HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PROGRAMS BROADCAST DURING THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF OPERATION

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06760840
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: October 23, 2023
• Document Release Date: August 28, 2023
• Case Number: F-2022-01319
• Publication Date: August 31, 1953

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THE AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR LIBERATION FROM BOLSHEVISM
Presents
RADIO LIBERATION
Hi,Jhlights from the Programs Broadcast
During the First Six Months of Operation
March 1 to August 31
1953
���������
The Sert Root, The;Waldorf-Astopia2
New York City
Se-Aember 12 1953
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NOTE
For the guidance of our guests, we have indicated
in the English text the male and female voices as well
as the musical portions of our program.
You may more readily follow the talks if you listen
for the proper names, which occur frequently. The approxi.
mate English rendition of RADIO LIBERATION is Rlh -dee -oh
Stn-tsi-ya Oss -vo.bozh -dien -ee -ye.
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NARRATOR:
(Male Voice)
NARRATOR:
(Male Voice)
NARRATOR:
(Male Voice)
NARRATOR:
NARRATOR:
(Male Voice)
NARRATOR:
(Male Voice)
NARRATOR:
(Male Voice)
NARRATOR:
(Male Voice)
NARRATOR:
(Female Voice)
RADIO
LIBERATION:
(Male Voice)
This is RADIO LIBERATION.
Listen to a special program in commemoration of six months
of RADIO LIBERATION. At present, RADIO LIBERATION speaks
to the peoples of the Soviet Union in six languages. Here
is the way our station begins its broadcasts in each of
these languages:
To the people of Azerbaijan:
/Station announcement of the Azerbaijan broadcasts in the
Azerbaijan language./
To the people of Armenia:
/Station announcement of the Armenian broadcasts in the
Armenian language./
To the people of Georgia:
(Music)
/Station announcement of the Georgian broadcasts in the
Georgian language./
To the peoples of the North Caucasus:
/Station announcement of the North Caucasus broadcasts/
To the peoples of Central Asia:
/Station announcement of Turkestan broadcasts in a
Turkic language./
And finally, to the Russian people:
/Station announcement of the Russian broadcasts/
We now broadcast excerpts from typical broadcasts of
RADIO LIBERATION in the Russian language.
RADIO LIBERATION went on the air on a Sunday morning, March
first, 1953. In a message addressed directly to our
listeners, we said:
What are we fighting for?
We offer in opposition to dictatorship the principle of
rule by the. people. We are against the re-institution
of absolutism. We are also against the replacement of the
Communist dictatorship with any other kind of dictatorship.
We recognize that all peoples who inhabit the territory of
the present Soviet Union must have the right freely to de-
termine their own destiny on the basis of democratic ex-
pression of their own will. We hold that the collective-
farm system must be abolished and that peasants must have
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the right to decide for themseittes the question of owner-
ship and utilization of' the land4 We stand for freedom
of conscience and religious teaching;
The exploitation of man by man is an enormous evil.
No lesser evil is the exploitation of man by party or
state. Both forms of exploitation must be wiped out.
The.state must serve to implement the free development
of the human personality and to raise the material and
cultural standard of living of its peoples.
Normal life in our country is out of the question
as long as the system of terror remains in force, as long
as concentration camps and all forms of slave labor have
not been liquidated, as long as our motherland does not
have the blessings of a democratic regime.
The mission of our radio station is to expose the lies
of Soviet propaganda, to speak the truth which is not
heard in the Soviet Union.
The mission of our radio station is to give form to the
will of our peoples, and to direct it toward the overthrow
of the Comaunist dictatorship.
NARRATOR:
(Femafeltoice)
RADIO
LIBERATION:
(Male Voice)
NARRATOR:
(Male Voice)
RADIO
LIBERATION:
(Male Voice)
In the very same hours that RADIO LIBERATION was broad-
casting its first program, Stalin suffered a stroke from
which he never recovered. Four days later came news of his
death. Here is what our radio station had to say on the
subject:
Stalin is np more, but the Communist party dictator-
ship remains. The struggle against the anti-popular
dictatorship must be continued and extended.
