THE TESTIMONY OF MONSIEUR HERRIOT 247
that the workers were treated according to the principles of
social justice, and that agriculture had been technically per-
fected; he had rendered tribute before all the world to Staling
philosophy. On the strength of his local studies and investiga-
tions he had confirmed all the future claims for the Soviet
system made for years past by the Moscow propagandists in
Paris, New York and London. The French statesman's ver-
dict was, of course, published in every paper of Europe and
America, except those directly hostile to the Soviet State.
Thus the second stage had been successfully passed. The
outcome was that in Soviet Russia, France and elsewhere the
press began to discuss the results, conclusions and general
advantages of M. Herriot's visit for world peace in general
and Franco-Russian friendship in particular. The Soviet press
had undergone a complete metamorphosis. Here Radek, the
former enemy of bourgeois France and friend of Rapallo-
Germany, held the field. In Izvestia he praised M. Herriot's
"open-mindedness" and his "wish to extend the circle of his
ideas." "We shall be happy,35 he wrote, "if his meeting with
our statesmen increases sympathies and contributes to solve
the problems touching both countries."
Radek's article was apparently meant for reproduction in
the French press, as also appears from the following passage:
"Herriot was able to satisfy himself that the 160 million
inhabitants of the Soviet Union are full of enthusiasm for the
Socialist edifice and are an invincible citadel of peace. The
public opinion of the Soviet Union greeted Harriot with the
deepest friendliness. The former French Prime Minister has
seen the great creative work of the Soviet Union, our life and
our labour. He has grasped the meaning of our existence. As
a pacifist he has been profoundly moved. In its fight for peace
the Soviet Union reaches out its hand to every man of goodwill,
and above all to those ready to save humanity from the new
tribulations emanating from Imperialism and Fascism.**
These words, of course, were meant for external rather