RUBLE EXCHANGE/INTERNAL LOAN POLICY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T00246A001700410001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 46
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 12, 2008
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 20, 1957
• Content Type: REPORT

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25X1
The introduction of a new rate of exchange for foreign
currency into Soviet money for tourists coming to the USSR by
no means signifies that the stability of the ruble is wavering.
This s tleo has merely been taken for the purpose o E making it
easier for tourists from other countries to visit the USSR.
The official course of the soviet ruble remains just what it
was: four rubles to the dollar. All financial operations with
offices and organizations in other countries are based on this
course. It is merely that an exemption has been made in the case
of individuals -- of foreign tourists in this country -- an addition
of six rubles to the official cou-rose of one nmerican dollar.
As a matter of fact there is really nothing new in this
measure. Most countries in addition to the usual official course
have some type of special course for individual cases.
Tow as far as the postponement of payment on our loans is
concerned, that cannot possibly have 'ny effect on the course of
our ruble abroad, for the reason that no one in any other country
possesses Soviet loans. The truth is that the ruble is more stable
than ever. That is nuite understandable, in my opinion, inasmuch
as the state does not have to make payments on the loans for the
next twenty years.
In order to understand why payment on the loans has been
postponed, a little bit about their nature must be understood. The
Soviet Union received a backward and poverty-stricken economy as
a herita-e from tsarism. T remendous funds were needed to develop
industry and agriculture. whey could not be obtained abroad --
the cap-i_talistJcountries refused us credit. Under these circum-
stances, the assistance accorded by the population in voluntarily
giving the state part of their earnings constituted an important
contribution to the development of our econ miy. During the first
five-year ;?le.n the sum received from the population in the _:'orm
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of loan subscriptions was equal to the co ct of bui l:lin2 three: iron
and steel plants as ln.r.;e as the one at 1ia;nitogorsk.
But it {roes without sayin, that the state cannot -float loans
indefinitely. If they continue to be issued in increasin, sums,
it becomes a burden for the population. And if `they c'.re is >ued in
smaller sums, almost the entire sum will be used up in rpajin" out
winnings and paying off loans that have expired. hs a result ther?E
would be an endless and burdensome roces~3 of issuing and 'aying
out loans that grew larger all the time.
The soviet government decided, be{;inning '-iith 19'8, to :stop
floating state loans and to postpone payment on the old loans for
a 20 year period. The draft of this pl _en was placed before a
popular poll and had the approval of the population.
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1st Program.
We have received quite a long letter from one of our listeners
in the U.S. and he25X1
begins by saying: "The February issue of Fortune Magazine carried an
article dealing very extensively with the Soviet Union. After reading
it, I have had several questions enter my mind."
he would like us to answer his questions. This
it is our intention to do. We will not stop now to read you all 25X1
his questions, as there are ten of them and they are quite full. We
will simply say that they cover a broad range of problems from last
year's events in Hungary to next year's World Fair in Brussels, and
that Radio Moscow has asked its commentators to answer them one by
one in the course of ten days,beginning today. The talks will take
place every day at the same time -- 18.50 EST, with a repeat three
hours later at 21.50.
Today our commentator Alexander Alexandrov replies to
first question.
Your first question
is whether the people of
25X1
Soviet Russia know the story of the Hungarian revolt, and also the
opinion of the United Nations on it.
In order to understand what raised that question in your mind,
the first thing I naturally did was to find out what
Fortune Magazine had to say about Hungary. And the main conclusion
this left me with was that it was not for the Americans to ask us
such aquestion, but the other way around -- It's we Russians
who ought to be asking the Americans how much of the truth they 'know
about what happened in Hungary?
What makes me say that? Well, we Soviet people were too close
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2.
to the events there, living through them as we did right from the
first day to the last, right at the side of the Hungarian people,
not to know exactly what happened in Hungary. Soviet people not only
heard how things were going there from their papers and the radio
reports, but as soldiers in the Soviet Army they saw what was taking
place on the streets of Budapest and other cities in the country with
their own eyes. They saw the gangs that had carefully armed them-
selves to the hilt well in advance of the events crawl out of their
hiding places.and try to overthrow the legally elected government
of the people. With their own eyes they saw American and west-
German arms and equipment being moved into the country through the
open border from Austria, and detachments of~ counter-revolutionary
emigrees sweeping over that border. With their own eyes they read
the American leaflets that were dropped on the streets, and with
their own ears heard the American radio broadcasts urging the people
to revolt. And they were there watching, too, when the insurgents
opened the doors of Budapest's prisons and let out 10,000 common
criminals and 3,000 Nazi war criminals, spies, and fascists. In
front of them and the horrified inhabitants of the city, these cut-
throats burned, hanged, and hacked to death Hungarian patriots,
murdering these ordinary workers and clerks, Communists and non-
Party people merely because they had remained faithful to their
country and its popular, democratic mode of government.
Finally, we Soviet people were able to personally apprise
ourselves of the purpose of all these atrocities. With our own
eyes we saw Otto Hapsburg, and Duke Josef, and Count Estergazy and
the other landed aristocrats come out and demand the return of their
lands, which had been distributed among the needy peasants of the
country as a result of the peaceful revolution of 1945. We also heard
.the Hungarian reactionaries announce that they meant to take the
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factories away from the people and give them to the capitalists.
We saw the Horthy gangs try to reinstate the old fascist regime which
had chained and oppressed the people of Hungary between the first and
second world wars.
Nor is that all. We Soviet people also know the truth about
Hungary because we were the only ones who came to the aid of our
brothers in Hungary and helped them put down the uprising. And
today we are giving them every possible economic assistance to help
them heal the wounds left on the economy of their country as quickly
25X1
as possible.
In case the American press has failed to tell you about it,
let me give you a few facts about the nature of this hel
Immediately after the disturbances, the Soviet Union sent Hungary
huge quentities of foodstuffs, fuel and building materials, to keep
the Hungarian people from becoming a prey to famine, cold and other
hardships. These supplies were gratis. As a result of the talks held,
in March between the two governments, Hungary is to receive goods and
free valuta to the tune of 214 million dollars from the Soviet Union
this year on a favourable ten-year, two per cent credit basis.
And there is another point The Soviet people also
25X1
know the truth about the Hungarian uprising because they have been
welcoming representatives of the Hungarian people and government to
our country and receiving them here as dear guests. And these
representatives, including Yanosh Kadar, the head of the government,
have made public speeches here giving us all the details of what
happened in Hungary last October. 25X1;
That's how things stand with regard to whether or
not the people of Soviet Russia know the true story of the Horthy
counter-revolutionary uprising. The way your question is put, one
would think that somebody was trying to mislead the Soviet people,
whereas the American people had been told the whole truth and nothing
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but the truth. '
That's really where the tragedy lies -- the truth 25X1
about Hungary has been carefully kept from the peoples of the west,
and especially the United States. It has been kept from them
deliberately, for underhand reasons. By whom? you ask. By the
same circles in"the western governments and political parties that
encouraged the insurgents and helped them. And their purpose in
doing so has been to hide their own part in organizing the counter-
revolutionary uprising and to try to use that situation as another
weapons in their cold war against the Soviet Union and People's
Democracies.