While Moscow Radio was eulogizing the dead dictator,
RADIO LIBERATION offered to Russians who had lived and
suffered under Stalin the opportunity to speak out over
our microphone. Some of these persons spoke with bitter-
ness and hatred; others reacted to the death of Stalin
with a sneer.
Dear Soviet citizens, fellow-countrymen and comrades-
in.arms. This is Ivan Ivanovich Oktyabrev, former tractor
and tank driver. Great historical events are taking place
before our eyes, in connection with the "brilliant" sick-
ness and death of the former father of the peoples.
By his historic death; Comrade Stalin has set an
example for the leaders of all Communist countries. The
best disciples of Stalin are already following his example.
The Czechoslovak generalissimo, Comrade Gottwald, purposely
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caught cold while standing on the tribune of the
Lenin-Stalin mausoleum; and, without waiting for
Comrade Beria's warrant for his arrest; died ahead
of schedule, thereby setting an example of loyalty
to the doctrines of Stalin and Of Comrade Mark:
Back on the eve of Comrade Stalin's death, wise
Comrade Malenkov, our incipient teacher- and friend,
realized that Comrade Lenin would feel too crowded in
one mausoleum with the Generalissimo, but at that time,
he did not wish, as a matter of principle, to meddle
with the affairs of the housing co-operative.
Comrade Malenkov has proved he knows how to keep his
word. Immediately after Stalin's house-warming party he
ordered a new mausoleum to be built, the best and biggest
in the world, which could give space for all the wise
leaders, teachers, and disciples of Karl Marx, even for
Friedrich Engels.
1M11? Do you agree, dear citizens? Then it's all
right. It will be done. And I, for my part, have a new
slogan to propose for the project: Better graves for
better leaderst
NARRATOR:
(Male Voice)
If Soviet workers did not immediately take the advice
of Comrade Oktyabrev, at least the new would-be dictators
were shortly having their troubles with the peoples' wrath.
On June 17th, in eastern Berlin,. began the workers' demon-
strations which have been hailed as the beginning of the
end of world Communism.
As-Soviet troops were called into the streets to quell
the workers' uprising, RADIO LIBERATION went on the air with
fresh news around the clock. Listen to excerpts from our
newscasts of June 17th.
RADIO The workers' demonstrations, which began yesterday
LIBERATION in the East Sector of Berlin have developed into a popu-
(Rarrnre) lar uprising against the Communist government.
Thousands of workers gathered today on Stalinallee
and marched to the government buildings on Leipziger
Strasse.
The workers carried banners demanding:
"Down with the Stakhanovite speed-up"
"Higher wages, lower prices"
"Free and Secret Elections"
"The Communist Government Must Resign"
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(Female Voice) Soviet tanks and troops have been rushed into East
Berlin to protect the Communist government from the
workers' wrath. Sbviet tanks are now guarding the
main government buildings and homes of leading German
Communists.
(Male Voice
' About noon. Soviet tanks appeared in Marx-
Engelsplatz, and advanced against the worker-demonstra-
tors to disperse them.
Firing broke out in several parts of the city.
Both German police and Soviet soldiers hive fired on
the -demonstrators. Scores of wounded have been
�
carried across the sector boundary into West Berlin.
(Female Voice) We have just received news that martial law has
been declared in East Berlin.
(Male Voice)
However, the demonstrators are continuing to press
toward the center of the city. Repitarts are beginning
to come in that similar uprisings are taking place in
other parts of the Soviet zone.
(Female Voice) We have brought you the news of the day.
