THE CRISIS IN RUSSIA
by ARTHUR RANSOME
TO WILLIAM PETERS
OF ABERDEEN
INTRODUCTION
THE characteristic of a revolutionary country is that change
is a quicker process there than elsewhere. As the revolution
recedes into the past the process of change slackens speed.
Russia is no longer the dizzying kaleidoscope that it was in
1917. No longer does it change visibly from week to week
as it changed in 19l8. Already, to get a clear vision of the
direction in which it is changing, it is necessary to visit it at
intervals of six months, and quite useless to tap the political
barometer several times a day as once upon a time one used
to do. . . . But it is still changing very fast. My jourrnal of
"Russia in 1919,"while giving as I believe a fairly accurate
pictureof the state of affairs in February and March of
1919, pictures a very different stage in the development of
the revolution from that which would be found by observers
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