THE NEW RUSSIA.

Evening Star, Issue 22325, 29 April 1936, Page 8

THE NEW RUSSIA.

It has been truly declared that part of the excitement of living in Soviet Russia arises from the fluidity of its social and political forms. No Soviet institution appears to be permanent. The Communist Party is still the ruling authority, but the recurring departures from, its original system indicate an ever-changing attitude towards various aspects of the national life and customs. Due perhaps to the fear of possible menace from Japan and Germany and the consequent realisation of a necessity to pay primary attention to defence, the Soviet Union seems to have abandoned for the time being the idea of promoting a world revolution, though recent events in Spain have shown that the seeds of Bolshevik propaganda are not altogether sterile. However, the fact of the Union having become a member of the League of Nations offers hope of a better understanding with nations working for peace, and from the social viewpoint there are manifestations that the rigorous tyranny of the old dictatorship is being tempered by reforms which may have been suggested by insistent public opinion. The country as a whole is more prosperous. Food rationing has been done away with. Industrially a new patriotism has sprung up, and in the political sphere provision has been made to observe a policy of free elections in the future, with a secret ballot and equal rights for all parties. In this latter connection, however, it is probable that the existing regime is confident that the outcome will be very much in its favour. A particularly welcome sign of coming freedom has been the relaxing of religious persecution to the extent of permitting the few churches left open to be crowded for the Easter eve services. There is always hope for Russia when its condemnation of Christianity is not complete. The new spirit is also making its influence felt in social legislation. According to a cable published to-day the chairman of the Government Commission which is at present drafting new marriage and divorce Jaws has stated that Russia is to take immediate steps to increase the birth rate and that no longer will it be permissible for either party in wedlock to terminate a marriage at will. Drastic reform of the Soviet laws regulating marriage and divorce was recently initiated by decrees establishing the family as the pivotal social unit and enforcing parental responsibility for the care of children.

Thus the Communist doctrine of condemning parental authority as a bourgeois notion goes by the board. But the decrees go further than this. Unless the children are given proper care they will he taken into State institutions and supported at the expense of the parents; in the case of flagrant neglect the parents are liable to imprisonment. Bound up with this method of safeguarding the children are the amendments to the divorce Jaw. An attempt js being made to hold families together. A marriage can no longer be dissolved through one party declaring before an authorised official a desire for freedom. The era of easy divorces has been brought to a close, for divorces will now be granted only for substantial reasons similar to those called for in bourgeois countries. On no account will parents secure a divorce unless they convince the State that they can provide for their children in a satisfactory manner. These and other signs that the Soviet Union is acquiring a freshly-born respect for conventions that benefit the majority give rise to a reasonable expectation that a pronounced swing to national sanity is at hand.