Groats to Land’s End are federated and working together as a single unit. This is what has happened in Russia, and although many of the original co-operators shake their heads and are not certain what the outcome will be, others are confident the co-operative ideal will prevail.
Walking through the streets of villages and towns in Russia, the fact that most shops and stores are shut, gives the appearance of deadness, as if all life had departed. People like myself who all at once find themselves in an environment where there is no noise of what is called trade and commerce, are apt to imagine that nothing is being done. Many people who have come out of Russia have brought stories of the absolute wreck and ruin of every sort of private and national enterprise. No one can deny that very terrible shortage and privation have been and still are being endured by masses of men and women : when however we remember that huge armies have been armed, fed and transported to at least four different battle fronts, that over one hundred million people have been fed, clothed and housed, however imperfectly, it is not only difficult to believe that industry is at a stand-still, it is simply incredible. What has happened in Russia is just this : all the old useless forms of labour are, to a large extent, abolished. There is no advertising, no illicit
