Leninism

What does the name of Nicolai Lenin mean in the U.S.--the name of Lenin whose corpse lies molding in a great marble tomb in a city where Napoleon once saw licking flames consume his great dream? Does the name of Lenin mean more or less than the name of John Brown--than the name of Jean Paul Marat--men whose names were once flames in the mouth of the people --whose bodies, too, have gone the way of all flesh?

An answer of a kind was seen, heard, felt, last week in Manhattan. Madison Square Garden, the great hall which has rung with the plaudits of pugilistic spectators, which, seven months since, was shaken by the frenzied antics of a Democratic National Convention was filled last week, from floor to topmost gallery, with 15,000 communists commemorating the first anniversary of Nicolai Lenin's death.

The Workers' Party (Communist; summoned the great assemblage. Little red stickers were plastered over the "East Side." Seats were sold at 50-c- each. Before the hour of commencement, Mayor Hylan's police, the hired guardians of Capital, were turning people from the doors. At least 5,000 were excluded.

The interior of the Garden was aflame. Women in red blouses, women in red dresses, men with red neckties and red arm bands, made up the crowd.

At the appointed time, two curtains slid apart revealing, high over the speakers' stand, from the same root where seven months' ago hung the portraits of Jefferson, of Jackson, of Cleveland, of Wilson--there was hanging the portrait of Nicolai Lenin.

The meeting was opened by one Ben Gitlow, candidate for Vice-President of the U.S. on the Communist ticket last fall. He cried to the multitude:

"This meeting gives proof to the fact that in the United States, as elsewhere, there are hundreds of thousands of toilers pledged to the work to which Lenin gave his life.

"Against the dukes and princesses coming here to campaign against us, against the Mussolinis and Hillquits, we declare we will arouse proletarians to demand recognition by the capitalistic United States of Soviet Russia."

Another man came forward to speak. Only a few days before, he had been released from the prisons of Michigan, pending an appeal of a conviction under the criminal syndicalism 'law of that state. For five minutes, the audience cheered and shouted. At length he, Charles E. Ruthenberg, Secretary of the Workers Party, exclaimed:

"Prisons have only one effect upon revolutionists. Prisons can only steel their will and increase their determination to strike blow after blow until the ugly capitalistic system which puts men in prison, is swept away. The greatest thing in the history of the human race was the proletarian revolution in Russia in 1917.

"The class of oppression today faces a new kind of enemy such as no capitalist class has faced before. It is Leninism, by which we can mobilize the masses, lay low the capitalistic Government in the United States, establish a proletariat State and create a new communistic society."

For four hours the meeting went on. Resolutions were passed for recognizing Soviet Russia, for the release of political prisoners (Tom Mooney, Sacco and Vanzetti were mentioned) for the repeal of laws against anarchy and criminal syndicalism.

At length a 14-year-old boy, an Organizer of the Young Workers League, was led forward to address 400 children who were in front. He had his speech by heart, but occasionally he stumbled and was prompted 'by Ben Gitlow.

"Down with capitalism!" he cried. "Up with the Soviet Republic!"

The boy exhorted, the children shouted, the grown-ups yelled.