Another new acquaintance of these first days in Bolshevised St. Petersburg was Raymond Robins, the head of the American Red Cross Mission... Although a rich man himself, he was an anti-capitalist...
Hitherto, his two heroes had been Roosevelt and Cecil Rhodes. Now Lenin had captured his imagination... Robins was the only man whom Lenin was always willing to see, and who ever succeeded in imposing his own personality on the unemotional Bolshevik leader...
I returned from my interview to our flat only to find an urgent message from Robins requesting me to come to see him at once. I found him in a state of great agitation. He had been in conflict with Saalkind, a nephew of Trotsky and then Assistant Commissar for Foreign Affairs. Saalkind had been rude, and the American, who had a promise from Lenin that, whatever happened, a train would always be ready for him at an hour's notice, was determined to exact an apology or to leave the country. When I arrived he had just finished telephoning to Lenin. He had delivered his ultimatum, and Lenin had promised to give a reply within ten minutes. I waited, while Robins fumed.
Then the telephone rang and Robins picked up the receiver. Lenin had capitulated. Saalkind was dismissed from his post. He was an old member of the Party. Would Robins have any objection if Lenin sent him as a Bolshevik emissary to Berne? Robins smiled grimly. 'Thank you, Mr. Lenin,' he said. 'As I can't send the [expletive deleted] to hell, burn is the next best thing you can do with him.'
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