Unfortunately, the bourgeois press is the faithful servant
of these same circles, and far from helping the American people to
understand what happened in Hungary, it is doing everything it can to
prevent it.
Judging from your question,
you too. have accepted
the Fortune Magaine's false version, which shamelessly makes out the
counter-revolutionary uprising in Hungary to be a people's revolution
and claims that it was brutally crushed by the Soviet army. Yet
Fortune is only. another of the Henry Loos publications which are
known to specialize in vivious slander of everything Soviet. Can such
a publication be expected to present objective reports on Soviet
policy and activities? Obviously not. You must have noticed that
not a single one of the anti-Soviet statements in the article is
bolstered with facts.
Fortune's version of events in Hungary is only a continuation
of the big campaign of distortion and lies that other American
magazines and newspapers have been conducting for some months now,
and with them, the diplomats of both the United States and other
western countries. That explains how the Hungarian question came
up before the General Assembly in the doctored version with which
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you are acquainted. The Assembly set up a special committee to
investigate the situation in Hungary. But, strangely enough, the
investigation is being conducted in the United States and west
European countries; runaway traitors and enemies of the Hungarian
people's government are being interrrogated, and the same lies and
slanders they used to whitewash their crimes are repeated in the
.committee's reports. And then this is passed off on the public as
the truth about Hungary!
Only fear of the truth can explain the hostile
attitude the American and certain other western government have
5.
taken to the present Hungarian government. The latter, after all,
is in all respects the lawful government of the country, and the
western countries maintain diplomatic relations with it. And yet
not a single one of them has considered giving it material assistance.
UNO is holding back the mandate of the Hungarian delegation to that
body. Early this month the American and British embassies refused to
attend the memorial ceremony in Budapest when wreath were laid on the
graves of the American and British soldiers who gave their lives in
Hungary during the second world war. Aside from the fact that this
was an-insult to the finest feelings of the Hungarian people, it seems
to say that the American and British governments now regret that
their soldiers gave their lives to help free the Hungarian people from
fascist slavery. Perhaps it was something of the same feeling that
drove them into such a rage when a new attempt to enslave the
Hungarian people failed last October?
All I can say in conclusion, is that the hostile
propaganda unleashed in your country against the Soviet and Hungarian
peoples is hardly the right prism to look through if you want to see
the truth about Hungary.
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2nd Program
Yesterday we began a series of replies to ten questions from
an American listener
the coming days we s
hall reply to another
Every day for 25X
questions. Today you hear the reply of a Soviet journalist, MMMikhail25X1
Nadezhdin
which read as follows:
Do Many people flee into either Russia or the satellites each
year? How many?
Here is what Mikhail Nadezhdin says in reply:
In your letter of April 2nd,l you ask whether many 25X1
people come to Russia and the people' democracies to live. I under-
stand that you are interested in who these people are and why they
come to our country, or, if they were formerly Soviet citizens,
why they return to their homeland.
To understand, that we must first take a look back. You have
probably heard that following the war quite a large number of Soviet
citizens or so-called displaced persons found themselves in West
Germany and other countries
Nazis had driven from their
former prisoners of war,
had disgraced themselves
in the West. These were people whom the
homes to work in other countries, or
a certain number of people who
by collaborating with the Germans during
the occupation and retreated
punishment.
After the war, most of
the Soviet Union. There are
with the Nazis in order to escape
these displaced persons returned to
still some living abroad now, and
not only criminal elements, but honest people too -- although the
latter are in the mindrity, -- and if they have not returned,
it is only because the command of the British and American
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occupation armies it West Germany tried so hard at the time to
keep them from doing so, intimidating them with stories to the
effect that. their very having beem abroad was a "crime" in
Soviet eyes.
From a human point of view, it is easy to see how these
stories could give rise to doubts and hesitation in the minds
of the displaced persons in question. Living far from their
country for many years, and subjected to the false and hostile
information of the foreign press and hearsay, one can readily
understand why they lost their heads.
But now these same people are coming back by the thousands.
And
Why? Because they have realized what a mistake they made.
also because the Soviet government has facilitated their return
by granting amnesty to all former collaborationists. Even those
who took part in anti-Soviet subversive organizations after the
war have been assured safe return and pardons provided they make
a clean breast of their deeds.
Let me give you several examples thatshow what prompts
people to come back to their homeland. As a journalist, I have
met quite a few of them. Johannis Skeberdis has returned to
Lithuania from Canada. "I lived abroad for many years," he
related, "and what have I to show for it? Perhaps I became a
scientist, or an engineer, or even just a skilled worker in
Canada? Nothing of the sort! All I did was wash dishes in a
restaurant at 75 cents an hour. Life has turned out differently
for my son, whom I left behind in Lithuania when he was just a
little boy. He went to college, and became an engineer..."
The stories of many of the other displaced persons are no
different.
I wouldn't say that all of them have had the same fate
abroad, but it is certainly true of the overwhleming majority.
U
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How about those who betrayed their country during or after
the war? Well-- they are lso coming back. I have been to
Ostankino, where Victor Zalessky now lives and works. Taken out
of the country as a prisoner of war, he succumbed to the anti-
Soviet atmosphere of migree circles abroad and for four years
was active in the subversive anti-Soviet organization known as
the "League of Struggle for the Emancipation of Russia."
Today he is teaching mathematics in Ostankino, in one of the
building schools is there, while his wife heads the curricular
department of one of the municipal schools, and his dauther is a
student in a Teachers' College. There are scores of people like
Zalessky who have come home and found a place for themselves
again in life.
Among them are quite a few who while abroad were enlisted
for espionage Work by American and other sevret services,
underwent training there, and were sent to the Soviet Union to
carry out secret assignments. I don't know whether you have
read the reports of the press conference given by a group of
such people at the Soviet Foreign Ministry. In case you did not
see these reports, let me quote from the account one
25X1
of the men, Nikolai Yakuta, gave at press conference. "It
took us some time to make up our minds to give ourselves up,"
he stated. "But contact with Soviet realities showed us that
we had been cruelly deceived by the American secret agents,
and that they had lied to us about our people".
By the way not only Soviet citizens come to the Soviet
Union to live. In recent years there have been many applica-
tions for permission to live in our country and to take out
Soviet citizenship from foreigners as well.
