'A RUSSIAN LIFETIME,' BY ROBERT C. KAISER, THE WASHTINGTON POST, 16-22 JUNE 1974.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-01194A000100600001-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 6, 1998
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: July 2, 1974
• Content Type: REPORT

ITIAI
Approved For Release 1999/09/02 : CIA
"A RUSSIAN LIFETIME," by Robert G. Kaiser, The Washington Post, ib-22 June 1974.
The attached series of seven articles might well be subtitled "Family Life
in Soviet Russia." Kaiser describes the sociological aspects of life for most
Russians in the first six articles; he saves his final piece to depict the wholly
different world inhabited by the elite. For the overwhelming majority of
Russians Kaiser concludes that, "Life in the Soviet Union is quieter, duller and
harder than in the West. It is also more secure. No one need fear unemployment,
inflation or a financially catastrophic illness. On the other hand, no one out-
side a very special elite can realistically hope to visit the Champs Elysees or
the canals of Venice. The state provides, but it also withholds."
Although the series emphasizes the continuity in the Russian life style,
Kaiser notes that, "The question remains whether the Soviet Union can remain
the kind of country it has been when a new generation that does not remember
the Revolution, the 1930s, the war or Joseph Stalin is running the country.
People born after the war have lived lives that are difficult to compare with
their parents." We are furnishing these articles as background and as a means
to better understand our principal adversary.
This issuance contains articles from domestic and foreign
publications selected for field operational use. Recipients are
cautioned that most of this material is copyrighted. For repub-
lication in areas where copyright infringement may cause prob-
lems payment of copyright fees not to exceed $50.00 is authorized
per previous instructions. The attachment is unclassified when
detached.
2 July 1974
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16 June 1974
With a Birth, EntirrFORi HTation o
-ze navy in tEUSsia:_
First of Seven Articles.
CPYRGHTBy Robert G. Kaiser
Washington Post Foreign Servtee
MOSCOW-A Moscow street scene:
a young man with a worried look
standing on the sidewalk gesticulates
toward a nearby budding. From a sec-
ond story window, a-young woman in a
bathrobe, smiling reassuringly, waves;
at him. The Soviet Union's population
has just grown by one.
Husbands aren't allowed to visit the
maternity hospitals where Soviet ?'ba-
bies are born. In keeping with a,'na-
tional phobia about germs and babies,
even the mother is separated from her
new child for the first 24 hours of its
life, and sometimes longer.
She will spend about 10 days in the
hospital, and will see her husband only
from a second-story window until she
and the baby are sent home.
Motherhood is governed strictly by
rules ana regulations, both formal and
inherited. At a lecture for .expectant
mothers, the doctor (like most, a
woman) warned her audience: "Stay
calm and take long walks -every day..
Don't eat too many. sweets or your skin
will itch. Wear only wool or_. cotton
clothes, baby doesn't like it when you
wear synthetics. Come to the polyclinic
regularly for your ultraviolet rays (a
source of Vitamin D)."
Many in this audience are girls of 18
and 19, the age of brides in more than
half of Moscow weddings. It is still
common for a newly married woman
to use her first pregnancy as the occa,
sion to become a mother.
That 'is not as absurd as it sounds.
As a rule, birth control is not practiced
shows them ow to rub eir stom-
.She achs during labor.
There are no exerckes, no elaborate
ea ose w o ave nact a ies
must discourage pregnant women,
!" One Moscow woman recalls lying in
her awn blood on the delivery table
'women In the West who want to have
their babies without anesthetic. There' born. The nurses, cleaned. up all
is nochoice about that here; 'anesth-, around her, but Ignored the new
etie.is used only In emergencies. mother. When finally transferred to a
American women are told that the proper bed, she was left with her dirty
Lamaze method of natural childbirth sheets until' she screamed loudly
is; based on a Russian -technique, but enough to have them changed.
the Russians have never heard of it. Once the new baby is home, little is
Toward the end ' of pregnancy a aeft to chance. There are strict rules
mother is given the telephone number and traditions to be followed; they
hardly change from generation to gen-
of the lab nity home where she is to eration. The baby must be wrapped up
gowhen n labor begins. like a sprained ankle, head to toe, of-"
The system doesn't always work ten with a piece of wood as a brace, to
.smoothly. One mother called the num- make sure the baby's neck can't move.
ber she'd been given, but there was no 'The baby must sleep on its back, wrap-
answer. That maternity home, she ped in blankets.
learned later, was closed for "rernont," Breast feeding is mandatory. If a
a ubiquitous Russian term meaning re- mother does not have enough milk,
pair and refurbishment. she can buy human donor's milk at
Another woman had been treated at special stores. The Russians have nev-
a special clinic for those whose babies, er heard of baby formula. When told
doctors feared, would be born prema- of It they tend to shudder, and to
turely. After eight months of preg- doubt its efficacy.
nancy she was told not to come any The baby can be bathed only in
more since her baby wasn't going to be boded water, and only -
when-sub-,premature. merged up to' its neck, to avoid chills.
She had not yet contacted another The recommended treatment for dia-
eiinic when labor began. It was late at per rash is corn oil. Petroleum jelly
'- night, and she left home with her bus- isn't available. The lecturer at the ma-
ternity clinic recommends that diapers
be made from old sheets. Rubber pants
One maternity home turned her are not sold here.
away because there were no empty After several months, a typical child
beds. But first the nurse on duty shifts from mother's milk to special
bawled her out for coining to have a milk products, sold at special baby
kitchens. A thin, without the -_ proper change of most t popular. A , mild mother yogart
must st be b is the
most r,'gis,
Then they went to the hospital l for tered on the baby kitchen's list to get
premature babies, and were turned this specially ser ed product, and
p she must pick up p her supply every few
away because her baby was not prema- days,' or the kitchen will take her off
ture, and space couldn't be wasted on the list.
normal births. Mothers are advised not to stop
A third extablishment agreed to al- ' nursing an infant in the .spripg, when
low this woman to come in and have- fruits and vegetables are beginning to
her baby. (Under the Soviet medical reappear after the long and barren
system, a citizen is theoretically enti- 'Russian winter. Beter to wait until
tied to free treatment in every medical midsummer, the -theory goes, when
PART I
in the Soviet Union. Abortion is the
most widely used means of preventing
unwanted children. In big cities, 80 per
cent of all pregnancies are aborted.
