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I greeted him in as friendly a manner as I could. He sat down, and he didn't have any interpreter, as I said--and he spoke in English. He said that he wanted to talk with me about this whole situation, and he wanted to tell me clearly just what the Russian Government's relationship was to the labor unions, and why the business of labor representation was a complicated one for them.
Well, that was all right, because he could speak in English. He made no apologies for his sudden switch in language--just began to speak in English, and quite good English. Not perfect--there was an accent, a sort of a thickening accent, you know, but not a bad one. But it was English all right, and perfectly good English--perfectly comprehensible and clear English, and dealing with a rather complicated subject. He spoke English, all right.
He then proceeded to explain to me. Of course I knew in general how Russian trade unions were formed, but he made a complete statement, and of course I acted as though I didn't know, as though he were telling me. That was the proper and right thing to do. It was the Ambassador's duty to tell me, and it's just possible that my notions of how they operated their trade unions might be wrong. He told me what the Russian idea was, that there was a man designated by the Government to be the head of the labor movement. He
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