YOUTH IN RUSSIA.

Auckland Star, 2 September 1933, Page 2 (Supplement)

YOUTH IN RUSSIA.

It has long been known that human beings will cheerfully tolerate and endure atrociously bad living conditions j provided they are convinced "there is a ,'good time co:::ing," and that it is not j too far away. Their endurance is easier if they have never known conditions better. Here, probably, is to be found tho secret of the apparent stability of the Communist regime in Russia. Ruthless, unscrupulous, and tyrannical as their masters are, the Russian people, or any other, would not permanently give obedience imlese a substantial proportion of them, believing in a goal to be reached, assented to the methods adopted to reach it. There appears little reason to doubt that the moet zealous supporters of Communism arc the Russian youths. It is estimated by Klaus Mehnert, author of "Youth in Soviet Russia" (Allen and Unwin), that there arc to-day in tho Soviet Union nearly one hundred million people under the age of 20, and that of these sixty millions are between the ages of 10 and 30. These know no other regime. If they hear of outside countries it is only in terms of disparagement. Moreover, the most zealous of them, the young men and women who have qualified as members of the Communist party itself, arc encouraged by every inducement that the ruling regime can offer them. As fast as they can be educated, or half-educated, they are rushed into posts of responsibility, and opportunity of promotion is not slow in arriving, it is not to be exported that youth will challenge the

.~'.r:-co, tlic solo source, of its opportunity. It is dear, too, from this book that after an initial period of license, youth in Russia has developed considerable powers of self-discipline. In the autumn of 1029 over 11 per cent of the party members wore expelled. Of these, nearly one quarter were expelled on account of "non-Communistic conduct toward/? women," and debauchery and drunkenness; It is fortunate for them and for the stability of the State that they have developed discipline and a spirit of sacrifice, for the conditions customary in Russia to-day, described in this book, are euch that most people in even backward capitalist countries would not endure them for six months. Ilerr Mehnert has written a useful book 0:1 what is probably the most important aspect of the Russian experiment.

"Passion in Algiers" (Cassell) is true to label, being mostly about passion in Algiers. There are two likeable characters in the book, but the young man around whom the story centres is unscrupulous, lecherous, and impudently fraudulent. Such persons exist, but an unrelieved narrative of their doings is not only unedifying but dull. Tho book has been translated from the German; why, we do not know.