PEOPLE'S COMMISSAR YEZHOV

In flashing lightning you became for us a sign,
Yezhov, sharp-eyed and intelligent People's Commissar.
The wise word of the great Lenin
Prepared the hero Yezhov for the battle.
He heard the burning call of the great Stalin
In all his heart and blood.
When the October dawns began to shine
With courage in his eyes he stormed the Palace.
When war appeared on the horizon,
He mounted his horse and rode to the front.
Class fought class. The earth blazed.
In those days, the Motherland ran with blood.
The enemy pressed us in a sinister ring --
With iron and steel, fire and lead.
I remember this. In the purple sunsets
I saw Comrade Yezhov through the smoke.
With his sword held high, dressed in the greatcoat
Of the people, he led the attack.
He fought, learning from the great heroes
Like Sergo, Voroshilov, and Kirov.
With his fighters he was kind, with his enemies severe,
Hardened in battle was brave Yezhov.
When on the steppes the uprising occurred
And the Kazakhs straightened their shoulders,
When they rose up, shepherd against kulak,
Lenin and Stalin sent Yezhov.
Yezhov came and, the fog clearing away,
Kazakhstan rose up in the battle for happiness.
He united the villages under the banner of the Soviets,
He gave us the strength and wisdom of the Kremlin's decrees.
The Kazakh people following behind him,
He led the advance against the kulaks and the beys.
The people behind Yezhov began the attack
The golden vision became a reality.
Yezhov banished the blood-suckers to the hills,
He liberated their herds and flocks.
We put an end forever to the kulaks' perfidy.
Spring blossomed all over the steppes of Kazakhstan
More splendid and beautiful than even in our dreams,
Here they all love you, Comrade Yezhov!
Irrigation canals, ponds, blue lakes,
They all look to you with a happy glance.
Here every grass-stalk, reed, and flower,
Snow on the peaks and mountain streams,
The wide steppes from end to end
Did not forget you, they remember you.
The grass around you sings your song
In the movement of the wind -- your breath.
Of the sonorous waterfalls, of the miraculous irrigation canals
The bards of the steppes sing songs to you.
And the people echo, gathering around:
-- Greetings to you, devoted friend of Stalin!
But the enemy is dangerous, bitter and cruel.
Listen: the scoundrels creep in the night,
Creep along the ravine, they carry with them their fanatic beliefs,
Their revolvers and bombs, their cholera bacilli...
But you found them, strong and stern Yezhov,
Well-tempered in fiery battle.
The enemies of our life, the enemies of the millions, --
They crawled toward us, the Trotskyite band of spies,
Bukharinists, cunning snakes of the swamp,
Embittered nationalist riffraff.
They rejoiced, bringing to us fetters,
But the beasts fell into Yezhov's snare.
Devoted friend of the great Stalin,
Yezhov broke their traitorous circle.
He exposed the serpent enemy's breed
With the eyes of Yezhov -- the eyes of the people.
Yezhov is on the watch for all poisonous snakes
And he smoked out vermin from den and lair.
He annihilated all types of scorpions
With hands of Yezhov -- the hands of the people.
And the Order of Lenin, burning flame,
Was given to you, faithful Stalinist People's Commissar,
You -- a sword, unsheathed, calm and stern,
Fire singeing the serpents' nest,
You -- a bullet for all scorpions and snakes,
You -- eyes of the country, clearer than a diamond.
Gray chronicler, witness of an era,
Absorbing all rejoicings and sighs,
Reaching the age of one hundred, old Dzhambul
Heard the swelling sound on the steppes.
The million-voiced resounding word
Will fly from the people to the fighter Yezhov:
Thank you, Yezhov, that, raising the alarm,
You stood on guard for the country and the leader!