The young women at the lecture are
shy and ask-, no substantive questions.
They listen to an explanation of what
is going on inside them, and to advice
-about how to cope with labor and " de-
' livery.
Breathe deeply, the doctor advises,
oxygen is the best antidote to pain.
A RUSSIAN
LIFETIME
? It was a boy, healthy and noisy. Ev- mina and minerals of these fresh foods
erything turned out fine. The British from mother's milk, and will be better
may have coined the phrase "muddling prepared for. them when independent
;through." but the Russians have mac- feedng begins.
:eyed the art. : Well, independent isn't quite the
The delivery was uneventful, though right word. Russian parents (even, it
loud. Two or three -women may give seems, those who read contrary advice
birth in the same delivery room at the in Dr. Spock, whose book has been
same time, which results, according to translated into Russian) don't believe
many witnesses, in a lot of screaming. 4n letting a baby try to feed itself. The
Russian mothers expect birth to be mess is offensive, and the inefficency
difficult and painfuL They don't seem wasteful. So it is not unusual to see a
t look -forward to It. Some of the , mother patiently spooning each mouth-
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ful into a child of four or five.
In sum, the arrival of a new baby in
a Russian family changes the entire or-
ientation of family life.
Energy and resources are withdrawn`
from most other -pursuits and redi-
- rected enthusiastically at the new-
comer. No amount of fussing ovep the
baby could be considered excessive.
The family budget can be destroyed
,by expenditures on baby carriages,
blankets and other paraphernalia. It is
fashionable to buy one's equipment all
in pink for a girl, or in blue for a boy.
"Russians are an irrational people,"`
one Moscow artist observed recently.
- We are afraid of the unknown. And
what could be more unknown and un-
knowable than this little creature who
suddenly appears among us? .So, we de-
vote ourselves entirely to it, in hopes
this will somehow satisfy it,, or remove,
the mystery."
Continuity-the guarantee that old
traditions are sustained-is provided
by the famous Russiaan "babushka," or
grandmother. Not evEtiry young couple
has babushka living nearby, of -course,
i;ut a large percentage still do.
Her . role is often' greater than
mama's own,- especially when mama
goes back to work when the baby is be
_.tween three months and a, year old.
4 ,Virtually every woman of child-bear-
ing age living in a town or city holds a
full-time job. A young mother is not
likely to challenge her own mother's
views of how to raise the child, espe-
cially if the grandmother actually does
most of the raising.
It is difficult to . quarrel with many
of babushka's notions. Fier basic princi-
ple is love and affection, praise and ap-
preciation to the highest possible de-
gree. But this is coupled wit)' a com-
plete deprivation of independence
from the earliest stages, which child
psychologists in the West would find
confining.
Babushkas are so sure of their basic
standards that most of them unhesitat=s
ingly tell young parents on the street;-
even total strangers, when they are
making a mistake. An American father
took his 15-month-old daughter for a
walk in Moscow recently. The daugh-
ter was dressed in rain gear from rub-
ber boots and pants to sou'wester, and
was running merrily through a puddle,
back and forth.
,An elderly lady walking by came up
short.'
"Papa." she said in a stern voice,
"How dare you? How can you allow it?
Her mama would never allow it ..."
Babushkas routinely look into other
peoples' baby carriages to check on the
protection against Russia's unpredicta-_
ble,.weather. and freely express an
opinion If one seems called for.
Like , viru tually any aspect of life in
the Soviet Union, child-bearing is a--
subject of Interest to the state. And
"there is official displeasure about one
,aspect of giving birth: it happens too
seldom _'.
Despite all the enthusiasm and affec-
tion that Russian parents and grand-
parents throw into the raising of their
first child, it is increasingly likely that
the first will also be the last.
In Moscow, families with one child
are the most common size. Families
with three children are virtually. un-
`beard of.
"Of all my friends and acquain-
tances, I can think of just one with
three children," a Moscow engineer ob-
served recently.. "He's an Orthodox
priest."
Rural families are slightly larger,
,but Russia-.proper, is ,approaehiipg, and
may have reached, zero ?zopulation
growth::,The majorcities-would now be
shrinking, were it not - for' migration
from the countryside =? '.
The population of the` ~oviet Union
,will cortintie, to grow,thanks .to high
birth rated in Central- Asia -and- the
Transcaucasus. This is a source. of anx-
iety to demographers here, though the
anxiety is expressed in muted terms,
for fear it might sound racist. Russians
are now probably just less than half
,the total Soviet population, and their
share of the total is shrinking-
The declining growth -is tho-.subject
of much commentary in the'- press and
professional journals,., but, no one. has
proposed a practical way.-to. persuade
Russian women to have more babies.
On the contrary,-.the officially encour-
aged Soviet way of life-small-apart-
ment living, working women, generally
tight family .budgets --seems to be es-
tablishing the one-child family as a
norm, at least for city dwellers.
The-state could abolish the right to
.abortion on demand which helps So-
viet women keep their families- small,
but !the..no :guarantee-;.that this
would have the desired effept. Stalin
made most abortions illegal in 1936, re-
sulting in a short-term rise in the birth
rate, but eventnally ,a decline: When
,abortion was legalized again in 1955,
she birthrate did not fall. "'?''i:?_ '
Illegal abortion 'thrwed during those
years, and women may` have taken
-other measures to prevent pregnancy.
Unofficial abortion="on the left," in
the Russian phrase-4s-still. -common.
Many women want to avoid the humili-
ation of an official abortion,%accompa-
nied by- lectures on the need 'to bring
more children into the world, and mar-
red by -the discomfort of Soviet hospi-
tals. A privately arranged abortion at
home costs 30 to 50 rubles, or nearly
half the-monthly salary of an average
working woman. -
Another proposal, is to improve the
economic benefits to working women
to, encourage them to have more chil-
dren. Soviet benefits now are less gen-
erous than those in some East Euro-
pean countries. A working mother gets
two months' leave wtur WY., ` -have a
baby, and her job is held open-for her
for one year..-There-is no fanri allow-
ance on the West Eurnpean.m e1 un-
til a fourth child-isborn, and en it is
only four rubles.a-month.
