Wednesday, January 16, 1985
Daily Nebraskan
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For a regime that fancies itself the vanguard
of revolution, the vessel of history, fountain
of progress, destroyer of reaction and con
signer of outmoded things to the ash can of
history, the Soviet regime is remarkably tradition
bound in one regard. It clings to its animosities.
Some societies define themselves in their
admirations, some in their animosities. America
defines Itself in admiration of Washington,
George
Will
Jefferson, Lincoln. The Soviet regime (Soviet
society has no voice) bristles with defining
animositie the most durable of which is for
poor old Leon Tro"ky.
Not content wit having driven him into exile,
even into rural Mexico, and having sent hither an
assassin to drive an ice axe into his skull, the
regime took the trouble to erase him from history
books and even from photographs (some of
which showed him distressingly close to the
sainted Lenin). But now Trotsky is back, for
another bashing. A Los Angeles Times headline
says: "Trotsky Revived as Villain in Soviet Play."
The subhead is: "Discredited Old Bolshevik Por
trayed as Double Agent."
Decades ago Trotsky was slung down the
memory hole. It was as though he had never
existed. That was rude treatment for the creator
of the Red Army that saved the Russian Revolution.
But Trotsky ran into trouble with Stalin. Trou
ble with Stalin was fatal for millions. For Trotsky
it was singularly obliterating. Yet now he has
been resurrected so that he may be condemned
to death yet again, this time by a play that
portrays him as Stalin did as an anti-Bolshevik.
The Trotsky-Stalin feud was dressed up in
ideological nuances. Trotsky, who had a power
ful if warped and narrow mind, said Soviet Rus
sia could not survive isolation, so there must be
world revolution, pronto. Stalin, who would have
lowered the intellectual tone of the St. Valen
tine's Day Massacre, argued for "socialism in one
country." But the real issue was that the Soviet
Union, which spans 10 time zones, was too small
for the two of them.
What does the re-emergence of Trotsky, if only
for another drubbing, mean? It probably is addi
tional evidence of the de-de-Stalinization of the
Soviet Union, the rehabilitation of Stalin, the
most prolific killer of the most killing century.
(An enchanting rumor is that Volgograd, which
was Tsarltsyn until 1 025 and then was Stalingrad
until 1881, may soon be Stalingrad again.)
The anti-Trotsky play certainly is evidence of
the amazing continuity of the basic impulses
that animate the Soviet regime. Denial of such
continuity is an essential component of the men
tal makeup of Western enthusiasts for the arms
control process. They always see the Soviet
Union on the verge of "fundamental" change.
In totalitarian societies little things, such as
the reappearance of Trotsky, mean a lot. So they
are not really little. Churchill knew this.
In April 1033, less than two months after
Hitler seized power, Churchill warned Parlia
ment of such German "martial and pugnacious
manifestations" as "appeals to every form of the
fighting spirit, from the reintroduction of duel
ing in the colleges to the Minister of Education
advising the plentiful use of the cane in the
elementary schools." Churchill noted these things
because he knew what many of today's arms
control enthusiasts ignore: There is a link
between the internal dynamic and external
behavior of a tolitarian society. A system sus
tained by the Gulag Archipelago is not tamable
by "dialogue" or by parchment covered by arms
control phrases. That is why it was right for
Avital Scharansky, the wife of the most famous
Jewish prisoner of conscience in the Soviet
Union, to be here haunting the proceedings.
Now, return to the Los Angeles Times story
about the re-denouncing of Trotsky in accor
dance with Stalin's old mythology. The story
contains this hilarious sentence: "Western
observers of cultural trends say that publication
of the play may reflect increased official willing
ness to be more realistic about Soviet history."
Of course. The reappearance of an utterly
traditional, utterly tendentious fable of Stalinist
history is evidence of what else? new
"realism," and therefore is grounds for optimism
about U.S. -Soviet relations. So say the usual sus
pects, those "Western observers of cultural
trends."
The moral of this little story about Trotsky is
timely, and should be spelled out in neon across
Geneva, the host to the world's recurring Illu
sions. The moral of the story is this:
There is a mobile army of "Western observers"
whose observations condition the atmosphere
that produces thing3 like the arms-control pro
cess. These observers can be counted on to
announce that anything absolutely anything
that happens in the Soviet Union is hearten
ing, the harbinger of "realism" and a reason for
hastening to Geneva and expecting "fundamen
tal change."
1885, Washington Post Writers Group
Pemiteittiiiiy escapees posetSsreatto Neteaslkaits' safety
If you're looking for a nice safe place to live
and raise your family, why not check into a
cell at the State Penitentiary? That seems to
be the one place these days where you won't run
C
Bill
Allen
into a hardened criminal, because they're all
leaving.
Thirty-one criminals, some of them killers,
escaped from Nebraska correctional institutions
in 1984.
It seems to defeat the purpose of putting them
in prison if you let them out at that rate.
Why, I wouldn't be surprised if these crimi
nals aren't escaping from prison at a faster rate
than their laywers are getting them out, and
that's fast.
The latest escapees, as you know if you've
been listening to the news or reading the news
papers, are Paul Henry Krider, 55, and Antonio
Vigil, 42, both murderers.
Krider was convicted of killing a 78-year-old
woman in 1964. After escaping last week, he
supposedly killed his wife and took her car,
which was found in Oklahoma. Twenty years of
prison obviously didn't help him.
Vigil pleaded guilty in the 1970 death of his
wife. She was found nude and decapitated.
Both these men are serving life terms.
These are not pickpockets and swindlers.
They are killers.
I would hate to think that the person sitting
next to me in the Nebraska Union is an escaped
killer. I'm kind of nervous that way. There are
enough criminals out there already without let
ting the convicted ones out, too.
Some people say prisoners today have it too
easy with TV, work releases, recreation and
decent food. However, I feel confinement is pun
ishment enough for anyone. Let's at least make
sure they stay confined.
Police and other law enforcement officers
have enough to do without finding criminals they
have already caught and the courts convicted.
The big issues, of course, is the safety of
people in Nebraska, and in the case of the recent
penitentiary escapees, the safety of the people of
Lancaster County.
On any given night you can walk through this
town and see 13- and 14-year-old girls and boys
hanging around in front of game rooms and
phone booths, smoking cigarettes and being
cool, and also being very vulnerable to many
things. If irresponsible parents can't protect
their children from crime, the least the state can
do is make sure criminals already in prison won't
be on the prowl.
Does a serious incident have to happen to
convince authorities to strengthen security
measures?
One escaped criminal could be chalked up to
carelessness. The person responsible could
be fired or reprimanded and a public apology
would be sufficient, provided the criminal was
recaptured with no serious incident.
If four or five criminals escaped, I would con
sider this a serious problem that should be
corrected.
But last year, 31 criminals some of them
murderers escaped from Nebraska correc
tional institutions or didn't return from work
releases or furloughs. That raises serious ques
tions about the competence of state correctional
officials and officers. More importantly, it raises
questions about the safety of Nebraska residents.
Pae me
Paperback Boole Exchange
t55? We sell used books at 12
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the cover nrice. includino
r . 7 -j
books used in literature classes.
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13th & "Q" (Gunny's) 4746316
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STARTING DATE AND TIME
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Monday, January 21, 8:00 p.m. n
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FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL
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