called "children's homes" or "boarding schools." The children are not quite so wretchedly fed in these institutions as when with their families (though the reports above quoted show they are often starving even in the Soviet "homes")—a fact which naturally makes fond parents surrender them—"voluntarily" according to the Bolshevists and their cold-blooded "liberal" supporters. But besides this "the theory of the Communist Party that every soul must give a labor contribution to the community carries with it the implication that the individual must be freed from the economic burden of the family. Both men and women are paid on the basis of the individual wage." (British Labor Delegation report.)
So with other "reforms." All vital and national improvements are costly. Therefore none have been made, and all changes are either of secondary importance—such as new "movies"—or on an utterly insignificant scale for a country of the first magnitude. All claims to the contrary are among the clearest proofs of the bold and unscrupulous character of the Bolshevist propaganda.
The Bolshevist leader himself does not make any claim of construction worth boasting about. He is proud of his work of destruction and has said so again and again. All pre-existing civilization is to be destroyed. As for the rest he is proud of his resistance to those who would destroy him. Reconstruction can and must wait. He is very patient, as to construction, as long as he believes the fighting is going his way:
