South Bend News-Times, Volume 36, Number 306, South Bend, St. Joseph County, 2 November 1919 — Page 18

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Mqrie Spiridonova, who Weighs Less Than 1 00 Pounds, Sits in Her Office in Petrograd She Is Still Young-Looking and Pretty, a Murderess, and Is Regarded by the Peasants

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o F all "vcompn. Tlu?sf.m v.-nrnn are the most Individualistic, personally raot striking. They havo personality to a greater degree thin women of any othrr nation. Th Rus5ian. woman, when sho l. hprself, absolutply dominates the Rusplan man. Now they are finding out that l?nln, the czar of tho proletalre, Is dominated by a Rtissian woman. Tho Russian leaders of the various revolutions art as If thev were under . o tue whole hog;." For them there Is no Fuch tlilng as compromise. It is "Utopia or bust." Which Is a woman's way. Women are the poorest compromisers in the world. Until taught by men, women do not know that such a thlnfc a compromise exists. When they do become- aware of its existence they do not like. it. V.'hat woman did you ever see who would pivo up any part of what was hrr children's? That'3 vrhTe they get their uncompromlElr.g character. They want it all when they want It at nil. Take the women who have served time for violation of the United States espionage law. Emnva Goldman, Kat O'Hare and Rose Pastor Stokes have nil gone farther than any man would po. When a woman throws the dice of fate fh throws for keeps. Sithrow a In nil Fhe has got and "shoots the bunch." Such, a woman I Marie Spiridonova, Queen of the Russian peasants. Decent folk have never heard of Marie Spiridonova. Women who are "Reds" in politics'know of her. The Rolsheviki and rear-Bolshevlki of the ghettos now know of her. Washington Square people, the bobbed-hair women who talk of art and revolution and sip red infc an! call it' wine divine know of her. She Is a Russian. Bein? a Russian and known In America she is, of coarse, a revolutionist? You bet, Marie Spiridonova is a revolutionist, red as the sunset and as terroizing as an rathejuake. To the Rusian aristocracy her name sounds like the thunder of 1.900 cannon. Dangerous? As the plague. She has an idea that I'AV'C'O,C00 Russian moujiks or peasants should rule themselves and the 13.000,0' aristocrats a ! b-t:r; who ruled them. Marie Sr i rid or. ova vas a dangerous woman. Sh that the fin. st obk did r.ot believe of l.fe was for six peorle to slave that one l" - night be rich and 1! vo at ae Shales Ruila Like a Ru,r. Th n cam.' the da when Mar:- Spiridonova picked up Ru ';.! in l.rr small hands and ; hck it as a woman micht shake a m:i:.11 rug. " o 1 through shaking ir. Ucrals had been lo th an. Oaeu ire::il U.e eOiU

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fortable locations in the rug and the 135,000,000 peasants workinginen were walking all oer it as if they owned it. Came Kerensky, who loved peace and placatio. Marie Spiridonova could have saved him and his government ii she would. She never compromised; she hated compromise. Kerensky was. like most men, fond of compromise, So she let him go. Then came Lenin and Trotsky. Marie Spiridonova can break them any time she pleases. It was Marie Sriridonova who made Lenin end Trotsky leaders of the city workers whf n the peasants were about to destroy .hern. When the peasants seemed about to slip away from them, Lenin and Trotsky threw Marie Splridonova In prison. They would cheerfully have had her shot had they dared. They merely tried to scare her, to Induce her to keep the peasants on their side. But for two years Marie Spiridonova was queen of tho politlcal revels In Red Russia, where human life was not worth the proverbial :raw, And no life was worth less than that of the pale, spirituelle girl who is "la Reine de la Revolution," as the French call her. Marie SplrMonota a "Lle Wire." She's a bit of a small "kid." this Marie Spiridonova, with big blue Slav eyes, the ivory-coiorcu sKin ui iu. Slav and a tumult of black hair showering about her head." She is 30 years old now, yet she is so slim and frail that Americans would cll her "kid." She comes of wcll-to-io, God-fearing bourgeoise p ople m lamror. ner iather. is or was. a well--. o-do merchant, a big man in the Uus-im way, a free liver, a generous, whole -soulcd fellow. He always said when lamenting wnat his self-willed daughter had done that there "ru-ver had been, until she ea. along, a touch of Nihilismor Bolshevism in the honorable, well-to-do Spiriit donova lamuy. lie rrarea nis mu daughter as a good Russian, to revere the C:ar as htad of the church and as head of the uavlon. to bow before the priests and before the ikons, to read looks approved by the bishop ard oy her ;ar. :i:s and to look forward to-i 8"iV. wuh a comfortable husbind .-.va;.- day. 1'h- n Gospodin Spinova the cardinal mistake f tiding Marie to college to get a good t ducation. Marie Spiridonova was. natlurally, a

