248 HUMAN LIFE IN RUSSIA
than for internal consumption, and more especially for France,
and Radek had the satisfaction of finding them reported in
detail next day in the Temps and other Paris papers, where they
were quoted with appreciative comment. Thus the final
French echo of M. Herriot's journey looked like being a
triumph for Moscow, and on September n, 1933, the Paris
correspondent of Izvestia could report: "Almost the entire
Paris press—excluding the professionally anti-Soviet organs
[which include the Socialist Populaire]—contained favourable
comment on M. Herriot's journey into the land of the Soviets."
As an illustration the commentary of the Petit Parisian was
quoted: "The journey is drawing to its close. It has led to a
considerable and advantageous rapprochement between France
and Russia. It is satisfactory to think that a brilliant repre-
sentative of our culture, a statesman whose capacity for enlisting
popular sympathy by simplicity and kindliness is universally
known^ went to Moscow as the spokesman of France.1 M.
Herriot's journey amounted to a kind of 'French week' which
may perhaps shortly be continued/'
Here there is a reference to the impending official visit to
Moscow of the French Air Minister, M. Cot, and the far-
reaching political consequences in the form of Franco-Russian
co-operation which M. Herriot's visit initiated. It was precisely
this political element which was of the greatest importance to
many French papers; this perhaps explains why the Temps, for
example, abandoned its former objective criticisms of Soviet
Russian affairs and began to observe silence on inconvenient
matters like the famine.
Politicians who visit a country as guests of honour, or more
modestly as students, do not as a rule content themselves with
brief statements or lengthy interviews at the various stages of
their journey; they have the further ambition of achieving a
reputation after their return home as experts on the country
1 The view that M. Herriot went to Russia to enlist Soviet sympathies
is, curiously enough* expressed by many French papers.