The state could also expand be net-.
work bf state-vn nurseries nd kin-
dergartens, which flow --have _ ace for
about one-quarter:- of ,the c entry's
children up to age _tbree, a more
than two-thirds between -. "to and
The prevailing opinions a ng ex-
perts in Moscow is that,-ideaI1y' a child
~
should be put into
a nursery, here it
will usually spend au' 8_-_ 0`19:., day,
'his re-
at the age of three -monthsf6l
leases the mothers for a quurn
to the work force
-, and bringhild
into "the collective.' atau =hich
`inakes`:its physicai.-a & psyical
adjustment the easiest
- Not surprisingly, tnany.o
sist this idea.
There is also no guarantee at bet-
ter' economic benefits -and -eh' serv-
ices would increase the birth ate. In
fact, there is contrary evidene . From
1960 to 1966, the number of spaces in
Moscow day care centers grew by 61.5
per cent, but the birth rate fell 52-per
As for increasing cash ben fits--to
mothers, social scientists report that
the government simply cannot afford
it, at least for now. A small increase in
allowances in a nation of 250 million
would cost the state an enorm us sum.
But, experts say, it might not c nvince
one mother to have another ba y.
Ada Baskin, a journalist wh writes
about family life, s'uggested' ii i an in-
terview that "the fairest soi lion to
this problem may be for the Late to
take responsibility for housework-
government agencies doing t e work
lit home." That way, she reds ned, a
mother could hold ' her . job and raise
two or three children without feeling
that she was a victim of life instead of
a beneficiary.
This, too, is far beyond th state's
present capacities for the for seeable
future. The birth rate is likel to re-
main constant at best, and it uld de-
cline still more.
NEXT: Children grad I
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WASHINGTON POST
For Russia:
Second of seven articles
C PYRGOLR, ~ PO t Foreignj Service
ents take their small children outside
on sleds. On a Sunday there are thou-
sands of sleds in the parks and boule-
vards of Ho wow, each c?rrying a care-
fully bundled-up minicreature who
rides triumphantly behind papa or
mama.
If there's a little hill'in the park, the
children yell to be pushed down' it.
The parents are nervous about that
idea, so there is a compromise. Papa
pulls the sled up the hill, turns it
around, takes the- rope in hand and
nuns down the hill ahead of the sled,
never letting go. -
That is the theme of Russian parent-
hood-don't let go.
Russian parents devote themselves
to their children with a startling zeal.
"When a baby arrives, it's as though
we were all marched to the wall and
told to put up our hands," one Moscow
PART II
father observed with a defeated grin.
"Go ahead. we say, take it all, take ev-
erything .. .
:.Children. being children, do just
that. Many are the Moscow apartments
in which a child of 8 or 9 is the center
of ;-attention for all who. live there.
"For that child," one mother said re-
cently, "we must keep up all the
norms. We may have a cup of coffee
and a piece of bread and butter for
dinner, but for the baby-hors d'oeu-
-vres, soup, meat, potato or vegetable,
dessert, everything! And only the best!"
This attitude toward children has
consequences which- strike an Ameri-
can eye as both good and not so good.
Not so good is the child's total depend-
ence on his parents. Children under
the age of six or seven are rarely al-
lowed to go outside by themselves. rm
&year-~bld often won't dress himself to
go outside.
An American visiting a family in
-iMoscoW may-out of habit-ask the
-eight-year-old son to bring him a box
-.of:matches from across the Teom. Be-
fore the bewildered boy has a chance
to even shrug his shoulders, papa is on
his feet, patting his on reassuringly
and jumping for the matches.
"Here they are, here," he says. Little
Miska hasn't moved an inch.
RUSSIAN
LIFETIME
~i~s: 'Only the Best
behavior is sternly regulated. The
courtyards of many Moscow apartment
houses have sandboxes, which are pop-
u,ar
don't allow J_
ern to pit in the sand_
They must learn to squat on their
haunches, so as not to get sahd in their
clothes. Anyone who slips into his or
her bottom is certain to be lifted out
of the sandbox with a jolt.
On the other hand, relations be-
tween parents and children seem much
closer in this country than In the West.
One Soviet writer; a woman, discov
ered this on a trip -to Paris several
years ago:
"I was invited to a fancy apartment
for dinner. The family had a teen-age
son, and r sat next to him. We had a
long talk. He told me that he wanted
to -go to Chile to see what was going
on there. He told me all about his girl-
friend. After dinner his mother asked
what we'd been talking about so av-
idly, and I told her.
" 'Why," she said, 'You've found out
more about my son than, I ever knew
before.' You know, in Moscow a boy
that age wouldn't go to the family da-
cha (house in the suburbs) without dis-
cussing it thoroughly with his parents,
but that French boy was planning a
trip to Chile that he's never even men-
tioned at home." ,
Generation gaps exist here too, but
they seem narrower. Young people ac-
cept a parental role in details of their
life that Western adolescents would re-
gard as private. There is a strong fam-
ily bond that is especially evident at
times of crisis, such as the last year of
secondary school
'We have examinations this year," a
Russian parent announces with a com-
bination of pride and trepidation. In
other words, their 18-year-old is hoping
to win.. a place in a college or univer-
sity, and the entire ' family is mobilized
for the entrance exams.
Though the Russian parent's incline.
tion is to smother a child with atten.
tion, the facts of Soviet life limit the
opportunities for doing so. Arkadi M.
kin, the Soviet Union's most popular,
comedian, has a famous monologue on
this subject.
at concerns Slavik, whose mother,
like most Soviet women, has a full-
time job. Slavik's grandmother used to
take care of him, but she died. Now
Slavik's mother stops around the
neighborhood on her way to work in
the morning asking for favors.
She asks a pensioner in their apart.
ment: house to knock on the wall to be
sure 'Slavik is up In time for school
She asks a nurse to feel his forehead if
she sees him after schooL She tells the
gets Into a f ght.
"But I think," Raikin says, a that
none of these people can substitute for
a mother who can sing a luUaVy- an-
l=r nfyEt.ne4;nn rood Pit.. and c
fort. Mothers - should probably work a
little less and pay a little more atten=
tion to their children. Everybody would
benefit--children, parents and the
state."
Raikin's monologue Is. warmly ap-
plauded, but in fact, the - state disa-
grees.'The Soviet economy needs wom-
en's labor. They make up 51 per cent
of the work force. Moreover, the So-
viet experience seems to prove that
many, perhaps most women who take
up -careers prefer to continue them
rather than stay at home with a child.
