"Not Exactly Communism"

Colonel Haskell, head of the American Relief Administration, arrived in Berlin from Russia. Said he: " The Soviet Government is in for good. Moscow is now much like any other town. You can go to the restaurant, eat good food at reasonable prices, see a good cabaret show and drive home in a taxicab. There are 99-year leases of property; you can will a portion of your estate to your heirs on dying; there are first, second and third classes on railroads, and you have to pay fares on street cars. You can also lease your house or flat -- all of which is not exactly Communism. And the streets are clean and well policed; the people appear to be busy ; there is plenty of life on the streets."

Samuel Spewack, Russian born staff correspondent of The New York World, wrote:

"All optimists to the contrary, Russia is not going to turn capitalistic overnight. The Communist rule has come to stay. Superficial capitalism is permitted. When it threatens to become powerful the Communists tax it out of existence. Then they relent and the stores open again.

"No, the Russian people are not bursting with enthusiasm. Their faces do not beam 24 hours in the day when they sing the Internationale and wave the red flag. Nor do they sit trembling in their apartments waiting for the executioner.

"Most of them are living from hand to mouth, doing the best they can. Five hundred thousand of the 130,000,000 are Communists, and they form the new ruling class. All ruling classes naturally believe their Government, if not perfect, is better than other forms of government.

"The Russian people do not like terror. But they have been subjected to it for so many centuries they can stand it.

"Stores are open. So are the theatres. You can go to a gay cabaret. Food is plentiful. The street cars run.

"Taxation closes many stores (when the fear of internal capitalism reaches its height), but they reopen.

"The workers do not go to restaurants or theatres. They haven't money. The speculators are the patrons of good food and entertainment.

" Of course, the food isn't especially good. There is something wrong with it, the best of it. It fills but it does not nourish.

"Personally I have never experienced such profound relief as when my train crossed the little bridge that separates Russia from Latvia. Even the conductor, who goes in and out every week, uncorked a hidden bottle of vodka."