NARRATOR RADIO LIBERATION immediately appealed to the Soviet
(Male-Voice) troops not to turn their arms against the people. That
day, RADIO LIBERATION had this to say to the Soviet
occupation forces:
RADIO Comrade Soldiers, Noncoms and Officers of the Soviet
LIBERATION Armyt Before your very eyes in Berlin, the German workers
(Male Voice) �are fighting against oppression at the hands of the Kremlin
Chekists. The Berlin demonstrators protest against the
government which, under Kremlin direction, has established
in their country -- as in ours -- a regime of concentration
camps. You, Soviet soldiers, were not sent to Germany to
act as policemen. When you are ordered to fire at the
demonstrators, remember that these people are not the
enemies of our country. These people are fighting for
their freedom. The German workers have risen against a
half-starved existence, against exhausting labor in the
plants and factories, against the collective farms. They
want to throw off the yoke of the Kremlin hirelings--the
same yoke from which our fathers, brothers, mothers and
sisters want to be freed. The liberation of the German
workers is the beginning of our liberationt
NARRATOR: Events in the Soviet Union continued to unfold with
(Male Voice) lightning speed. At 3 A.M. on July 9th, RADIO LIBERATION'S
monitoring station received the word that Beria had been
liquidated. RADIO LIBERATION was quick to exploit this
new evidence of struggle within the Kremlin. One of our
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e 5 e
RADIO
ITERATION
/Male Voice)
(Actual voice
of Beria at
Stalin's
funeral)
NARRATOR
/Male Voice)
RADIO
In-RATION
TRTMIZe)
broadcasts at this time, used the voice of Berie
himself, recorded from his oration at Stalin's Suneral.
Beria is silent today. The peoples of the soviet
Union will hear his voice no more, yet we an talk with
him today. Let our listeners, the peoples of the Soviet
Union decide for themselves, on the basis of Berials own
words, whether he differed in any way from the bosses
who are still at large.
Tell us, Beria, which decision made by the Soviet
government after Stalin's death do you consider the
most important?
One of these important decisions is the appointment,
to the post of Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers,
of the talented pupil of Lenin and loyal Comrade.inimArms
of Stalin, of Georgi Maximilienovich Malenkov.
� Beria's enthusiasm was premature:. He bet 08 the
wrong horse.
During recent months RADIO LIBERATION 'flog pointed
out that our country is ruled by Chekists. We'esserted
that the so-called collective leaaRriris a government.
of Kremlin Chekists..We said that the army must not be
left in the hands of the Chekists Bulganin, Beria and
Malenkov. In one of our recent broadeasts WE explained
why we called them Chekists. We reminded you that Beria
was a Chekist all hi-S life, that Malenkov was e close
collaVEREOF-of Yezhov, that Bulganin began his career
by four years of work in the Cheka: that Kaganyvieh
together with Chekists carried purges in the Ukraine
and in Moscowl-in the party and in trade.uniTs. After
Stalin's death, we compared them with wolves in sheept.6
clothing. But the wolves did not keep up this masque.
rade for long. They began to show their fangs. They
showed them in East Germany,. forcing the Soviet troops
to fire at German workers. And now they are showing
their Chekist teeth at home, in their first family
quarreIF7-Mme Chekists have begun to kill OthPra.
The Beria case is as like any ncase"-dnring the purges"
of 1936-38 as two drops of water. We see exaetly the
same Ohekist methods. The same charges. Just as then)
so ta5F-Irauddenly transpires that yesterdara_eznrade.
in-arms was a villain, a hypocrite-And a traitor all his
life, In reality, Beria-was always a Chekist. But the
other collective leadfors, who have-not-FrEgen arrested,
were also.and still are--Chekists. They are liquidating
Beria by the same methods with which-Beria..himself
liquidated raxurtaeas_numbers -of -people. Ma3RE1cou2gabirkr-
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Kaganovich and company were and continue to be
Chekists. Our duty is to rid our country of the
government of Chekists.
NARRATOR
(Na17Vace)
This is RADIO LIBERATION.
MUSIC / /Soviet Song "I Know of No ther Country where a
Man Breathes so Freely".
NARRATOR The words of this song should be the truth. However,
(Male Voice) through the guilt of the Kremlin dictators, they ring
out as lies. Broad is my native land, but can a human
being really breathe freely there? Of course not.
MUSIC "I Know of No Other Country where a Man Breathes
so Freely."
FIRST We, sons and daughters of our people, know of no
MALE VOICE other country...
SECOND ...where millions of plain people, factory and farm
MALE VOICE workers, languish--by order of the government of Chekists
and party bureaucrats--in prisons and concentration camps.
FIRST ...where even the leaders of the Bolshevik Party...-
FEMALE VOICE Bukharin, Rykov, Bubnov, Kamenev, Zinoviev-- and the
leading generals of our country Tukhachevsky, Bluecher,
Yakir, Kork, Uborevich--are shot as enemies of the people.
