Imperial Valley Press

SOVIET RUSSIA REVEALS ITS SEAMY SIDE

Utopian dreams of Soviet Russian leaders-if there are any such dreams-have not yet brought the Bear That Walks Like A Man to any semblance of the American stature. Those who would turn the United States into another Soviet Union-and Imperial Valley has had dealings with their kind-might profit by consideration of the latest news out of the USSR. The Russian Commissariat of Internal Affairs has revealed, or claims to have revealed, a terrorist plot to assassinate present Soviet leaders and overthrow the present Russian government by a reign of terror. Imagine, if you can, such a wholesale plot taking root and growing to dangerous proportions in the United States! It is possible, true, but not at all probable. Not the least outstanding comparison may be found in the secret trial which will be given the alleged Soviet conspirators. Those who have followed accounts of former Russian trials, even those supposedly public, have come to believe them mere formalities when they deal with political subjects. In the United States, even an alleged conspirator against the life of the President and the government itself would be entitled to a wide open trial-and to the benefits of every one of the many legal dodges at hand. His guilt would have to be proven, actually and in public. In Russia, the people know only what the government wishes them to know. Their newspapers are controlled by the government, their radio stations cannot send anything but censored political propaganda. The people of the United States know more of what is transpiring in Russia than do the people of Russia. Except as a study in politics and economics, Russia should not interest the United States unduly. When subversive influences attempt to turn the United States into another Soviet union, that is a different thing. It should be nothing but a step backward into feudal times.