Evening star., 1953-03-06

Yugoslavia bolted the Russian
camp. and other satellites de-
veloped symptoms Of restlessness'
AS the balance slowly redressed
itself-as the issue Of peace or
total war teetered precariously-
the West looked anxiously to the
Kremlin for a sign Of Stain S
response.
Was Korea the answer? What
did this limited war" in the Fal
East portend for the future?
Still, all eyes remained on Stain.
StoIin's Character
A Lifelong Enigma
It was not a new attitude for
the West. To try to see into
Stalin's mind, to try to under
stand what he did in terms Of
what he was and to project that
understanding into the future
had been one Of the most i'm
portant, fascinating-and thank
less-tasks Of a generation Of
statesmen. It has been virtually
impossible to chart the relation
ship between this man and the
movement and system which he
headed. just as no one has ever
succeeded in resolving the COM
plex Of apparent paradoxes
which made up his personal
character
Among those who have studied
Stain there is little agreement
even as to the ingredients Of
those paradoxes. There Is vir-
tually no statement that can be
made about him that cannot be
found contradicted in the writ
ings of some presumed author
ity. It is possible to find at
tributed somewhere to this man
nearly every trait, quirk, habit,
taste or quality-good or bad
in the gamut of human makeup.
Close observers even find
themselves in dispute over the
simplest facts as to his personal
appearance. The late Harry
Hopkins described Stalin's hands
as "huge-as hard as his mind" "
AS Emil Ludwig saw it, how
ever. those same hands were
delicate"
Much Said, Little Known.
Stain may well be remembered
as a man about whom more is
said and less known than has
been the case with any COM
parable figure in history. It may
never be possible to sort fact
from myth where he is con-
cerned. Today, it is possible only
to present what one hopes is a
fair cross-section of existing
myths, trusting that such a
presentation will include a rea-
sonable proportion of facts.
Out Of the many contradictory
comments of allied leaders who
had dealings with him during
World War II, one fact emerges
with strange clarity. Somehow
or other. Stain made a good i'm
preston on them.
Watching him in operation at
top-level war conferences. these
men were struck by the dignity
and ease with which he handled
himself. At the conference table
they found him we'll prepared
terse of speech, very sure OF
himself-affable and stubborn
At parties they noted his sophis-
ticated manner, his poise, the
easy way he laughed. his ability
to make natural conversation
through an interpreter.
And despite doubts engendered
by the Kremlin's later actions,
many of them continued to feel
that Stain was the Russian with
whom it was easiest to deal.
Not So "UnschO0led."
II grew up a Georgian peas
ant" Stain said. II am un-
schooled in pretty talk" Anti
intellectual, his mind apparently
absorbed no philosophical the
ory other than the MARKHAM
dialectic. Yet his education was
as good as any the czarist re-
gime afforded.
He tried at various times,
without success, to learn Eng
lish. German and Esperanto.
His wit seemed rudimentary.
Yet, according to legend, he
once startled the world by walk
ing in on a Roosevelt Churchill
tete-a-tete with a booming, care
fully learned question in their
language: What the hell's going
on here?"
: He lived in an apartment in
the Kremlin with three bed
rooms. a tiny entrance hall
where coats hung from hooks
on the wall, and a small dining
room. His food was sent there
from the Kremlin restaurant,
great precautions being taken to
insure that it was not poisoned
The place was severely fur
nished; the curtains were white
canvas. In earlier years his son
slept on a couch.
He also had a country house
in the village of Cork. near
Moscow-the house where Len
in spent his last days and from
which, according to Trotsky
Stain drove Lenin's widow after
the masters death. He liveo
there until the death Of his sec.
ond wife, thereafter returning
to the "datcha" only for occa.
sional brief periods Of relaxa-
tion.
Tastes Varied and Strange.
He also had a villa at Sochi
on a mountain by the Black Sea
At each establishment, among
the most prominent articles o1
furniture was a player-piano
Trotsky liked to tell of the awe
with which Stain regarded thi:
contraption. which he said Was