thereby in conjunction
my accomplces by agreement with Yagoda,
responsible for the premature death of Maxim Gorky and
Qubysheff."
The charges against these too fantastic
for beef-charges that get rid of Stain they plotted
to betray large parts of Russia to Germany England
and Japan. But that some all of them did conspire
against Stain in various ways entirely likely.
Most 1aSsans are doce. The Old Bolsheviks the
non-docile Russians They hated the Cars and the
mobiles, and plotted eternaly against them 1t is
to how, becoming discontented under Stain, they
might have taken To plotting against him in the old
familiar ways.
So, while one can't help sympathizing with these
men, forced by the sadistic master potter, Stain, to
blacken their memories before proceeding to the
firing squad it is well to remember that all of them
have done numbering in their time, too
There the numerous pre-revolution assassina-
tions and is estimated that after seZing in
1917, the Bolsheviks killed off 100000 of the old
Russian ruling class They killed people unemotion-
ally as kill flies. Human life in Russia moth
ing. AS Walter Duranty said, zone life kopeck"
describes the Russian valuation of life.
AS for the picture Stain is painting by these trials
of himself as the only real 1907 Old Bolshevk Gf
Lenin alive, surmse that he would be trial.
too), the most asute comment we've yet appeared
in New York Times editorial Tuesday:
years after somebody in power
Washington found for the safety the
to send the scaffod Thomas Jefferson Madison John
Adams Hamilton, Jay and most of their associates.
charge against them would be that they conspred hand
the United States to George III
Altogether these Russian trials make the most grue-
some and bizarre news stories of these times.