When the Finns sent old Juho Kusti Paasikivi to Stockholm to ask the price of peace, a little old lady of 71, skilled in muting the harsh truths of power politics, gave him the Russian terms.*
Urbane, luxury-loving Alexandra Mihailovna Kollontay (rhymes with O-lone-tie) had known Paasikivi for years, knew the views and fears of Finns as well as Paasikivi understood the fears and foibles of Russians. Mme. Kollontay's father was a Czarist general, her mother a farming Finn; her childhood summers were spent among the birch-crowded lakes of southeastern Finland. Her first book...