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Show LENINE BEFORE THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION By Francis Grierson p EXEVA in January! It seemed as if the Russian exiles had brought with' them all the worst elements of a northern winter. It was hard to realize real-ize that this was Switzerland. There was something in the streets, the air, the look of the people that made me think of the winter I passed in the city on the Neva; so when we faced the company of social revolutionists I was not surprised at what I saw. About forty persons had tramped through the deep snow and braved the bitter cold to be present. Some were women, half of them were students, stu-dents, the rest middle-aged or elderly writers and agitators. The room was connected with a cheap restaurant kept by a Russian exile.' and the two waiters who served the compa.iy with tea, beer or coffee were political exiles like the rest. The room was filled with cigarette smoke. It was a typical scene rom the life of the real Russia. The majority could converse fluently In three languages, lan-guages, some of them in half a dozen. As I sat listening I felt that anything might happen in this room, with its long, bare table, at the head of 'hich sat the frowsy lion of the coming revolution, revo-lution, the political economist and dauntless leader of a powerful militant mili-tant faction, Nicolal Z .nine. The fate of the imperial family and of Russia hung suspended in this Geneva balance, which was now tipping tip-ping to the side of political anarchy and social chaos. 1 could not help thinking of the witch scene in "Macbeth," "Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and caldron bubble," for here was something some-thing supernormal, something un-guessed, un-guessed, something far beyond the vision of business men and party politicians: poli-ticians: a vast empire, extending from the Ealtic to the confines of the Pacific, abut to be wrested from the Romanoffs and given over to a small group of men and women, headed by Lenine. and backed by a small band of students, many of whom were living liv-ing on bread and tea, in this sidetracked side-tracked town on the Lake of. Geneva. There is a superstition thot extraor dinary men rise up all of a sudden, coming from nowhere. Those who pin their faith to chance like to believe that big things can be achieved by some hocus-pocus of fate, that people can become famous without knowing what they are doing, that will-power alone can make a mr.n achieve great things without the slightest preparation. prepara-tion. Although unknown outside of Russia, the man sitting at the head of the table had been years preparing for the work he was doing. He had been attending to the details of his favorite subject while others were dabbling with theories or indulging in vague - day-dreams. And now here he was, in the role of instructor, cross-questioner, fervent fanatic, and apostle of proletarian ascendancy in his native country. The evening opened with much exposition ex-position and contradiction. Some of the younger men expressed themselves with more fervor than discretion. They had their own particular views as to liow the revolution should be managed. man-aged. They were mostly theorists who had given no attention to statistics; but in every instance the lion from behind be-hind his shaggy beard sent verbal arrows ar-rows that hit. them in the weakest parts of their political anatomy. He put more than one hors de combat. Like many other typical Russians I have known, this man's personality was hidden under a camouflage of lethargy and indifference; but it did not take him long to pet from under the disguise. He had been replying to questions, some of fhm imperli-nent; imperli-nent; parrying attacks with the rapier thrusts of logic, when all of a sudden he rose from his seat, opened his drooping eyelids till the eyes resembled re-sembled two round mns a gates, and with an ex pression of glacial detachment detach-ment swept the company with one cynical glance. Whatever this man had been in the past, he now spoke with an authority that was uncontaminated by the opinions of others. His personality was made up of the Russian noble, the hard-headed scholar, the pragmatic mystic, with a something of the typical peasant. One could se t li.-.-t this strancely composite "-ha raster had been through the mid of experience. Here in this room history was being repeated with singular realism. Other exiles had gathered in attics or basements base-ments and talked over coming events just as these were doing . in Geneva, and at that moment the Czar and his advisers were living contentedly at the Winter Palace under the illusion that things would continue in the old routine, Siberia would continue to receive re-ceive the normal number of political convicts every year and groups of socialistic plotters in Switzerland would continue to engage in futile plotting. "Most people," Lenine began, "accept "ac-cept only what emanates from the very young or very old. Men of thirty consider con-sider a man of forty too young and men of fifty think a man of thirty loo old. Most of you live under a yoke of false sentiment. You reason about socialism as you would about poetry or botany; but the Russian revolution must have nothing to do with opinions. We intend to strip you of superficial notions in the same way that we Intend to strip the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy aris-tocracy of their privileges and their monopolies. First principles are drastic. dras-tic. The truth is rude as well as crude. I am not going to put on kid gloves to . get rid of 1 he people who own t lie Russian soil and exploit the proletariat.,. proleta-riat.,. As soon aw the Czar is cleared out the others will go with him. There will be no exceptions. The ruling classes must be coerced, but tlie masses rn nimt 1 bin k for themsplvs and must be l"d. They must. h through the ears, for th'-y can only understand through the ears. It is not what they read, but what they hear that counts. A rrowd will not t-top to think, hut It will stop to listen." Here the Bpea.ker was interrupted by a shuflli ng of f ret , cough j tig a rid vehement pro t ''.stations. Nirolai Lenine f-yed the interrupters as if they were so many children. Evidently Evi-dently the noise was no more to him than the noie of the wind beating a Era i lift the windows'. He was used to ail that and mu'h more. His look and his att it ude were imperturbable, with sorneth ing i nexo: a My niysl ical whwh defb-d analy-i, .-tiid I could only think of T'ib-toy juyt br fore his df-ath. L'oMoiev.ski aftT his long eUe, and Turgeniev after ho had been disillusioned disillu-sioned about the Russian people Ho stood like a statue and waited, for the excitement to die out. Then he went on: "So you think you can create a big movement in the cities of Russia by your flighty sentimentality! You think to overthrow tyranny by tho notions of schoolboys! You pin your faith to words, you pin your faith to numbers, but you do not yet know how to manage even a small group of men." Many of his hearers were by Ibis time too indignant to interrupt tho speaker. He grew more cynical and more epigrammatic. In a confident in I undertone, mingled with a stianKcly enigmatical smile, he launched tho aphorism, "A ma n is never popu la r until ho is hated." He paused for a moment to let thse words ta ko root in the memory. Then, suddenly veer ing to another phase of the Hiilijc' t, he said with great nonchalance: "Tho Russian bear walks on bin hJnd )-n because be wears a ring in his i;o;-m. I am going to take out the rinv an'l let him walk on all fours on his own land. Reformers of the upper r:issfi propose economy nrnl impose poverty. Take care not to be influenced by au-pea au-pea ranees. Men are not wh;j t t be seem, but what, they fV . Contentment Content-ment arrives through the Kloinaeh, ex-perlence ex-perlence through knowledge. When v.o f roe the Russian pea ant we a !.-' free Kurope. Germany will be soe..il. ized th rough t lie example of I tu. s:a. We a re the Fn-ii-'li 1 1" vol ul ion o vr at:ain. We may get alonu; without the guillotine, but thai is merely a detail." Here, a young worna n Fitting nca r the hpea kor ha nded him a of pa per whjeh h'; hurriedly 1m t-, at, then suddenly brought hi:; '-ma rk 'o a close, and after Hon:e talk with a couple of his fj lends they pass.erj jr,p the restJi ura nt. The company bean to rhscn.-s matters mat-ters in (-mail K'owjis'. I v. as told that the i e vol ut iopa i y coin m i m w ould now eruif'-r in r cr'-t. Jna ie ni'in-ures ni'in-ures a ff'-'.l i ng t lie corn 3 uu' r v Iu '. i 'm Would be devised a ltd Otdei; irsU'-'i 1 the li'-n' lmi'ii in Sweden, A i',vi"L, Franee and Rus;-ia. |