30 SEPTEMBER 1966, Page 14

SIR,—Messrs Wood and Henry argue in your last issue that

your contributor, Mr Szamuely, has mis- interpreted the new Soviet novel on a Soviet farmer's tribulations under the kolkhoz system. They point out that the action of the novel takes place in the first post-Stalin years and then say: 'Certainly, all is not well on the collective farm, but 1953 is better than 1946, and 1966 is certainly better than 1953.'

I do not share their optimism, but can cap it by a true story. The famous Russian actress Mrs Yab- lochkina, now dead, said to a Russian-speaking visitor from abroad a couple of years ago: 'My dear, things are ever so much better now thanks to the party and the government: they are nearly as good as before the Revolution.'

VICTOR S. FRANK

26 Hillgate Place, London, W8