Power Struggle in Communism, Life of Stalin, Role of Trotsky, Told in Jones' Novel 'Joseph' Nlervyn Jones' novel "Joseph" • is the story of Joseph Stalin, of the man born Djugashvili, who was trained for the priesthood and whose record is one of conflict. intrigue, search and acquisition of pouer. "Joseph" [published by Athene- um) is as much drama and breath-taking narrative as it is his- tory. The eminent men in the Communist movement are listed there. It stands to reason that Lenin is a major factor in the story in which he is portrayed as Victor. Trotsky is Leonard, and he figures prominently as the Jew and as Stalin's major antagonist. There is Kirov as Cyril. Zinoviev as Gregory, and in the entire pano- rama the men who made Russian Ys Stalin Trotsky history are part of a drama that emerges as fascinating reading and forceful literature. The attitudes towards Jews are evident at the outset. In Joseph's yeuthful environment his mother, encouraging him to study for the ministry, lived in an environment in which "there was a street for Turks and a street for Jews; if she had to go through them, she crossed her- sell and recited all the prayers she knew." There is a Jewish moneylender. but he certainly did not pressure for the money loaned. only for 'he interest. In the earlier portion of the story there is the reference to Stalin's son Jacob, who later had serious differences with his father. There is the conversation be- tween Joseph and his wife Diana: he asked why the son was named Jacob: -Why. don't you like the name?" "It's all right. I simply won- dered why you chose a Jewish name " Diana stared. "It never struck me . . Joseph is out pf the Bible tco, after all." "But Jacob sounds more Jew- ish... "Does it7 Oh well, under so- cialism nobody will care about this kind of thing." The references to Leonard (Trotsky) are so illuminating! Ther e is discussion of his speeches, his condemnation of capitalism, his defining of so- cialism. And there is this ex- change, which has been estab- lished historically, regarding his Jewishness: "A supporter from a factory branch asked him one day: 'Are you Jewish. Comrade Leonard?' 'By birth, yes. Why do ycu ask?' Leonard replied. 'And Comrade Gregory and Comrade Leo, too, isn't that right?' *I'd never thought about it.' The man repeated a phrase from an official speaker: 'The opposition can't find a single leader who really belongs to our people.' Leonard was too dis- gusted to act." And then there is this descrip- tion of Trotsky the orator and the mob's reactions: "As a young mar.. Leonard had mastered the street- corner orator's knack of dealing with interruptions. He could still remember the stupid cries of . . 'Traitor to His ,Majesty" . . Dirty .Tew!' 'Foreign agent!' There had never been a time when he failed to win a hearing . . ." NVhile conquering the masses there nevertheless was the per- sistent evidence of anti-Semi:ism. There is the tragic story of Jacob and his Jewish friend Dav:d who was going to Biro.-Bidzhan, who was forced into the near-exile by anti-Semitic pressures. David was asked—told!?!—to volunteer by a Jewish member of the Party. Ja- cob went to Joseph in behalf of his friend. David Stern, and his father gave him a lecture on Com- munist policies . . . Then follows this dialogue: "Jacob said: 'I don't care about all that theorizing. I only luzo• what has been done to my friend.' "Joseph was beginning to get angry. " •Don't come here with this sentimental nonsense, Jaco b.' he said. 'I'm talking about the transformation of society. I'm talking about the advance of millions into a new epoch. Try and think about that for once instead of breaking your heart over one bloody little Jew.' "Jacob stood up. 'I'd better go, Father. I'm wasting Your time as well as mine.' " 'All right. Come and see me when you've got something bet- ter to talk about.' " Jones' novel rises to great heights in its interpretive power. There is, towards the end of the book, Jacob's letter to his friend David Stern, and in it he asserts: "There will never — not for centuries — be another age like Comrade Joseph's time. But what will come after it. I don't know. Sometimes I believe that our people will claim the better world for which they've paid so dearly. When the building is done, when the achievement is secure, the wastefulness of cruel- ty- will be plain to all. When there's time for happiness and peaceful living and love, there will be no need to worship power. When the god is dead—and he's a man, after all—the millions will share out his greatness among themselves. When knowl- edge has made thought revive, and thought has made minds expand, freedom will come into its own. "Perhaps. But perhaps a time will come when the memory of freedom, the conception itself, will have died. Obedience will have become habit; worship will have become a human need; minds that fear the light will contract of their cum accord. There will be no living god, but there will be high priests to make faith a ritual. It will be a time more dead and hollow than ours: a time with the same harshness and without the striv- ing and the daring, a time of small crimes and small ambi- tions. "We shan't know for many years. If we ever meet again, you and I, it will mean that things have turned out well. It will be our time, dear David. I don't dare to hope for it. I turn my face towards yours, seeing nothing, gazing into dark- ness, and say goodbye." There are the concluding words of the novel about the hero: "Com- rade Joseph would triumph," and the shout: ".His name--a litany of devotion, a shout of gratitude. and a pledge of sacrifice—rose inces- santly from earth to sky: 'Joseph! Joseph!' " And from the horrors emerged the hero. The concluding appendix. containing a brief review of fact and fiction, tells of the struggle ' for power that existed before Lenin's death. It is a suitable ap- pendix to a volume that is a great novel and a valuable addition to a history marked by intrigue, hor- ror. power struggles. —P.S.. THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 1970 8—FridaY, September 11, in Nixon's Name C uban Press Inserting Swastika NEW YORK (JTA)—In Castro's when it spells America; "Ameri- Cuba, President Nixon is a Nazi; KKK." at least that is how the controlled Cuban press seeks to identify him to the masses, reports CBS Radio Network news correspondent Mike Wallace, who just returned from an assignment in Cuba. KOSHER & PARVE In all Cuban newspapers, the X in the name Nixon is replaced by a swastika, Wallace said. The inference the Cuban government hopes will be drawn from this apparently is similar to that sought by the Black Panther newspaper • MARGARINE Brightens a bagel. 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