As I go through the notes I made on a recent trip to the U.S.S.R., three of these strike me as throwing a certain amount of light on the whole question of the information and impressions one gets in that country. In the first place, I had been told that the Moscow crowd was drably and poorly dressed; and certainly at first glance one does feel there is something odd about the Muscovite’s appearance. One could easily be led to conclude that this was due to the poverty of his wardrobe. But in Leningrad, where people in fact dress in much the same way as at Moscow, the impression left is quite different. All this would remain most mysterious did one not remember that whereas in Leningrad we find a population that has always been urban, the Muscovite is fresh from the country. Between 1917 and 1958 the population of Moscow increased from 600,000 to more than six million, and the immense majority of the newcomers are peasants unfamiliar with town ways. Thus what gives us the feeling of strangeness about Moscow is really the unexpected rustic appearance of these new inhabitants.

Again, I had heard the fact that even V.I.Ps. sit in the front of their cars beside their chauffeurs put forward as an example of the real democratic feeling one finds in the Soviet. During my visit, however, I discovered that the seat next to the driver is considered to be the place of honour.