Quaker Finds USSR Standard High During Trip, Calls Regime Secure

"The Russian people are proud of their regime and those who think Communism will be overthrown are merely wishful thinkers," London Quaker Paul S. Cadbury told a predominantly Cambridge audience in the New Lecture Hall Thursday night.

Cadbury, one of seven London Friends who visited Russia by invitation last August, said English and Russian workers had equal living standards.

He stressed the "national wealth, pride, and general cheerfulness" of the Russians, saying that nowhere did he receive the impression he was in a police state. He pointed out that though his travel requests were all granted, his group did not make requests they thought would be refused.

The group visited Russia in the hope of "enlarging mutual comprehension between Russian and British peoples." They saw churches, factories, and collective farms, spoke with union officials, and editors, and were allowed the unusual privilege of travelling in the Ukraine.

A talk with Ambassador Jacob Malik proved little, Cadbury said, as Malik merely read prepared statements putting the blame for the trouble on the Western powers. Cadbury said little gestures were needed to instill trust, and that "the time is past for speeches."

Cadbury closed by saying the time was ripe for compromise and that the only solution to East-West tension lay in a return to Christianity and a development of mutual understanding.