THIRD ... where the Chekists destroy each other, as Yezhov
MALE VOICE destroyed Yagoda, Beria destroyed Yezhav and, finally,
Malenkov destroyed Beria.
FIRST SOO where the criminal Chekist Malenkov, the actual
FEMALE VOICE organizer of the Yezhov purges, accuses the Chekist
Beria of criminal actions.
SECOND ...where the Party bureaucrats and Chekists struggle
MALE VOICE for power, while the ppople live in poverty, under the
yoke of collective serfdom and Stakhanovism, without
knowing what tomorrow will bring.
MUSIC Soviet song (repeated)
NARRATOR "I Know of No Other Country where a Man Breathes
(EITTEice) so Freely".
RADIO LIBERATION broadcasts a message--from Bishop
John Shakhovskoy to the soldiers and officers of the
Soviet Army.
MALE VOICE My friends: In school and at political classes you
have heard the phrase: "Being determines consciousness."
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You also find it in the Short _Course on the history of
the Party and in other Soviet teXtbooks. But what does
it mean? Being has many planes, just as consciousness
has many planes. Contemporary science says that man has
a "sub-conscious" where the greater part of the human
personality is concealed. But, then, there is a "super-
consciousness" too. Isn't this why there exist in the
world such universal spiritual categories as "heroism",
"truth", "honesty", and "self-sacrifice"? You, the
soldiers and officers of the Soviet Army, often hear
these words. The political instructors tell you about
heroism, about duty, about self-sacrifice. But when you
think about these words, you will see that no dialectical
materialism, no economic theory can explain these con-
cepts. The same is true of such concepts of "lie",
"treason", "crime", "venality", "exploitation". All
these are moral, spiritual, religious concepts. He who
reduces life merely to the material, economic process,
simply does not understand life, does not understand man.
Declaring himself a "materialist" who denies the power
of the spiritual world, such a man only buries his head
in sand. He merely insults himself and other people.
But there is no place where a man can hide from judgment,
whatever this judgment may be called--the judgment of
morality, the judgment of God, or the judgment of human
consciousness.
NARRATOR
(Male V3ice)
FEMALE VOICE
MALE VOICE
Listen now to an excerpt from the regular series
Letters to the Homeland.
We continue our series Letters to the Homeland.
Today we broadcast a letter from the former chairman
of the Writers' Union in Moscow--Boris Konstantinovich
Zaitsev. Zaitsev's books Quiet Dawns, Dreams, The Lanin
Estate Earthly Sadness, Blue Stars, are known to readers
in our country. In 1922 Boris Zaitsev was compelled to
go abroad. His best books, Gleb's Journey, Anna, Golden
Design, The Life of Turgenev remain unknown to readers of
our country. At present Zaitsev is writing a book about
Chekhov. Zaitsev is Chairman of the ?aris Union of
Aussian Writers and Journalists. On Radio Liberation's
request, Boris Konstantinovich Zaitsev has written a
Letter to the Homeland. In this letter he addresses him-
self to the writers of our country.
left Moscow, where I had spent my entire youth, in
June 1922. I was allowed to go abroad for my health,
having had typhus. But actually I did not leave because
I had been sick, but because it had become impossible for
me to write and to be published in Russia. And now I have
been living in Paris 30 years, like my other fellow-
writers. It would be incorrect to say that an emigre's
life is easy. However, during these 30 years I never
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regretted going away. It was necessary and quite
inevitable for a free writer. In-my dreams I still
see, to this day, our little house in the 'Tula province.
I see my mother. I did not succeed in taking her
abroad with me and she died without me, in Russia. I
cannot cease to love Russia, any more than I can cease
loving my mother. These two images have become one for
me, both dwell in me and cannot leave me.. Living outside
of my homeland, I can freely write about things that I
love in her--about the special character of Russian life,
about Russian people, about Russian saints and monasteries,
about remarkable writers of Russia.. Nobody here prevents
me from loving what I love, and from not loving what I
hate. Naturally, emigration is a drama, an alienation.
