“WHO IS LENIN?”
Many conflicting stories were told and published about Lenin after the
Bolshevist uprising in November, 1917. I decided to ascertain for myself
during the two weeks I spent in Switzerland before going into Russia
what the people of that country knew about him.
Lenin arrived in Switzerland in September, 1914, and left for Russia in
March, 1917, with thirty other Russians, on the much-talked-of train
that went through Germany with the sanction of the Kaiser.
A whole myth has grown up around Lenin since his return to Russia. He
was a German agent; he was sent from Switzerland to Russia through
Germany; he went for the express purpose of fomenting revolution in
order to break down the morale of the Russian Army and to make it
possible for German militarism to conquer. Document after document was
printed to prove that this man was mercenary, that he was cold-blooded,
without ideals of any kind, and that he had received millions in money
from the Germans, whose plans he conscientiously carried out,—at least
in connection with the disorganization of the Russian Army. While in
Switzerland for two years during the war, he lived in luxury, always had
plenty of money which was supplied from an unknown source, later
discovered to be the banks of Germany.
I found when I went to Zurich that Lenin had passed the greater part of
his time when in Switzerland in that town, and had lived in the poor
quarter of the city. The house in which he and his wife lived, No. 14
Spiegelgasse, is on a very narrow street running down to the quay. They
lived in one room on the second floor of this house. Their meagre
furniture included a table, a washstand, two plain chairs, a small
stove, a bed, a couch, and a petrol lamp. The room had a plaster ceiling
and was unpapered, the bare board walls seeming most bleak. A cheap,
dingy carpet covered the floor. The room was accessible only through a
dark narrow corridor. On the same floor were three other rooms, two of
which were occupied by two families, and the third was used as a common
kitchen by every one. In this kitchen Lenin’s wife, who was his constant
companion, only secretary and assistant, prepared their frugal meals and
carried them to their room.
For these quarters Lenin paid thirty-eight francs a month, the
equivalent of six dollars and sixty cents in American money.
I was told by many people who had known him in Zurich that Lenin seemed
to wish to mingle only with working people there. His revolutionary
friends took great pride in saying, “He never spent any time with mere
intellectual reformers.” They told me that much of his time was passed
in the Swiss Workers’ Assembly, where he talked to every one, but never
made any speeches. He did speak, however, on many occasions in the
Russian Assembly in Zurich.
His income was derived from articles written for Russian party papers.
Before leaving for Russia he closed his account at a Zurich bank and
drew out the balance on deposit there, which amounted to twenty-five
francs.
For a short time while in Switzerland Lenin lived in Berne, in two
rooms. I met the woman at whose Pension he dined while there. She said
she had served Lenin, his wife, and his wife’s mother midday dinners
while they stayed there. The price of those meals was eighty centimes
each,—approximately sixteen cents. She informed me that they prepared
their own breakfasts and evening meals.
The proprietor of the Wiener café, a coffee house located on the corner
of Schrittfaren and Gurtengasse in Berne, told me that he remembered
Lenin well, that he had come into his place on a number of occasions for
a cup of coffee. “He spent most of his time here reading the papers and
talking with the waiters,” he said, and described him as always being
poorly dressed.
None of these simple people thought of Lenin as a person of any greater
importance than themselves. He was one of them, a serious student who
mingled with working people, eager to tell them of their importance in
the political world.
When the Czar was overthrown and the Kerensky Government came into
power, a committee of all the Socialist parties in Switzerland except
the “Social Patriots” made an effort to assist in getting Russian exiles
back to their own country. This committee collected the money for the
transportation of the exiles. They endeavored to secure from France,
England, and Switzerland permission for their passage through Archangel
to Petrograd, but the Allied governments denied this permit. Then the
Swiss Socialists entered into negotiations with the German Government to
secure passage through Germany. On condition that an equal number of
civilian prisoners then held in Russia be allowed to return to Germany,
the German Government agreed to the passage of the immigrants through
Germany.
