THE PASSING OF LENIN

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 21, 25 January 1924, Page 6

THE PASSING OF LENIN

The death of Nikolai Lenin is unlikely to have a profound effect upon Russia. Had it taken place three, or four, or five years ago undoubtedly it would have preceded great changes; but for the past* year Lenin has been only nominally head of the Soviet Republic, and for months in 1922 his active work in Russia was light, because of his illness. The government of Russia has been directed in the meantime by the' various execu-' tives, who have ' agreed among themselves, or quarrelled, with no master-mind to induce harmony. Lately there appears to ha"ye been more quarrelling than agreement, 'and particularly there has been a •widening gap between Trotsky and the le'ft-wmg 'Communists, whom Kameneff is reputed to lead. The death of Lenin makes it less probable that this gap will be bridged, and if a dispute arises concerning the succession to Lenin an open breach may appear. But Russia has lately been abandoning, .piece by, piece, ,the full .application of Communist theories^ and the. process is unlikely to be seriously checked or greatly accelerated by A nominal change in leadership.' The process ' was begun under ■Lenin, who approved, the introduction of a limited form of State capitalism instead of pure State Socialism. He himself acknowledged that Russia was not ready for the form of government which he. and his*colleagues had endeavoured to introduce. , .■

It is impossible at this time to predict what the judgment, of history will be upon Lenin and his direction of affairs in Russia. Even when he was at the height of his power the man was surrounded by much' mystery. _; That he possessed a dominating personality is quite evident, and the power of his intellect has not been questioned. Yet it is difficult to reconcile great qualities of mind and vast knowledge of human-nature with the at: tempt to force upon a numerous and largely illiterate people a form of government which would have been doubtful of success even in a compact and educated community of convinced Socialists. Such an experiment indicated not wide knowledge of human nature, but a mind steeped in theories, hypnotised by an idea and incapable of realising the great .obstacles to the translation of that idea into practice. Those obstacles soon became apparent; and the Communists endeavoured to remove them by force with va which outdid the worst horrors of the Tsarist vregime. Lenin is usually described as a man of calm,' cold intellect, unswayed by passion or impulse; but we do not know yet how far he permitted the Bolshevik excesses, and how far they proceeded because he was powerless to check them, fie planned the BoX sheyik revolt deliberately; and for a time he controlled its' course. The more lenient judgment of subsequent events presents him as a jnan of honest purpose and a humanitarian, unable to control the wild forces which, he himself had loosed. ■

Complaints are made sometimes that undue delay takes place in conveying injured people to hospitals, and proposals to expedite their transport have now been made by the Director-General of Health < (Dr. T. p. A. Valintine). In a letter from Dr. Valintine read at yesterday's meeting of the Hospital' Board it was urged that there should be es* tablished some stand-by system attachable to an ambulance service, and it was suggested that the board might confer with City Council to ascertain whether an arrangement could be made 'to house an accident ambulance at the fire brigade station, the ambulance to be manned by men trained in ambulance work and first-aid duties, and to be summoned to attend cases by an electric alarm system similar to that1 of the fire alarm call system. The secretary of the board (Mr. J. Coyle) reported that a copy of the letter had been forwarded to the Town Clerk with a request that the City Council should express its opinlim an Hits matter, A reply hut) been received that the JU'epoiSil would veeeive consideration.