A PEASANT IN POWER.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 18 October 1924, Page 13

A PEASANT IN POWER.

LEADER OF THE SOVIET. SKETCH OF KALIN AN, THE RUSSIAN president: President of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union is an interesting personality. Born of a peasant family of Tver, later a worker in the Pu til off Factory, never having •played a political role, self-educated he has taken upon himself since the begilining of the les'olution an important position in the extremist parties Since the constitution of the Soviet Government he has occupied the post of president of the Executive Committee. In the great party discussions, in the debates of the Communist International one never hears mention of him. As a •politician he seems to have but a small importance. For him is reserved the character of the personification of the pioletarian power. He has succeeded “i s ,P a ; rt > an d the name and portrait of Kalinin are known in the most remote corners of Russia.

It Kalinin has not yet become a popular hero, he has without doubt acquired the reputation of protector of the peasant and worker, declares the Moscow correspondent of the Manchester Guardian. “Let us go to Kalinin ” say the peasants of a village if the taxes seem to them to be exorbitant “t am going to see Michael Ivanoviteh, says an old peasant not able to secure a pension in respect of his son killed m the war. He is called the “Y serossisky Starosta”—the Pan-Rus-sian bailiff, it is perhaps a paradox .hhM- in Kalinin relives the Batuishka Tsar,” the Little Father of the former times, and a tradition very dear to the Russian peasant, but there is a certain truth in the idea, lliat the counsellors of the Ruler prevent him from seeing the misery of his people was always very strong in the popular tnind, and in nersonal audiences which are given now*to anyone and everyone by the head of the present Government one sees a restoration of an ancient and forgotten custom Moreover, as Kalinin is of the people, he undei-stands very well their needs and position. A great part of his popularity resides without doubt in the tact that he is a Russian. 4-v AS d he . casf> - with all the leaders of the Bolshevist Government, Kalinin has his apartment in a wing of the great palace of the Kremlin. But three times a week he receives callers in a buildits walls, formerly the Peterhof Hotel, now the “fourth house of the Soviets;”

On approaching the door of the dark staircase (no carpet, no attendant) which leads to the President’s waitingloom you meet a crowd of neople who come m the- early morning to await then- turn, to e-ee Kalinin, and on the staircase a still larger crowd —peasants, workers and soldiers, all smoking a detestable tobacco in an atmosphere a ready intolerable. A list of the people who ask interviews is taken by a cierk behind a ticket-office window, and Kalinin, accompanied by a secretary, enters the office by an inner door Of mediuin height, broad, greyish disorderly hair, a small pointed beard surrounding- a tanned, simple face with nigb cheekbones; apart from his goklrimmed spectacles, which he readjusts continually, Kalinin has the appearance of a true Russian peasant. He pays little attention to his appearance and either as pose or as habit wears a srnipJe black or dark-blue . w r orkman ? s "' ith a-leather belt. His speech, which still keeps a-popular expression and pronunciation, accentuates even more this resemblance. Pencil in hand, he runs rapidly through the list of suppliants. He hurries through the interviews, rarely extending a full minute to each person. On rai’e occasions he refuses; it is true the strangest requests are put to him—a peasant woman wants- a cow, a peasant asks a rebate on the agricultural tax, a Red guard requires justice against the action of the Khirgese Republic in ref using him a pension, and so on. As the president of the Executive Committee lias the right of amnestv, many people come to him pleading for a mitigation of sentence passed: on a condemned relation or friend; these are listened to with the greatest attention and passed to a secretary for action, for private audiences another room is reserved, furnished with, leather armchairs bearing the arms of the Soviet Union and the initials of the Executive Committee (V.Z.1.K.). Kalinin receives personally 400 to 500 people a dav, and more than this number of letters. In addition, in his capacity of -president of the Central Executive Committee he has charge of the administrative work. From time to time he tours the most distant regions of Russia. At the moment he is in his native government working in the fields with the peasants His energy and faculty for work are astonishing. bis private life Kalinin lives in the greatest simplicity. Yet, simple though he is, the Government has decided that his position has to be recocnised and respected and the dignity of the Russian State maintained This is shown in a recent official order regarding the manner of receDtions of foreign Ambassadors, setting *out the place and manner in which the President will receive them and the officials to stand on his right and left side