More Russian Executions It might have been hoped that M.
Stalin's success in the Russian elections would moderate the purge that has now been in progress for several months, and that what is claimed as the greatest and free-est democracy in the world would be spared further executions. Such hopes have already been disappointed. Indeed, the list of candidates was itself purged immediately before the elections, and this week the triumph of democracy has been celebrated by the execution, for espionage and treason, of eight Soviet officials. They included Yenukidze, once secretary to the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Parliament, and Karakhan, late Ambassador to Turkey and the Soviet's first ambassador to China. Politicians are not alone in falling into disgrace. Last week, the famous revolutionary producer, Meyerhold, was bitterly attacked in Pravda, and it is significant that in the U.S.S.R. an artist cannot fall into disfavour without facing accusations of political treachery and treason. The Soviets' development continues on its contradictory course ; on the one hand a formal " progress towards democracy " and, on the other, the sudden execution of political opponents and the increasing power of the bureaucracy and the police. In the celebrations of the elections the man who, next to Stalin, received the greatest acclamation and applause was Yezhoff, the new Commissar for Internal Affairs and head of the G.P.U.
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