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"live wire." She wore a cairn Slavic exterior. But under the ivory skin and behind the big blue eyes and In the slender figure was a spirit that seethed with sensibility. She was as a lyre to tho winds of revolutionary speech and thought. She met students ... ....... who were Nihilists and Socialists, ana her soul responded to their words, She read books of which the Czar, his Ministers, her parents and tho priest would not have approved. From these bocks, from what she heard and, above all, from what she saw, Marie Spiridonova got the idea that 85 of every 100 Russians were being cruelly oppressed and that tho women were most oppressed of all. Then, like a Russian woman, she did not go about wanting to know what was to be done about it She made up her mind that she was going to "do something." For all of her feeling for the herd. Marie Splridonova was a supreme individualist, Most women, especially most Russian women, arc Individualists. Ever read Maxim Gorki's story of his life and his plcturo of his grandmother? Imbued with the feeling that it was up to her to "do something" to overturn the throne of the Romanoffs with her small, white, Slavic hand, if neec be, Marie Spiridonova get into what her parents would consider mighty naa co-npany. iier companions were Anarchists and others, who talked of throwing bombs at all the aristocrats. Her father, easy-going Russian that he was, ndmired and indulged his ivoryskinned little daughter. Russians are accustomed to being governed by their intensely individualistic women. He attended to his business, and when his littlo Marie sprung her anarchistic stuff on him he merely smiled, stroked her tremendous coils of coal-black ha.r tnat might very well have electrifled his. hand and said. "You read too much, little one." But he did not t worry a bit. .Many une young men were coming to tea and to see Marie, who was pretty and sure to make good marriage. Marriage is awfully good for young girls. It tames them so. Rut in her heart Marie was married to herself. She was intensely individualistic, and she wanted to "do something." Russian women are doers; Ru..an men are talkers. Worn with listening to their men talk and tall: and talk, Russian women have bt een customed to cut loose and "do some-

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thing." mostly make a "rough house." even If they have to throw a bomb and take a few lives to do that something. ' !ng.' ?r "laJ.k'5; talking and never doing anything drives the Russian women to raise Cain, blow the lid off, do something. -nes aüioctüuc t . ., T-il i a a a uuernor lor icunu All this was in the days of the Czar and the well-bred tyranny which made 85 per cent of all Russians slaves that 15 per cent might talk French ana drink tea afternoons In the drawing rooms of Petrograd, Moscow, Kleff and other big towns. There were innuraerable petty autocrats all over Russia. Marie may havo had her "do something eye" on the pitiful little puppet called the Czar (Caesar) or he may have in her heart chosen one 0f his cruel Ministers Trepoff, Pobinoffsky, etc. for her especial vietim. But she was far away from headquarters of the tyranny in Tamboy. ghe had to do something, so she pickd the best thing she could Lupienofsky, the autocratic governor of her native city. Marie Spiriodonova was a practical idealist She could not get the tyrant she wanted. She chose the test at hand Marie Spiridonova became quite cer tain that Lupiensofsky should be sent on his way via the bomb route. Sh no doubt thought that if enough of the hated governing class could be "bumped 0ff the cowed peasants would aris xi that was needed, to speak th truth, was enough Marie Spiridonova. in any evrntf he quietly made up he r m;n,i to kill Lupiensofsky. It was all quite simple to her individualistic, slavish mind. She had a hand and a will. She could get a bomb. She could approach Lupienof3ky. She could toss the bomb at his feet. That was a there would be to it. They would of course kill her. but all over Russia thousands of other Maries would arise to kill the thousands of Lupienofskys that oppressed the milHons of Russian people. It is not likely that Marie Spiridonova though: of this angle. She believed that it would be a good thing for Tamboy and thiA Russian nennt th.it T.üri'!rnofskv should die. Therefore why should she not kill him? Marie was 13 years old then. Had she been an American she would have been graduating out of high schooler preparing to go to college. In Russia. Darkest Russia, the stress cf life had made her a woman at 10. She had serious worn rm hand. She was going to rid Russia of at least one

brutal oppressor. She knew that Lupi-rnc fsky would arrive at a certain railroad station at a certain hour. She was at the station before the hour. Luplenofsky arrived. His military escort was about him. That did not worry Marie Spiridonova in the least. She st"od, cool as Ice, in the shade of the station. Her fingers felt for the butt of her revolver.

