YOUTH OF RUSSIA TO-DAY By Hebe Spaull
Miss Hebe_Spaull's Youth of Russia To-day (Ivor Nicholson and Watson, 3s. 6d.) is described as being primarily for boys and girls." It is, howevq, a good deal more sensible and informative than many Zntfore pretentious works designed for a wider audience. The writer -does not confine herself strictly to her title. There are elementary, but quite useful, chapters on the geography and history of Russia and on " How Russia is Governed." She is right to emphasize the preponderant role played by the younger generation in 'every branch of Soviet work and administration ; for this is one of the most conspicuous and fundamental differ- ences between contemporary Russia and Western Europe. But her main subject is the education and the pursuits of modern Russian childhood and youth. The reader will learn with interest that doles are frowned on, but mechanical toys encouraged, and that, while fairy tales are barred, Robinson Crusoe, Oliver Twist and Uncle Tom's Cabin retain their place as children's classics. There is, perhaps inevitably in such a book, a-certain glossing over of the more controver- sial aspects of Soviet theory and practice—especially in the chapter on " Young Russia and Religion."
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