Our recent articles about how fast business is growing in the Baltic republics have been confirmed by a survey carried out by Estonian academics.

The university tracked the small nation's 135 former top communist officials and discovered that while one third of the one-time party apparatchiks are now successful business people. Another third have retired.

The survey revealed that the Marx-ditching officials adapted quite well to capitalism, and many were able to use their old networks and contacts profitably as Estonia introduced its transition to a market economy.

The same poll found that Estonian business people care little about a person's political background.