RUSSIA: The Rigors of Equality

Britain's sharp-worded, sharp-witted critic George Orwell thus paraphrased the philosophy of the Soviet state: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." Last week Russia, which long ago branded equality as "egalitarian" heresy, took another step toward hierarchy. True to Philosopher Yudin's axiom that to preserve the Red Army means to preserve the state, Generalissimo Stalin issued a whip-cracking new set of army regulations. The statutes ordered Red warriors to "respect seniors in command . . . observe strictly military conduct and the salute."

In a state designed (by optimistic Leninist-Marxist prophecy) to wither away, officers...