BOLSHEVIK LEADERS—BRIEF SKETCHES
TROTZKY
Almost inseparable from the name of Lenin, in the minds of Americans, is
that of Trotzky, Minister of War, whose history is well known here. He
was Minister of Foreign Affairs up to the time of the signing of the
Brest-Litovsk Treaty, when it became necessary to mobilize an army to
protect Soviet Russia from foreign invasion, and he was made Minister of
War. He took hold of a badly disorganized and worse discouraged army,
and through his own hard work, and with the assistance of others, built
up an army probably better than any other in the world today.
While in Moscow I heard him address a gathering of some two thousand
women, in the Labor Temple—formerly a noblemen’s club. He had just
returned from the front, and was still wearing his suit of plain khaki
and high boots. He reviewed the work of the Red Army, recounting its
victories and defeats.
[Illustration:
LITVINOFF
Assistant Commissar of Foreign Affairs
]
A well-set figure, with black eyes flashing through a pair of thick
glasses; a wealth of jet black hair brushed back from a high forehead;
dark moustache and small beard; his whole face tanned from being in the
open with the troops, he paced the platform from one end to the other,
like a caged lion. When he spoke of the counter-revolutionary forces his
voice resounded through the hall, filled with scorn, and his face wore a
look that was uncanny. The next moment his expression changed, and
lowering his voice he spoke in soothing tones of the heroism and
devotion of the soldiers of the Red Army.
I could understand at the end of his forty minutes’ address what Colonel
Raymond Robins meant when he said: “Trotzky is a great orator.” He is
undoubtedly the most convincing I have ever heard, and I have heard many
in several countries. He seems to tug at his listeners until they find
themselves leaning forward so as not to miss a single word. The history
of this man’s life and activities would make an interesting book. I hope
it will be written.
CHICHERIN
As Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trotzky was succeeded by Chicherin. He
is a tall, slightly stooped figure, about fifty years old, with eyes
that burn like coals. He is emaciated from hunger and from hard work.
Never a day goes by but Chicherin can be found in his office from twelve
to sixteen hours of the time, working with quiet determination and zeal.
I saw him in his office at the Metropole two or three times, and was
captivated by his kind and gentle manner.
“Yes,” he said to me, "we want peace and are ready to conclude at once.
Concessions are still here for American capital. Leases can be had for
forty-nine years. All we ask is that the Russian labor laws shall
prevail here and the Government shall not be interfered with. There is
flax here, and timber and many other things that the people of your
country want.
“Go back to America and tell them to leave us alone. Just let us get our
breath and turn our energies into productive work.”
They all said that, Chicherin and many other Commissars. All dwelt upon
the need for technical assistance. They look forward to the day when
they will be able to apply the best technical and scientific experience
of the world to the solution of their problems. They need experts in all
lines and of all grades, from simple mechanicians to the most highly
trained laboratory specialists.
LITVINOFF
Litvinoff is a solidly built, jovial, and very astute Lithuanian. He was
one of the Collegium in the foreign office under Chicherin, and was the
Soviet ambassador in England after the revolution. Later he was sent
back to Russia by the British Government. He is an equally shrewd
business man and diplomat, and looks more like a British member of
parliament than a Russian Bolshevik. He has a keen sense of humor and
fun, but takes his duties very seriously. He is the type of man often
seen among directors of great enterprises in America, putting through
“big deals.” One imagines that if he chose to sell his services to a
capitalist organization or state he could easily become a “big man.”
He was my first host in Moscow, and was very kind and helpful in giving
me all the information and assistance possible.
MADAME KOLLONTAY
I met Madame Kollontay in the National Hotel, three or four days after I
arrived in Moscow. She is a beautiful, cultured woman, and an excellent
speaker. She had just returned from a tour of the southern part of
Russia, where she had been establishing schools and organizing homes for
the aged, and informed me that the children are so enthusiastic that
they do not want to go home when the day’s session is over. “There is a
feeling of solidarity among them,” she said. “They are being educated
without the feeling of property of any kind. The psychology of the
people has so changed since the revolution that the old order could not
last even if it were to be restored,” she said “and if the Allies would
only withdraw their armies and stop supporting the counter-revolutionary
forces Russia could recoup herself without outside aid of any kind.”
Asked about the devotion of the people to Lenin she replied that while
he was deeply loved and respected the people were not following him
blindly, and that their devotion was due to the fact that they realized
that he stood always for their best interests.
Madame Kollontay has spent several years in America and asked me about
many of her friends in this country. She said she hoped to be able to
return at some future time.