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25X1 11
many people come to the Soviet Union and 25X1
all kinds of people, with all kinds of reasons for taking this
,step,, but common to them all I believe is the realization that
in the Soviet Union they can live and work for the benefit of
society under conditions of freedom and democracy.
And that suggests another example, which I am sure you too
will find very interesting, Mr. Kuehn. Last September the Red
Cross societies of Spain and the Soviet Union reached an
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agreement on the return of about two thousand Spaniards to their
own country. These were people who had been received here as
small children, at the time of the civil war in Spain, at the
request of their parents, who wanted to save them from the
horrors of that war. They left the Soviet Union last September,
and by the middle of Apri some two hundred of them
were already back here from Spain. The other day I met several
of them and asked them what had induced them to come back. Each
replied in almost the same words: "The working man has a better
time of it and is freer in your country than in Spain".
As for why foreigners go to the people's democracies to live,
I don't know that I can speak for them (perhaps it 25X1
would be better if you asked them directly. All I can suggest is
that they are probably motivited by much the same reasons.
v
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3rd Program
25X1
One of our American listeners
question
has addressed ten questions to Radio Moscow which25X1
occured to him when reading the articles about the Soviet Union
published in the February issue of Fortune Magazine.
our commentators are answering these questions in a ten-
day series of talks which began last Saturday. You, will be
able to hear them every day till April twenty-ninth
inclusive, at 6.50 Eastern Standard Time, with a repeat at
9.50.
In this evening's talk, our staff commentator,Alexander
Alexandrov answers
writes:
Your third.
I quote: "Since
Kremlin has been
Do you feel that
you will recall, is this.
25X1
collective leadership has replaced (Stalin the
losing its grip on foreign Communist Parties.
this decentralization is good or b'iad?"
Your statement of the question is incorrect from beginning
to end, and that is the outcome of deep misconceptions and a
lack of knowledge of the real state of affairs. I ',have to
tell you this for the sake'o.f truth. Apparently 25X1
a desire to know the truth was the motive behind your
questions.
Fortune Magazine which led you to ask your question
was guided by entirely different motives. Its aim is to instill
hatred and suspicion of everything Soviet and to create the
impression that people in other countries censure the way of
life the Soviet people are building and defending. And in order l
to prove the unprovable, it has to dissemble, juggle facts, and
engage in wishful thinking. The cold war crusaders have to
third question. Here is what he
25X1
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resort to such means beccause they have no others.
But to get down to the essense of your question. "hy is
your statement of it incorrect and unfounded?
Fortune has started talking about "de-Stalinization"
in ahattempt to discredit the USSR and Communism. As a
matter of fact there is no de-Stalinization just as there is
no need for such a thing. In the closing period of his life,
Stalin did commit a number of errors. But that was not all
that he did. And who does not make mistakes? For that reason,
the Soviet people, having revealed those mistakes and roundly
condemned them, continue to place high Stalin's tremendous
services to the country. And in order to ensure against such
mistakes being repeated, the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union has established principles of eollective leadership and is
continuing to strengthen and develop democracy in all sphere of
life in our country. For that reason,
it is 25X1
incorrect to contrast a period in Stalin's life with the
present collective leadership. The"Com-munist Party's chief
aim now remains, as before, to work for the welfare of the
common people.
And that brings us to the second part of your question,
I don't want to be rude, but to allege, as you do,
25X1
that the Kremlin controls communist parties abroad shows that
you have a completely distorted idea of the Soviet Union, its
Communist Party and the international Communist movement. The
enemies of Communism thought up that falsehood in order to
scare people with the notorious "Communist Menace", and. with
myths about the world Communist plot. But how could anyone
believe it?
The colidarity among the Communists in different countries
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stems from their-common aims which are to create a state system
under which there would be justice, freedom and democracy for al
J
lth shared in common. But that solidarity of ideas
all wea and
s never had anything in common with a plot nor with interferen?4
ha C
i
sm
ommun
ce by one Communist Party in the affairs of another.
is a science created by the great humanitarians, Marx, Engels
and Lenin. And Communists in any country know that a new
system cannot be imposed from without. But if the conditions
for its ascendancy develop, the people of the country concerned
will occupy themselves with consolidating it. Outside inter-
ference, Communists hold, would only injure the cause. Lenin
many times referred to the export of Communism as nonsense.
And look for yourself and see what the solidarity,
friendship and cooperation among Communists of different
countries has meant in.practice. They all, in cooperation
with other democratic organizations, came out in a united
front in the period between the two wars, against the plans
for preparing another slaughter, and they carried on an energe-
i
N
s
the az
tic struggle against those who were preparing it -
fascists in Italy and Spain, and the militarists
Germany, the
were
t
t
s
in Japan. And when the war did break out, the Communis
among the first to call for resistance against the aggressors
and to lay dowm their lives for the liberation of their
les from the horrors of Hitlerism?
eo
p
p
Since `r orld War II, the Communists of different countries
have taken similar stands where ways for promoting peace and
world. security are concerned* They are unanimous in their
demand for universal disarmament, a ban on the nuclear weapon,
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a stop to the cold war, and for the government to renounce the
policy from strength. 'hey are unanimous in wanting peaceful
coexistence and the development of friendly trade and cultural
contacts among nations.
And though certain of the haters of Communism and the
chasers after profits from another war don't like this unanimity,
that does not mean that it is a bad thing. The Communists are
unanimous on these points because they all want a lasting
peace for mankind and peaceful coexistence of the two systems.
That is also "eninist policy.
But you should understand yourself that to
have a common viewpoint on the problems of humanity does not
mean that one party is giving orders to another. No Communist
Party, and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union all the
more so, desires anything of the kind. o dictate would only
disrupt unity. And the talt about such a thing is merely a
malicious fabrication by enemies of Communism. For that
reasons your question about a "decentralization of the inter-
national Communist movement is merely a misunderstanding arising
from your believ in these fabrications
The revelation of Stalin's mistakes has beyond doubt LJ~.I
impelled the Communist parties in other countries to make a
critical review of their activities and to eliminate their
own mistakes if they have made any. ?l he elimination of
mistakes and misunderstandings, naturally, will still further
strengthen the international mutual understanding among
Communists.
of mankind
And that, from the standpoint of the interests
will be a very good thing -- a very
good thing.
I
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4f
4th rogram.
listener in the United States
We continue now with our answers to questions by a
February issue of Fortune magazine, a number of questions
In reading the articles about the Soviet Union in the 25X1
occured
which he has addressed to Radio'Moscow. 25X1
We're answering them in a series of talks which will be on the
air every day till April 29th at 6.50 p.m. Estarn Standard Time
a repeat at 9.50 p.m.
