OTTO LUENING
589
Butlner the ketlledrummer had heard from Swiss socialists that they in
turn had heard from Russian friends , who had the message from a
Polish emigre, that Lenin was planning to leave Switzerland. Strauss,
who had many connections in town, was a railroad buff who generally
landed at the main depot at least once a day and had friends among the
train personnel and the station administration. They told him that the
German embassy in Bern was trying
to
make a deal for Lenin to travel
through Germany to Finland and then to Russia. The Germans hoped
that Russia would be thrown into turmoil and revolution and that the
country would collapse and be easy to control. Lenin had lined up ten
people to accompany him to Russia, and the party kept growing in
size. Most of the Swiss dropped out, but some Poles joined. Strauss even
wh ispered that Romain Rolland was
~upposed
to go along, a com–
pletely unfounded rumor.
On April 7, Strauss said he had heard that the Russian party was
actua ll y leaving from the main railway station around noon on Easter
Monday, April 9.
We arrived at the Hauptbahnhof at ten-thirty on Monday morn–
ing. It was a typical Zurich spring day-drizzly, co ld, foggy, and rather
dark . There was an air of great expectancy among the station personnel
and the onlookers. A few of these were more conspicuous than they
might have wished, but on the whole it was not an impressive group.
Lenin and his party arr ived. Lenin had a knapsack on his back,
crammed with books and papers. With a companion he walked briskly
to the stationmaster and made the last arrangements for boarding the
train. He was quite self-possessed and in passing greeted acquaintances
in the group of on lookers with a smile as though nothing unusual was
happening. He talked to the station master in a businesslike manner
and without visible signs of emotion. What looked like about thirty,
mostly Russian emigres followed him. They were shabbily dressed and
carri ed knapsacks, small trunks , baskets, pillows, and blankets. They
looked decrepit and rather pitiful. But they were obviously moved by
the thought of this new adventure and showed it, if only furtively, in
their facia l express ions and actions.
After Lenin had arranged matters with the stationmaster, the
emigres moved slowly toward the train. From behind the rope that cut
us off [rom the train itself, we observed some last-minute shoving and
hauling. Lenin grabbed one fellow by the collar and threw him out of
the group; Strauss identified him as a Swiss socialist by the name of
Blum who tried to force his way into the Party after Lenin had
