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The "speculators and profiteers" then subject to the firing squad are now to be known as "free traders."

It is illuminating to examine the new decree on co-operatives which is advertised by pro-Soviet propagandists abroad (though not in Russia!) as one of the most solid proofs of Lenin's "abandonment of communism." Here is a good press summary:

''The decree makes all citizens of Russia automatically members of the co-operative system. It prescribes that there can be only one co-operative in each town, village, or factory.'' Freedom of trading for individuals is embodied in the provision permitting members to buy commodities through the co-operatives, paying in money or products, and to exchange among themselves goods received through their co-operatives. To the societies within Russia is granted the right to buy surplus agricultural products or products of national industries and to sell them to their members; to conclude contracts under Soviet law with peasants' and workers' organizations, and to arrange for furnishing agricultural machinery, threshing grain, and storing and delivering products.