LENIN AND TROTSKY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 91, 10 January 1918, Page 7

LENIN AND TROTSKY

THE "MEN WHO WANT MORE"

PERSONAL GLIMPSES

Nikolai Lenin, the directing power behind the most recent outbreak in Russia, which raised him almost to- the throne, tho leader of the Bolshevik movement —Bolsheviki, by. the way, meaning in straight United States "tho men who want more"—is doscribed as quiet, reserved, and studious. His chief lieutenant in the present crisis, Leon Trotsky, tho man whom the neutral nations refused to recognise as the War Minister of the newly-set-up Government, is apparently his opposite ; in temperament, carefully groomed, even in the working man's attire that he affects, smiling and debonair, in the ■ face of a situation affecting the fate of nations. Lenin has been denounced by moderate liberals as the evil genius of the Russian revolution and a paid agent of Germany. He was the acknowledged leader of the Maximalist uprising in July, after which ho went into hiding. He was reported to have been in Sweden, Switzerland, and Finland, but wherever ho managed to find cover ho was in constant communication with Trotsky and other Bolshevik leaders. One account has it that his real name is Zedorblum. The Real Lenin. The New York "Times" has a different story. It says of him:— Leiiin, like most of the prominent Russian agitators, had to use an alias in his revolutionary activity. His real uamo is Vladimir-, tjlyanolf. Ho was born of a noble family at- Simbirsk, on tho Volga,;-about 1870. An. elder brother was executed for complicity in a.- plot to kill Emperor Alexander II shortly before that ruler-was actually assassinated. in ]831. Lenin became prominent in the early 'nineties as a leader of the radical Social-Democrats, who insist on the literal application of the Marxian theories, as against the moro nationalistic view, with , greater attention paid to the peasants and their actual condition, which was entertained'by tho Socialist revolutionists, the party of Kefensky. His most noted book is "The.Development of Capitalism in Russia;" He wits elected to 'the second Duma after tho revolution of. 1905, but was 1 compelled to go into exile, a thing he had often dono before, when the reaction triumphed. At the beginning p'f the.present war lie was in Krakow, and was interned as an enemy alien,'-but was shortly released and allowed to proceed to Zimmerwald, in Switzerland, where a colony of Russian revolutionists was'already established. After tho revolution the Provisional Govornment of Russia entered into an agreoment with Germany by which the Russian revolutionists 'in Switzerland were allowed' to return through Germany in- return for the release of German civilians in Russia. Lenin headed the party which returned by .this route., and his social programme, which lie has been advocating ever since, was drawn.up as he passed through. Ho reached Petrograd'on April 16, just after the pacifists in the' Council or ■Workmon's and Soldiers' Deputies hac forced tho resignaiton of Mihukoir, anil at .onoo. began, to preach immediate peace- and general confiscation. ■ At first the Government seoms to have under-estimated him; Tcheidzo said that probably the revolution would absorb him, and that if it did not there was little difference. But soon his newspaper, the "Pravda," featuring violent attackson England and France, became influential, and tho toloranco of the Govornment was now based on the theory that arrest would make him a martyr. Certainly at first thero was o-eneral disapprobation of his extreme views, but gradually ho began to gam in power and to becomo the centre of the radical pacifists, despite the constantly reiterated charges that he was in the pay of Germany. A peace plan of his, advanced in a speech, was publicly denounced as givon vorbatim m a wireless message of Prince Leopolc of Bavaria, and no satisfactory denial was ever inado of Brusiloff's accusation. Nevertheless, he gained in power. Seated in the palace which had formerly belonged to the dancer Kshcsmskaya, tho favourite of Nicholas, protected by the First Machine-Gun Regiment, which was constantly loyal,' lie. resisted all attempts to oust mm until failure in tho July rising drove him to temporary hiding, in which ho appears to have plotted the new outbreak. Trotsky. Trotsky, who by many is considered the real head of the Maximalist revolt is well known in New \ork where Lβ worked as a reporter for 12 dollars (U 10s) a week on an East Side newspaper during his brief.exile hi America, after having been driven out of_ Germany, France, Switzerland, and Spam. Like Lenin he uses an alias, his rein name being Leber Brainstem. A writer in "The Times" says:— He was born in a town in the Russian Govornment of Kherson, near the Black Sea. He became an extreme Socialist, and, being gifted with a forceful literary style, won distinction r.iirt prominence among the revolutionary leaders before the end of the nineteentl century. In the revolution of 1905 Trotsky published a book which practically set the sky as the limit for tho Russian revolution, then apparently <m its way to a favourable issue. a demanded- tho application of the lull programme of Socialism,, not only in : Russia, but everywhere, and until this was accomplished revolution must never rest. The collapse of the movement in the following year sent him to Siberia, but after several years he was released, resumed his revolutionary activity, and was compelled . to go abroad. ■ . ■It the beginning of tho war he was in Berlin, but the radical teachings or his writings there were too much lor the Berlin Government, which had no taste for Socialist programmes except in foreign parts. Ho was compelled to go to Switzerland, but here, too, ho found tho atmosphere chilly. After a time he landed in Paris, and edited a newspaper there, but the French Government refused to allow his doctrines to be spread after Russian troops arrived in France, and he moved on to Spain. Trotsky, however, could not bo suppressed. They might expel him and deport him. but wherever he landed he became a leader in radicalism and a vigorous journalistic propagandist. Spain found' him so hard to he rid or, and such a serious menace to her peace and quiet, that it was finally necessary to shanghai him out of the country. Ho iwoko to find himself on hoard a steamer bound for Cuba.. While, tb.s did not greatly disturb his equanimity ho found the field for his talents limited. Cuba was too small a country for '"Trotsky's energies. He sailed, at once from Havana for New \ork, and reached hero on January 14 last. Trotsky was '■ welcomed not on i v i, y the most radical taction of Russian Socialists, but tho German Socialists, too. Leaders of radipalism on tho East Side and in Harlem contributed furniture for tho houso whore he established himsolf in tho Bronx, and it caused considerable eciug among them when he eventually loft town in such haste that none of the contributors were notified,' and tho furniture was left to take care of itself iu the empty houso for a considerable Im6 ' journalism in East SitlPWhile here ho wrote many articles for the "Vorwaerts, , . , the Jewish Socialist paper, and was for a considerable timo tho principal editor of "JNovy

