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\) | | () carry out the preparations for war, as before. The symptons of depression, unemployment and the falding-off of export distract the attention of the public ef the Uss.4. from the essenttal problems of war and peace. "Fowever, sooner or Jater,comnon sense will cet the upner hand. JT hope tc live to thts happy moment." An article by iTLIIA’’ DuECIS, devoted to his ime Presstons of his trips to the Soviet IUnten ts publisned belou. se ye aT We ste eis The crouth of the Scvitet Tnien dtterclly went on neer my oun eves: J uisitec the USSR tn 1926, 1926, 1946 and am here at present. The duration of my visits fiuctuated between cne week un te a month and rere. After writine this, 7 felt the centracicticn of my statement, It is impossible to become acquainted with any one country in a month or even in a year. This is particulariuv apriicable to a vast country such as yours, which, in acdition, is constantlu movince ahead and with such headlenz speed, that it takes one's breath away. Cf course, much cepends on the knowledge about the country Pessessed by a visitor, upon hts disposition and prejudices. i GO not knGui the Russian language because I was born in the middie of the nineteenth century when even some sussians preferred tc speak French. However, I had definite advantages because of my Negro oricin. I felt deep sympathy for the fusstan peasants, partially liberated from slavery simultane duly with the itberation af the American Negroes. JI know perfectly well what it means te be a slave. i came tc the Soviet [nion in 1926, knowing only a itttie of Russian history of the period of tsarism. I Knew comparatively little about sccialism and hac no idea whatsoever of arrism. ithen T vas a student, I did net fMQve @% occasion te rear 2.han uta. Jleverthésess, 7 sav Peende in Uronshtact, Leningrad and -‘oscor: in Gorku, ,iev and Cdessa,whom I unierstoocd. Conditions cf their if? were uncerstcendablie for an american ‘ecre. Destruction asd LP)