Evening star., 1933-12-10
'ut armed. play their part in ali serious.

II Toistoy and Dostoievsky could ses
for one moment this Russian youth
which they hoped would some day be.
come the leayen Of the spirit Of peace
and freedom In the world, they would
probably undergo feeling Of terror and
sorrow. Gone, gone forever the de.
nghttu youngtsh type Of the Russian
intelligentsfa, idealistic, mystic, lovinc
his own Russia, but loving even more
the eternal and universal ideas Of peace
and progress. The Russian youth Of ol,
day, hardened by privations, totally tg-
norant OF what happens abroad (simi-
Lar, IN this, to Italian YOUTH, believes
that all progress, all intellectual ad-
vance are found in Russia only. II has
nocnlng but suspicion and mistrust fol-
side. --o'-- e'>'
The lowering Of the intellectual stand.
ing OF Russian youth, as compared with
that OF the free countries Of western
Europe, is consequently mdeniable. The
only slight symptom Of improvement
which 10 pointed out by impartial ob-
servers Is to be detected in the general
NE OF the comtry-and therefore to q
certain extent In the Official youth or
ganizations. mean the recently
growing dislike for the silly ofacia]
Communist hterature-novels and es-
says-where love. nature, tendencies to-
ward the divine had been suppressed
Tor years as bourgeois memories and
had been replaced by the description
OF lie and production In Soviet fac
tories.
Friends just back from Russia, and
VINO at my request have made a thor
ough study Of the phenomenon. tell me
that in the circulating libraries Soviet
novels are no longer asked for: those
demanded are Tolstoy's and Dostoiey-
sky's works, and even the novels of dear
oio Fenimore Cooper, Of our grand
IatnerS childhood. In the universities
some boys have been daring enough TO
Ask the libraries to buy the works of
Croce, the Italian individualtstic phiIoe-
opner 20 violently hated by the italian
Fasctsts, and those Of Maxxinf. the
prophet Of the italian Risoreimento'
who In the '70s wrote arden indictments
against communism.
Basis for Formed Opinion.
But am afraid these are merely ex-
ceptlons. How can one find many
minds open to world thought in q coun-
try where for IS years the rising gen
erations have been told that everything
Is rotten outside socialist Russia, that
Lenin Is the greatest thinker who ever
lived?
It is by similar means that the Mos
lem leader reduced to letharey and
sterility all the peoples which embraced
Mahometanism.
On the other hand, there is one field
where marked progress exists, COM
pared with the early days Of the Soviet
this Is the field of private morality
mainly sex morality.
During the early years of Soviet rule
TOO many adolescents believed that they
could do anything they liked: they in
terpreted the strife against the "preju.
dlce OF the past" as an excuse for CIV
ing vent unscrupulously to their lowest
instincts.
During the last two or three years.
there has been a marked reaction
against the brutal excesses Of six or
ten years ago, which indeed, in most
cases, were due more to bravado than
TO vice, more to puerile coarseness than
to real corruption. The old Bolshevik
guard was not the last to condemn
them.
One of the Soviet leaders recentlv
wrote the following honest words, ad-
dressing the young:
Many among you talk of the new
society, but picture it erroneously. Is
1t really admissible for q man to marry
six or seven times in 10 years? Do
you not see that girl betrayed in her
love Is broken being? Must all re-
sponsibility be banished from the rela-
tions between men and women? In this
respect, by establishing really human
relations between the sexes, the Kom-
somel can and must do q great deal"
Judging by what hear from Russia
and my sources Of information are
distrustful of Soviet publicity under
stand that today there are fewer di-
vorces among the students who marry
young.
Russia is not yet at a turn in the
road; it is just In the middle of q very
long one. For the time being one must
be content to note what Is happening
that alone is dificult enough-and make
no pretense at drawing final conclusions.