So the typical Russian mother faces
a, series of dilemmas beginning imme-
diately after her child is born. Does
she return to work at the end of the
two months paid maternity leave, or
does she. take off a year without pay,
knowing she can resume her old job
without loss of seniority? Or does she
give up work altogether to raise her
child?
A =all minority of mothers, particu:
larly among the intelligentsia, decide
to commit three to six years to their
children, regardless of their own ca-
reers, In many families this is econom-
ically impossible. The average Soviet
worker's family budget depends on
two sources of income. _
For those who want to, or must,
continue working, the most popular al-
ternative is to leave the new baby with
grandma (babushka). When ababushka
isn't available. the state provides sub-
stitutes.
For infants there are nurseries
which will take a child from the age of
three months, but only 10 per cent of.
the country's infants are in these nurser-
ies. From ages one to three, the figure
rises to about 30 per cent. Some of
these children stay in the nurseries
from Monday morning to Friday eve-
ning, but most go home at the end of
each day.
Predictably, these are controversial
institutions. The professionals respon-
sible for them in Moscow are con-
vinced of their worth, and argue that
most children would be well-served by
moving into a nursery at the age of
three months.
At that age the children adjust-most
easily to the group, and develop strong
immunities to infectious diseases.
The testimony of mothers and West-
ern specialists who have visited Soviet
nurseries suggest another side of the
Issue.
. They are, by all accounts, underman-
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than they theoretically should, and are ative, clean, orderly and patriotic some school-in India. lVhe
ruled by a strict, inflexible schedule. young'Communists. - Brezhnev went to India th
"You sense that these kids lack "A kindergarten, the' book says, of pictures of the trip up o
"
'
'
one
spunk, they
re a little dopey,
must set the pattern for the Commu-
Western specialist commented after nist upbringing of children." -
extensive visits, to nurseries here last There is no way to poll preschool
year. opinion, but Informal observation and
"I wouldn't . think of '. putting my inquiry suggest that the overwhelming
child in a nursery,"the comment is majority of Soviet children think kin-
repeated by any women, particularly dergarten is great. The combination of
among the Moscow intelligentsia. play, dancing and singing, drawing,
There is. a class distinction here. Work- and pasting fills their days-which can
ing class women seem less reluctant to last 12 hours-with fun. Sometimes the
use the nurseries, partly because they fun carries-a message.
have less choice. The instructions for teachers of 2-
There is less argument about the and 3-year-olds in nurseries stipulate:
merits of Soviet kindergartens, which "The teacher will teach the children to
take. care of millions of 4,5- and. 6-year- recognize V. I. Lenin [founder of the
olds, more than two-thirds of. the total Soviet state] in portraits and illustra-
population in this age group. tioas, and will arouse feelings of love
"Our kindergartens give children a and respect for him." Teachers of 4-
better upbringing than any - family and 5-year-olds are told that "on holi.
,?could, even the most intelligent," ac- days, children decorate the portrait of
cording to Irma Ovchinikova, who V. I. Lenin in their playroom." Six-
writes-about -children for Izves'tia, the year-olds, the teachers manual in-
government newspaper. "There's no ar- structs, "should be taken to the town
gument about that." monument to V. I. Lenin on his birth-
is exaggerating, but kindergar- day; and should put flowers there."
tens are popular. Some families dis Not surprisingly, Soviet children are
pute the official. view that a small certain that Lenin was the kindest,
child should be quickly immersed in a most intelligent and greatest man who
"collective,"-subordinating some of his ever lived.
own individuality to the group. But The best kindergartens may fulfill
that is part of kindergarten life, ac- the ideal curriculum that Moscow re-
cepted by the vast.majority of parents commends, but, as always in Soviet so-
and children. ciety, there is a vast gulf between the
The message - was forcefully deliv- ideal and -the actual. Komsomolskaya
ered by the director of a kindergarten Pravda, a popular daily newspaper, re-
in Volgograd - (formerly Stalingrad). ported recently on the grimmer reali-
Boasting about her school to visiting ties in Semipalatinsk, a predominantly
Americans, she brought out a beauti- Russian city in Kazakhstan.
fully painted watercolor of a tree on a Semipalatinsk has a serious shortage
riverbank. of nurseries and kindergartens, the pa-
"One of our 6-year-olds did this," she per reported. The nurseries that exist
said. "Look, here are some more." have places for 1030 infants, and they
The director then held up- -a dozen presently take care of 1631. The kin-
more watercolors of a tree on a river- dergartens are also overcrowded.
bank-precisely the same picture, the Big factories with money - and re-
same colors, the same strokes. How did sources to build their own daycare cen-
they -all turn out alike? ters have adequate facilities, but every-
"That's how we do it. The teacher one else. in Semipalatinsk does not.
puts -a picture up on the board and Mrs. T. Stepanova wrote the paper
-asks the children to copy it," .she said. that she had to take her daughter to
This isn't the system everywhere. A kindergarten on two trolleys to the
music teacher in Moscow, observed by other side of town, though they could
:,,:a :foreign guest, taught her children see a kindergarten from the window
the principles of high and low notes, of their apartment. It' belonged to a
,;...harmony and rhythm, then encouraged factory, and was open only to the
them to Invent their own dances to ac- children of its workers.
company- tunes she played on the pi- - - elf-*
ano.;This seems rarer than the reliable A 10 year-old American who is now
methods of rote and repetition.
sustain studying in a -Moscow school remem-
-'Kindergartens strict folk in Washington "you could get
wisdoms about raising children-over- bers that up from your desk and walk around
stance. dressing, them for play outside, for irk- the room if you wanted to. Here, if you
stance, so they often come inside hot get up just to get a pencil, they bawl
and sweating, or forbidding children to you out. And you've got to raise your
eat or draw with- their left hands. Left- hand a special way, and memorize the
handedness is regarded as an inadmiss- answers to all the math problems .. :'
able abnormality here. Yet there are signs of an independ-
The curricula for nurseries and kin- ent spirit among the young. Many Mos-
cow are determined by govern cow parents report with awe on the po-
ment authorities in Moscow, and are litical sophistication of their 10-year.
conveyed to teachers in a book. Each olds.
teacher is expected to stick to the of- .,kqv boy's at a special English
fical plan.
