Honored Ashes

Ashes of a prophet so dishonred in his own country that he spent many a year in prison, were last week the object of celebrations in Germany.

The prophet was Charles E. Ruthenberg. Communism was his prophecy.

Communist Ruthenberg died six months ago (TIME, Nov. 17). His remains, in an urn, were sent to Europe with fitting Communistic lack of pomp. Berliners with red neckties, red socks, red handkerchiefs, took turns staring at the urn, then put it on a train for Moscow.

"In the death of Charles E. Ruthenberg," said the Communist (Chicago radical monthly), "the American working class lost its most conscious, its most courageous and its ablest leader."