17 MARCH 1923, Page 3

The long and strange reign of Vladimir Lenin seems to

have ended. This autocrat has suddenly 'been assailed by a recurrence of the paralytic disorder which attacked him last May. It is said that there is little hope of. his recovery. Thus two men who exercised by far the greatest individual powers in the -world, Lenin and President Wilson, are -now both hopeless invalids. It is too early to predict what effect the removal of Lenin will have on Russian policy. It is said that Kameneff, Ryktiff and Krassin now control the Govern- ment. If- this is so, it should mean closer touch with the West.