Nothing, in Soviet doctrine, is much more reactionary than Christmas, combining as it does "bourgeois" religion with capitalist commercialism. But the New Year is something else again. For years, the Communists have emphasized this ideologically safer holiday while downgrading or disguising Christmas (which in the Russian calendar falls on Jan. 7). With beaming approval from the Krernlin, Moscow last week was feverishly preparing for the biggest, brassiest and most bountiful New Year's blowout in Communist history.
On sale throughout Moscow were 325,000 freshly cut Siberian fir yolki (formerly Christmas but now New Year's trees), plus another 100,000 artificial trees and 200...
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