Lunienofsky annroached. Without a trenor. Marie Spiridonova drew her pistol and shot him through the heart. Sentenced to Siberia, Thero was a tremendous hubbub, usual among Russian men. They ran this way and that. Marie Spiridonova never "batted an eye." to use an American expression. It is said that she even "broke her gun" and blew the smoke and sulphur fumes out of it preparatory to returning it to her pocket Then the Cossacks seized her. They cuffed and kicked her, threw her oyer a horse and galloped her away to Jail. They tore off her clothes and Esther in a con. Tb. cret police gave her the Russian "third degree. t t i ... - 1 li Oimiuunua iuuu i iuviu cuiuij auu O.I.I I.VaJ . .V. .141.. .1 turned silently away. They whipped her and burned her body with cigarctte tips. Marie Spiridonova would not speak. This they kept up for days. The treatment given her was c;uel, but somehow she survived. Russian women are vital human beings. For some reason or other, probably because no one liked Lupieaofsky and because even his Cossacks were glad that he was dead. Mario Spiridonova was not put to death. Instead she was sent to Siberia, A small, frail girl, weigling scarce 100 pounds, softly bedded when at home and tenderly cared for by her indulgent father and mother. Marie Spiridonova did not die. She spent eleven years in Siberia. There sho managed to educate herself more fully than if she had remained at home in Tamboy. She learned, with the Slavish facility for the acquisition of tongues, all thleading languages of Europe Enrlish, French, German, Italian. She was taking up the Asiatic tongues when the revolution broke loose In 1917. Marie Spiridonova vas a free woman. Like an avatar of the oppressed Marie Spiridonova returned from Siberia. She had done the thl nHT that millions up .n millions of Russian men had wished to do and dared not to do, and she had suffered therefor. She mado no fuss about the doing and no fuss about paying for the doing. It was all quite simple. There was a tyrant who should be killed. Marie Spiridonova killed him. She was acnt to Siberia and paid her stint. Even a child could understand all that. Now she was coming back to Russia of the talkers. She did not talk. She did something. She had a record. What was more natural that the always talking and never doing Russian man should turn to Marie Soiridonova as leader? Luplenofsky had been a persprn'nr n f rimc.'iril Trrfo s3nrM--. va had relieved the peasants cf their persecutors. To the simple moujiks Maxie Spiridonova was an angel out of heaven. They had worshipped her during the eleven years of her exile in Siberia. She was to them a martyr, not a murderess. So when she returned to Russia the peasants came for nür-. tn sro her f.-ll ir.n tfr.-r knees and kissed her feet. In a week

and Tells Lenin What to Do. as a Seinisupernatural Being.

Marie Spiridonova was the Under of over 100,000,000 Russians. Worshiped by Peasantry. The peasants formed Soviet or small group governments. Every village, every community in Russia elected its Soviet according io occupation. There were peasant Soviets, mechanics Soviets, doctors Soviets, sovlcts of a11 thfi occupations and all the trades. As a great majority of the Russian people are farmers, peasants, a great majority of the Soviets are farmers' or peasants' soviet s. Then In 1917 the peasants held the first AllRussian Feasants' Congress of Soviets n rctroprad. ThG Ftory of Mario Splrldonova-g disposal of Luplenofsky had bcen a ßresifle ueml for cIevPn ycars Sq whon gbe api,.,ar0(1 bofor2 tho &reat Congrcss of Peasants' Soviets, represcnting loo.OOO.OOO of people, they ell down and worshiped her. To thcsQ Bimple.m!ndc(1 religious an i BOmewhat superstitious people the fact Qf her being aiye was a airacl(?( or at Uati proof ot toe ,ntcrv,ntlon of Coi! on their behalf, She was regarded as a bf1 Cf j, pGrsons she was bcst kR0Wn to tho p.a?ants. So thcy elpct. d h nrcsidvnt of the congress in petrorad Right then was bestowed upon Marie Spiridonova more power .un man was ever bestowed upon any woman save perhaps the Emprrsi Catherine J I. of Russia, and. speaking literally, Catherine stole her power, while Marie Spiridonova had hers fairly forced upon her. Kerensky was Provisional Frcr.ident cf Russia, but Marie Spiridonova held lOO.OOO.Cu; Russians In the palm of her hand. Then ensued a short and fatal struggle between the Russian woman wh: knows not compromise and the Russian man who is all compromise. Marie Spiridonova knew what the peasants wanted. The land. For ages they had worked on the land, belonged to the land, believed themselves sprung from the land, tilled the land, made it produce. Yet they had never owned a foot of the land nor had they ever got more than a bare existence from it. Demands Land Re Divided Among Feasants. So Marie Spiridonova boldly demanded that the land be taken from the great lords, whose title she denied, -i n A narrrli-.! tit nninntr tho rrifn who nved on it and cultivated It. Everyone who knows a peasant, a farmer, knows of all things that he iovca the land. Land. land, more land. i3 the cry of the liver cn the land. Marie Spiridonova knew what her peasants wanted. Marie Spiridonova and her peasants wanted no compromise, no conciliation. The land owners had held the land long they urged. enough, held it wrongly, Why should men who had stolen goods be compensated when compelled to return the stolen good3? The girl who killed Luplenofsky was r.nt iiv-iv tn considerate of the purses and rights of other LupienTVn 1 1 ,-1 oil thr lar trs rthe peasants without compensation." washer ultimatum to the- Kerensky government, No compromise. Still Kerensky tried to compromise. He might a? well have tried to argue u ith a tornado or with the everlasting tides. Marie Sclridonova went from mir to --:r .-;n r., n viiir.. hrr all too eager listener. She held up

