OO often, when the world
begets a giant, his human
qualities become blurred with the
passing years, and only the great-
ness of his work remains, em-
bodied in books and stone and
people.
On this 25th anniversary of the
death of V. I. Lenin, greatest
leader and liberator of the work-

ing class, let us recall some of

the human traits of Lenin, the
man.. ‘

-First—and it should come first

—let us record the fact that Len-
in was a man who enjoyed life
hugely. Nothing human was alien
to him; he was a living proof
that, Marxism is as broad as life
itself. He bubbled over with the
joy of living; his self-confidence,
buoyancy, wit and energy inspir-
ed everyone who came in con-
tact with him.
“He was a short, stockily-built
man, with a bald dome, twinkling’
eyes, red beard and mustache.
Gorky tells us that Lenin rolled
his “r’s” gutturally, and had a
jaunty way of standing with his
hands somehow poked up under
his armpits. “He was somehow
too ordinary, did not give the im-
pression of being a leader,” said
honest’ Gorky, on first meeting
the man who was soon to lead the
greatest revolution in history.

And how Lenin enjoyed a joke
or witticism! Gorky says: “I have
never met a man who could laugh
so infectiously as Vladimir Ilyich.
It was strange to see how such
a stern realist, a man who saw
so well, and felt so deeply the
inevitability of great social catas-
trophies, irreconcilable, relentless
in his hatred toward the capitalist
world, laughing like a child, till
the tears came, till he choked
with laughter. To laugh like that
one must have the soundest and
healthiest of minds.”

e . -

Lenin was a ‘hard worker and
an exacting taskmaster. After
the revolution his office was a
large room, with two windows,
in the Kremlin. The walls were
lined with bookshelves. In “the
midst of directing organizational
work Lenin continued to devote
himself to theory. In Lenin,
theory and action were always.
combined.

His working hours were from

10 am. to midnight. He organ-
ized his work well and demanded
that his secretaries carry out
his instructions accurately and
promptly. He would not tolerate
sloppy technical work and was
very exacting with his subordin-
ates, At the same time he was
able to inspire everyone around
him to give of their best, as no
one else could.

Lenin was a seeker pfter facts
and figures and precise reports;

and a sworn enemy of high-sound- ©

ing phrases, generalities, and
‘ voutine methods. When (as
rarely happened) he got angry,
he got very angry, and blistering
words came tumbling from his
lips.

® j

Lenin loved children, and children
clung to him. Comrade Shlovsky
recalls: “When passing my apart-
ment, Vladimir Ilyich would look
in one window, then another, and
if he caught sight of any of the
_ children, would put his fingers
to “his temples to make them
look like horns, make a funny
face, and rush into the house.
The children would raise a tre-
mendous racket and dive under
the sofa or the table. Ilyich would

chase after them and the romp —

would continue till both sides
were exhausted, and then peace
would be made, soon to be broken
again by one side or the other.
Children loved Ilyich . . . for no
cone ever loved children and en-
Joyed playing and romping with
them as he did, and every visit
Ilyich paid us was a treat 10 the
children.” |
®

Lenin liked mountain climbing
and swimming in the sea. He

ie

would have loved it here in Van-
couver, where sea and mountains

meet,

While in exile abroad, Lenin
and his wife often ‘shouldered
knapsacks and took to the moun-
tains for days and sometimes
weeks. Krupskaya tells of one of
these ‘trips in Switzerland: “Our

_ wrote to his mother:

Lenin---th

1870 - 1924

cash was none too plentiful and
we did not go in much for regular
meals, but lunched off cheese and
eggs, drinking wine, and water
from the springs.”

And of another trip, Lenin
“The other
day Nadya, a friend and I went
on a splendid excursion to Salive.

By Aubrey Grossman.

] AST Monday morning, in

~ New York City, 12 of the
13 members of the national
committee of the Communist
party went on trial.

What is the significance of
this trial? It lies in the fact
that this is not a ‘trial of 12
men. It is a trial-of a political
party. It is a trial of ideas. ‘

What the government seeks
from this trial is not the .con-
viction of 12 men. It wants a
decision that the ideas of two
of the greatest thinkers of the

and V. I. Lenin—-which are now

lions of people throughout the
world, are illegal'in the Unit-
ed States.

More than that, it wants a de-
cision that the Communist
party, or any other party or
individual, cannot spread or ex-
press these ideas to the Am-
erican people.

Must an idea pass muster by
the attorney general and a
jury of 12 men and women to
be presented to 'the American

this trial, There may be some,
_ however, who say this trial
will only affect ideas deemed
seditious. ; ;
So let us ask ourselves what
ideas could be considered se-
ditious by the attorney gener-
. al, or the party in power at
the particular moment, |
Would you say ‘tthe ideas of
Thomas Paine were seditious?

last hundred years—Karl Marx -

accepted by hundreds of mil-—

people? That is the issue of.

Yet, he was convicted of sedi-
tion by an English judge and
jury.