MADAME BALABANOVA
Madame Balabanova, secretary of the Third International, which has
headquarters at Moscow, is an Italian, not over five feet tall, elderly,
but full of fire and spirit. She speaks many languages, including fluent
English. I met her on several occasions in Moscow. She reminded me that
there was much work to be done, and that the revolution had not ended
with the overthrowing of the old order. “We are building the new
society,” she said, “but it is slow work because of the necessity of
converting the country into an armed camp to repel invasion, but when
the war stops we will show the world what Soviet rule can do for the
oppressed.”
She said she hoped to go back to Italy sometime, but presumed it would
be impossible, at least until that and other countries had recognized
that the Russians and those in sympathy with them were human beings and
not “carriers of contagion.”
She is a wonderful speaker and an extremely energetic and hard working
little woman, much admired and respected by her colleagues.
I once accompanied her on a visit to a hospital, where she spoke to
wounded soldiers. More than two hundred convalescent soldiers made up
her audience. They lay on their cots or sat in wheel-chairs, some of
them armless or with but one arm, others with one leg shot off, and many
with ugly head wounds. They greeted Madame Balabanova cheerily, and
listened almost eagerly to her story of what was going on at the front
and in the country generally. When she had finished her address there
was a silence, and then from all the men came the deep singing of the
_Internationale_.
BUCHARIN
Bucharin, a close friend and companion of Lenin, is the editor of
_Pravda_, the party organ in Moscow. I learned that he, too, had been in
America for two or three months previous to the overthrow of the Czar,
and had hurried back when this news reached him. He is a small figure,
always hurrying somewhere, with a book under his arm. One meets him in
the Theater Square in the morning, in Soviet Square a few hours later,
at the Kremlin still later, and in the evening at the extreme opposite
end of the city. There is a saying about him, “One can never tell where
he will turn up next. He is always on the move.” And yet he always has
time for a kindly word or question or greeting. He is a student of
history and quotes freely, from memory, all the Russian and many
European writers.
GEORGE MELCHOIR
George Melchoir is president of the Moscow Central Federation of
All-Russian Professional Alliances. He worked for a long time at
Bayonne, New Jersey, but like many others returned to Russia after the
overthrow of the Czar. He took an active part in organizing the taking
of Moscow in the early days of the Bolshevist uprising.
Melchoir has been a working man all his life, and is extremely
intelligent. The position which he holds demands a great deal of
technical knowledge, as well as executive ability, and every one agreed
that he was thoroughly qualified for his post. I had a long talk with
him. He was enthusiastic about the future of Russia. It would be built
up, he said, by the various unions and peasant organizations.
He is probably thirty-five years of age, of medium height, with a bulky
figure, full of vigor and enthusiasm.
PETERS
In the early days of the revolution Peters was chief of the Internal
Defense of Petrograd. American newspapers said of him that “his fingers
were cramped from writing death warrants.” I asked him how many death
warrants he had signed and he told me three hundred in all. He expressed
regret that he had been looked upon in other countries as a murderer,
and said it was unfortunate that those people did not understand the
conditions that surrounded Russia while in the throes of a revolution.
He insisted that the warrants he had signed had been necessary in the
interest of the country as a whole, and that they had been signed only
after investigation and a trial of the individuals, and that in no case
had there been an execution to gratify the personal revenge of any one.
He is a Lett, very young, perhaps between twenty-eight and thirty years
old, short and stocky, with a mass of black hair combed straight back.
He lived in England for a number of years, and speaks the English
language easily and fluently.
BORIS REINSTEIN
As a former resident of Buffalo, New York, and member of the American
Socialist Labor Party, Boris Reinstein returned to Russia after the
overthrow of the Czar. He was for some time an assistant in the Foreign
Office; later a lecturer in a military school, and is now an official
lecturer in the large college for training writers and speakers in
Moscow. This school was running full blast while I was there. Classes
number from seventy-five to one hundred each. Pupils are elected by
various Soviet organizations over the country, and at the end of six
months’ training are returned to their various communities and others
are sent into their places. The Government supports all these pupils
while they are in training.
Reinstein is an excellent speaker and a tireless worker, and is one of
the kindest and most conscientious men I have ever met. He is certainly
not the “wild-eyed agitator” he has been pictured in the American press.
He has given valuable service to the revolution, though he has lost
twenty-five pounds in doing so.
“BILL” SHATOFF
“Bill” Shatoff, described by American papers as “the well-known
anarchist,” is one of the officials of the Soviet Army. When I was in
Petrograd he was the commander of the Petrograd front. He is a big jolly
Russian Jew, and certainly does not look any the worse for his
participation in Soviet warfare, nor for the stinted rations he has
shared with his men.
[Illustration:
CHILDREN OF THE SOVIET SCHOOL AT DIETSKOE SELO
Formerly Tsarskoe Selo, the residence of the Czar
]
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