THIS MAN STALIN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 256, 30 October 1939, Page 5

THIS MAN STALIN

BOOTMAKER’S SON NOW RULES MILLIONS “RUTHLESS AND WITHOUT CONSCIENCE" Stalin was called Djugashvilli in the peasant home at Gori, in Georgia, where he was born 60 years ago next December. The full name he gave himself is Josef Vissarionovitch Stalin, a name his father, a worker in a boot factory, would hardly have aspired to. The bootmaker, however, must have had aspirations for his vigorous lad with the virile frame and intense mind, for he sent him to the Theological College at Tiflis, lhe romantic capital of that Republic of Georgia which was a kingdom for 2000 years, beginning al the death of Alexander the Great, and continuing until its kind resigned the crown in favour of Tsar Paul of Russia in 1799. This little kingdom between the Caucasus and the mountains of Armenia has a history remarkable for its resistance to tyrannical invaders. So that there was ever a strong nationalist spirit in Georgia, and when, during last century, Georgia was under the heel of the Tsars there was a fervid nationalism ever ready Io break into revolt. Fervid Nationalism By the time he was 18, Stalin had joined the secret foes of the Tsarist regime in Georgia and was an ardent student of Karl Marx, so ardent that he was expelled from his college. He was soon one of the most prominent * agitators in the Social Democratic Party, with the Tsarist police closely watching his activities. The police made their swoop at ' Batum, the Black Sea port, in 1902. and in lhe following year Stalin found himself exiled in Siberia, the dreaded land which in after years he was to develop. I The story of Stalin during the nexl 114 years was one of perpetual arrest and escape, his vigorous constitution (helping him Io withstand the hardships of bitter winters and hot sumImers. Seven limes he was arrested I and seven years he spent in exile. In 1905 he met Lenin, and joined i the Bolshevik group of the Russian > Revolution parties in lhe following I year, lhe year of lhe first Duma. The 1 democratic forces in that new Parliai ment failed hopelessly and Russia I was again an autocracy, with the , members of the Duma eternally t squabbling, eternally fighting. e Whenever he was free, Stalin con- = tinned his underground activities, and on'coming out of prison for the last i time in February, 1917, he was ■ elected a member of the Bolshevik I Central Committee and made editor 1 of the Pravda, to-day one of the most s famous of Russian daily papers, but 1 al. that time appearing when and how it could, secretly printed and dis--1 tribuled. Slow and I mouth When lhe Bolsheviks gained sur preme power in 1918, Stalin became commissar for nationalities, and after active service against the White Russians and the Poles he became inspeci tor-general lor fields and factories. Somewhat slow and uncouth, this .1 peasant, from Georgia surprised his associates by the speed with which i he could act. and lhe ability with . 1 which he could organise. His supreme > quality was his loyalty to Lenin, whose canny power of choosing the 1 right man for the job in hand he acquired with ease. And so. when Trotsky reorganised the Red Army and chose old Tsarist officers to train it, Stalin picked men of different origin, as, tor example, the provincial locksmith Voroshiloff, Ha born leader of men and to-day Dci fence Minister. He became conspicu- ' OUS as the man of action who never I let his eyes wander from lhe boat ■and never wasled lime in talk--the I characteristic weakness of the Rus--1 Isian as readers of Russian novels know so well. I Shortly before his death, Lenin ap- ' pointed his loyal henchman as secretary of the Communist Party and I natural successor to lhe leadership. ISealed in power, Stalin brooked no rivals, discarding without mercy whalever and whoever stood in his way. Two hands cannot wield one sceptre, and Trotsky fell dramatically. All possible rivals. Kamenev, Radek and Zinovieff, went lhe same way, while men like Molotoff (teetotaller, vegetarian. and tireless worker! were i chosen to stand with Stalin. I The Five-year Schemes ■ Il is said I hat Stalin hates .lews, and has no use for internationalism. Big ideas for Russia absorb him and > the Five-year Schemes are entirely ■ due to his marvellous drive. He seems ■ to be attaining what, common sense ■ would declare unattainable, seeing visions of waterways and communal farms, of polar conquest and Asiatic , unity. Supreme over nearly 200 million people living on eight, million square ; (miles, Stalin is the unchallenged ( master of a State which is new in its ideas and amazing in its success. In J science, in exploration, in industrial , development, and in social organisa- , tion, Stalin's Russia appears to the . outer world as a successful communI ity—as successful as any that has i been brought into being in so short a space of time. j Whether there are serious flaws in , its “show of steel” time alone will prove, for even more than Herr Hiti. ler the Dictator of all the Russias has preserved the mystic character which is of Oriental rather than Western origin. ' Ruthless and without, conscience, he may be living in a world of makebelieve, yet by his latest victory in Power-politics he has shown himself one of Ihhe greatest masters of diplomacy in the modern world. I performance. A point of interest is . that her brother. A. L. Temperton, ’ won his semi-final from L. Fair- . weather in the senior men's champions i ship and will meet A. Bennett in the I final. It will be interesting to see if - i brother and sister can annex both . (senior titles. . ( In the intermediate championship 1 final, R. Hillmer won from B. Mcs Intyre, 4 up, and in the junior final. - A. Trass won from J. Telford, 4 and 2 3.