Do you believe in the demo-
cratic ideas of the French
Revolution, which parallel the
ideas on which our govern-
ment was founded? But they,
too, were found seditious by
other English judges and jur-
ies. i
Or perhaps you approve the

ideas of Thomas Jefferson? ~

His ideas were scheduled. to be
- declared seditious under the
Alien and Sedition laws, until
the American people rose up
in their wrath.and secured re-
peal of those laws. i
. Sedition can be anything the
party in power wants it to be.
For further proof, look at the
indictment against the twelve
communists. ;
shows the attorney general is

basing the government’s case ~

not.on ‘what these Communists
did or intended to do, but ra-
ther on the attornéy .general’s
interpretation of Marxism-
Leninism.

To the government it is im-
material how these ideas are
understood by the Commun-
ist party or the hundreds of
millions of people who accept

_ these ideas. What the govern-
ment will present to the jury
as Marxism-Leninism will be
the version of its stool-pigeons
and turncoats, like Louis Bud-
enz, George Hewitt, Howard

- Rushmore, Whittaker Cham-
_ bers, Margaret Bentley.

oe
What is the greatest danger

Trial--and error

This indictment -

. By BERT WHYTE

Beneath us Geneva was wrapped
in fog and gloom, but on the
mountain there was glorious sun-
shine, snow, tobogganing, a reg-
ular fine Russian ter day.”

Lenin cycled, hunted, and took
part in sports in his leisure time.
He understood the value of phy-
Sical fitness, and even during

‘the hope of liberation. -

periods in jai] followed a rigorous
routine of ‘physical jerks.”
cs)

Lenin was always immensely
concerned over the health and
wellbeing of his co-workers. He
fretted over ailing comrades like
a hen over her chicks.

Maxim Gorky, Clara Zetkin and
others have commented on this —
trait in Lenin’s character. He
would go to extreme pains to
see that comrades under doctor’s
orders did not “duck out” and
return to work -until they were
fit and well. This sympathy,
tact, and consideration for people
applied mot only to comrades
but to people in general.

e é

Lenin's comrade-in-arms, Joseph
Stalin, said these words a few
days after the death of his
leader:

“The -greatness of Lenin lies
before all in this, that by creat-
ing the Republic of Soviets he
gave a practical demonstration
to the oppressed masses of the
world that hope of deliverance is
not lost, that the rule of the
landlords and capitalists is short-
lived, that the kingdom of labor
CAN be created by the efforts
of the laboring people themselves,
and that the kingdom of labor
must be created not in heaven,
but on EARTH. He thus fired
the hearts of the workers and
peasants of the whole world with
This ex-
plains why Lenin’s name has be-
come the name most beloved of

the laboring and exploited
masses.”

Lenin is dead, but Lenin’s
teachings live on. Under the

banner of Leninism the workers
of the world are Marching for-
ward to struggle and to victory:
our generation will live to see
socialism triumphant on a world
scale.

at this moment? It is that
the progressive movement in
the United States first of all,
but also in other countries, will
fail to realize that never before
in American history has a po-
litical party been forced to
clear its ideas with the attor-
ney general anda judge or
jury before it could offer them ,
to the people.

This precedent will be estab-
lished regardless of whether
the 12 Communists are acquit-
ted or convicted, If they -are .
acquitted the government can
try again — if not with the
same defendants, then with
other Communists; if not with

_ Communists, then with non-
Communists. The very idea of
such a trial must be defeated.

: This trial must be stopped.
If it starts, it must be dismi-
ssed on the ground there is
no constitutional right ‘to put
ideas on trial or to censor
them.
e a

What is the nature of the
charges? The law, under
which — ‘the - indietments are
brought is the Smith Act, the
federal sedition law.

Henry Wallace, the Ameri-
ean Civil Liberties Union, the
National Lawyers Guild— all
liberal-minded forces agree the
Smith Act is unconstitutional.
But this doesn't bother Attor-
ney General Tom Clark. Clark
is equally indifferent to the

the trial?

ing strengthened,

Supreme Court in the Schneid-
erman case, which said the
Communist party does not ad-
vocate overthrow of the gov-
ernment by force and violence.

The indictments — “charge a
conspiracy consists simply of
establishing and maintaining
a Communist party. The claim-
ed illegal. actions ‘are the
spreading of the ideas of Marx-
ism-Leninism. ‘The indictments
charge no act of force and vio-
lence, and no conspiracy to
commit force and violence.

What is being done to stop
Thousands of trade
union officials, Negro leaders,
prominent professors, lawyers,
doctors and outstanding wo-
men have already Pro Taee
against this trial.

A Freedom Crusade was to |
begin in Washington on Janu- .
ary 17. dt is sponsored by such
outstanding Americans as Al-
bert Einstein, Charles .P. How-
ard, Elmer Benson, Franklin
P. Adams, Dimitri Mitropor-
ous and Hugh Bryson.

In the course of these ac-
tions, chapters of the Civil
Rights Congress, the main or-
ganizer of this campaign of
education and action, are be-
and new
chapters are coming into ex-
istence to give new strength
to the fight for American lib-
erties.

@ Aubrey Grossman is Pacif-
ic Coast director of the
American Civil Rights

Congress.

decision of the United States

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANURY 21, 1949 — PAGE 5