James O. Henry, M.A., Editor, Chairman of the Department of History, Biola College Elections in Russia
people was an aberration, not an inevitable result of the concentra tion of all power in the hands of a few men or a single man. It is also franks recognition of the fact that the charges of “ Stalinism” directed against some individuals and some actions have influenced thinking about the Soviet Union adversely and must, therefore, be disproved. Of all Stalin’s mistakes the one that caused the most harm was in discriminate repression aga i ns t both foes and friends of the regime. The present leadership’s efforts to denounce those crimes and to di vorce itself from them is evident in the Stalin biography. To justify the use of terror Stalin advanced the erroneous thesis that the class struggle must become more and more intense as the Soviet state progresses under socialism and op position to the system becomes more dangerous. How Snow Flakes Are Formed Samuel Tolansky, an expert on crystals and wave effects at the University of London, says snow flakes vibrate as they grow and literally shake themselves into their characteristic shapes. Snowflakes are hexagonal struc tures built of smaller hexagons in an entirely symmetrical way. No two snow flakes are quite alike and yet the six arms of á single star are almost identical.
The U.S. presidential election in 1956 had three official Russian ob servers. They were sent in response to a State Department invitation in the interest of further East-West contacts. The gist of their report later in Isvestia was: “ The two political parties have seized control of U. S. elections. There is no dif ference in principle between them; both are dupes for powerful eco nomic interests. The reporting of election returns is an ‘elaborate ritual’ aimed large ly at ‘creating the false impression that the voter personally takes part in deciding the destiny of his country.’ ” A recent Russian parliamentary election had three American ob servers. As expected, Moscow said the Communist Party’s candidates for the Supreme Soviet got more than 99.5% of the vote. Following the election the Americans had an interview with Nikita Khrushchev, then the following day they held a news conference and, under sharp questioning by Soviet reporters, made the following comments: “ The Soviet election could not be considered democratic because the Communist Party controlled the choice of all 1,378 unopposed can didates.” They said Khrushchev, in “ good humor,” had told them their understanding of this was “ correct.” These American observ ers went on to say, “.The Supreme Soviet does not govern in any sense of the word because it meets only a few times a year to endorse the policies of others.” Stalin Biography a Moscow Device The official biography of Stalin published recently in the Soviet Union is a major effort by the pre sent Soviet regime to disassociate it self from the mistakes and crimes of the late ruler. It is the latest and most important attempt by Nikita Khrushchev and his colleagues to answer the critics of communism who point to the appalling crimes committed in its name. It tries to prove that Stalin’s use of mass re pression against many innocent
themselves at one point of one arm, they “ break” or dampen the vibra tion at that point. The dampening also affects corresponding points on the other five arms. Physicists are now trying to bombard “ young” ice crystals with ultrasonic waves to see whether they can make some symmetrical snowflakes. Stiff Penalty Cuts Narcotics Traffic Harsher penalties are gradually cutting down narcotics traffic and addiction in the United States, ac cording to the report made to Con gress by H. J. Anslinger, Narcotics Commissioner. California and New York remain the bad spots. According to the report, Ansling er said, “ There was a substantial drop in the number of addicts re ported in 1957.” He credits this to the 1956 Narcotics Control Law. This law provides mandatory jail sentences of five years for the first offense by drug peddlers, 10 years for the second and 20 years for the third offense. No parole is allowed. Anslinger called New York and California “ very weak in legisla tion,” asserting: “ I would say we are very weak in legislation in the two worst places. Illinois has cor rected theirs, Michigan has good laws, but New York and California where you have this big concentra tion of traffic have unsatisfactory legislation.” New York led the nation with the greatest number of addicts re ported during 1957. The number there was 3,205, down from 4,138 in 1956. California was second with 1,119, down from 1,568 in 1956. North Dakota, Idaho and Utah had no reported cases.
Professor Tolansky considers that g r ow i n g i c e crystals vibrate at ultrasonic frequencies and that a complex pattern of maximum and minimum motion is set up at all points of the growing star. When fresh molecules of waters attach
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