. THE TESTIMONY OF MONSIEUR HERRIOT 245
world. The French journalists who accompanied M. Herriot
and took part in the proceedings rendered valuable auxiliary
service, some intentionally, others unintentionally. Meanwhile
the Moscow papers had an opportunity of receiving telegraphic
accounts from their Paris correspondents quoting the reports
in the Temps, the Petit Parisien and the rest.
The second stage was reached with the arrival at Moscow.
The problem now was to obtain not brief declarations on
various aspects of Soviet life but a general judgment on the
position, achievements, political aims and philosophic founda-
tions of the Soviet Union. Accordingly a press reception was
arranged, at which the well-primed journalists approached
M. Herriot with leading questions. The plan was completely
successful, and thanks to the interesting impressions obtained
at Moscow, M. Herriot was ready to offer such sweeping
opinions that the Soviet press was in a position on the same
day to publish his final verdict, which was forthwith despatched
to France and throughout the rest of the bourgeois world.
How favourable the verdict was appears from the following
extracts. Asked by a representative of the Sodalisticheskoe
Zemkdelie to offer his opinion on the question of collectivization
and of agricultural mechanization, M. Herriot replied that he
could bear witness to the vast technical progress made by
Russian agriculture. (He also had to admit, however, that he
had visited only one Soviet farm and two collective farms.)
He was next asked by a foreign journalist whether the Russian
standard of living had improved or deteriorated since his first
visit in 1922 (a question expressly referring not to the standard
of living of privileged circles but to that of the entire population)
and unhesitatingly replied that the standard of living of the
Soviet population had improved out of all knowledge since
1922 (Izvestia, September 5, 1933). Only when asked how
the Russian standard of living compared with that in other
countries did he evade the question by remarking that com-
parisons with the standard of living in states having a different