The following statement, signed by the members of the Committee, is
given in full, even to the peculiar English of the translation.
_“The Return of the Russian Emigrants.”_
In view of the fact that the Entente newspapers have recently published
a series of sensational and false accounts and articles regarding the
return of the Russian comrades (Lenin, Zinovieff and others) branding
them as accomplices and agents of Imperial Germany, as coworkers of the
German Government. Simultaneously the German and Austrian press is
attempting to represent these Russian revolution comrades as pacifists
and separate peace advocates, we therefore deem it necessary to publish
the following explanation under the Signature of the Comrades of France,
Germany, Poland and Switzerland to whitewash the Comrades that departed
to Russia.
We the undersigned are aware of the hindrances which the governments of
the Entente are putting in the way of our Russian Internationalists in
their departure. They learned of the conditions which the German
Government has placed before them for their passage through to Sweden.
Not having the slightest doubt as to the fact, that the German
Government is speculating by it to strengthen the one-sided anti-war
tendencies in Russia, we declare:
The Russian Internationalists who during the whole war period have been
combating in the sharpest possible manner imperialism in general and the
German imperialism in particular, and who are now going to Russia in
order to work there for the cause of the Revolution, will thus be aiding
the proletarians of all countries as well, and particularly the German
and Austrian working class by encouraging them to the revolutionary
struggle against their own governments.
Nothing can be more stimulating and inspiring in this respect than the
example of the heroic struggle on the part of the Russian proletariat.
For that reason we the undersigned Internationalists of France,
Switzerland, Poland and Germany consider it to be not only the right but
a duty on the part of our Russian comrades to use the opportunity for
the voyage to Russia, which is offered to them.
We wish them the best results in the struggle against the Imperialistic
policy of Russian bourgeoisie, which constitutes a part of our general
struggle for the liberation of the working class, for the social
revolution.
Bern, April 7, 1917.
Paul Hantstein, Germany
Henri Guilbeaux, France
F. Loriot, France
Bronski, Poland
F. Platten, Swiss
The above declaration has received the full approval and signature of
the following Scandinavian comrades:
Lindhagen, Mayor of Stockholm
Strom, Congressman and Secretary of S. D. P. of Sweden
Karleson, Congressman and President of Trades Union Council
Fure Nerman, Editor _Politiken_
Tchilbun, Editor _Steukleken_
Hausen, Norway.
The next train left in May, 1917, carrying three hundred Russians, and
another three hundred went through Germany in July, 1917. In July the
French and English governments finally granted permission for a
train-load to pass through those countries to Archangel and thence to
Russia. This trip lasted two months. I learned that the May and July
trains also carried to Russia many active Menshevists, supporters of the
Kerensky Government.
In August another group tried to return, but because Kerensky protested,
the French and English notified this group that they must have passports
from Russia. It was then impossible to go through Germany because of
battles going on along the front. They did not get to Russia until
December, after the Russian-German armistice.
[Illustration: 1. GORKY 2. ZINOVIEFF]
Zinovieff, in an address to the Petrograd Soviet, September 6, 1918,
told the story of the fabled armored train as follows:
“In March, 1917, Lenin returned to Russia. Do you remember the cries
that went up about the ‘armored train’ on which Lenin and the rest of us
returned? In reality Lenin felt a profound hatred of German imperialism.
He hated it no less than he hated any other brand of imperialism....
When a prominent member of the Scheidemann party attempted to enter our
car (which was not armored) in order to ‘greet’ us, he was told, at
Lenin’s suggestion, that we would not speak to traitors and that he
would be sparing himself insult if he refrained from trying to enter.
The Mensheviki and the Social Revolutionists, who were rather stubborn
at first, later on came back to Russia in the same way (more than three
hundred of them). Lenin put the matter simply, ‘All bourgeois
governments are brigands: we have no choice since we cannot get into
Russia by any other way.’”
I found the following in a long article of appreciation written by
Ernest Nobs, editor of the Swiss _Volkrecht_, published in Zurich in
December, 1917.
