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hs has always been with
i arty, with the Soviet work-
ele. When the fascists at-
‘ad ed the U.S.SR. ‘in 1941,
‘i ny young people joined the
Tmy and guerilla detachments.
iza Chaikina, a collective-farm
Bill of Kalinin Region, was
mong them. She went from vil-
ace to village in the enemy rear,
Stributing Pravda so that the
Sepation could learn how the
; 0} i
meee ple were fighting the

at Was captured by Germans
© found the latest issues of
© Paper on her. As she was
z ae taken to the gallows Liza
fi a On the Soviet people to
be t because she firmly believ-
= aes power of the people
Vict n
over teicn would be wo
++. Lenin spent many years
narod. He went through many
hips with Nadezhda Krup-
cone, nis true companion and
, Utageous fighter for the work-
ee People’s cause. Wherever he
ment always left behind fond
Smories of himself.
whe Paris, we saw the house
iy Lenin worked. It was with
Bes fae affection that the
In| People recalled him.
of th ndon, soon after the end
d elie Second World War, we
en €d to see the house where
j nin had lived while in emigra-
n there. We set out for it ear-
daa the morning but did not
moli it. The house had been de-
little Then we went to a
oe boulevard nearby. There
at T€ only very few people about
Such an early hour. An aged
Blishman and a young woman
ie Came out for a walk with
ae Children told us in detail
answt the house and Lenin's
igaement. The surviving furn-
henge they said, had been
co €d over to a local municipal
“uncil and are kept there.
Which attended a ceremony at
ogee Helsinki residents handed
mo T to the Soviet people a loco-
tive on which Lenin happened,
Tide. It had been preserved
© Finns who had cleaned it ©
Painted it anew.
€ were in the village of Po-
Nin Poland where Lenin liv-
Dee M 1914. The Poles fondly
Ore we the house where Lenin
Cupied the garret on the sec-
r. The furnishings are

Toni;

B AENYTATO

om

Petrograd, 1917. Workers’ demonstration on Marsovo Polya.

very modest—a wooden table, a
wooden bench and wooden
chairs. He lived unpretentiously.
With Nadezhda Krupskaya, he
would take a walk in the moun-
tains, cycle to the station to post
and receive mail. There, just as
elsewhere, he talked to workers
and peasants, was interested in
their life, and readily got ac-
quainted with people.

Lenin treated people with deep
respect and affection, and they
reciprocated in kind. The image
of this most humane man lives
in the memory of succeeding
generations.

WORLD WAR ONE

In August 1914, mankind was
thrown into disaster.

Over four thousand billion
dollars were spent on the two
world wars and the other wars

unleashed by the imperialists in-

the first half of this century.

This money would provide
free bread for the entire popula-
tion of the world for fifty years.
Decent dwellings could have
been built for 500 million fami-
lies. ae

The two world wars took a
toll of 80 million killed or maim-
ed.

The war brought incalculable
misery and suffering, huge eco-
nomic damage, death at the
front and also in the rear caused
by hunger, cold and disease.

The outbreak of war found
Lenin in Poronin, Poland. He
immediately gathered his adher-
ents. Lenin felt sure that the war
would sharpen even more rela-
tions between the exploiters and
the exploited. It would intensify
the class struggle and hasten the
new revolution in Russia.

Hardly ten days passed since
the outbreak of the war when
Lenin was falsely accused of
espionage. The objective was to
use any pretext to square ac-
counts wtih him. There were
many strong protests from Po-
lish progressives who demanded
Lenin’s immediate release. The
charge was so preposterous that
even the police had to admit that
there was no incriminating evi-
dence to support a charge of es-
pionage against him.

Upon his release, Lenin imme-
diately left for Switzerland.

What was his attitude to the

war?

“War against war!” This was
\the slogan he advanced. He call-
ed upon all peoples to rise in
struggle against the instigators
and organizers of the world con-
flict. &

At that time, the German So-
cial-Democrats, using their influ-
ence in the Second International,
betrayed the interests of the
working class by supporting the
imperialist war.

Lenin urged that the Third
International be set up free of
opportunists and social chauvin-
ists. He held that only a Third
International would make it pos-
sible to educate the workers in
a truly internationalist spirit and
prepare them for a socialist re-
volution,

Lenin called on the Russian
Bolsheviks to use all possible
means in the struggle against
the imperialist war. A Bolshevik
faction headed by G. Petrovsky
was formed in the State Duma.
Its members vigorously opposed
the war and were all arrested,
tried and condemned to penal
servitude. This was how the im-
perialists dealt with those who
told the people the truth.

Large numbers of workers and
peasants were called up, and
the Bolsheviks began carrying
out propaganda in the navy and
the army to form a united front
of the workers and the army.

