I92 HUMAN LIFE IN RUSSIA
measure exceeding everything done in recent times in the way
of reprisals against Russian citizens. Early in June 1934 a
decree was issued containing the official proclamation and
legalization of reprisals against the hostages mentioned above,
i.e. the relatives of refugees. Thus it is now possible in Russia
that people who may have had nothing to do with their relatives*
offence (this is expressly stated in the decree) may be con-
demned to exile, or penal servitude up to ten years, and in
cases where they are suspected of complicity, sentenced to
death—or, rather^ as there can be no real judgment—to retalia-
tory vengeance. Here for the first time principles are proclaimed
in a penal code which, if it were not in the Soviet Union, would
rouse the indignation of all Europe. It is interesting that a few
days after the decree was issued, a flying officer who had
escaped from Russia, G. Krawts, gave an address in Paris
in which he declared that he had seen the Kirghizes in the
Orenburg district dying of starvation. It is unlikely that after
this latest decree any more officers of the Red Army will be
found to risk the lives of relatives by escaping abroad.
But more important, perhaps, for Moscow is the solution oi
the second problem—how to create, in every State and every
part of the world, a favourable view of the economic and
cultural development of the Soviet Union. The task demands
hard and systematic work; optimistic reports have to be
produced in a steady stream and spread by the most various
channels. There is no doubt that Soviet work in this field wil
always be reckoned a masterpiece. In particular it should tx
noted how correctly Moscow is able to appreciate the economic
sdfisbness and the permanent conflicts of interest which prevai
m the ruling circles of the capitalist states. It must be accounte<
a psychological masterpiece on the part of Moscow that i
knew in advance exactly how far it could go in dealing with th<
'public of these countries. Nor did it overestimate tie capacit
of the capitalist world to swallow the most primitive an<
transparent propaganda so long as it appealed to self-interest