Tonight we're answering fourth question. Hez25X1
is what our commentator Alexander Alexandrov writes about it.
25X1
As usual, we'll begin by quoting your questions.
You write: "With the de-Stalinization of Russia your country has
moved closer to a peaceful stand on world problems. As your five-
year plans are continued they are becoming more and more successful.
Your country is moving closer and closer to a Socialistic way of
life. Is it possible that the future may see Russia ruled by a.
council of several men with supporting legislatures, and that your
country will continue past 6ocialism and drift into Capitalism?
that, as you see for yourself, is the dream of the editors of the
magazine Fortune we are talking about. However, they have a
bitter disappointment coming to them. But before explaining
to you just why that will happen, I want to make a couple of
remarks concerning the wording of your question.
Neither the Soviet people not their Communist Party nor
their government have been "de-Stalinizing" as you put it. Nor
have they any intention of doing so in the future. And that is
for good and simple reason that there has never been any such
r;
thing in existence as "Stalinism". That is a vulgar term
If not, why not?
As conserns Russia's returning to capitalism,
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invented by anti-Soviet propagandists in order to discredit the
great process of building a Communist society in the USSR.
That society is being created in accordance with Marxist-Leninist
scientific theory.
Furthermore, what do you mean by your assertion that Russia
has moved closer to a peaceful stand? One would have to be blind
not to see that Soviet Russia took peaceful coexistence, a struggle
for peace, and friendship among nations as the corner stone of her
foreign policy. right from the beginning -- from the very first day
of her existence. And the Soviet Union has never deviated from
? b
that course and never will deviate from it. If a number of vexting
international problems - problems of our time still remain
unsilved it is not our fault. To my mind, it is the actions of
the American government that are forcing its country and also its
allies in Western Europe to be eternally balancing on the brink
of war.
But that's just a remark in passing -- just for clarity.
25X1
Now for the chief point in your question We are not
only, as you put it, "moving closer and closer to a 6ociastli way
of life," we have in the main, already built socialism, and are now
beginning to develop it further -- to carry out gradually the
transition from Socialism to Communise. Millions of people take
an active part in administering the Soviet state, in the most
democratic possible way. Why should we give this up?
To make it clear to you -- I'll just recall for you the
main features of the Soviet system. The highest government body
in the USSR is.the Supreme Soviet, an elected body. It does not
consist of a few members, but of more than 1300 deputies. And
they are not professional politicians who are out of contact
with the people as they are in the Western countries including
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wow_
3.
yours, but of workers, peasants and professional people really
chosen by the people. And each of the republics of the Soviet
Union has its own Supreme Soviet which exercises the highest power
there. The government bodies in the smaller administrative areas
of the country -- the territories, regions, districts, cities and
so~~on, are also.elective bodies -- local councils of.people's
deputies. The Supreme Soviets appoint the highest state administra-
tive bodies -- the Council of Ministers of the USSR and of the
republics. The local administrative bodies are the executive
committees of the soviets, or councils, of people 's deputies. This
system ensures the Soviet people-against any violation of the laws;
it ensures them that the state will look to their welfare, and it
also ensures them broad democracy. Citizens of the. USSR .enjoy
freedom of speech and the press, freedom of conscience, and freedom
of assembly including the right to hold meetings, street
processions and demonstrations: IT heir persons and their homes.
are inviolable and the secrecy of correspondence is absolutely
guaranteed.
From this, of course, it is not to be assumed that our system
of state administration will never have changes made in it. It is
being improved constantly. Right now, for instance, the whole
country is discussing proposals for reforming the management of
Soviet industry by doing away with the centralized ministries and
replacing them by economic councils which would manage industry
in economic areas. The progress of the socialist system means the
development of freedom and democracy for allrmetmbers8 of. society.
According to the sd.ientific deductions..of 16arx.,' Engels and Lenin,
when a Communist society is b-uilt;' it will be poes.ble to do away
of others. And thaat . is bb
l I
rgpan vz cv na~~usz~iv , vy JLU #"-'' '- '
take. place.
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4.
And since the Soviet people do not want illusory
25X1
bourgeois democracy, they are still more against any resurgence
of capitalist ways in their country. I know the Western press
just licks its chops whenever the Soviet Union tackles some
temporary shortcoming or other in its economy. It gives it an
opportunity to shout: "Crisis in the USSR! "state capitalism",
and so on and so forth. That's just the hue and cry you are
witnessing now. And Fortune has joined in it. In a word, the
enemies of socialism are doing their best.to persuade the
Western public that nothing has come of socialism. But they are
doing that most of all because all is well with socialism; it is
not socialism that is falling to pieces but capitalism.
And since socialism has shown its advantages, since it
is having one success after another, the Soviet people will
never give it up. They will advance further, and only towards
Communism. It is socialism that is responsible for all the
economic and cultural achievements of the peoples.of the USSR.
Now all the country's wealth, its floarising industries, its
rapidly developing-anr:riculture, its mineral resources, its
forests -- everything in the country -- belongs to the people
and the people enjoy it all together. They are developing their
economy for the common good. And only the most naive could
imagine that they would ever take it into their head to give
all that to capitalists and take to breaking their backs a-;ain,
to give them profit. Russia has already tasted the joys of
capitalism -- she has drunk deep of a huge cup of bitterness,
sweat and tears. And her people will never try to turn the
wheel of history back, nor will they permit would-be restores of
capitalism to=.&o it from outside.
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5th . rogram.
This evening we're answering
we quote: "Is your labor organized into unions'Y
25X1
}
What caused the sitdown strike in the Kaganovich bearing plant?"
Our staff commentator Lyev Setyayev, has answered the question.
Here is what he writes:
There Eire 'trade unions in the USS~
an important part in the life of the country. Your question is a
very typical one from an American. It has been asked in several
of our letters from the United States.
It is true, as a matter of fact, that it may seem strange at
first glance that there should be trade unions in the USSR. There
are no private oropriators against whom it might be necessary to
defend the workers' interests. The factory managements consist of
state employees just like the workers themselves. Both of them
are working for the same aim -- the building of socialism. That
means that the workers and the management have the same interests.
it must be borne in mind here that the management may
wever
H
,
o
make mistakes, there may be shortcomings in its work which affect
the position of the worker. It is in such cases that trade
unions are needed to defend the interests of the workers. Vladimir
Ilyich Lenin called the Soviet trade unions "schools of Communism'
The trade unions teach the workers how to manage socialist industry.!
the trade unions in the USSR are a major force. They have a
membership of over forty-five million. `hey have branches at
every factory and institution. The unions see to it that safety
regulations and wage laws are observed; they conclude yearly
contracts with the factory managements, and occupy themselves
with social security, improving living and working conditions,
vacations, and so on. In his theses on the reorganization of
Soviet economic management, Nikita Khrushchev underlined that in
the future, the role and significance of the trade unions in
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managing enterprises would still further increase.
