Lenin Speaks

Lenin at the Fourth Congress of the Third International.

Lenin addresses delegates to the Third Congress of the Communist International in Moscow, 1921

These impressions of the Fourth Congress of the Third International originally appeared in the German capitalist progressive daily, the Frankfurter Zeitung. The congress was held between November 5 and December 5, 1922. It was held in both Petrograd and Moscow. They were republished in English in Soviet Russia Pictorial in 1923.

THE greatest day of the Congress. In the gorgeous Andreas Hall of the Kremlin there has been bustling activity since 10 o'clock in the morning. There is a feverish expectation: Lenin's appearance has been announced. For the first time since he took sick he is to speak before a monster congress, before a great number of foreign delegates. How will he look, the sick man who has been almost considered dead and around whose personality the interest of two hemispheres turns?

The clock strikes eleven, it strikes twelve. He has not come yet. Doubts are expressed. Maybe he took sick at the last moment? Now it is about half past twelve. There comes through the entrance a small baldheaded man in a small, modest coat with a fur collar. He submits his pass to the door guard. The Red Army man is startled; then his face beams. "Ilyich," he is heard exclaiming joyously. Yes, that's he: Vladimir Ilyich Lenin enters the hall, accompanied by his constant guardian, the commander of his personal guard, who looks sullen.

Rumpling his fur cap in his hands, Lenin hurries to the platform. He wants to take off his coat. Most of the assembly still does not see him. But now some of them have noticed him and straight-away a storm of applause breaks out. All jump to their feet. They wave their hands. They practically roar with enthusiasm. And spontaneously the International is sung in various languages. In honor of Lenin. In honor of the "Field Marshal of the World Revolution."

In the meantime he has reached the speakers stand. He looks attentively at the papers lying before him. Puts them in order with nervous hands. Looks for something in his pockets. Blows his nose. Strokes his bald spot several times, looks at his watch and doesn't pay the slightest attention to the storm of enthusiasm around him. Then he quickly raises his head. His look passes with lightning speed over the mass. Everything becomes silent.

A strange face glowing with energy. At the same time winning and sympathetic. Inevitably one thinks of the unique fact that in Russia even those who take an attitude of opposition toward the Soviet regime have a great admiration for this man, the "Great Idealist."

Here also one feels very poignantly that the non-Russians, all the men who have come from the countries of the world, these enthusiasts aglow with revolutionary ardor see in Lenin their idol. After hearing them cheer him, one does not doubt that they are all ready to go to their death for him. This boundless devotion of all for an idea, for a man, makes a great impression even upon those who are standing aside. Suddenly one understands many things which could not be understood before.

Lenin. Here he stands strong, vigorous and healthy. And he speaks. Vividly. Wittily. Sarcastically. With fire. One thought seems to crowd out another before the first has been spoken. The expression of his face changes often. Sometimes he looks dead earnest, sometimes he closes the left eye and winks slyly. Sometimes he threatens jokingly with his finger and then he advances sternly to the footlights shaking his fist.

Lenin speaks with a vigorous, clear voice. He speaks German, which he has not mastered completely. Near him sits his secretary, whom he asks quickly from time to time in Russian for the corresponding German word. The secretary immediately gives the desired German word, but already Lenin is using for the same idea another word which explains better his stormily forward-pressing thoughts. Sometimes he makes minor errors in German, he corrects them himself, or is corrected by Trotsky. Then he laughs with a winning smile and everybody laughs with him.

He speaks about the results brought forth by the new economic policy in the curse of the last year and a half. He is satisfied with the results obtained. The disaffection of the peasants has disappeared. The grain delivery proceeds without any compulsion and in a satisfactory manner. The satisfaction of the peasantry which has been achieved Lenin considers as most important. Then he speaks of the "famous Russian ruble" which it was possible to keep stabilized for five months in the course of this year. A general progress can be noted in the small industries. All efforts must be made to raise the key industries.

When he speaks about Russia, one involuntarily is astonished by his completely objective, almost neutral judgment. About Russia his judgment is completely unbiased, often touched with the sober irony of a West-European. The European and the world problems at large he touches with the prophetic vision of a philosophically-minded Russian. His spirit enthralls his listeners completely when, almost detached, he touches the world problems with which the destinies of centuries are connected.