Evening star., 1941-11-12

WuIllSCS OF IellOW JTdVelcTS-pIOII OIIll-
nent in America. I mean-who had
been to Moscow in the last 10 years,
but I could find no one in Moscow
who remembered any OF their visits.
The Daily Workers representatives
in the Soviet capital-and the rep
resentatives Of the radical press in
other countries-were treated like
poor relations. They jumped when
a Soviet official spoke to them at
a press conference; always did what
they were told. Far from being
given the breaks over representa-
tives of the capitalist press. they
we're more often forgotten when an
excursion was arranged, or told 20
be content with handout.
Now, all this is curious because
the Communist InternatiOnale has
its headquarters in Moscow and it
is dominated by the same Com
munist party that runs-is Synony-
nous with-the Soviet government.
There are several possible explana-
tions for the paradox.
One is that the Soviet government
used the American and British Com
munist parties as a front to fool
the Germans-encouraging them to
attack the governments of Great
Britain and America so that the
Russians might point to their efforts
and say to the NaziS:
See, you have nothing to fear
from us; we are living up to our
pact everywhere in the world"
This is possible The Communist
parties in America and England
might not have known they were
being used.
Art for MOscOw's Sake.
In the arts the Russians were
great disappointment to me- Fiji
teen years ago 1 am told. they were
innovators both in the theater and
on the screen. Their music had
originality and verve. What I saw
and heard was technically compe-
tent but very unimaginative. In
the theater there were costume
plays from the last century, beauti-
fully done and superbly acted but
wholly unoriginal. The only con-
temporaneous play could find was
a cheap farce complete with all
the stock characters-an absent
minded professor, his disagreeable
mother-i -in-law, his wife who was
hurt because he neglected her.
On the screen I saw only imitation
Hollywood. Somewhere else I have
spoken of the one about the girl
textile worker who made good The
other big current release was musi-
rival bands who came from the sticks
to compete for prize in Moscow
One played classical music and the
other jazz. They came down the
Volga to Moscow in river boats. saw
ing and footing away and just at
the crucial moment the jazz band
lost the score of the tune with
which it had hoped to take the
prize. 1t had blown overheard and
other rival bands had flshed it out
of the water and were already play
ing it when our poor friends got to
town. forgot how it all came out.
Most Of Moscow's buildings have
been put up too fast for frills. But
Soviet architects have done what
they could to spoil their lines with
classical jimcracks plastered over
most Of the facades. The jobs on
which they have really gone to town
look like huge modernistic wedding
cakes. The Red Star Theater is a
good example. The spic-and-span
new Tchaikowsky Concert Hall,
whose proportions are grand and
lofty, is covered inside with ranks
OF inappropriate columns. futed
crenelations, extruding pieces OF
masonry and glass. There is only
one city in the world whose class
icism is dulled-our own Washing
ton. But the Soviet classicists &c
ours one better by never sticking to
one period and frequently resortlng
to such lost labors as trying to i'm
prove on the proportions Of, say. q
Corinthian column.
"A Genuine Imitation.
In fact. there is little that Is orgl-
inal in the Soviet state except it
politics. 1 could not help laughing
when I watched one man admire
another's fountain pen, in the train
and then overheard the proud owner
boast: 1T is a genuine imitation
Parker"
have already mentioned the 1ml'
tation American automobiles thu
Russians made They produce only
three cars. The M l is Model A
Ford. This was the last Ford tina
had four cylinders. It's equipped
with a standard three-speed and re-
verse gear shift. The Zys-3 M c.
is an imitation of Bucks big seven
passenger limousine of the middle
3Os. The third motor vehicle Is ar
imitation General Motors light truck
Every machine you look at and ever.
gadget you pick up in Russia, i
reminiscent of model you've seer
some place else-usually an Amerl
can machine or gadget, but some
times an English or a European
There is no attempt made to con
ceal the fact that all Soviet ma
chimes are copies. But Soviet engi
neers insist that they have i'm
proved" on the originals.
I did not find single piece o
evidence to support this. I asked
several Americans who had been il
Moscow a long time and who wer'
sympathetic with the Soviet regim
whether they could identify a Sovie
Improvement" for me, but none o
them could think Of anything tina
the Soviet had made to run bette
than it ran in some other country
asked them If they knew OF an.
original Soviet inventions, but m
one could think of any. I'm SUR
there must be exceptions to prov
the rule-but it is just as obviou
that the rule Is that Soviet energ!
has gone into imitation, not origina
ton.
Clothes Unoriginal.
Russian clothes are as unorigina
as Russian machinery. Only in th'
way the women wear bandannas OF
their heads-and the men an occa
| e;ova1 ev,noL ora <toro rx, fro m