Its goals, not surprisingly, are to school," one father reported. "The
nship with
[Leonid I.]
for? Aly boy says it was the place every-
body gathered to tell the atest jokes
about Brezhnev! Can you imagine my
generation telling jokes about Stalin
'when we were 10?" i
Next: Education and a4oiescence
1
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CPYRGHT'
WASHINGTON POST
18 June 1974
Nonconformity
Cr, Mg,
---E rtcl Careers
Soviet .You.th `Build CorrQi~ 466
i- i r so histicated ma-
Third of seven articles jor cities, conformity is still the rue,
CPYRRQbert G. Kaiser,
ashington Post Foreign service
hard time about your long hair?" the
20-year-ol taxi driver was asked. His
brown locks fell over the collar of his
`.#'Ah, they d like to, but I play on our
garage's football team. I'm pretty
good, so they dor't dare say anything."
By such arrangements, long hair has
finally come to this -,isolated land. For
PART III
years a few Russian eccentrics have
followed the fashion established in the
early. 1960s by the -Beatles, but sud-
denly this year, the adolescent males
of Moscow and other towns have blos-
somed out with long hairdos.
The new hairstyles are a nice symbol
of the temper of Soviet youth. Long
tresses are hardly counterrevolution-
ary; they don't challenge the Com-
munist Party or the status quo. But
they, do depart from the strict stan-
dards of this outwardly puritan society.
School principals don't like the
change-they still insist that, the
younger boys (whom they can control
more easily) keep their hair cut short.
Parents giggle nervously about their
Rwayward sons. But there it is-long
hair on Russian boys, just'like Ameri-
cans or Britons or other Westerners.
!Measured by the standards of the
Western world's rebellious youth, So-
viet adolescents are a somnolent lot.
They don't stage demonstrations or oc-
cupy the dean's office. Nor do they ac-
their elders' world just as they
find it. Most of all, they seem impa
tient. with the isolation from the out-
side' 'orld that every previous genera-
tion iSince the time of Stalin has ac-
cepted,,
: !Likeall generalizations about Soviet
:society,: any collective descriptions of
the nation's youth are rash, and per-
haps 4.misleading. It would be impossi-
ble. to.:exaggerate the gulf between a
17:year-old` student in one of Moscow's
special schools for bright children and
a 17-year-old farm' boy,?in Siberia or
Soviet Central Asia.
ing on isolated or. atypical deviant be-
havior so it is .reasonable to assume
that these reports describe social prob-
lems that the authorities regard as
serious.
More tolerable deviance is so com-
mon that it is visible, even to a 'foreign
-e There'is no disguising the black
arket in phonograph records con-
vast majority of young people are pre- d cted daily, in front of the second-
h nd store on Moscow's Sadovoye
her a co of
an -
of 8 or 9 they have been lectured, ca-
joled and entreated to work hard to
get a jlace in college and build a good
career..,
A Hungarian girl studying in a pro-
vincial Soviet college of engineering
found her fellow students universally
bored by world politics or Alexander
Solzhenitsyn or any subject outside
the approved mainstream, save per-
haps Western clothes and pop music.
This is a conformist society, and the
overwhelming majority of young peo-
ple respect the tradition. But the. dra-
conian controls that once guaranteed
Soviet conformism haves largely been
removed.' As a result, there is more
room ? for individualists to express
themselves. Expressive nonconformists
can have an infectious influence.
"By the 6th grade [age 12 here)," one
.Moscow mother reports, "the kids have
stopped thinking that they have to do
every single assignment in school and
obey .every single instruction they
hear. Most of the boys and a lot of the
girls have started to smoke.
"Teachers who used to maintain iron
discipline now find they can't. It
snakes them nervous. Some try to rush
through their lessons and escape from
the classroom before they lose control.
The teacher no longer enjoys full au-
thority just because she's the
teacher.."
The official Soviet press has con-
firmed the existence of a serious juve-
nile delinquency problem. Published
sociological studies suggest that there
is a deprived under-class that breeds
:juvenile crime. One study reported
that of its sample of juvenile offend-
ers, 48 per cent had begun smoking at
age 9, and 43 per cent were drinking
alcoholic beverages at 12.
A recent television program in a se-
ries on law enforcement was devoted
to a teen-age gang that had killed two
tellers in a savings-bank holdup in the
Ukraine. The gang leader was sen-
tenced to death. -
The press has revealed the existence
of bands of young dropouts from all
walks of life who roam remote areas of
the country, working when they need
money (and getting the good salaries
that are paid In remote regions), then
quitting when they're bored, blowing
their earnings on easy or wild living.
The strict regulations that govern
the Soviet mass media prohibit report-
Christ, Superstar" might change hands
for 100 rubles ($135 at the official ex-
-change rate, and the monthly salary of
a young physician).
The leading status symbols in the
cafes for young people on Moscow's
Kalinin Prospekt are articles of West-
ern .clothing - platform shoes for the
girls, mod shirts or blue jeans for the
boys. The black-market price for a pair
of Levis is 80 rubles ($108). Three cafes
along this avenue are much, frequented
by the young the most stylish hang-
outs in Moscow. If you want a seat
you'd lest arrive about 6:30 p.m.-
from then until closing at 11, they are
all full._
An interest in Western styles ana
Western culture seems strongest
among the Moscow elite-the children
of government officials, professors,
writers and journalists, -etc. The wife
of one prominent musician bragged
to an American recently that her son
was going to be a poet. The American
observed that Russia was the perfect
country for that ambition, since Rus-
sians were so in love with poetry.
"Oh," the mother said excitedly," I
wish you'd tell my son that! He only
talks about bow good things are in the
West-the freedom, the lack of censor-
ship ...'
A large percentage of these children
attend special schools that give inten-
sive instruction in a foreign language
or a branch of science. Admission to
these schools is by fiercely competitive
examination. Their. students-accord-
-ing to their own testimony-see them-
selves as a special slice of the coun-
try's youth.
These schools appear to produce a
skeptical spirit that disturbs the au-
thorities. Last year a special mathe-
matics school in Moscow was dis-
banded because, according to one for-
mer student there, "the atmosphere
was too free."
The official pretext for the unpubli-
cized closing of the school was that
soma of its students had visited the
main Moscow synagogue and signed
the guestbook there as representatives
of "Mathematics School No. 3." In fact,
this student reported. the authorities
realized that they couldn't control the
school's intellectual environment. "We
had a Russian literature teacher whc,
tpld us Solzhenitsyn was the best liv-
ing Russian writer," the student said.
