SOVIET DICTATOR MAINTAINS HIS ONE-MAN GOVERNMENT.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 296, 14 December 1931, Page 6

SOVIET DICTATOR MAINTAINS HIS ONE-MAN GOVERNMENT.

To-day’s Signed Article.

His Former Aide Tells How Stalin Manages the Communist Machine.

By

Clair Holt

There is no Soviet Government in Russia —there is a reign of autocratic secretaries nominally elected by their comrades in the Communist Party branches, but virtually appointed from the centre. They are all “ own ” men and loyal agents of the dictator, Stalin, and it is they who control the whole Government apparatus of the Soviet Union to-day.

This is the gist of the revelations made by B. Bajanoff, former aide of Stalin, who, having fled from Soviet Russia, described in “ Vozrozjdenie,” a Russian publication in Paris, the “ mechanics of the Stalin regime.”

TJAJANOFF HIMSELF was a secretary, too, “of highest qualifications ”, according to his own description. From his autobiographical sketch published in Vozrozjdenie it follows that he was prompted to start his career as Communist by the desire to help out his friends crushed in the upheaval of the revolution. He maintains that even later, when, step by step, his way was made into the higher ranks up to the Central Committee, with an appointment in 1923 as Secretary of the Politburo, and Stalin, in reward for excellent service rendered, had made him his assistant, he still was awaiting a chance for an overthrow from within.

Convinced that his cause is hopeless, and surrounded by spying agents of the Ogpu, he finally escaped from Russia in 1928, crossing the Persian border. Picks Out Trusted Man. In a series of articles designated as “revelations”, Bajanoff exposes the secrets of Joseph Stalin’s power as follows: 44 The essence of Stalin’s method can be described in a few simple words: It is the appointment of ‘own’ men, that is, loyal supporters, to all important posts in the country, and, especially, to all the main points of the party machinery. 44 Dependable men, this is the problem preoccupying Stalin most of the time. Often, after having paced up and down the office engrossed in thought, he would suddenly pick up the telephone and call up Molotov: 4 Molotov, it seems to me that our Secretary of the Gubkom in Riasan is not reliable.’ 44 This is what he is doing year after year, and this has made him the boss. 44 Stalin’s own men head all the provincial party organisations, and as their leaders they are delegated to the All-Russian Congresses of the Communist Party. This means that the majority at the Congress is assured, resulting in full control of the Central Committee, and hence, also, in the preservation of dictatorship. Such is the simple mechanism at the root of things. 44 In practice it is, of course, a little more complicated. As an example the methods applied at the elections for the Central Committee can be cited. Eliminates Undependablas. 44 Stalin, together with the leaders of the delegations (who are secretaries of the provincial Communist Party Committees), works out a list of candidates. These lists are given out in printed form as voting bulletins to the delegates of the Congress. Each delegate has the right to strike out any name and substitute it with another, according to his desire. But hardly any one makes use of this privilege, for the simple reason that the handwriting of each delegate is recorded through questionnaires that have to be filled out at the start of the convention, and it is known that a delegate who will introduce any serious changes on the proposed list of candidates

will not have a chance of being sent to the Congress at its next meeting. So gradually all men who are not dependable, according to Stalin’s opinion, are being eliminated.

“ Making a statement that there actually is no Soviet Government in Russia to-day would not be saying something new or heretofore unknown. The Soviet Government ceased to exist in Rpssia long ago. There is only the power of the Communist Party, absolute and exclusive. There is a great mass of population having no rights whatever. These masses are covered with a tremendous mesh of various organisations, such as soviets, professional unions, extraordinary committees, the army, cooperatives, Communist cells, etc. All these institutions are subjected to the Communist Party. The Communist Party is centralised and directed from just a few points.” A Startling Modem Epic. Bajanoff’s “ revelations ” are supposed to have created a sensation even outside France, where they have been published. Essentially they are interesting merely as a confirmation of the fact that the Union of the Socialist Soviet Republics is in reality governed by a dictator whose rise to power is a startling epic in modern history. Joseph Stalin, the 44 man of steel ”, known more for his silence than for his words, has just about reached the age of fifty. For thirty-three years he has been fanatically active in the revolutionary movement, and has suffered a severe punishment for his ideas. Under the Czarist regime he was arrested five times, imprisoned and sent away to Vologda and Siberia. He escaped every time, finally was put away in 1912 into a closely guarded camp in the Arctic, where he remained until 1917, when the revolution set him free. The development of his power under the Bolshevik regime was like an unseen, strong undercurrent—his work was largely secret and his name rarely appeared in print. Actually he was Lenin’s closest adviser, and one of his most trusted friends. Officially he held the post of Secretary-General of the Communist Party and Commissary of Minorities. It was his work to convert the 20,000,000 Mohammedans and Orientals of Russia to the idea of the dictatorship of the proletariat. When the death of Lenin became imminent, the dark-faced, unobtrusive Georgian, whose hard logic and brutal clearness had made him one of the most powerful levers of the Government machine, loomed up as the only worthy successor of the great leader. Together with Trotsky, Zinovieff and Kamenieff, he took over the weight of Russia’s Government, continuing the new economic policy of partial reestablishment of private trade inaugurated by Lenin. (Anglo-American N.S.—Copyright.)