to them the hand that.

before, had delivered them .f the brutal Lup!cnofky and told them t!.;.' same hand would the:from the hands of all the Eupienofsky. in Russia. She called KortnskyV government a "rapacious I'Murois" tyranny." The pasn:;ts rvre thn" ever locked wr h.rr as an ang'-I s--r from heaven to deliver thim from th ;: oppressors as sho l;ad del'vorc! !l; peasants of Tamboy from Luj ienof Had ?h r.ot dor;e a rrr.it derd? II.t' she not paid for it witli hrr bV-od ar.-: tears? V.'hat other porsnns in liuss:-. had don so mnrh, v.'Ävrcd .co im;r!i for th- presants? Tlir"1 v. as a s.vop.d -")cr,' ?n ' peasants" roviets in pi-t r"n ;td. Irensky va still conciliative. Tie v.-ar.' ed to brine all faction? in llu-ia tcrether on an amicablr- !as:s. Lrr.in. kcr nor Trotzkv and their kir.d w r. than Kerrnsky. Thy were representatives of mchanica rather than peasants. But th.ry say tint t h could not win without the peasant. So thcy adapted Marie S;uivdonova"land platform, "all th- I.t. 1 r r men who work upon it." I.eain ami Trotsky Unln Control. That turn, d the tii in ffi or .r L i.in and Trouky. a following wi.i. and artisan:; a.in Russia. WL ih-:it t:uv tlify t.x-. ng "ihn r.vchanie: ii' 2iiaaL.i rjwLntit Marie t-Pindonova threw h"r I'A'.'jetv."".' peasants behind Lenin and Troi.:ky she made a government that. d'..:pite all opposition, had endured in Russia for twenty months, wh-'re oih'.r governments endured hut a ftw days. Six month r, passed. The Lenin government had not carri d out all it.; promises to divido the laud, among th peasants. Where the peasants we:strong enough and told enough tncy had taken the land and kept it. Wheru they were not bold enough or Etrong enough to lake the land and to keep it they went without it. Lenin waj more interested la his plans of indutrial reform in the cities than he vraa in the distribution of tho land. Marie called another congress of her pc&aants. They cama from all Darts of the country to Petrograd. Lenin, thoroughly scared, promised to be good, to carry out all his promises. The peaaants, half assured, returned to their homes. Then Lenin threw Marie fiptrif'nnnva !nfn nrkni That was the Elgnal for a rerolt 11 over Russia. In 1.000 villages th peasants arose and attacked Lesin8 Red Guard. The adherenU of ilarl Spiridonova were as numerous &J the Pands of the sea. Lenin's legion had no chance against then. He sent tar her and suggested a compromise- He would release her from arisen provtded fche would pacify her peaimta. Marie Spiridonova had b-en too long a stranger to compromise to crake tts acquaintance now. The girl of IS who had dared to defy the Czar and hi Black Hundreds and to shoot Ltp!mnf.ckv in th verr midst of Lis ruard. to have scorned Cossacks and the -ii.-. tn v.-m rrftir th hnr. rors of Siberia for eleven years, all alone, one little Flip cf a girl, was not likelv to be t cared by Nikolai Oulanoviteh (L'nin) whm ?h had 100. 000. CD p.-asants fre-1 to come to her relief. "When you carry cut your promises to apportion the land among th men and women w!o work on it I will ?Pak in jour b- half." said Marie Spiridonova tit the- Dictator of Russia.