Friday, 4 February

Heavy snow, sun

The American newspapers are negative towards the change in the Soviet diplomatic system and Izvestia’s criticism of the Pope. Some of them even suspect that the Soviet Union will conduct unilateral peace talks with Germany. The future of the Allies is deeply worrying.

The oil painting of Sun Yatsen was brought to me. Though it is not as good as those of the Generalissimo, given that it was drawn by a foreigner and there was no good picture (for him to follow), it is actually quite good. The painter is very famous here, and only requested for 5,000 rubles for the expense of oil and other materials.

Wrote to Zhongxiong, asking him to study harder.

Yesterday the Czechoslovakian President Benes gave a broadcast. He praised the progress made by the Soviet Union, and urged Poland to join the Soviet Union to fight against Germany. Benes is the brightest among the European small states’ leaders. Unluckily both the British and American conservatives view him as Leftist. British magazines like 1915 Century & After, in one of its articles in December last year, even pointed out that it was Benes who was manipulated by the Soviet Union. It is very unfortunate.

Today, the Soviet Union announced that its Ministry of Education has a new regulation. Students under 16, during school days, cannot enter a theatre or cinema unless they receive approval from the school. If they want to watch movies or plays that are suitable to their education, they also have to get approval from seniors in schools, and should be led by teachers or youth guards after schooling. Recently the Soviet Union has paid great attention to various social and family concepts, especially to old morals, and is much more eager than Britain and the United States. It is the opposite to the early revolutionary methods. It is similar to when something comes to an extreme things have to change.

I talked to Attaché Hu with regard to her university course work. It is always difficult that she must use her spare time to study at university, and her course work is the same as regular students. She is now in her second year of the Masters class, and can submit her thesis next year. If this is successful, she is possibly the first Chinese to gain a Masters from Moscow University following the Soviet Revolution. We should praise her for her aspiration.