The multiplication of orientation and specialized courses (or parts of courses) on aspects of Soviet history, diplomacy, social policy, economics, government, and culture which seems likely to result from the present war and from the emergence of the U.S.S.R. as a world power of the first magnitude confronts American educators with related problems of some scope.

For the first time, the Western democracies find themselves in momentary friendly partnership with a nation actuated by an alien ideology which, until recently, led it to be critical of, if not aggressively hostile toward, the spirit of their political institutions. With respect to this nation, a marked cleavage of opinion has existed between those who are more or less disposed to accept its ideology as a fairly logical phase of human sociology and politics, and their opponents who, from experience, prejudice, or honest conviction, regard it with varying degrees of aversion as a political and social menace.