effectively precluding the expression of non-Bolshevist opinion, they are able to a considerable degree to impress these pictures upon the minds of the Russian people and to shape their attitude to America and other countries accordingly. According to Mrs. Snowden and other recent visitors, the Russian people have been persuaded by such methods to believe that Bolshevism is spreading all the world over and that many countries are on the verge of Bolshevist revolutions. We read frequently in the Bolshevist press also statements like the following: "If we compare the conditions of life in Russia with the conditions of life in the West, we have to state that our situation is a brilliant one." (From Boyevaya Pravda, May 19, 1920.)
Here are a few statements illustrating American news as it appears in the Soviet wireless:
Russian workmen, emigrants who have just returned from America and are now in Sormovo, state that the Russians in America are suffering great hardships. They experience there all the horrors of prison life. Workmen are arrested for participation in party conferences; torture is resorted to when they are being cross-examined. Many unions are obliged to work in secret. (From Moscow wireless, January 4, 1921.)
The workers say that the work of the American Bolshevik party is proceeding successfully and that in New York alone there are 200,000 members in the party. (From Moscow wireless message, via London, January 4, 1921.)
The American Government has asked Latvia to consent to allow 100,000 Russians to proceed to Soviet Russia through her territory. The American Government intends to deport these Russians in the near future. (From Moscow wireless, February 7, 1921.)
