It is to be regretted that space does prevent publication in full of the dithyrhambics in which the Tass News Agency indulges over the elections which are. being held in Russia, But it is all very amusing and suggestive of the naivete of the government and the people who find anything of significance in elections in which there are no opposing candidates, and nothing in the nature of an attempt to discover the will of the people. In most cases the reports claim that practically one hundred per cent. of the electorate fulfil their duty, the few not attending being probably unable to do so because of sickness, for who would dare to be absent under the watchful eyes of the officials? Be that as it may the following from a Tass message is not without interest:—
During the past night, Moscow had almost no sleep. A festive animation reigned in the streets till dawn. Loudspeakers reported on the progress of voting in the Far East and Siberia. At daybreak the first electors have already appeared in many electoral wards, Their number grew and long before the beginning of polling, music, songs and hearty laughter resounded everywhere.
At 6 am. sharp, the chairman of the ward election commissions invited the electors into the polling stations carefully equipped and lovingly adorned with flowers and carpets.
Electors arrive in wards, in families and groups. Inhabitants of large houses form whole columns with banners, music and songs. Elderly people and invalids are brought in smartly adorned cars.
A particularly festive mood prevails in the areas Where Stalin and Molotov stand for election. Here, the electors, stirred by the honour which fell to their lot, began to gather earlier than anywhere else. Here not infrequently, an elector leaving the polling station, addresses the surrounding people with ardent words of joy and pride.
The reports from the towns and villages and from cossack villages of three Union Republics describe the tremendous enthusiasm sweeping the country on this day of jubilation for the entire people—(Tass).
Another message states "the night was only descending on the capital and on the brightly illuminated squares, and streets brimmed over with merriment when the doors of the electoral wards were thrown open." Of course there was merriment, even a Red Russian sees the joke of an election in which there is no choice between candidates.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.