Mir," organ of the Russian Socialists. "Nuvy Mir" has since como uudor tho bau of tho Post Ofiice Department, and has been refused mailing privileges for Jts extreino pacifist attitude, but at that time a majority of tho Board of Managers were not in favour of Trotsky's propaganda for immediate peace, and, according to men who know him, he was eventually asked to resign. -tin He was in active relation with both German and Russian Socialists, and American opinion is divided as to whether or not he lias been an agent of Germany since the outbreak of the revolution. In view, however, of the fact that Lenin was accused by Kerensky of being in German pay, and that Trotsky is apparently acting _ as a vizier of Lcniu, the presumption that lie is in German pay, has been increased by recent events. It is said that just'before ho left last. March a Gorman Socialist group at a hall m Harlem gave a dinner for him, not tlie first time he had been so honoured by radicals of that nationality in Mow Trotsky sailed from New York for a Scandinavian port on March 27, but was taken off the ship at Halifax by the British authorities, irho knew his record. There wero loud and vigorous protests from American radicals at this action and eventually tho first Russian Provisional Government, apparently unaware at that timo of tho strength and tendencies of the* Bolsheviki, was induced to ask for his release. The British thereupon permitted him to go on his way. Upon his arrival at Fetrrmrad he joined tho radical faction, which was j busy denouncing America and tho Allies j and scheming to overthrow the Provisional Government and bring about immediate peace. Trotsky has denied that ho is for a separate peace, and says that if the Germans refuse to revolt against their Government and to fraternise with tho Russians _ he latter must defend the revolution.