Labour and wages are among the most important things the
trade unions occupy themselves with. They take part in planning
the payroll, and see to it that the worker gets the right pay
for his work. At the end of last year, for instance, the wage
scale at many factories was raised. The project was worked out by
the USSR Central Council of Trade Unions, and before it came
into force, it was discussed in details by the workers at factory
and shop meetings. They made many suggestions and amendments
to it.
In your letter, you mention the Kaganovich 25X1
Bearing Plant. So in my remarks about trade unions I shall
be taking my illustrations from that plant. It is interesting to
note what has been done there to improve working conditions..
Last year over one million rubles was spent for the purpose.
In the automatic turning ship, mobile devices for handling the
heavy machine-parts was installed. In the roller-bering
shop, five cranes were installed for transportation purposes.
In the forge, automatic devices for handling the blanks to be
forged were put in. Now the workers don't have to do any of
this by hand and the accident risk has been completely done
away with.
The trade unions have charge of the distribution of state
social insurance. They issue sick insurance and see to it that
the medical services and health protection measures are kept at
par. The trade unions also provide their members with health-
ful and. pleasant vacations. hey arrange for their accomoda-
tions at health resorts, and pay seventy percent of their cost.
The worker pays only thirty percent. So if the cost is a thousand
rubles, the worker only has to pay three hundred. Last year,
the trade-union at the Ka-anovich plant paid out about a
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3.
million rubles for this purpose. Also the trade union maintains
a so-called night sanatorium for the workers at the plant. It can,
take care of seven hundred people a year. The worker spends all
his time outside working hours at the sanatorium. He sleeps and
gets his meals there, and is given whatever treatments he needs.
There are also recreation facilities at the night sanatorium.
The trade unions do a great deal to improve the living condi-
tions of the workers. The Fearing Plant is building a lot of
housing for its personnel. Just recently a seven-story apartment
house was turned over for tenancy there. Also, many of the
workers are building their own homes. The trade union gives them
loans on easy terms and helps them with building materials.
Much is done to im,)rove the cultural level of the workers.
The plant has its own club where the personnel can see a movie,
dance, and enjoy a considerable number of recreation facilities.
The factory trade union committee also maintains a big library
and reading room for the personnel.
As for the sitdou'm strike that supposedly occurred at the
Bearing Plant, Fortune has ben pulling your leg. There was no
such thing. The rumours the Western press circulated about it
were refuted long ago by Radio Berlin correspondent Heinz ~'?~
Stueler. About a month ago, he decided to check up on them.
Stueler had detailed talks with workers and trade-union leaders
at the plant and, when he asked them about the rumoured strike,
they were very much surprised.
For that reason, it would have been much more correct
to state your question in this way: Are there any labor
disputes at Soviet plants, and if so, how are they settled?
Labour disputes between personnel and management do occur, and
we're not afraid to talk about them. Disputes may occur
concerning pay for overtime, payment of bonuses, dismissals
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from work, and so on. There are special commissions, called
labor dispute commissions at every enterprise which settle such
disputes. They are made up of an equal number of members of the
personnel and the management, all of whom have aneclual voice in
the matter. Each case is discussed in the presence of the person
cohcerned, and the committee's decision does not have to be
approved by any other body. If the person is not satisfied
its decision he can go to law about it.
with
I went to the Bearing plant today in connection with your
question and had a talk with Vitold fsheradovsky.
He works in the,machine-repair shop and is one of the workers'
representatives on the committee on labor disputes. I asked him
for some examples of the disputes which had been decided in
favour of the workers. Vitold Psheradovsky said that the
committee had had such a case just recently. One of the shop
foremen, Anisimov, was discharged as being redundant on Janury
twenty-fourth. The personeel department did not find him another
job and Anisimov was without a job till Narch fifteenth.
He demanded pay from the plant management for this time. The
management refused to pay the whole sum, but the committee
took the side of the worker and the plant paid him his average
earnings for the time he was out of work.
Or here's another instance-of the kind. A mechanic named
Sorokin, in the roller-bering shop, repaired several machines in
January and he got a bonus for the job. But in February, one of
the machines broke down again, and fifty percent of Sorokin's
bonus was deducted from his wages. Sorokin applied to the
committee of labour disputes. A through investigation was made
and it was found that Sorokin's work was not to blame for
the machine's breaking down. Sorokin's bonus was returned.
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5.
25X1
And so you see labour disputes in our country are
not settled and never have been by strikes of any kind. The
workers just haven't any reason for striking.
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bth2rogram.
This time our observer Stanislav P11enshikov is replying to
the sixth questio
"does your industry
25X1
estimate it will be able to enter world trade competiion on a
large scae? What products do you think will be exported?"
In replying to those-question I should like tc25X1
make the point right at the outset that they are really not worded
quite correctly. The Soviet Union does not intend to take part
in international competition, because our economy does not and
will not experience any heed for the conquest of world markets.
Now that may sound strange to people living under the conditions
of the capitalist system and accustomed to seeing day after day
how private business houses, large and small, do their.utmost
to raise their sales and the level of their profits, making use,
among other things, of the markets of other countries.
There are no private companies in the Soviet Union. The
overwhelming majority of the goods turned out belongs to the state.
Goods are made and sold according to a general plan. And for
that reason we always have the opportunity of finding the best
consumer for any goods right here in the country.
This does not mean however that we are not interested in
commercial ties with other countries. To promote its economic
development the Soviet Union readily makes purchases abroad of
many types of machines, equipment and raw materials. But trade
cannot be one-sided. In order to have the opportunity of
importing the goods we need, we must sell our own goods in other
countries. Our state sets aside a certain part of the output of
industry and agriculture for export. And our foreign trade
organizations see to it that these goods are purchased by foreign
consumers.
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2. 25X1
The Soviet Union now has extensive business ties with the
People's Democracies in Europe and Asia. But this is certainly
not a question of competition. Our economic cooperation with the
countries belonging to the socialist camp would more correctly
be called mutual assistance. By means of mutual trade, the
socialist countries are working to-11ards unity of effort, and are
helping each other in achieving a rapid economic upsurge and
technical progress.
In trading with the underdeveloped countries of Asia and
Africa, the Soviet Union follows consideration of mutual advantage!!
At the same time, the Soviet Union is ready to give and does give
economic help to 'those underdeveloped countries which desire it,
without any strings attached.
The Soviet Union is also interested in extending its
commercial contacts with all countries because this would help
to improve the international political atmosphere.