 CPYRGHT
CPYRGHT
Approved or Release
A boy of 17 in the 10th class (the last tors can help ,you get admitted-"It's'
'
year In
Soviet schools) at a special what we,'cali 'Blatt in Russian-influ-
'
ently
physics school in Moscow 'ec }talked at length about life there. His
story is worth recounting:
His fellow students can't see how
their contemporaries in ordinary
schools ("They're lousy") get ann~ edu-
cation at all. But they are working
hard, mostly at physics, with an.eye to
Moscow state university or' one of the
best physics institutes.
There are 32 students in his class-
four of them from the families of man-
uatworkers. The others are 'all 'child-
ren`of officials and intellectuals.
All but three are members of the
'Young Communist League.' " (the
Komsomol), "but very few take it seri-
ously. It's a credential you have to
have to get into university,.
(There's a full-time, paid Komsomol
secretary on the school staff to organ-
ize Communist Party activities.)
Most of those who are active in the
Komsomol are completely cynical
about - it-"or they are fools." They
know that most fringe benefits go to
the active young Communists. Last
year, for 'example, half a dozen stu-
dents in the school were chosen. (by
the Komsomol secretary) for a tourist
trip ,to ,Poland. "Anybody who's been
,abroad has the highest status in
school."
~' They have "military preparations"
class twice a week, conducted by "a
dumb retired colonel" who is also on
the school's permanent staff. Girls and
boys march together in military train-
ing.
'But the boys are anxious to avoid
being- drafted into _,the_, army-that's
ghastly. Their parents trto help. Lots
of mothers. are always looking for
physical defects that might keep their
sons from being drafted." No one from
his school would. want "to make a fa-
reer iii the military:" "There's nb pres-
tige in it."
However, a'.boy who goes into the
army after high school and then ap-
plies for admission to, a university or
institute has a big advantage over
.other, applicants. Preference i4 given
to veterans. But if you get into the' in-
stitute directly from school, you'll only
.be,a reserve officer after graduation,
nand probably won't have to serve on
active :duty.
11?iany 10th graders have private tu-
tors to ,"help them prepare for the uni-
versity ,entrance exams. The school
curriculum doesn't cover all the mate-
rial that students will be held responsi-
ble, for in the exams. Some students
a think that teachers in the universities
and institutes, maintain this gap on
,,purpose, so they'll get more business
as tutors. A teacher from Moscow iJni-
versity-whose salary might be 200 ru-
bles a month-can earn up to 10 rubles
an hour tutoring.
Because they're members of the fac-
ulty at universities and institutes, tu-
ence:': (The Soviet.press has reported
many :cases of parents bribing univer-
sity officials to get their children
admitted:)
"Steady"romances aren't took com-
mon,"'but there is an active social life.
On holidays the school has its own
,"evenings," which `end with g -dance.
And the kids gather at one -mother's
apartments for parties-if they can
-persuade someone's parents to allow
it." "There are always some liberal par-
ents'who are willing to let their places,
be used.for parties, but. most parents
don't like to see vodka on the table."
The boys start experimenting with
vodka at 13 or 14-by which age many..
of them already smoke. (There is po of-
ficial propaganda against smoking-in
'the Soviet Union.)
There's a school uniform, ? but that
doesn't prevent, sartorial competition
among the girls. "Only the dress is re-
quired-they can wear ? different shoes,
coats, stockings, pocketbooks. It's a big
deal."
Andwhat about ideals? What do 17-
-year-olds at the physics school care
about? "Physics--they've got physics
in `their blood. They all have a pretty
clear idea of what kind of work they'd
like to do later on-research or practi-.
cal work or whatever."
. So, in the end, even these skeptical,
cynical young people agree to play the
-game by the established rules, The
young don't see how the rules could be
changed. _
A teacher of English in a Moscow in-
stitute recounts her own discomfort
at the 'sight of career-oriented students
compromising their way toward good
jobs and other benefits. - -
"I asked one of them recently,
`Aren't you ashamed of yourself?' And
he said 'What do you mean? I'm build-
ing a carder. I want to live, to LIVE'"
"Nado . zhit," the Russians, say-you
.have to live.
And cynicism is certainly not the
universal attribute- of this adolescent
generation. Away from Moscow, out-
side the narrow world of the intellec-
tual elite, simple, patriotic -enthusiasm
is at least as common. This is vividly
evident at w giant giant industrial .project
like the Kama River truck plant,
where a work force approaching
100,000, mostly young people just out
of school, is building the world's larg-
est truck factory.
These youngsters were lured to
Kama, 600 miles east of Moscow, by
Komsomol agitators who promised
them, good living conditions eventu-
ally and an exciting life immediately-
building the country's top-priority in-
dustrial plant with thousands of their
contemporaries."
They may covet atRolling Stones rec-
ord or a pair of blue jeans, but these
young Soviet citizens are also willing
to respond to the state's exhortations,
transplant their lives to a remo a new
town, put uji with, overcrowded dormi-
tory living for mangy years-all or the
sake of what the propagandis s {call
"building Communism." The question remains wheth r the
Soviet Union -can.remain the nd of
country it has been when anew Yener-
ation that does not remember th Rev-
olution, the 1930s, the war or oseph
Stalin is-running the country. People
'born after the war have lived lives
that are difficult to compare with their,
,parents'. Everything has been 'different
.
-and, as parents complain, easie -for
e
th
ASHING'ION POST
19? June 1974
/Fourth of seven article
CPYRG*T obert ( Kaiser.
. washington Post roreiga aervi e
MOSCOW-Volodya and Luba, both 10,
are children of working-class families in
Moscow. Volodya's family is a little more
prosperous than most, so it took respon-
sibility for their wedding.
The expenses were considerable and in
the end there had to be some a nomies.
The new suit they wanted to b for the
groom was skipped. (It would iave cost
about 100 rubles, or nearly two-thirds of
thls mother's monthly sale .) They
:thought about-having a weddin party in
a Moscow cafe, but at 10 rubles er guest
this idea too had to. be droppe ,
They: decided to hold the par -.y in the
two rooms of a communal apart ent that
Volodya, his parents ' and sitter had
,shared for 15 years. , -
There was so much work on the day of
the wedding, preparing food for the party
and getting both. families ready, that
.Volodya's mother skipped the wedding
ceremony.
