The Soviet radio last week broadcast news of a "general amnesty" for perhaps hundreds of thousands locked inside Russian prisons. It was the third such decree to be proclaimed in the 35 years the Communists have been in power.* Like most decrees from the Kremlin, this was a carefully contrived pudding of prose which would have to be tasted for awhile before it could be judged. It called for immediate release of 1) those serving prison sentences of less than five years for crimes of "no great danger to the state," and 2) all...
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