You can see from what has been said that even 25X1
though the Soviet Union is not entered in world trade competition
to use your own phrase -- it has extensive foreign trade ties
and is interested in seeing them still larger.
You would be wrong you thought, as is so often assumed
in the West, that our country holds only a modest place in world
trade. On the contrary, the USSR is today one of the largest
trading nations in the world. Its total foreign trade turnover
amounts to more than six billion dollars. Only five other
countries, the United States, Great Britain, West Germany, France
and Canada, have a larger foreign trade turnover than we do.
Before the second world war, the situation was quite a different
one -- we held only 16th place in the world then. So it has
been precisely in the past few years, in spite of the unvilling-
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3.
ness of a number of western countries to trade with us actively,
that the Soviet Union has begun to conduct its foreign trade on
a truly large scale.
And in this same period another very essential change has
taken place. Soviet industry has been advancing rapidly and has
begun to enter more and more actively into our exports. The
Soviet Union has now become one of the most important exporters
of oil products, ferrous and non-ferrous metals and, what is
especially important, machines and equipment. The specific weiTht
of the latter in total Soviet exports has now grown to 22 percent,
as-against 5 percent in the pre-war yesrs. Soviet engineering
plants export equipment for the oil, mining, chemical, steel and
aluminum industries, for electric power stations, they export
tractors and other farm machines, automobiles and other goods.
Soviet equipment finds eager buyers not only in the People's
Democracies and the underdeveloped countries, but also in some
capitalist states with well-developed industries..'
recall hat Dressers industries of the 25X1
You may'
United States last year bought from the Soviet Union the licence
for the manufacture of a new Soviet-designed turbo-drill. But the
U.S. State Department stepped in and. prevented the deal from
being realized. It is a fact, however, that there are busine3s
men in the United States who are interested in the purchase of
Soviet goods.
Judging by the Way Soviet industrial goods are regarded in
foreign countries, their export should be increased greatly in
the next few years.
This is a natural process. No matter how hard the author
of the article in the February issue of Fortune tried to prove
that there was a "crisis" in Soviet industry, facts remain facts.
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Of the 40 years that the Soviet government has existed, 18
years have been spent fighting wars forced on our country or
liquidating the economic consequences of those wars. Neverthe-
less, as compared with the pre-revolutionary period, the volume
of industrial production in the USSR has risen 30 times, and as
against 1940, four times. In the case of the machine building
and metal working industries, output has risen 180 times since
1913. The Soviet Union. has become the second most.important
industrial power in the world, and is confidently overtaking the
first -- the United States. This means that Soviet foreign trade
in industrial products will continue to grow.
Sometimes the expansion of Soviet foreign trade is pictured
by the press in your country as some kind of an "export offensive"
which, supposedly, threatens manufacturing firms in the United
States with the loss of markets. I do not believe there is any
serious justification for fears of this kind. The volume of
international trade has been growing of late, and there is plenty
of room on the world market for all the goods for which a demand
really exists. On the other hand, the increase of Soviet
industrial exports does not mean that we have any intention of
cutting our imports of the products of foreign industry.. OUT
country continues, as in the past to be a large importer of
machines and equipment. Many firms in Western Europe, which
have regular dealings with our foreign trade organizations, know
that the Soviet Union imports machines and equipment-every year
to the approximate value of one billion dollars. Our imports
in this field include sea-going and river boats, boilers, power
station and foundry equipment, machine tools and so forth. There
could be nothing more absurd than to think that the Soviet Union
is striving toward autarky, which is a national policy of netting
~r.
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along without goods from other countries.
In my opinion,F all of the aforesaid offers a
sound basis for closer commercial ties being established between
the Soviet Union and the United States, and I sincerely hope
that such contacts will develop more successfully in the future
than they have up to the present.
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7th Program.
25X1
Toni ht we deal with his 7th question
"Russia's problems stem from the time of Peter the Great and his
quest to westernize Russia by obtaining warm water sea ports.
Is Russia still trying to get these warm water ports? Will they
be needed in order that you may enter world trade?"
d
at is
, U -
l ?
The problem you have in 1I1_L11
warm water seaports, was of great significance to czarist Russia
long before. the days of Peter the First. Long after it had become
a great power Russia still lacked an outlet to the seas on which
lay the international trade routes. That naturally hindered its
economic development and so Czarist Russia persevered in its
serch for an opening. That does not mean that Russia did not.
trade with other countries'. It did, by overland routes. But a
great country needs more mercantile arteries with the outside
world, As far back as the 16th century Czar Ivan the 4th, known as!
Ivan the Terrible, again and again sought to get out to the Baltic
Sea. He was frustrated by Sweden and the Germanic states, while in',
the south Turkey and the Cirmean Tatars blocked all egress to the
Black Sea.
By the time Pter the Great ascended the throne Russia's need
for broader trade and cultural ties with other European countries
had grown much more pressing. That need and aspiration were most
plainly expressed by Peter the Great during his reign at the end
of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries. After its
successful land and sea wars against Sweden, Czarist Russia
obtained an outlet to the Baltid Sea. That is when Peter built his
new capital, the town and port of St. Ptersburg -- now Leningrad--
on the banks of the Neva.
Peter the First also tried to obtain an exit to the Black
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yea, but in vain. It was only under Catherine the =nd that
Russia at last achieved that goal. The Baltic and Black Sea
ports grew very rapidly and served as vital trade arteries to
czarist Russia. And when 1-3iberia and the Far East were broucht
under its win;, Russia also obtained ports on the Pacific Ocean,
but these developed much more slowly, due to their greet
distance from the center of Russia.
Mention should also be made of the northern trade route,
which is connected with Murmansk, a port which never freezes over.
From this brief historical note you can see that
25X1
by the time of the 1917 revolution Rurria has sifficient warm
water sea ports through which she traded with other countries.
After the revolution of 1917 Soviet Russia lived through
the difficult years of the intervention launched by the capitalist
countries of Europe and America. The interventionists set them-
selves the goal of crushing Soviet power and dismembering,
Russia. But they never succeeded. The Soviet people smashed then
and flung them out of the country. Soviet Russia retained
intact territorially, keeping its vital conmetcial ports on the
Baltic and Black Sea boards and on the Pacific coast.
You ask if the Soviet Union needs warm water ports in order
to enter world trade. I think the answer is clear. The Soviet
Union already has ports and everything else needed for successful
trade with other countries. It does not nerd to acquire any 25X1
more and has no expansionist designs. Our country
possesses everything necessary for steady economic development.