“One who has seen the last winter, the medium-sized, square-built man,
with a somewhat yellowish face and sharp, sparkling and flashing Mongol
eyes, as he was steering towards some library in a wornout ulster coat,
with a heap of books under his arm, could hardly foresee in him the
future Russian premier.”
In the address mentioned on the foregoing page, delivered at the time
Lenin was shot, Zinovieff said:
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanoff (Lenin) was born on April 10, 1870, in the city
of Simbirsk. His father, who was of peasant descent, was employed as
Director of Public Schools in the Volga region. His elder brother,
Alexander Ulyanoff was executed by Czar Alexander III. From that time on
his mother showered all her tender affections on Vladimir Ilyich, and
Lenin in his turn dearly loved her. Living as an emigrant, an exile,
persecuted by the Czar’s Government, Lenin used to tear himself away
from the most urgent tasks to go to Switzerland to see his mother in her
last days. She died in 1913.
Upon his graduation from high school (gymnasium) Vladimir Ilyich entered
the law school at the Kazan University. The universities of the capitals
were closed to him because he was the brother of an executed
revolutionist. A month after his entry he was expelled from the
University for participation in a revolutionary movement of the
students. It was not until four years had gone by that he was allowed to
resume his studies. The legal career held no attractions for Lenin. His
natural inclinations lay towards the field of revolutionary activity....
When he was expelled from the Kazan University he went to Petrograd. The
first phase of his activities was confined to student circles. A year or
two later he created in Petrograd the first ‘workmen’s circles’ and a
little later crossed swords on the literary arena with the old leader of
the Populists, N. K. Mikhailovsky. Under the _nom de plume_ of Ilyin,
Lenin published a series of brilliant articles on economics which at
once won him a name.
In Petrograd he, with other workers, founded the ‘Union for the
Emancipation of the Working Class,’ and conducted the first labor
strikes, writing meanwhile leaflets and pamphlets remarkable for their
simplicity of style and clarity. These were printed on a hectograph and
distributed.... Very often now workers coming from far off Siberia or
the Ural to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets recall to him their
activities together in the early 90’s. They recognize that he was their
teacher, the first to kindle the spark of communism in them.
In the 90’s Lenin was sentenced to a long prison term and then exiled.
While in exile he devoted himself to scientific and literary activities,
and wrote a number of books. One of these reached a circle of exiles in
Switzerland, among whom were Plekhanoff, Axelrod, and Zasulich, who
welcomed Lenin as the harbinger of a coming season, and who could not
find words of praise sufficiently strong. Another book, a truly
scientific one, won the praise of Professor Maxim Kovalevsky of the
Paris School of Social Science. “What a good professor Lenin would have
made!” he said.
Vladimir Ilyich languished in exile like a caged lion. The only thing
that saved him was the fact that he was leading the life of a scientist.
He used to spend fifteen hours daily in the library over books, and it
is not without reason that he is now one of the most cultured men of our
time.... In 1901 Lenin, together with a group of intimate friends, began
the publication of a newspaper, _Iskra, The Spark_. This paper not only
waged a political struggle, but it carried on vast organizing
activities, and Lenin was the soul of the organizing committee.
Lenin’s wife, Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya Ulyanova was the
secretary of _Iskra_ and the secretary of the organizing committee.
Throughout Lenin’s activities as an organizer a considerable share of
the credit is due to his wife. All the correspondence was in her charge.
At one time she was in communication with entire Russia. Who did not
know her? Martov in his bitter controversy with Lenin once called her
"Secretary of Lenin, the Super-Center."...
In the summer of 1905 the first conference of the Bolsheviki was called.
Officially it was known as the Third Conference of the Revolutionary
Social Democratic Labor Party. This conference laid the corner-stone for
the present Communist Party.... In the revolution of 1905 Lenin’s part
was enormous, although he was residing in Petrograd illegally and was
forbidden by the party to attend its meetings openly.
