Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] MONDAY, JULY 2, 1928. TROTSKY AND STALIN.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 2 July 1928, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] MONDAY, JULY 2, 1928. TROTSKY AND STALIN.

During the struggle between Trotsky and Stalin, much was made of the conflict of their respective policies. As a matter of fact, it was a case of Tweedledum and Tweedledee. An examination of their tenets shows there is no real divergence of principle between them. The feud was purely personal and selfish. Trotsky and his supporters were in power and enjoyed its advantages. Stalin and his supporters envied them that power, and managed to deprive them of it by methods which were as unscrupulous as they were effective. Their triumph was so complete that they could afford to display a leniency seldom exhibited by the victor in Russian political vendettas. Trotsky was esteemed to be no longer dangerous ; it would be sufficient to send him to distant Turkestan, where his opportunities of making mischief would be limited, and if he attempted to do so —well, the arm of the Government is long, and

there is always a way. . . But were the Trotsky faction to displace the Stalin faction to-morrow the Soviet policy would not be modified in any material respect.

Hence it is of no consequence to Russia or to the outside world which of the two groups finally wins. What is important, as lias lieen pointed out by the publicist, who writes under the pseudonym of “Augur,” and who is a recognised expert on foreign affairs, is that by crushing the opposition the Stalinites have injured themselves, because they have reduced the membership of the ruling clique. They have cast Trotsky, Zinovieff and others out of the fold, and they have no one to fill the void thus created. The dan.ger of concentrating all power in a small inner ring is that when ■vacancies occur by death or expulsion, suitable substitutes are difficult to find. The weakening of the ruling group must result in the progressive weakening of the whole machine of the Soviet State, and “Augur” is convinced that sooner or later the latter will collapse for want of driving force.