A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
THOUGH it is a pretty good waste of time arguing with the Russians, who only get indignant if you question their assertion that (for instance) black is white, one point in Pravda's reply to Mr. Morrison calls for comment. Pravda's list Of those elements in the U.S.S.R. whose freedonfit was neces- sary to restrict ended up with " subversive agents, terrorists and assassins . . . the criminals who shot at Lenin, who killed Volodarsky, Uritsky, Kiroy and poisoned Maxim Gorky and Kuibishev.' It is a longish time since anybody shot at Lenin, who died in 1924, and the most recent of the alleged outrages referred to was the murder of Kirov, which took place in 1935. Since then, though very large numbers of important Russian personages have been done away with, political assassination would seem, like most other activities, to have been taken over by the State, and Pravda produces no evidence to show that private enterprise in that field is still a factor to be reckoned with. * * * *
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