SOVIET LETTERS TO THE EDITOR---A FIRM HAND

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000300600077-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 13, 2006
• Sequence Number: 77
• Publication Date: January 17, 1974
• Content Type: NSPR

N E TIMES
Approved For Release 2006i~''1:?b-$8-fl1314R
17 JAN 1974
D tf""AR PRA V DA
BY MURRtAY SEEGER
Times Staff writer
MOSCOW-How d0 you. get.'-your
pet peeves and major complaints
One sent a letter complaining that
he was s earthed as he left one of the
new self-soviet grocery stores. He
wag incensed that an honest citizen
should he treated as a shoplifter sus-
pect, -mother letter claimed that
Mail deliveries were too slow. Seven
al urged a change in ware rates.
Some Icdte:?s are answers to earlier
messages asking for personal advice
on dealing with unfaitliful boy-
frienrlG and drunken fathers.' Mlany
are pleas for hotter public manners,
better -rare of parks and more
thoughtful treatment of pets and zoo
ani11 al s.
All of these thoughts were incluci-
ed in recently pu;)li-hed letters, hro-
viding the only anlfrsing reading
among the tur id political, pro-
nouncements and slanted reporting
of overseas news.
The authorities permit a limited
about of grousing about routine
problems as a crude measure of pui)-
lie opinion, to let people release
steamed-tip emotions and to prod
the inefficient bureaucracy. 'Sonic
signed-by' ?fait':ftt
beet.
Ifiber;': 1o.viet editor
tracked cto,vn. a "worker"
who had attached hint
throVgh the }nail and
a hig11 party official.
The party also writes the
Opddt letters used in
cam- against, dissiclentS
and, tries to force prom-
inent, figures tosi;n them.
In the recent campaign
against Sakharov, for in-
stance, composer l)lnlltri:
Shostakovich ? signed but
cet.listlfstislav Rostropo-
vich diet not. The Hanle of
violinist David Oistrackh
appeared on the letter but
he reportedly repudiated
It since his name was at-
t,achcd without his knowl-
edge when lie was in. a
hospital. .
about HE and its hardships off your
chest in the world's most res' lcted
society? You write a letter to the A&
or about them.
The nation's tightly controlled
newspapers, magazines and. radio
and television networks are flooded
daily with letters-many of them
complaints about failures and viola-
tions in the system and many others
praising the leadership.
. The official Communist Party or-
gan, Pmeda, the nation's biggest
newspaper, reports that 1,300 letters
are received every day and 18 em-
ployes work full time dealing with
them.
How Many of the letters that the
general public gets to react or hear
about over the official networks are'
genuine and how many are 1 >larltcrl
by the. official propagandists cannot
be determined.
One of. the most noted party corn-
mentators, Yul'i Zhukov, for in-
stance, reported recently over the
nationwide television network that
he had received "several. hundred"
letters denouncing the Nobel nove-
list Alexander Solzhenitsyn and the
nuclear physicist Andrei. D. Sakha
rov for their dissident views. i fe did
not explain hone the letter-writers
were so conversant with the current
thoughts of the Wn most famous
critics of the system, since none of
their writings or statements have
been reproduced by the Snyiet me-
dia.
And when he was asked by West-
ern newtcmen, in an audience he
.granted to An a day aft el' the
broadcast, whet her her had received
? any letters supporting S olzhc'nitsvn
and. Sal.harm?, he replied, "1n, .they
are prof ably sent to the New work
TWO'
For the ordinary Soviet citizen
who usually floes not. complain in
public about major problem,; and al-
most never 'discusses politics, the Sa
letters lead to official investigations. CO r r e s pondcnts whose
sharp line is drawn on political views do not reflect the of-
rliscussirnl aril criticisms. Only. thnnze ficial points of view on
letters that support official policies sensitive issues, hut- they
are printed. - - take great risks when they
"In a word, the ordinary drop their letters into a
w o r k e r, the ordinary postal box.
reader 'has the opportuni- Four retired men in Le-
ty of -expressing through ningrad were. publicly 11u--
the mass media his views miliated after they were
on different aspects of so- tracked down as .the att-
ciety and. , so bring in- thorn of a series of anony-
fluence to bear on them," a mous letters received by
Soviet commentator said newspapers and b r o a cl-
recently, casting stations over a per.
"'T'his is a concrete ill iod of months.
us- "Ile wrote such error-
tration of the demoei-atlc mous things that I could
nature of t he S o v i e t not raise my hand -to re-
press," he added. -. . peat them," a reporter for
Letters, usually inspired the Lenillga'adska, a Prav-
by - propaganda workers, cla wrote of one corrr_spon-
are also used to suggest , dent,
massive public support for "Everybetiy knows that
official policies. a person confes sing hostile
The newspapers syste- views will easily cone to
matically print prominent- treason against the Soviet
ly a purported cross seer, system, will' get into the
tion of public. ? letters, in net of the enemy's secret
praise of Communist Par- service awl become a trai-
ty Chief Leonid I. Erezll- tor to his motherland."
nev, especially when he The potential spy was
returns from an overseas 70-year-old P. M. Fafarov,
ni e e t.i n g such as last don bed as a elan with a
spring's visit to the-United "ah i ,.^, h. education" w 11 o
Mates. lives on a pension after
Such lettera'are often?the N orl:ulg for the Leningrad
result of pro;'.diah by local. Lugi;lcering 1Vorlrs.
officials at party or shop The letter that got him
mCetinrs, And tho^a tt?cll?? Into trouble said it tvas
info:mcd 'later= attackim "cnn? due's to help Israel in
the a , - vet utli)i,blishcd her defensive war against
STAT