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bd bj i -t nn ae ler A amy, ~ | conerpin rar ‘ ty? SJOHRY ERES? STEINBECE "Fact ts ene te soy of 6 writer te whom the dietinactive choracteristice ef Anertean capitaliaet society te that it provides @ government ef "checks and balances’? Or of the natvete which hoe it that ‘our government is desioned to keep anyone fron getting teo much power er, having got tt, from keeptng tt'? dad, we ooreed,' Etetnbeck writes solennly, ‘that this makes our country function nore slowly, but that {t certciniy makes tt function more surely.se’ "One could go en quoting Stetabeck, but what fer? A Russian Journal ta much more enlightening about the kiad ef culture which develops auch trtellectua] Sad Sackery than about the Soviet Untonece The “Kew Lecder,” o weekly mogastne, on August 21, 2945, contatned an article captioned "Stetrbeck Sana Frath, whitch wos a book review of "A Ruastan Journals’ which wes oritten by £teinbeck and contcined pictures by Robert Capa. The article reflected that "Vr. Steinbeck has jotned the fraternity of vodka visttore. For three weeks he toured the Soviet Unton under the _ | @ubtle guidance ef FOXS, the qovernnent agency for ‘eultursl Vateon, ‘ooe™ The article reflected he had attended the "celebration of the 800th enniversary of Moscow with Louta Arovon, the French Stalinist writer” and had visited the country hove of “auch Soviet nilltonaires as Alerander Kornetchuk =< and concludes that the Russians have plenty to eats he even states ' Chat the quality ef Russian clothing tmproved during the few weeks he epent tn Russtasee” The article further reflected “nost startling, perhaps, ta Steinbeck's own attttude towcrd the Soviet Union. His book fe full of whet Koestler would call falee equations. Fhen Cope ts sto-ped from taking ptetures at a lend-leased tractor plant tn Stalingrad, Stetnbeck rentnds us thet foreigners may not photograph Oak Ridge either. In hia mind ‘Woscowitts’ and ‘Fashinotonttte’ eancel each other out. When he adntts that the collective farm he was shown put on a big show for him, he tnsists triat ‘any Xaneas forner' would do the scme for hte guest#ece "Steinbeck used to be known ce o mon with a etrong soctal conscience. The Uranes of Frath'and Tortilla Flat'were full of righteous norci indignation about social and econonic tnjustice. In'The Moon ts Down'Stetnbeck made a heated if eomewhat pedestrian