1937-02-01 — Page 11

THE CHINA MAIL, FEBRUARY 1, 1937.

Stalin's

Ruthless elimination of his opponents has made Josef Stalin to-day not only the absolute ́ ruler of 170,000,000 - Russians, but the centre and symbol of a revolutionary movement, which,

Way Opposition

although temporarily dormant, Distrust may be galvanized anew by the Of Trotsky effects of the coming war which

Page Eleven

With

reason to believe that it was in some degree an act of personal ven geance, but history shows that the unseen forces which plan the as- sassinations of great men are wont to use for their purpose an instru ment whose motives are not read- The ily identifiable with their

they appeared at the beginning. He Bolshevist authorities, alive to the controlled the party secretariat, implications, replied to the assas which became the nerve system of sination of Stalin's aide with ter-

During the three months which the whole Bolshevist-organisation, rible and perhaps excessive sever European statesmen and politi preceded the Revolution of Novem: Stalin's brain--through the body. Stalin's enemies, abroad as well as extending from its central brain ity, which must have convinced cal observers believe to be al- ber 7, Lenin was absent from Fetro- and limbs of the Bolshevist party at home, that nothing would avail most inevitable.

grad, hiding for his life in a hay to its remotest extremities. The them save the most desperate ac -stack just across the Finnish bor eventual defeat of his adversaries tion. It is a matter of record and Stalin's rise to this position, der, yet always in close touch with was the inevitable result of co-ordi- of testimony at the Kameneff trial reached only after a long struggle events in the Russian capital. In nation and unity acting against that communications between the with bitter opponents inside the those weeks Stalin learned to dis- heterogeneous and often mutually conspirators on Soviet soil and their Communist party, is one of the trust the brilliant individualism of hostile groups and individuals. friends abroad-laid stress on Stalin's popularity and upon the im- most dramatic developments in mo- Leon Trotsky, a recent recruit to

dern history. In the years during which his position was being estab- lished were planted the seeds of discord of which the murder of Sergei Kiroff, one of Stalin's aides, during the Winter of 1934, and the death sentences passed last August upon Gregory Zinovieff, Lean Kame- neff and other old. Bolshevist lead- *ers followed this last week by a further drastic purging of the pione- ers of Bolshevism, may be regard- ed as the fruition.

*

*

*

a

When the Bolshevist Revolution took place Stalin was already man of great influence in the Bolshe- vist party, both because of his un- swerving allegiance to Lenin and because of past revolutionary activi- ties which began in 1896, when he was a boy of 17, in his native land of Georgia.

Thorn In

Flesh Of Tsar

the Bolshevist party from his own and special brand of menshevism, to despise the pusillanimity and hesitation of some of the "Western"

As early as 1906 Stalin was & exiles, who had lived softly and safe thorn in the flesh of the Czarist in France or Switzerland while In that year he organis- their comrades on Russian soil wag- Ochrana. ed the "expropriation" of the trea-

ed unequal combat against the of the Bank of Tiflis when it was being removed from the bank ubiquitous and ruthless Ochrana.

to the railroad station to be sent True, Lenin himself had been one to Moscow for safekeeping. The of that group but in Lenin's clear convoy was bombed in the central analysis of men and time and cir- flaw of square of the "Old Town," and arm- cumstance there was no ed revolutionaries got away with doubt or weakness. Stalin's loyalty millions of dollars of loot.

and admiration for his leader may well have had the psychological When the revolutionary move effect of sharpening his dislike and ment was suppressed that Spring, contempt for men like Kameneff and most of its leaders fled abroad, but Zinovieff, who had shared Lenin's Stalin remained in Russia and con- confidence abroad for many years, tinued a desperate struggle against yet who on the eve of the Revolu overwhelming odds. After many tion shrank from the decisive escapes from prison and from Si-step and published an article which beria he was sentenced to imprison was not only cowardly but might, ment for life in the middle of 1912; by its implied and expressed ad- but he soon escaped again and ac missions, have proved fatal to the tually directed the action of the Bolshevist plans. Poltroons and small Bolshevist group in the Duma traitors. Lenin called these men, which was summoned that Winter and his bitter words must have During those years, when the Bol found a ready echo in the heart of shevist cause seemed hopeless, he Stalin, who never forgives or for- maintained the party organisation

with incredible risk and difficulty under the very noses of the Czarist police

After the fall of the Czaj beginning of March, 1917, shared the amnesty extende new Kerensky governm Iprisoners; but

ummer that he

Petrograd and 28:8; memi

ee of the

back on the strugs

and the

have

In the second place, there is little possibility of a change of regime doubt that Stalin's national policy, while he remained alive.

both in internal and external-af- fairs, corresponded more closely than that of his adversaries to the realities of the situation at home

Without going so far as

and abroad. The Opposition, led clare that Trotsky, Zinovie, K by Trotsky, persisted in adhering to eneff, and Smirnoff with Radek and what is described as the essential his associates in last week's trial principles of bolshevism: first, the actually, advocated or plotted the theory of imminent world revolu- assassination of Stalin, the evidence. tion and the duty. of Bolsheviks to indicates that the idea of it may do their utmost to bring it about; have been present in their minds second, the parallel duty of impos- and that they were willing to give ing 100 per cent. communism as countenance to men who might un- rapidly as possible at home..

dertake it.

Murder

Be that as it may, the mysticism of revolution offers a possible ex- planation of the extraordinary and almost masochistic abjectness of the accused during the trial They had, so to speak, attempted to test the Will of Heaven" in regard to The full truth about the murder Stalin, and the failure of their at- of Kiroff on December 1, 1934, may tempt had shown that it was blas- never be known. There is good phemy and deadly sin..

Of Kiroff

MARTELL'S BRANDY

V.S.O.P.

CORDON ARGENT

(Over 60 years old)

CORDON BLEU

(Over 35 years old)

THREE STAR MARTELL

(also in pints)

VVES.OP.

“ECUSSON”

BOTTLED IN

COGNAC AND

GUARANTEED

PURE GRAPE

BRANDY

By

MARTELL & CO.

at all Cabs, Hotels & Wine Stores.

SOLE AGENTS:

GANDE PRICE & CO. LTD.

SPIRIT MEE

Dial 20135