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quite us impressive as present-day achie. nts.in the naturs sciences. In general the Sovict universities appenr to be one of tht most hopeful forces in Soviet society. By its very nature as ar institution organized to explore the frontiers of knowledge. tht university cannol be wholly regimentedl, for then it would ceas. to function as a university, and the vital sources of our expand ing knowledge about man and the world would begin to dry up The great emphasis that is placed on the natural sciences anc the scientifc method in Soviet education tends to cultivate ir Soviet students and scholars an attitude of mind that is unlikel to prove compatible very long with any dogmatism, including the present dogmatic interpretations of Marxism. It will b interesting to see what the ultimate consequences will be of tht present emphasis on science in Soviet education. One wonder what signifcance there may be even now in the proportions o Communist Party members i. in university faculties. While 34. per cent of all teachers in higher education in 1947 were Part. members, the percentage among full professors was only 25. and among professors in engineering technical felds only 17 During World War II, when Wendell Willkie visited th Soviet Union on his trip around the world, he told Stalin he wa impressed by the schools and libraries he had seen. *But if yo continue to educate the Russian people, Mr. Stalin," he said "the first thing you know you'll educate yourself out of a job." It must be admitted that the Communist Party is a Iong way as yet from having educated its own dictatorship out o existence But in the emphasis it has placed upon education- Party can make it--the Party has set in motion a force that ma. possibly have a significant leavening influence, in the course o time, upon the Communist dictatorship itself.. Thirst for Culture Few things in Russia impressed us so much as the wel nigh inexhaustible thirst of the Russian people for culture. I Leningrad we saw crowds of unsophisticated-looking Russian walking wide-eyed through the galleries of the Hermitage Mu seum, which holds one of the richest art collections in the worl In Moscow, where the Dresden art treasures (taken out of Ge many at the end of World War II) were placed on display fc the three summer months before being returned to Germanj Wendell Wilikie, One World (New York: Pocket Books, Inc., 1943 pp. 70-71. 62