Lenin mercilessly denounced
those who betrayed the cause
of the working class at such a
trying time. He gave firm sup-
port to any opposition to the
imperialist war. He praised Karl
Liebknecht who in Germany
came out against war loans.

A powerful movement for
peace, against the attempts of
imperialism to unleash a new
world war has developed in the
world today. Peace between the
nations, an end to plunder and
violence: is our ‘ideal, Lenin
would say. He emphasized that
the time would come when there
would be no wars and disarma-
ment would become a reality.

Concerned with the interna-
tionalist education of the work-

Te TE ™

The life and work of V. I. Lenin

ing people, with defeating the
traitors — social chauvinists and
opportunists — Lenin actively
prepared for an international so-
cialist conference. His efforts
were not in vain. Such a confer-
ence was convened in Zimmer-
wald, Switzerland.

The Zimmerwald Conference
was attended by representatives
from eleven countries who
adopted a Manifesto concluding
with these words:

“Never before in world histo-
ry has there been such a noble
and pressing task, the accom-
plishment of which must be our
common cause. No sacrifices are
too great, no burden too heavy
for the achievement of our goal
—peace among the nations. :

“Working men and working
women! Mothers and fathers!
Widows and orphans! Wounded
and ill! To all of you who suf-
fer from the war and through
the war; to all of you, across
frontiers, across smoke-filled
battlefields, across destroyed
towns and villages, we address
this appeal:

‘ Workers of All Countries
Unite!”

Lenin foresaw a new revolu-
tionary tide. He was right. At
the end of February 1917, the
people of Russia, weary of the
war, came out against the tsar
and toppled the autocracy. A
Provisional Government was
formed. It advocated continua-
tion of the war, and was, in fact,
a bourgeois government.

Lenin was impatient to leave
Switzerland for home immedi-
ately. But he was unable to do
so at once. It was during the
night of April 3, 1917, that he
crossed the Russian frontier.

THE GREAT OCTOBER
REVOLUTION

There is a painting by a Soviet
artist showing a dark night in
Petrograd (now Leningrad). A
large square is thronged with
workers, soldiers and_ sailors.
Standing on an armoured car
Lenin addresses the crowd.

¢

MM

That was what happened. On
April 3, 1917, Lenin returned to
Petrograd. He was welcomed by
huge numbers of people. Amid a
roar of cheering, workers and
soldiers lifted him onto the ar-
moured car.

Lenin was overwhelmed with
emotion, filled with the spirit of
struggle for the working peo-
ple’s happiness. :

Millions of Communists in
many countries know Lenin’s
April Theses, among his many
other works. The Theses outlin-
ed a plan of action in the new
conditions of Russia and the
tactics of struggle for the tri-
umph of a proletarian revolution.
Lenin presented his April Theses
in the Taurida Palace on April 4.

The country was ravaged by
war. There was no bread, méat,
sugar. The people were starving.
Many families had lost their
relatives at the front.

What was tc be done? How to
live in the future?

Lenin provided the answer.
The war, he said, was preda-
tory, imperialist. Power must be
wrested from capital. This was
the task of the working class
and the poorest peasantry. Only
then would there be peace, bread
and freedom. A road would be
open to a new life. The Provi-
sional Government could not be
trusted. It must receive no sup-
port. All power to the Soviets.

A new socio-political system
cannot appear overnight. Time
and effort are necessary to
create it. For this purpose it was
essential to do away with eco-
nomic~ disintegration, hunger,
poverty. It was necessary to set
about building a powerful econ-
omy.

These words of Lenin remain
topical even today, especially for
the young states which have rid
themselves of colonialism. Is it
not necessary for them to re-
build their economy, develop
industry and improve agricul-
ture?

In Russia at that time the
Communists had, first of all, to
show the workers and peasants
that the Provisional Government
was, in fact, a bourgeois govern-
ment. When the masses saw this
for themselves they would rise
and fight for power.

Lenin’s theses were generally
accepted as a guide to action.
A new tumultuous period set in.
There was not a single day that
Lenin did not address a meeting.
He wrote articles, contributed to
heated discussions, exposed the
foes of the working class, the
traitors to the Party, the oppor-
tunists. Along with the foremost
representatives of the Party he
fought for the victory of a so-
cialist revolution.

The First All-Russia Congress
of Soviets met in June, 1917. It
was attended by 1,000 dele-
gates, of whom 105 were Bol-
sheviks.

There were speakers from dif-
ferent parties, including Social-
ist-Revolutionaries and Menshe-
viks. One of them claimed that
there was not a single revolu-
tionary party in Russia that was
prepared to take power.

Continued next issue

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 13, 1970—Page 9