Joseph Stalin

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Part of Socialism today

Title: Joseph Stalin
Language: English
Source: Socialism today August 1936
Year: 1936
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Fulltext: August;, ·1936 SOCIALISM ;;TODAY- P.age 3 8~ 0 S E·p···& . . . . ' The Story ~I a ·Life. that Rivals a fafcinating. Detective. Romance There is perhaps no world figure s.o Iit.f!e known as Stalin, the present ruler of. Russia. To-day he. is the most.powerful pers.onality · ip Communism. His life sto:r:y rivals the most dangerous and fascinating detective ·romance. Borrt in ' . I 1879, pe has crowded into· his life more , fighti~g action than 1-ny other serving ruler _in the world. As a politi-· cal revoluti?nis~ under. the Tsar's regime he was ·arrested. six times, escaped five, ·'and spent· seven years ii).. ja41 or exile. Few newsp·aper correspondents have ever seen .him. ·:r;ris mother. is a· woman of unusual' power. She s-~id t'hat her husband had been a Georgian of peasant origin who worked in a shoe factory. . The family narhe was Dzhugashvili. "The'y had fom· children, but three died in_ infancy. Stalin, who was the young. est, was therefore in effect an oqly child. "He was not physically strong. The family. \\fas not'. prosperous, the. food was. poor; 'and he was often sick.· At severt _he had small-pox, which left ·his face pitted. In spite of all this he was first in his' studies, \ind his mother proudly declared that he was ahead of all the boys in everything. His mother was. ·a: devout Christiart and had '_literally prayed her son into theological seminary, hoping he would serve her count~y as a priest.' · Nothing inte).'es(ed the youth quite.so much as ideas and reading. His father. did not care for politics,. but even as a youngster the son managed to ·join a secret political circ!e. When he was ten his father died. The family was left pennilness, but the mother, often sitting up until tlwo or three at O:night, sewing, ear·ned the nece:;;sary liyel_ihood, and set asi!1e every ~pe~nr that could be saved fbr the religious education~ of the boy. Aftei· finishing the local _religious high· school at' foi,irteen, :stalin was. sent te> the. theologica_l s~minary at the <;a.pita! in Tiflis. At that time the institution was ~ hotbed of re:volutionary do~trine, both nationalist and Marxist, and Stalin soon . became the ieader .of' the Marxist circle. In touch with the .illegal Social Democratic· organfzations of the ci~y; he distril;ni.ted revolutional\y lit.erature and .attended· iecret meetings. ·of the r~ilroad workers. In 1898 · the- autqorities searched his . roo.m, fourid." 'a copy of Marx, and promptly expelled him. It \va~ 'a· great· bfo~ to h_is ,~other, although - she,. had feared it;. for, although Stalih never talked politics at h9ine, sh~ had seen him hiding' illegal jOU:r.'llals. Still sne d!d not dream that ·he was really against the Czar, and it Y.,as not 'until his arr~t in Baku that comrades e~plained all to her. Fina). l;y, in 1905, a:(ter her "Son had repe11tedly been· _arrested and 'her. prayers had remained unanswered, she lost her faith in God, dimly realizing then th~t the priests were supporting the 'Czar and "betraying the. people. . As a result of his expulsion from the seminary. as a boy of nineteen he had firmly resolved to devote the r.est of his. -life.· to .the. overthrow. of fhe Czar's: regime, aJ!.d after examining all the differ: ent political parties had decided to jojn . the Social Democrats. · ·The older revolutionists in Tirlis had been content with secret propaganda. Now .came Stalin to champion the young, restless radicals who wanted to plunge into inass demonstrations and parades, as well as to distribute to the ;masses ·illegal leaflets on popular. contemporary issues; and Stalin won· over the majolr·ity. · In 1900-1902 he eng~neered mass st.rikes in Tiflis, and on. the first of May . a great political demonst~ation. IIT\mediately the party headquarters and his own apartment were raided. Stalin began to live .under assumed names . and to · move· every few· days.' He succesl'>ively became ~mown a~ David, Ko~a, N.ishe:radze, Cheshekoff, Ivanovitch; but . the name which :finally stuck was . Stalin, or "Steel,_" not inappropriate -in view of his present ·.position. Stalin next becaqie a professional tiaid agitator for the pa:rty, and was trarisfened to Baku. · He organized successf\11 strikes in two ·of the oil plants, ancr a grand polY:,ical demonstration _in February, 1902. In March he was ar·rested .and imprisoned until the end 'of the next year, when he. was exiled. to Eastern Siberia: Within a month he had escaped and returned to 'Tiflis. While in jalI ·in Baku; •Stalin had learned of the fight between Lenin, representing , the Bolsheviki . (Majority); and the Mensheviki (Minority) of the ·party, and had b·ecome a strong sup: porter of .Lenin and the po'licy ·of direct action. After. his escape' he .organized the party al~ over the. Caucas~s in. S.UP. po1't of Leniii. .He edited. illegal Bolshevist papers, such. as "The Proletariat , Struggle" .and ·".The B!lku Workman," · and w~ote many pamphlets, ·such a.8" "A S1,1_m~ary rif the Party Split,'' "Anarch.ism" and "Socialism," and so forth:. In 1905 .. he attended the party- con,ferehce in Fii1landr and in 1906 ])egan to edit a weekly, Time. The same year he attended the · :stoCkhoim congress and another in London. On his return from London, he, once more organized the workers of Baku. • • His former associates say that t.here was no one· quite _so effective as Stalin in interesting the· workers and makingthem see the ·in;ustice of their conditiort. Illegal meetings were organized· in· the evenings,- to which the. workers · were invited, and Stalin would talk. He . was· particularly effective in arranging strikes. Many a time at ·a o;iecret meeting one of the older workers would express doubts as to the advisability of such a dangeroµs course, but his argument would be swept aside by the clear, insistent plea Qf Stalin. Constructively, Stalin managed to conclude effective ~greements· with the oil ,magnates,· im' . proving working_ conditions, and this enormously increased his prestige with the workers. In 1908 he was arrested a second time, being implicated in the work of the Baku committee, and l!,fter some time in the local prison was again. exiled, this time to Irkutsk. His wife, whom he had married in 1905, did not survive the rigors . o~ exile. One boy, the surv,ivor of this union; is now studying at Moscow. In 1909 Stalin again managed to escape .and ·again returned to Baku. He plunged at once into the work of organizing every single off plant· in the . city. He was in the room. It was, therefore, almost inevitable that inside of . a year he ·· faced prison and .a iiix-year exile. But again in less than twelve-: months he bad escaped and made his way in disguise to St. Petersburg. Barely six months later he was arrest~d while at work for the Central Committee of ·the party, but the Czar's police did not know him, and h~ was exil&d for only three yearsi managing to escape· in 1911. Stalin at this· ·time was either excep' tionally clever or exceptionally Iuckf, for the Cza;>s police a~ways accused 'him of relatively minor crimes: of beiRi the organizer' ··of some street parade, the editor of. some illegal publication, the lea'der of a strike, and so forth. Conse• qUently', while h'e. was always in trouble, his sentences were .relatively light ... In April, 1912, he was again arrested arid exiled. In_ Sep~inber of the·; Slit~e~ ye!l,r he escaped across the b_order -into Cra(Contin'Ued on page :u) Page .l4 SOCIALISM TQDAY auth~ritl.es had.no answer. On May Day· to K!>Iki," hi!! said. · "T-hey ·will threate!l JOSEP;H '5'1-'A'LlN of 19~15 a twenty·two-yearii-old Co]Jll)lU• ' us." • ' ' (l;ontinued frorYi pag~. S) ' ' ' nist, the local school teacher, organized "We are.