LENIN’S DEATH

IN spite of the alleged official source of the announcement about Lenin’s death, we have purposely refrained from noticing the event for a few days, because past experience made caution more than ordinarily a virtue in this case. No contradiction having been forthcoming from either an official or unofficial source for nearly a week, it is safe to assume that this time the report is correct. It is well known that Lenin had been ailing for a long time, in fact ever since the latter half of 1918, when he received a dangerous wound at the hands of an ‘intellectual’ Socialist, and although he partially recovered for the time being, it is generally believed that the injury he received on this occasion was primarily responsible for the illness that has now taken him away. It is inevitable that the passing away of such a man should inspire different feelings in different minds. One feeling, however, is common to all. Lenin was a veritable giant among men, one of the two or three greatest world figures in contemporary history. The removal of such a man from the field of his labours is bound to cause a certain sense of sadness not unmingled with awe even among those who were least in sympathy with his aims and methods. Nor can anyone deny the title of ‘greatness’ to a man who, with all his alleged love of power, piloted his country with no small success through a revolution of unprecedented magnitude. True, the revolution is not yet ended. True also that there are incidents connected with it which neither contemporaries nor future generations can contemplate without horror mixed with indignation, and for some of these Lenin’s personal responsibility cannot be denied by any impartial critic.

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