The Problem Of Russia
Contemporary Russia and Her Relations with Her Neighbours, Edited by Lancelot Lawton (Publishers, 92, Fleet Street, I s.)
it is' a valuable publication we warmly recommend. Its second number (January, 1937) has several informative articles, the writers of which are well qualified to deal
with their subjects. The editorial states that this publication is intended to meet the need "long felt . . . for an authoritative exposition of the actual conditions in the Soviet Union" which attracts special attention "solely because of the messianic magnitude of its pretensions."
The editorial of every issue is to comment upon some outstanding event, thus in the present number the editor discusses the new constitution of the U.S.S.R. which is " not so important as propaganda has made it appear to be." Mr. Lawton's article on Soviet Russia and Spain is of outstanding topical interest and deserves to he studied carefully by the many who, despite conclusive evidence persist in -maintaining the myth of a revolt of "fascist" generals against a democratically elected "government." The article is long and well documented and a valuable contribution to the proofs of the Soviet's long-laid plotting in Spain.
Mgr. d'Herbigny is too well known as an authority upon things Russian to need any recommendation : his Aims of Moscow form a perfect complement to the first article. As a former professor of the Military Academy of St. Petersburg and author of books on the Russian Army in the world war, General Golovin is competent to judge the Red Army, the real tragedy of which is its commanding personnel : " The inclusion of a high proportion of communists among the officers has inevitably led to the introduction in its commanding ranks of elements least suited to supervise modern technical methods and quite unfit for the leadership of massarmies . . . Thus the paradox : the larger the Red Army becomes, the richer in complicated technical equipment, the lower its potentiality for war. The Red Army cornislanders are more fitted to he leaders of a small and primitively armed force . . . than of an army organised on modern lines The general stresses the fact that "in recruiting officers the military authorities are compelled to give preference to uncultured workers for the sole reason that they are considered to be politically reliable and that the dictatorship of the communist party has resulted in an unprecedented lowering of the cultural level of the Army."
* * 4t There are indications that disaffection reigns among the different groups of the Red command, a "disunity all the more ominous in view of the appalling illiteracy and lack of professional knowledge among the proletarian officers." Thus on the strength of General Golovin's able exposition, we are led to question whether the formidable military machine which so irnpresses the foreign spectators of teviews on Moscow's Red Square is not another huge hoax, similar to the "democratic constitution" and the great achievements of communism.
The other articles: The Soviet Budget, Permanent Revolution in the Ukraine, etc.,
also repay study. Altogether this small magazine, the yearly subscription to which is but 5s., deserves to be widely known.
0. B.