·not children tcfbe ~rightened," cow., in Austria, and was ab1e to take the peasants .from the neighboring said another. •"I •have )leen a soldier and 1 part in the· cottference of the party· ~ith farms and led ·a May Day march on the I am not frightened so easily._'' "Lenin, when he was ·~dected a member village. They carri~d a red banner ins- They placed the children in the front of the Central Committee. cribed with the words "Give Us Schools line so that the soldier could see they Some Russian revolutionists of this for Our Children" and well over a thou- were on a peaceful mission, placed them period spent con~iderable time abroad sand peasants, ancient Poles whose an- right behind the teacher who was lead- studying in comparative security; 1 Not cestors had tilled the soil for generations, ing- them and carrying the red banner so Stalin. He was always lit the most their wives, younger folk and children of asking that the children be not allowed to dangerous front, giving himself unschool age, marched upon the village of grow up in the darkness of their elders. sparingly to the illegai work of his parKolki. There was a picnicky air about it. The officer in command of the soldiers ty. In 1913 he took part in the elecThe long winter was over. May and the shouted to them to stop. The teachers' tive campaign for ihe fourth Duma· sun and warmth were here and tQ most face flushed as red as the banner she (congress) and became leader of the of the gay and laughing line it was a carried and she turned to the peasants Bolshevist faction. At that time he was great big party to be enjoyed, a sort of behind her. also one of the editors of- the ·illegal communal celebration. The young tea- "Let us sing!" she called loudly. "All Bolshevist papers, "The Star" and "The cher Jed the procession and as they ap- Truth." In February, 1913, he waE artogether-as we go to demand the en<;lpf proached the long, level road leading to darkness for our children!" rested for the sixbh time and exiled unthe village they met a group of police- der a heavy guard. This time he did not She waved the red banner and her men obviously on their way to intercept escape $Id was freed only by the Febthem. voice came strong like a challenge to ruary revolution. ' battle: "Where are you going?" the police de- In the Bolshevist Revolution Stalin manded. "Arise! Ye prisoners of staravtion-" was one of the committee of ,five who "To the village to ask for free schools," The children who had learned the song managed the uprising, working shoulder. the teacher responded gaily. joined in. Quavering peasant voices to shoulder with Lenin and strongly fa"Our children will not be as dark and picked it up and then the voices were voring the seizure of power, in opposit'ion drowned out by a burst of machine-gun to Zinoviev and Kamenev, who cautioned ignorant as we," said several peasants fire. crowding around the police. delay. From 1917 to 1923 he was Nineteen were killed. Twelve little People's. Commissar of Nationalities, the "You cannot march on the village," said the police. children who had gone to plead for free man who initiated the successful policy schools that they might not grow up in of giving cultural autonomy and . local "But the new constiution has guarant- the darkness of their elders, the teacher, freedom to the nationalities within the eed us free schools," the teacher protest- · still clutching the banner even in death Union. Besides this, from 191~ to 1920, ed. • and six peasants, They had been "pa- he was People's Comirissar for Workers "You will have to disperse," said the cified." . and Peasants Inspection, and from 1920 police. "You cannot march on Kolki." "We could not even bury our dead," to 1923, a member of the Revolutionary "But all that these peasants and child- said the old peasant, rubbing a grimy War Council of the Republic. · rent want is to ask for the free schools hand over his nose. "We were told that The intervention in Russian affairs the constitution has guaranteed them," here and there they are buried, the tea- of England, France, Japan and the the girl protested. cher and the children. There were many United States threw him into. the· civil 'the police oficer shook his head an- wounded and when we fled we carried war. He was sent from one front to'.angrily and spread out his arms to signi- them with us to our homes." other, serving against Udenitch, D•nify that the road was barred. The girl Not a. word of the massacre was pub- kin and the Poles, and, for b,is heroism turned to the peasants and waving the lished. The organ 0 f the Socialist Party, he was decorated with the highest So~ red banner with the words "Give Us Robbotnik, learned of it and tried to viet order of the Red Sign. . ' Schools for Our Children" she called· publish an account of what had hap- It is always the custom1 for the Red "We have the right to march to Kolki pened and the issue was promptly con- Army soldiers to greet· a commander and we ·are marching." fiscated. with a cheer; On thj! front .near Pet. The policeman slapped her and in a "And now?" I asked. rograd one December, Stalin .noted that· few moments the gay and happy pea- 'He stared. at the floor. the soldiers did :riot greet him with ens ants and their wives had so set upon thusiasm. Halting one whose tightly the police, kicking and cuffing them, that "Now we remember our di:ad," the old compressed lips indicated complete sipeasant said quietly. they beat a hasty retreat. Jenee, Stalin asked, "Why?" The man We sat silent f&r a while, none of us · d h" f I "Ah," sighed the old peasant, "we pomte to is own eet, c ad only in · feeling much like talking after this tale. laughed---even the children laug)led when straw sandals. Staljn immediately took we saw them running back to Kolki; and "Some day", said the peasant slowly, off his own fine leather boots, gave them the. teacher laughed and said that that "where. those children died and where to the soldier, and took in return tile showed what we could do when we were that teacher lies buried, blood will run straw sandals, which he wore· all winter, like a river in the spring and it will not h · th d I t' 'th b" determined, that a few policemen could s armg e epr va 10n w1 · is m~n. be the blood of peasant children." f h' d s Id. h" not stop us." One o 1s comra es, turo, to . , is· They marched on again, singing the "They will shoot you down as before," adventures during the direst days ·(if the Interna,tional, laughing and joking about I said. civil war, when it was a race' betwee~ how the police had run away. "They will shoot many of us· down," starvation and defeat at the . .'.: 'J Alli~s' And then they saw a detachkent of he returned .quietly, "but there"_;.he mo- hands. Stalin was 'fopd dictator. Said soldiers in the distance and an old pea- tioned to the east--"not a two ~rs jour- Sturo: sant, wise in the ways of the military, ney by 'even· a starvin~ hOTse, are sol- "l. was commiSsioned to ~ecure food called a halt. diers of ~he peasants. They are ·our sol- for Baku. At the ·time Baku had a "They are there to stop us from going diers •. And they wil come to hil!lP QS,'; (Continued ·on flCiOe 27) Agosto, 1936 JOSEPH STALIN ... (Continued from page 14) population of 200,000, ·with 75,000 workers. Grain was collected at the mouth of the river Volga to be distributed all over Russia. I carried my own armed force. After months of desperate work we had 300,000 poods of wheat. Then I had to get boats to ship it to Baku. All was arranged and I was happy, when officers of Stalin's men said, 'It makes no difference what orders :you have. If we do not get grain and go back to Stalin with empty hands we shall be shot.' These men had a larger f;:r,hting force. and I realized that it would eithe1· mean a terrible fight or else surrender. Baku was starving. I decided to appeal 11e1·sonally to Stalin. "At that time Stalin was virtually a clictato1· in the matter of secu1·ing gTain. He almo:>t never received anyone in hi:> room except his lieutenants. He was like a lion in his cage, always pacing· up and down. In spite of everything, I managed to get to him and plead for Baku. Stalin brushed the plea aside with the statement, 'What nonsense you are talking. If we lose Bakn, it is nothing·. We will take it again inside of a few months or .a year at the most. If we lose Moscow, we Jo::;t everything. Then the revolution is ended.' The !!rain went to Stalin and Moscow.'' Pl·rhaps the most striking military a~hievement of Stalin was his defem;e tanging upuan sa mga tanghalan ng mga dula o nang sariling pitak sa mga pahayagan, o ng kaunting taas sa kanilang sahod, o nang tanging kagaanan sa paglalakbay, at kung minsan, ng isang automobil at halaga ng sa kanya ay paggamit. Marami pa sana akong dapat na sabihin, nguni't ito ang aking panghuling wikang masasabi: Ang aking pagkakadalaw