We have an enormous territory,.covering one-sixth of the earth's
surface, and countless deposits of useful minerals. Our country
is like an enormous warehouse, with all the iron and coal, oil
and bauxite, gold and diamonds and many other rare metals --
some of them exceedingly rare--that are so indispensable in
'7
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modern production. The Soviet people will take decades to
explicit even a part of these tremendous riches.
Take all that into consideration and you will understand many
things about our economy, policy and trade, the latter seems to
interest you most. Before concluding I want to return to the
question of trade.
1e are not selfish, and don't hoard our riches like Midas.
We are very willing to share them with anyone who wishes, on the
basis of mutually advantageous trade. And there are many countries
who wish to trade and to trade with the Soviet Union, both
socialist and capitalist countries in the East and West.
That brings me to America's trade policy. I don't want to
go back to the distant past. There have been bad and good example.
There was fruitful trade between our two countries in Roosevelt's
time. But let us take the past -ten years. If we look facts
square in the face we will see that Washington's Policy for nearly
ten years now has been to,set up an embargo against the,Soviet
Union. The United States itself broke off trading with us and is
trying to compel the West European countries to do likewise. The
purpose is clearly to retard our economic development. Has anyone
in Washington thoucht whether it is feasible? This is like
imprisoning a man in a warehouse full of food and waiting for
him to die of hunger.
Don't you agree that it's absurd The American
25X1
policy of blocking trade with the Soviet Union is even more
absurd. We want to do business with the United States and many
Americans obviously want this as well. But the State Department
is of a different mind. The Soviet Union is not fading away or
dying as a result. Our economy is developing at a rate that
neither the United States nor any other capitalist country has
ever known.
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4.
The politicians in 'Washington want to fence off the Soviet
Union with trade barriers, but we are steadily expanding our
commercial connections and increasing our trade turnover every year.
And the West European countries have no desire to sit on this
American fence. They are doing more and more business with us,
despite the American ban. So that the discriminatory trade policy
is proving a bommerang, after all.
Before closing I want ti emphasize that the Soviet Union
has everything necessary for broad, fruitful trade with other
countries.
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the 8th Pro gram.
Today you can hear the reply to the 8th question by Moscow
Radio commentator Vladimir Volgin.
question reads as 25X1
follows: "The Russian government is willing to withdraw its
troops from Europe if the United States do the same. is this due
to the fact,
that too
much of your budget, just all
25X1
as ours, is being spent on the armanent race?"
Yes,
there is indeed a great desire among the 25X1
people and government of the Soviet Union to cut military
expenditures, and that is unquestionably one of the things that
has prompted the Soviet proposal of which you speak. Still, it is
only a secondary, not the main reason. The main reason is that
our government regards the withdrawal of foreign troops from the
territory of other states as a key to greater trust and under-
standing among all nations -- as one of the decisive factors
in strengthening world peace and security.
Suppose we stop for..a moment, and consider the situation
that has arisen in Europe. The Old World is split into two
opposing camps. In one of them, NATO forces are stationed, in
the other, the forces of the Warsaw. Pact countries. Each has
turned the mouth of its guns at the other. We here consider that
to be an abnormal situation, and , in fact, a very dangeours one,
liable to lead to all kinds of conflicts and clashes.
This situation is the direct result of the creation of the
North Atlantic Pact. You must remember that without NATO, there
would have been no Warsaw Pact. When the diplomats in Washington
set up NATO, and began to accelerate military preparations,
throwing a rind of military bases around the USSR and other
socialist countries, and then began to arm the West-German
revanchists there was nothing left for the socialist countries but
to take measures to guarantee their own security. And so they
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?_.
concluded the Warsaw Pact. But even at the time o'L its coact sior
the Soviet Union came out against the existence of such facts, the
effect of 1.Aihich is to split Europe into two military blocs. It
still holds to the same view today. "7e believe that the best way
to assure Europe and America peace is through a system of' collec-
tive security embracing all the countries of i;urope and America.
This has been repeatedly urged by the Soviet Union, only to be
rejected each time by the United States. It goes without saying
that acceptance of the Soviet proposals on the liquidation of
such blocs would. greatly facilitate the regulation of the German
problem. The evacuation of foreign troops from the territories
of both. the German federal and the German democratic republics
would pave the way for a settlement of the que_$tion of German
unification by the will and energies of the German people, who
themselves, after all, are the ones directly concerned.
Unfortunately, the ruling cirles of the United States have failed
to heed the voice of reason, and are persisting in-their
splitting activities, even intensifying them by helping the
rebirth of the Hitler Wehrmacht in West Germany. They have
rejected the Soviet suggestion that all four powers withdraw
their troops from Germany.
Despite the atubborn position taken by American diplomacy,
25X1
the Soviet government is still doing everything in its
power to find a mutually acceptable solution of the problam of
European security. Inasmuch as the western powers are not ready
not to do away with the blocs, our government has suggested that
a non-aggression pact be concluded between the NATO and 'Narsaw
Pact countries, and that certain measures be implemented as a
beginning. Although they do not embrace all aspects of the
problem, these measures could lead to substantial progress.
Perhaps, you have read about the Soviet government 25X1
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3.
disarmament statement of November 17, 1956. Among the measures
suggested in that statement are: a one-third cut in the armed
forces of the four great powers in ermany; the marked reduc-
tion of American,. British and French forces stationed on the
territories of the NATO countries, and of the Soviet forces
stationed in the `'Warsaw Pact countries, and also the abolition of
foreign military bases in the course of two years. These sugges-
tions also provide of course for a suitable system-of control
over the. implementation of these measures, including airphoto
graphy in the areas where most of the NATO and Warsaw Pact forces
are stationed. These suggestions tand good today, just as when
they were made last autumn. We are holding to them because we
believe they are the real key to the question of peace in Europe.
They offer the only effective and radical solution to the wide
problem of European security. 25X1
let us return to the part of your question
in which you touched on the Soviet and American military budgests.1
The Fortune article of which you speak tries to prove that our
economy is heavily burdened by huge military expenditures. The
magazine makes this claim without any attempt at proof, and for
reasons best known of it. But the truth of the matter is that
our country's defense outlays look rather small compared to the
military appropriations of the American, budget. In the U.S.
budget, 63 per cent of experindires go for military purposes,
whereas the Soviet Union has limited that item of expenditure to
16 per cent.
This comparison in itself says a lot. And what has actually
been taking place in the. Soviet Union in recent years ays eve125X1
more. Our country has made great economic strides
Not only have our people reconstructed the cities, villages and
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factories destroyed by the Nazis in the war, but they have
brought our economy a long ways ahead. The general standard of
living has been raised. They have mana,ed all this because our
country has been pursuing a policy of peace and directing most of
its resources for civilian and constructive needs. That is an
intrinsic feature of our socialist development. Our economy is
patterned not for arms races and rusing military expenditures,
but for peaceful constructive work and the ultimate aim oi''which
is a continued rise in the living standards of the people.
