emselves. Something like this must happen with
every representative assembly at which a single party has a great
preponderance and a rigid internal discipline. The real interest is in
the discussion inside the Party Committees.

This state of affairs would probably be more actively resented if the
people were capable of resenting anything but their own hunger, or of
fearing anything but a general collapse which would turn that hunger
into starvation. It must be remembered that the urgency of the
economic crisis has driven political questions into the background. The
Communists (compare Rykov's remarks on this subject, p. 175) believe
that this is the natural result of social revolution. They think that
political parties will disappear altogether and that people will band
together, not for the victory of one of several contending political
parties, but solely for economic cooperation or joint enterprise in
art or science. In support of this they point to the number of their
opponents who have become Communists, and to the still greater number
of non-Communists who are loyally working with them for the economic
reconstruction of the country. I do not agree with the Communists in
this, nor yet with their opponents, who attribute the death of political
discussion to fear of the Extraordinary Commission. I think that both
the Communists and their opponents underestimate the influence of the
economic ruin that affects everybody. The latter particularly, feeling
that in some way they must justify themselves to politically minded
foreign visitors, seek an excuse for their apathy in the one institution
that is almost universally unpopular. I have many non-Communist friends
in Russia, but have never detected the least restraint that could be
attributed to fear of anybody in their criticisms of the Communist
regime. The fear existed alike among Communists and non-Communists,
but it was like the fear of people walking about in a particularly bad
thunderstorm. The activities and arrests of the Extraordinary Commission
are so haphazard, often so utterly illogical, that it is quite idle for
any one to say to himself that by following any given line of conduct
he will avoid molestation. Also, there is something in the Russian
character which makes any prohibition of discussion almost an invitation
to discuss. I have never met a Russian who could be prevented from
saying whatever he liked whenever he liked, by any threats or dangers
w