Vladimir Ilyich was exiled for the second time in 1907. In Geneva, and
later in Paris, chiefly through the efforts of Lenin, the newspapers,
_The Proletarian_ and _The Social Democrat_ were founded. Complete
decadence was reigning all around. Obscene literature took the place of
art literature. The spirit of nihilism permeated the sphere of politics.
Stolypin was indulging in his orgies. And it seemed as if there was no
end to all this.
At such times true leaders reveal themselves. Vladimir Ilyich suffered
at that time, as he did right along in exile, the greatest personal
privations. He lived like a pauper, he was sick and starved, especially
when he lived in Paris. But he retained his courage as no one else did.
He stood firmly and bravely at his post. He alone knew how to weld
together a circle of gallant fighters to whom he used to say, “Do not
lose your courage. The dark days will pass, a few years will elapse, and
the proletarian revolution will be revived.”
For two years Lenin scarcely left the national library at Paris, and
during this time he accomplished such a large amount of work that even
those very professors who were attempting to ridicule his philosophic
works admitted that they could not understand how a man could do so
much.
The years 1910–11 brought a fresh breeze to stir the atmosphere. It
became clear in 1911 that the workers’ movement was beginning to revive.
We had in Petrograd a paper, the _Star_, (_Zviezda_), and in Moscow a
magazine, _Thought_ (_Mysl_), and there was a small labor representation
in the Duma. And the principal worker both on these papers and for the
Duma representation was Lenin. He taught the principles of revolutionary
parliamentarism to the labor deputies in the Duma. “You just get up and
tell the whole of Russia plainly about the life of the worker. Depict
the horrors of the capitalist galleys, call upon the workers to revolt,
fling into the face of the black Duma the name of ‘scoundrels and
exploiters.’” At first they found this strange advice. The entire Duma
atmosphere was depressing, its members and ministers met in the Tauride
palace, clad in full dress suits. They learned their lessons however.
In 1912 we started to lead a new life. At the January conference of that
year the Bolsheviki reunited their ranks which had been broken up by the
counter revolution. At the request of the new Central Executive
Committee Lenin and myself went to Krakov (Cracow, in Galicia). There
comrades began to come to us from Petrograd, Moscow, and elsewhere. I
recall the first large general meeting of the Petrograd metal workers,
in 1913. Two hours after our candidates had been elected to the
executive committee Lenin received a wire from the metal workers,
congratulating him upon the victory. He lived a thousand versts away
from Petrograd, yet he was the very soul of the workers of Petrograd. It
was a repetition of what took place in 1906–7 when Lenin lived in
Finland, and we used to visit him every week to receive counsel from
him. From the little village of Kuokalla, in Finland, he steered the
labor movement of Petrograd.
In 1915–17 Lenin was leading a very peculiar life in Switzerland. The
war and the collapse of the International had a very marked effect on
him. Many of his comrades who knew him well were surprised at the
changes wrought in him by the war.
He never felt very tenderly toward the bourgeoisie, but with the
beginning of the war he began to nurture a concentrated, keen, intense
hatred for them. It seemed that his very countenance had changed.
In Zurich he resided in the poorest quarter, in the flat of a shoemaker.
He appeared to be after every single proletarian, trying as it were to
get hold of him and explain that the war was an imperialistic
slaughter.... Lenin has always understood what enormous difficulties
would arise before the working class after it had seized all power. From
the first days of his arrival in Petrograd he carefully observed the
economic disruption. He valued his acquaintance with every bank
employee, striving to penetrate into all the details of the banking
business. He was well aware of the provisioning problem, and of other
difficulties. In one of his most remarkable books he dwells at length on
these difficulties. On the question of the nationalization of banks, in
the domain of the provisioning policy and on the war question Lenin has
said the decisive word. He worked out concretely the plan of practical
measures to be adopted in all domains of national life, long before
October 25, (November 7), 1917. The plan is clear, concrete, distinct,
like all his works....
[Illustration:
ZINOVIEFF
President of the Petrograd Soviet
]
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