. While she stayed in the kite Len, pre-.
paring salads and plates of old -hors
.d'oeuvres,-the young people, the friends
and a few representatives of he older
generation set off for the Palace, of Wed-
dings on Griboyedova Street.
Volodya and Luba had gone ere three
months earlier to apply to mairry. With
other nervous, giggling young couples,
they sat at one of the small wooden
tables and filled .
The burdens'of daily life fall. most
heavily on women in Soviet society.
They fulfill the historic woman's role
"as cook, cleaner and shopper, they
hold full-time jobs, and they serve on
the front line of the struggle with So-
viet shortages and merchandising.
Women initiate the majority of divorce
proceedings in this country- two-
thirds of those in the city of Lenin-
grad, for example.
Marriages collapse In the Soviet Un-
ion almost. as regularly as -in the di-
vorce-happy United States. Thirty per
cent of all divorces involve' "young"
couples-presumably those under 30.
Most of them already have children.
The principal cause of Soviet di-
vorces is not one of the sociological
factors mentioned earlier in this arti-
cle, but drunkenness. A. M. Chechot, a
sociologist,' polled 1,000 men and
women (500 couples) who were divorc-
ing in `Leningrad. Of the 500 women
polled, 210 said they left their hus-
bands because they were drunks. A
third ofthe 500 women said their men
had beaten them. '
In the same sample, 104 of the
women and 140 of the men said their
spouses had been unfaithful.
Chechot also found that the strains
of everyday life contributed-_s ibstan
tially to divorce. Twenty-two per cent
to live together inclose quarters.
The shortage of living apace
,cited as a ground for divorce ,b,y
Under$oviet law every citizen: s
right to 'divorce., When a mar ag
turns s o u r , the partners can. dissol t
almost as easily ag they "origi al
made it.
'When there are no children, bhe co
ple can make a joint application f r
vorce to their neighborhood or 5:0
;Mice, wait three months, ,pey w5ti' Tile
,eaclf and receive a:pieco of. so
emnizing the dissolution" of" ei
union. It is, situp a matter of P per
5work
is Inhere are-childrena 'th prose ur
F.is slightly more comp ficate'6 "rhe par
eats must appear before coup elo
who makes an attempt, usuallya .pr
forma attempt, to persuade them no
to divorce. If theypersist$ the ;p per
work goes forward
If one of the spouses is relucta t t
divorce, or if there Is ?a dispute over
..custody or the distribution'' of j' in
.property, a court fight is +poss ble
`They are rare. A reluctant partner ca
only postpone, not prevent the div ree
-Except in extraordinary circumsta ices
mothers get custody of the children.
"I went into the record office o
Tuesday, it was noon, I looked at the
clock," one recent divorcee recounted.
"I had a letter from Yuri [her ex
husband] agreeing to everything. I
gave the man the papers. He said, Do
you have any questions- for me T I
shrugged-no. He said, 'You can pick
up your document in the clerk's of-
fice! That's all there was to it. I
walked out a free woman. It was our
WASHINGTON POST clock"
20 June 1974 NEXT: Women .rmdnmi life
oviet Lie~ute Toward Famil
Sf thd
Fifth of seven articles
CPYRGF*TRobert G. Kaiser
A .1
Washington Post Poreien service
:"'MOSCOW-Imagine ' a Soviet
apartment: Four women sit around a
table. periodically tossing down slugs
of :-avodka. They are playing cards-
loizdly-and telling war stories-more
Loudly still. A man, the husbaud.nf one
of them. enters wearing an apron, car-
rying a tray full of hot-cups-of tea.
With nervous, jerky gestures he tries
to clear empty vodka- bottles off the ta-
ble and serve the tea. The women start
-complaining to him about the food, the
dirty table. He, shrugs his shoulders.
Finally the guests decide it is time to
go,, home. The husband fetches their
coats anii-hoots.
When her pals are gone the man's
wife 'throws her arms around him
drunkenly. '''Don't touch me!" he
shouts. She responds indignantly.
"Whatsa matter, doncha think I can
drink? drink on my own money, you
for her husband and dren. good
know . "
wife As always merry-she always
Speaking of money, 'ihe_,husband
and's life
smiles and makes es her husband
complains, give -hinT'
enough housekeeping money-t0' o the
interfere in her husband's busin ss
shopping. She.bruslieshim aside ...
talks, and in general is mostly silent "
-audience watching 'a group of comedi-
-ans'acting it out, this scene is hysteri-
cally implausible. The theater rocks
with laughter. The audience obviously
loves the mirror image of Soviet fam-
ily life that the comedians create.
Reality, as one of the comedians ex-
plains in an introduction to the skit, is
/different: Papa comes home from work
and - reads the paper. Mama comes
home from work and goes shopping.
makes supper, does the laundry and
ironing, and helps the children with
their homework. Sometimes, papa
helps out after dinnerrby turning on
the television set.- -
In Russia, "A good wife doesn't let
her husband help her keep house. She
'keeps it clean herself, sews and weaves
111011C WELP th L"
. -
16th a century; when this' prescript on
for a good wife was written in he
"domostroi" or `rules of the house-
hold" -that were then accepted by
church and state. Though conte pe-
raryRussian society has little In c m-
mon with the 15th century, the in lu-
ence of the domostroi is still eviden
Yet. mama's role has grown a.or-
A RUSSIAN
LIFETIM
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mously, although she continues to act
as a servant of the rest of the family.
In the 16th century, papa was the lord
of the manor, but today he is much
less imposing, and much less influen-,
tial. A woman who allows her husband
6 loaf around the apartment while she
does all 4 he housework is also-in
rhany families-the pillar of family life
and the chief decision-maker.
--?` The Russian family is one of the in-
stitutions that Russians love most
about their- country. In its ideal form,
the family is a fortress of love and mu
tual protection whose walls shield all
within from an uncertain outside
world. Though reality May seldon} live
up to these grand intentions, sentimen-
tal Russians (and that means virtually
all of them) often overlook the family's
failures and romanticize its accom-
plishments.
Modern Soviet society does not chal-
lenge traditional family relationships
the way the fast-paced societies of the
industraliized West do. There is no
sign of the hedonistic lifestyle here:
No`' amusement industry to fill leisure
time, no cult of youth and beauty, no
consumer industry for children or
cemeteries for pets. The Soviet popula-
tionis relatively stable and immobile.
