COLUMBIA
LIBRARY
COLUMNS
 

Windows to the East
 

'HATEVi.R we as individuals or We the American
People may think of the Soviet Union, there is no
denying the popularity of Russian studies on the
Columbia campus. The undergraduate who elects to study Russian
may not be able to an,swer rationally if we ask ^vhy that language
is likely to be more useful to him than, say, Spanish, but still he
doggedly signs up for the course, along with many of his fellow-
students. Our question has, on occasion, been answered with the
words; "Because one day they may be here." ^^'ell, they are here;
several Soviet exchange students attended the Friends' Annual
Meeting on January 19, and, we are told, made their presence felt.
Still, it was doubtless good for them to be exposed to American
expertise as demonstrated by such authorities on Russia as Profes¬
sors Robinson and Mosely.

Our young Soviet friends might get further insights from read¬
ing Professor Dallin's Cohimns article about Russian materials
now available to American scholars. We wonder if they would sense
the moral in the story of Lewis Corey, whose papers have recently
been given to Columbia, and who is also written up in this issue?
Corey was a founder of the American Communist Party who, dis¬
illusioned by Soviet authoritarianism and violence, turned Socialist.

With these articles, the Cohimns is now "in the swing." Our
Russian issue follows others which have appeared sporadically
with a French, Italian and Far F'.astern flavor. We welcome oppor¬
tunities to throw open windows on the world, in this publication
as well as in the University at large, even if strange birds do fly in.
 

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