In this capacity, he had to deal with local governments, now in the control of the Communist Party, and his narration of his experiences gives probably one of the first insights into the workings of the Party in local government. Yet the journal also gives an account of the lives of those enemies of the Soviets that did not get out, the bourgeois and aristocratic elements, who were hostile to the new system. Frequently, these citizens, who were educated and had often learned English, came to work for the ARA, and Childs witnessed their sad lives and the suspicion they experienced from the Soviet government."