Roy Thomson Mr. Roy Thomson, who is as shrewd as
they come, came back from Moscow convinced that his visit heralded a thaw in Anglo-Soviet re- lations. 'They were used to dealing on a cold basis from government to government. . . . think they came to the conclusion that we are not so bad when they see its personally.' Well, yes. Successful businessmen have in fact been return- ing from short trips to Russia saying the same thing for the past thirty years or more. Stalin and company were also adept at making their guests feel that, after a jolly meeting, they realised that capitalists were not such a bad lot after all. No 'Friendship with the USSR' meet- ing in the Thirties was complete without a businessman testifying that, without giving up a jot of his convictions, he was sure that there was ample scope for expanded Anglo-Soviet trade which would reduce unemployment in this coun- try and help to dispel misunderstandings, and that as Russian living standards continued their rapid improvement our two systems would come ever closer. (Polite applause.) They would have been right, without a doubt, if only Stalin had not been a Stalinist. Things are better now, to be sure, but not yet as good as to justify the universal adoption of rose-tinted spectacles.
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