Prof. Rhodes in Stalingrad

"How is it possible for us to want anything but peace," said a young Russian who had fought in the battles not far from Stalingrad, as we gazed together at the bare open spaces and the blasted remains of what had once been workers' flats. "We have so much to do," he added, "we want to continue to build the happy life which the war interrupted. We are restoring our broken towns rapidly. But we want to better our conditions of living," And on every side we have evidence that what he said was true.

Thus writes Winston Rhodes, Associate Professor in English at Canterbury College, from the ruined city of Stalingrad where he has been staying during the past few weeks. "They want peace," he writes., "and to them, as it should be to us, Stalingrad is a symbol of the destructive-ness of war, as well as a symbol of the reconstruction the whole world wants . . . . .

"After I had discussed university matters with the Philological Faculty of Moscow University, the first question asked me by the vice-rector was, 'Is there a strong peace movement in New Zealand?' As we were leaving the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, the deputy director said to me, 'Will you take this message from us to the people of New Zealand? Let us work together to strengthen the bonds of peace and of friendship between our two countries."

His letter, which is full of detailed information about life in 1950 on the other side of the ferrous curtain is printed in full in the latest issue of Society for Closer Relations with U.S.S.R. paper "Soviet Life."