sa Rusya ay nalrnpa~bigay sigla sa aking pananalig sa kakayahan ng mga tao, sa kanilang mga hangarin at walang likat na pagsusumakit na nagbubunga ng mainam at malulusog na mga balak na maaari nilang isaga wa sa pagtutuwangan. Iya'y nakapagpatibay pa sa aking pananalig sa magan<lang maibubunga ng demokrasya na nababatay sa bagong paraan ng karunungan. ANG SOSYALISMO NGAYON of the town of Tsaritsin, on the lower Volga, against the attacks of the antiBolshevist forces. The city has since been rechristened Stalingrad in his honor. For a time Stalin worked as secretary to Lenin, then later he became General Secretary of the Communist Party. Previously this position had never been considered of central strategic importance, being rather a routine job, consisting of such fo1·mal and technical duties as preparing circular letters for the party organizations and outlining programs passed by the Central Committee. Stalin now made it the direct nerve renter of the party. It gave him the chance to send out political workers throughout Russia, and to learn from the inside the methods of political organization. His previous heroic work made eve1·y one recognize his authority. Stalin to-day is a man of medium heig·ht, erect, well built, with a heavy b!ack mustache, thick hair, dark penetrating eyes and a handsome face. His Rpeech is characte1·istic of the man, blunt ancl direct; he does not attempt to hide his meaning. On the other hand, as with so many key politicians, he does not place himself in the spotlight, although in 1930 he has assumed public leadership as never before. ·Stalin never acted as if the revolution were the opportunity for him to parade his genius. He is not an inspired orator or a brilliant writer, but is a man of iron will, extraordinary energy and an utter Jack of fear . There is litUe question that he is extrao1·rlinary i;kilful and adrnit in party politics. It would be easy to mag-nify the role which Stalin is now ]>laying. He i;; easily the most important man in Russia to-day, but the entire theory of Communist tactics is that the individual is nothing, the party is everything. Stalin rules because he has his ear close to the gt·ound and knows what the rank and file of the party want. He has an extraordinary knack of keeping in touch with the changing moods of the common people, especially of the peasants. We have already mentioned the fact that long before the took the reins of power he inaugurated the policy of cultural autonomy for subject nationalities. Stalin insisted that, in contradiction to the policy of the Czar, every subject group could study in their own dialect or language and could have full power to print books and newspapers in their own tongue. In 1924 he insisted on democracy in the villages. He sensed the desire of the peasants for more economic;,JibCl'ty, and was instrumental in passfog~i- law, against party opposition, gi"l.i~ the Pahina 27 NAKIKIDALAMHATI ANG "SOSY ALISMO NGA YON" AT ANG KUSP SA P AGy AO NG KAIBIGANG SUSANO GONZALES Sa isang kapasyahan na pinagtibay ng Lupong Tagapagpaganap ng Mga Kaibibigan ng Unyong Sobyet sa Pilipinas, ito ay taos na nakikidalamhati sa madaling pagyao ng Kaibigan Susano Gonzales, na sumakabilang buhay noong ika 23 ng Hulio, 1936, sa kanyang tahanan . bilang 424 J. Zamora, Pako. Ang Kaibigang Susano Gonzales ng siya ay nabubuhay pa ay isa sa mga lalong masusugid at masipag na kasapi ng samahan, isang tapat at marangal na kaibigan ng Unyong Sobyet, at isa sa t.agapagtanggol ng mga pambihirang kabuhayan at mga simulain ng nasabing bansa. Ang Pahayagang ito at ang Samahang nagpapalabas dito ay nakikidalamhati sa kanyang mga anak at asawang naulila sa pagkawala ng j·sang kaibigang tapat at dakila. peasant greater freedorn in hiring help, Stalin is a g·enuine believer in Com rnunist principles; in spite of all that has been said about his conservatism, he haR merely tried to harmonize practice with realities. By 1930 he has come to be recognized as the key figure in presentday Communism and it is now fairly settled that history wil rank him, next to Lenin, the outstanding leader in the Russian Revolution. (Adapted from Ccjntemporary Social Mov.enient~, by J Davis).