THE TESTIMONY OF MONSIEUR HERRIOT 225
officials* but also by the French Ambassador, M. Alfan. One
may fairly ask whether a journey undertaken to obtain the
truth about Russian conditions could reasonably require the
presence of the French representative accredited to the Kremlin.
On August 26 M. Herriot arrived at Odessa in the Soviet
vessel Chicherin after a "delightful journey." He stayed at the
smart, comfortable, ultra-modern Hotel London (these are his
own words), looking straight on to the sea. The hotel and the
view pleased him so much that he found it hard to believe "all
the tragedies that had taken place in this city" (at the time of
the civil war). Now, thank Heaven, all that had been changed;
"for the last ten years the Ukrainian metropolis had been
recovering5* from these tribulations. "A walk down the wide,
well-paved streets of Odessa give one the impression of a
prosperous and orderly city/* Such was M. Herriot's view of
Odessa at a moment when a large part of the population (just
as at Kharkov and Kiev) was suffering the greatest privations or,
indeed, actually dying of hunger. At Odessa a State bakery was
visited, and M. Herriot wrote: "The work is done with Russian
machines, and everything is amazingly simple and dean.9*1
No sooner was the official welcome and inspection over than
M. Herriot and his suite, accompanied by the Odessa repre-
sentative of the Izpolkom and the Gorsoviet, proceeded to visit
the Belyaevka collective farm in order to learn the truth about
Russian agriculture ccby contact with the people.*' Here M.
Herriot was shown all the things praised in his kter articles:
granaries, farmyards and tractor stations were inspected. A
particularly deep impression was produced by the breakfast,
"consisting entirely of the products of the collective farm"—
sprely not a surprising thing on a farm. Having seen the
arrangements and working of the collective farm, M. Hemot
remarks with satisfaction: "Apart from his work in the collec-
tive farm, every worker is entitled to his own hotise^ gardes,
1 From an article published in various papers early in February, I934»
e.g* in tte Vienna Neue Frde $*resse»
p