The communist leaders. The truth: “Lenin arranged things so that he sat in the Kremlin throughout the Civil War. While Stalin’s lot for three whole years was that of a nomad, scouring the whole country, shaken to bits on horseback or in an unsprung cart, frozen half the time, trying to thaw out by a campfire. Stalin, of course, admired himself in those years: He was a sort of young general without formal rank, elegant and smart, wearing a leather cap with a star, a cavalry officer’s double-breasted coat of fine cloth, unbuttoned, and soft leather riding boots, made to order. The clever young face was clean-shaven except for the flowing mustache. No woman could resist him (and his third wife was a beauty). Of course, he never held a saber, never got in the way of bullets; he was too valuable to the Revolution. He was not like that muzhik Budenny. Whenever you arrived somewhere new—Tsaritsyn, Perm, or Petrograd—you would keep quiet for a while, then ask a few questions, stroke your mustache, write “to be shot” on a list or two, and people would soon begin to show you great respect.” Excerpt From: Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn. “In the First Circle.” HarperCollins US. iBooks.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 03:37:44 +0000
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