13 AUGUST 1921, Page 2

The latest news from Moscow tells us of the political

reactions which the famine has already brought with it. The official Bolshevik Press has entirely changed its attitude. At first, hoping for quantities of food which would be given to the Government to distribute to the peasants as the Government thought fit, it spread the most serious reports of the famine possible. But now that it is apparent that Europe and America, with all the will in the world, have little to give, and will not give anything except through their own agents who can see that the relief really reaches those for whom it is intended, the Bolshevik Press declares that the reports of the famine are " grossly exaggerated," and that the Government can deal with the situation by itself.