Parents have time for-children, and
children for parents. Soviet sociolo-
gists',claim that comparative surveys of
Russian and Western families show
that a mother or father here is likely
to devote more of her or his week to
the children than does a Western par-
ent. There are fewer distractions ' at
least in the evening and on weekends,
and perhaps-as many Russians would
insist-a greater desire'to share the
child's life.
"Sometimes it's silly," one mother
recently admitted. "We sit around in
our apartment-me, my husband, my
parents, maybe an aunt and uncle-
and everybody is looking at Kolya [age
8). 'What's new with you, Kolya?'
'How's life, Kolya?' `What's happening
in school, Kolya?'-That's all you hear
for hours at a time." -
At the opposite extreme' is the story
told in a woman's letter to the radio
program "Man and Society," perhaps
the nearest Soviet equivalent to a per-
sonaladvice column.
: Aly. life has been a nightmare," the
woman wrote from Magadan, a remote
-corner of Eastern Siberia not far
from Alaska. "I got married in 1946,
and hoped to raise a happy family .. "
Her first son was born in 1947, and-
"perhais to celebrate this event"-her
husband took a drink of vodka that
was his` downfall. A lifetime of drink
ing followed. "Our family survived
;.extreme material difficulties, since
.,more than half our income was spent
pn .,vodka."
?' Finally, after 21 years of marriage,
she and, her three children decided to
throw him out of the house. To get
away from him completely they went
to Magadan. Papa stayed in the indus-
trial city where they'd lived, still
drinking.'He remarried, then divorced,
then moved in with another woman.
Several years ago he had a stroke,
which left him paralyzed. Learning of
this, mother and children decided to
invite him back.
"He getting better now," the woman
wrote. "He's back at work, and- most
important, he isn't drinking any spir-
its. But life has already passed us by.
Ne can't repeat our youth . . ."
Alcoholism is a perpetual epidemic
in this society. There are no published
statistics on the consumption of vod-
ka or the prevalence of alcoholism,
but evidence. of it can be seen on the
streets of any village or town. Per-
haps 40 per cent of all divorces are
caused by drunkenness, according to
sociologists' research.
Ygdka and- wine play an important
role in Soviet family life. What does an
ordinary worker's family do to cele-.
brate a birthday or a big event? "Buy
a bottle of vodka," is the most common
reply. An enormous Russian woman
who works as a janitor confided that
she would need 20 [half pint] bottles
for the four-day May Day weekend.
Family celebrations are likely to
happen at home. Millions of Soviets-
very likely the vast majority - never go
to a restaurant. (Restaurants are nei-
ther good nor common. In Moscow,
.the best-served city in the country,
there are 127 of them-or one for
every 55,000 inhabitants.) The Russian
"table" for a big occasion is another
of the things Russians love most about
their country.
Besides vodka, it will be piled high
wih a dozen different "zakuski" (hors
d'oeuvres), from canned sprats in oil to
elaborate Caucasian chicken in walnut
sauce. The company can easily spend
an hour or two over these, washing
them down with the toasts that in-
evitably accompany the consumption
of alcohol.
A soup may follow the zakuski, and
a piece of meat, or perhaps a duck,
will -follow the soup. Mama and
grandma serve and clear the dishes-
none of which match each other-and
yell at the young people to eat more of
everything. Three generations crowd
around the table, many sitting on
stools, because there are never enough
,chairs, and all crowded, because the ta-
ble is always too -small. The men tell
jokes and give toasts, the girls gossip
and tease.
There is no cocktail hour, no coffee
in the drawing room afterward (there's
no drawing room), and somehow, it is
usually more fun than any dinner
party in Washington or London.
If Soviet society lacks the distrac-
tions from family life typical of West-
ern countries, it has substitute distrac-
tions of its own. The most important of
these is the requirement that able-bod-
ied women, particularly in the city,
hold a full-time job.
For some traditionalists, this is as
outrage. Alexander I. Solzhenitsyn, the
author, stated the conservative view of
women at work in his recently-pub-
lished open letter - to the Soviet
leaders:
"How can one fail to feel shame and
compassion at the sight of our-women.
carrying heavy barrows of stones for
paving the street. ? Whim we con-
.template such scenes, what more is
there to say, what doubt can there pos-
sibly be? Who would hesitate to aban-
don the financing of South American
revolutionaries to free- our women
from this bondage?"
Old women doing hard physical la-
bor are an embarrassment to many So.
viet officials, but the general notion
that women should work is not. "The
state's interest presupposes only one
decision," Elena Ivanova, a senior edi-
tor of the government newspaper lz-
vestia said recently. "The country
needs hands for work, including wom-
To a large extent, women -agree. In
surveys, half or more of the working
women questioned regularly say that
they work for the satisfaction and en-
joyment, not just for the money. Mrs.
Ivanova points out that 60 per cent of
the college graduates in the country
are women. "Do they want to sit at
home and waste their qualifications?"
she asked. "Of course not." Polls show
that the higher a woman's level of edu-
cation, the more she wants to work, re-
gardless of the number of children she
has. -
The compromises available to an
American- middle-class woman who
wants to raise a family and pursue a ca-
reer are not available here. The Soviet
economy is rigid, and Soviet institu-
tions live by a stern rule book. They
do not believe in women taking 10
years off, or starting a career at 35, or
working part-time. Either you work,
or you don't.
The inflexibility of the syltem puts a
psychological strain on women. As one
sociologist observed recently, Soviet
women may start life on an equal foot-
ing with males, study, begin work and
marry on the basis of equality, but
suddenly lose their equality with the
arrival of a child, if not earlier.
In Russian families - a child is the
mother's business, whether or not her
job, her housework and shopping al-
ready fill her time. A working woman
with a child in this society has an enor-
mous amount of work-3D hours a
week. according to one survey, on top
of a work week that averages 45 hours
including transportation to and from
the job.
If she finds a place for her baby in a
nursery or kindergarten, a Soviet
woman is still on call in case of illness.
Day care centers won't keep a sick
baby, for fear others will catch the III-
ness, so the mother must take care of
her child at home. (She is given some
paid leave from work for this purpose).
Work discipline is lax in most Soviet
factories and offices. Many women
manage to do errands on office time.
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"A woman si