这里有一段访谈可以很好回答这个问题:+ \* Q" F: o/ f- _$ `+ B3 z
DD: Were the emigrants stupid to go to Russia expecting to be well-treated?
* D. w3 E" D# j2 W1 r$ ETT: No. Looking back on it now, of course we know more about the true nature of Stalinism. But you have to remember that in 1931 the whole of western capitalism seemed to collapsing – and that wasn't the left wing point of view, that was the moderate point of view. 25% of the United States was out of a job, and the stock market had crashed so far that it would take 30 years to come back to 1929 levels. You had people queuing up for bread and living in coke ovens.
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; ^$ U! H$ ?/ t4 i d" l- {3 g1 g" s4 jAnd then if you read in an American newspaper that in Russia they're opening up factories every day, that the workers are going to given great standards and great wages, that you won't be exploited, you'll work shorter hours, you'll free medicine, free schooling for your children… it would have sounded perfect. And at the same time there were respected Western intellectuals like George Bernard Shaw who were appearing on American radio programmes to say "Russia is the future, other countries will soon follow their model." I could see myself in that position saying, "Well, OK, I'll go for a year or two and find out."# |0 j, A: s# E
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The Forgotten American Emigrants to the USSR |