In the minds of many Americans Russia was born in the Revolution of 1917. Many Russians who first awakened to cultural life after that Revolution share this misconception. Yet Russia has a thousand-year-old past: she is one of the oldest nations in Europe. Her literature, her arts, particularly her music, had won the attention and the admiration of the world long ago. At the same time, the primitivity or backwardness of Russia in certain respects is undeniable. How can the highly refined civilization of a cultured few be reconciled with the barbarism of large strata of the people? And, on the other hand, what bridge can be thrown over the gulf created by the Revolution between the Russia of the past and the Russia of today? Radical and ruthless as any revolution may be, it is unable to destroy completely the continuity of life. After the waters of the flooded river recede into their shores the natural, permanent contours of the land reappear. A historically trained observer recognizes in Boishevist Russia the features of days long gone by.