6 APRIL 1944, Page 14

THE ROAD TO SERFDOM

SIR,—The statement by the reviewer of Professor Hayek's The Road to Serfdom that Tolstoy " could attack with complete impunity the Tsar and the Holy Synod and persistently preach disobedience against the fundamental laws of the State " is quite untrue. By a decree of the Holy Synod dated February 22nd, 1901, Tolstoy was excommunicated. The great bulk of his books were forbidden publication by the censor or mutilated beyond recognition. In consequence Tolstoy was practically unknown in Russia when he was a world-famous writer. There was neither freedom nor tolerance (as understood in this country) in Russia