222 HUMAN LIFE IN RUSSIA
of 19343 when I was staying in the United States on behalf of the
Vienna Relief Committee, and the New York Times published
a statement by me3 the Soviet Ambassador still considered it
possible not only to deny the assertions about the famine, but
also to suggest that the members of the committee, who, of
course., embrace leading representatives of every religious
denomination., were "notorious political propagandists.55 The
attitude of the official Soviet representatives is typical of the
psychological background of the Soviet propaganda in the
non-Communist countries. Any person criticizing the state of
things in Russia is forthwith represented as being an agent of
the counter-revolutionaries or as the hired servant of the
enemies of the Soviet State. Anyone who dares to write or
speak about matters disagreeable to Moscow must be prepared
for the most venomous attacks on his credibility and his personal
qualities both from Moscow and from Moscow's friends and
helpers abroad. This is perhaps the most essential explanation
of the great and lasting success obtained by the Moscow system
of propaganda.