But the death of the soul, its violation--is infiniately
worse. So that not only I do not envy those of my fellow-
writers in Eussial who though living on a much broader
and richer scale than I, are compelled to compromise, to
write on command, to bow to nonentities--but I sincerely
pity them. And I most strongly hope that it will not
always be so. Meanwhile, I send you, my brothers of the
pen--known and unknown --my greetings, and may God give
you a better lot.
NARRATOR By this time you who are listening in New York may
(170773ice) be saying to yourselves:"This is all very well, but are
RADIO LIBERATIONIs broadcasts getting through to the
other side of the iron Curtain?"
NARRATOR You may ask:"Are there people listening on the other
(Female Voice) side of the Iron Curtain, are there people among the
population of the Soviet Union who are willing to take
the risks of listening to the broadcasts?" Ready to
answer this question is a former Major of the Soviet!
dry who left the Soviet zone of Germany in April of
this year.
Major Leonid Nikitich Ronzhin at the microphone.
RONZHIN: My name is Leonid Nikitich Ronzhin, On March 1,
(7177C-tual when RADIO LIBERATION began its broadcasts, I was a
voice) Major in the Soviet army, commanding a transport
battalion in Finow, -1,ast Germany. In the period of
time between March 1 and April 231 when I made my way
to West Berlin and applied to the American authorities
for political asylum, I listened to RADIO LIBERATION
programs about ten times.
In the Soviet army it is not wise to discuss the
content of Western radio broadcasts, even in conversa-
tion with old acquaintances. But I had a few very close
friends among my fellow officers who told me that they
also listens(' (Item to RADIO LIBERATION.
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NARRATOR: And now the final saitle of RADIO LIBERATION's first six
(Male Voice) months on the air. idter a popular army song, Major Mat-
veyev, a former Soviet officer, speaks to his comrades
behind the Iron Curtain'.
MUSIC: Song of World War II with refrain "It's too soon for us to
die, we've unfinished business at home"
MALE VOICE: Dear Friends and comrades-in-armsl You've just heard
(Major Matveyev) a tune we all know. It reminds us of the time when
the war--which cost our country so many sacrifices--
ended. We remained alive. But we have a duty towards those
who died for the homeland, and we must fulfill it. Remember,
friends, that it was during the war that we learned for the
first time what freedom was like. We knew that the out-
come of the war and the fate of our homeland depended on us.
The party and the government withdrew to the background.
Even they realized that they were incapable of conducting
the war. The fate of our country was in our hands. In
saving our homeland, we did not want to save the Communist
regime. Yet we thought that it would understand the bitter
lesson of the war and take into account the people's will
to freedom. However, the Communist regime didn't learn
anything. AS soon as the war ended, repression became
stronger, more pitiless. Some time passed and disabled ve-
terans-- our war heroes--appeared in the streets of our
cities to beg alms. Again work norms were stepped up, con-
ditions on the collective farms grew worse. Arbitrary
rule and terror continue to prevail throughout our land.
Not for this did we fight, my friends. Not for this did our
comrades diel Nothing can bring them back to life. But
their countless graves are a silent reminder that we have
not yet fulfilled our duty. We remain alive -- and for
a reason. We liberated our homeland from external enemies.
But there still remains a terrible internal enemy -- the
Communist dictatorship. nd, when we have liberated our
country from this enemy, then We can say that we did not
betray either thu trust of our country, or the hopes of
those who gave their lives for the motherland and for freedom.
MUSIC: Song of World War II (repeated)
NARRATOR: It's too soon for us to die, we've unfinished business at home.
FEMALE VOICE: This is RADIO LIBERATION.
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The President of the American CoMmittee for Liberation from
Bolshevism, Admiral Leslie C. Stevens, has a final message for you.
For the first time in 36 years the Soviet emigration and its po-
litical refugees throughout the world have a radio voice. As you have
seen, this is a genuine emigre radio station. The emigres speak their
own minds in their own languages, and reflect the moods and aspirations
of their countrymen in the Soviet Union. The American Committee will
continue to sup)ort RADIO LIBERATION, and expects that the responsible
elements in the political emigration will eventually find a basis for
common cooperation in this and other effective fofms of action against
our common enemy - the Bolshevik regime.
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