Stalin Finds the Way?

Eager to interview the escaped former commander of the Soviet Secret Political Police forces in Eastern Asia, General Genrikh Samoilovich Liushkov, correspondents were received in Tokyo last week by a stocky Russian of military bearing, togged in a grey sack suit baggy at the knees, puffing a cigaret.

Said he: "The Red Army and the Russian people are very close to each other. That is why the Stalin purge of the Red Army is so intensely resented by the people. The people are dissatisfied with the Stalin regime, as is also the rank and file of the Red Army. The anti-Stalin movement is widespread, and the extent of the discontented element in Russia is proved by the great numbers of people arrested. In the past two years more than 2,000,000 have been detained. Of these more than 10,000 had held responsible posts in the Government or in the Army."

Failure thus far of anti-Stalin movements in Russia has been due, declared General Liushkov, to: 1) "incompetent and cowardly leadership;" 2) "shocking torture in the prisons;" 3) effective "Government pressure on the friends and relatives of those accused."

"When tens of thousands of persons have been arrested and executed, that is a challenge to the nation!" continued the General between puffs. "Stalin intends to find a way out of the present crisis by war, and the entire Soviet Union is now being placed under great pressure."

The Soviet Government, after at first insisting that "the real General Liushkov is still in Russia," without explanation last week appointed a successor to the command formerly held by this fugitive Big Red. Dictator Stalin showed his grave concern by replacing Liushkov not by another general or subordinate official but by Mikhail Frinovsky, hitherto Secret Police Vice Commissar for the whole Soviet Union.

In a signed statement to the press at Tokyo, General Liushkov declared: "I am a traitor--but I have betrayed only Stalin, and never my country or my people."

Asked by correspondents if he thought Marshal Vasily Bluecher, commander of the Soviet Far Eastern Army is secretly hostile to Stalin, the General cracked: "You had better ask Marshal Bluecher whether he is planning a Far Eastern revolt."

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