Evening star., 1933-07-30
THE TRAGEDY OF RUSSIA Impressions
from Brief Visit. By viii Durant. New
York: Simon & Schuster.

toward the Church under the TSar.
'"The priest of the village was kindly man
and loved his flock almost as much as his
table but the hierarchy loved the Tsar made
the confessional an instrument Of espionage
and saved the cost of many policemen. The
Church became venal and arrogant, immoral
and corrupt. The people clung to 1t nevertne-
less precisely the poor OF the world cling 70
the Utopia of communism today, because they
had no other hope, nothing else to turn to in
their poverty and despair" DR.. Durant spent
only short time in Russia in the Summer OF
1882 but his comments, organized under well
chosen headings. not those OF the snap
shot tourist He has background OF extensive
reading and thinking on the subject OF the
great Russian experiment. He answers in ad-
vance criticism of his book from certain critics.
s'The views expressed in this book will be un-
avoidably unpopular with most critics, whose
natural liberalism and sympathetic interest in
new experiments will be offended by this ap-
parent betrayal of the liberal cause. can only
ask them to remember that liberalism may be
defined as fidelity to freedom.
Dr. Durant left Seattle for Russia in the
mood OF hoping to find communism success;
he returned believing that RusSia's plan for
destroying the strong and enthroning the weak
has had to fail for there is no mechanism IN
nature by which the weak may control the
strong" His first taste of Soviet finance was at
Onsk. where, at the government valuation OF
the rllble as equal to So American cents, his
stay Of one day would cost $1O0. The crowds
of desperately poor and dirty humanity about
the railway station lit often necessary to
wait weeks to get train out of Omsk) and in
the streets compared unfavorably with his for
nler observations of the poor OF China and
India An agent Of Soviet buying organiza-
tion helped him with supply Of rubles. and.
trusting his discretion and friendliness an
swered questions with candor. In those days
(t,ofn ff,o roynl Init i0fll he
to eat: today the people starve'; and continued
Promise me that when you return to your
country you will report truthfuly what you
have seen" Squads of soldiers pounding along
tho street every hour were sufficient answer
to DR.. Durant's question why the people do
not overthrow the government Another gov
ernment official confided in German in the
secrecy of his little room We are in prison
.. II we leave work without permission
of the State we forfeit our bread-ticket, which
gives us the right to stand in line to buy bread;
and without that ticket We starve. II we strike
for better wages we are shot. If we protest we
are arrested in the night. and condemned with
out trial On every side Of us there are SPIES
every citizen is encouraged to be an infcrmer.
We have no social life. for We fear to visit even
those whom We think our friends: they, too,
may inform the police of any remark we make
that smAcks Of Independent thought II any
OF US tries to leave Russia he is shot down At
thc frontier. All. you fortunate Americans, who
cam 60 where you like and say what you
please!"
DR. DMant puposeiy entered Russia by the
back door," in order to remain unescorted, but
to get os1t Of OTnsk he obliged to display
. letter Of introduction from the most famous
of American Senator'S Two train wrecks de-
>Esyed his progress to Moscow and the con-
ductor explained that such things could not
be helped, As Russia lacked trained engineers
Moscow seemed bright and prosperous after
On1sk, but it hours after his arrival
before room could be obtained in a hotel
though he hsd reserved one through Intourist
After relating some of his personal experiences
DR.. Dirant discusses some of the general as
pech of Soviet rule under the headings The
Crisis in Communism" The Soul Of Russia
Under Socialism" The Religious Revolution"
and The Dictatorship Over the Proetariat."
His conclusion about Russia has already been
stated and his title indicates it in advance
Nevertheless. he ADVOCATES conditional recogni-
tion, which would open up a vast market for
our manufactures would strengthen our Gov
ernment in its Far Eastern relations, would
bring Russia into international agreements, and
would facilitate reduction of armaments Per-
sonaliy. however, DR. Durant cut short his stay
ir Russia and fled before the time was up."
When he crossed the frontier, through high
barbed-wre entanglenents, and exchanged
1.-The unclean cars of Russia" for the ''spotless
train run by the Polish government" then he
looked back with horror and pity upon the
land of our dreams, and prayed that liberation
might come soon to those 150, 600 600 prisoners
whom we had left behind"
THE MASSACRE OF GLENCOE By John
Buchan. New York: G. p Putnam'S Sons.
: A Ballachulish, on Loeb Linnhe, in the
y northern Highlands of Scotland, ID the
entrance to the wild Pass of Glencoe, scene Of
one Of the darkest episodes in the stormy his
tory Of Scotland The Highlands Of Scotland,
as appropriately as Kentucky. might be called
'the dark and bloody ground" for the history