That is
That's where the real crux of the matter lies
why we want tensions relaxed, arms cut, and peace ensured
25X1
throughout the world.
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the 9th Program.
Tonight our observer, Alexander Petrov, deals with his ninth
question.
"Russia As a rising country has many 25X1
openings for its youth. `What are the prospects of Russia's young
people?" Here is Alexander Petrov.
If you don't mind, I want to go back into Russian 25X1
history a little before answering that question. Back in 1920 the
Young Communist League of Russia was having its third national
congress in Moscow. The young soviet republic was still lying in
ruins, after several years of. the "orld 'war and the civil war.
Many delegates had come right from the front, as the fight against
the foreign interventionists was still going on Russia's borders.
The invaders, in collaboration with the internal counter-revolu-
tionaries, were attempting to crush the Russian people's movement
towards a new life with fire and the sword. I mention this congress
because Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the revolution, made a never
to be forgotten speech there. "Do you know what the task is now?"
he asked the young delegates. Everyone thought he would talk about
ending the war and restoring industry and transportation. But
Lenin said simply, "your task is to study".
He went on to explain
that you can only become a Communist after you have enriched your
mind with all the treasures produced by mankind. The young people,
Alexander Petrov went on, realized what sage advice that was and
enthusiastically threw themselves into their studies, although
those were very difficult times and they were obliged to combine
their studies with hard work. Lenin's behest became the main
thing in the attitude of our state and society towards the youth, 25X1
Soviet power has only existed 40 years in this country,
but see what amazing results it has obtained in the field of
25X1
The Soviet Union is the first country in the world where
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2.
all children receive a free, compulsory seven-year education and
where the task of giving all young people a senior high school
education free of charge is successfully being coped with.
Basically the task will be solved by 1960. There is not a single
educational establishment in this country where tuition fees are
exacted. The Soviet Union has more college and technical stud(UNCODED
than any other country in the world, including the United States.
Most of them receive a monthly allowance from the government, which
means that they do not have to 1^ok for work as a means of
subsistence. The whole country is literally covered with a network
of all kinds of educational establishments, beginning v,vith daytime
schools and colleges and ending with young workers' schools,
evening colleges, correspondence courses, and so on.
The state and society are very solicitous of the young workers.
Everyone between the age of 16 and 18, and older ones who study, havE
a short working day, although they get the same pay as the other
workers and office employees. They are also given many-other
privileges, including time off with pay in which to take their
examinations, in addition to the regular annual vacation, which is
also paid.
Thousands of clubs, stadi.Luns, water stations, tourists
hotels, technical and nature lovers' stations and the like
exist throughout the Soviet Union for the young people's benefit.
Everyone takes an interest in the young people's education.
They are imbued with humane ideals, a love of work, and respect
for other nations and their culture. Our literature movies and
theatre plays contain none of the obscenities, displays of hatred
and disrespect for other nations and races or other perversions
often found in your country) 25X1
We are noe enjoying the fruits of that education. Our country
has had to overcome no small difficul.tiea in its march towards
U 0
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3.
a life of abundance and happiness for all. It still has to open
up new regions, build factories and sink mines in hitherto
uninhabited areas, plough up virgin land, and so on. The young
people are always the first to respond to the Soviet government's
appeal for volunteers and they enthustiastically take their
place in the front ranks of these modern pioneers. The last war,
when the savage Nazi hordes treacherously attacked the Soviet
Union, put a severe test on our people. When, too, our youth
showed that they prize the things their fathers fought for and
won. They spared neither, their forces nor their lives in the
fight to smash the aggressor. Whether they were operating
machines and tilling fields in the rear or fighting at the
front and. in the partisan detachments, Soviet boys and girls
displayed marvels of heroism. Many laid down their lives in
the fight for their country.
The Soviet youth confidently look to the future. 6ocialism
ensures them an education, cork in their special field, and good,
wholesome recreation. And they are doing their beat, along with
the rest of the Soviet people, to multiply these opportunities.
And now, before closing, I can't help mentioning the
exceedingly friendly ?entiments which our young men and women
nurture for boys and. girls of their own age in other lands. They l
avant to see that friendship grow bigger and stronger, as the
future to the youth.
The sixth world festival of youth and students is goin- to
be held in Moscow this summer. Guests will be coming in from all
countries. There will be a big delegation from the United States).
too. it would be fine if you could come with that group
You would make the acquaintance of many Soviet boys and.
25X1
girls and they would tell you, better than I can over the radio, .
about themselves and their plans,
q 1
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the 10th Program
!?nd now we bring you our tenth and last broadcast in our
series of answers by Moscow commentators to questions from I)GV^
an American listener
His ,,ft question is: What type of exhibit is being planned
25X1
for the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels? I hope to attend and
wonder what I can look forward to seeing.
Here is what our commentator, Alexander Alexandrov, writes
in answer to it.
I quite understand your-interest in the coming Brussels Fair.
?ryi
The last world fair was held almost two decades ago, ih
1939, in New York. Since the
war there have been fairs and shows
in no few countrie with many countries exhibiting at them, but they
were not world fairs in the full sense of the word. The consequengm
of the war and the period of cold-war following it were responsible
for that.
And so the Brussels Fair, which opens in April next year will
be the first for a long time at which the peoples will be able to
demonstrate their achievements in industry, science and culture,
and exchange experience. Fifty some odd countries have announced
that they will be taking part in it. including the United States
and the Soviet Union. Preparations for it are already in full
swing on five hundred acres of grounds in Heisel, a suburb of
Brussels. Since there's a whole year ahead before the fair opens,
the exhibitors have only made a general preliminary outline of .,That
they intend to have on display. One thing that is certain, thourh
is that scientific achievements will hold a leading place.
Among other things, there is to be a very unusual structure
at the fair called an atomium_. It will be in the form of an iron
molecule enlarged 200 billion times. It will have nine spheres
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there will be escalators to take visitors up and down. On the
too o'" the structure at a height of over three hundred feet,
there ri ll be an observation platform.
Each of the nine spheres
will contain exhibits of one of the countries that have done the
most towards iitulizing atomic energy for peaceful purposes. One
of them will contain the Soviet exhibit.
Science will also be centered in another pavilion -- a
huge Palace of Ucience. The idea of this palace is to show the
steady and inter-dependent development of science from the
simpliest atom to the most complex systems. For that reason, it
is to be divided into four sectors: the atom, which will have
to do with questions of physics; the molecule, which will
concern chemistry; the crystal, physics of solid bodies; and
the living cell, biology. The work the scientists of many
countries have done will also be demonstrated in the palace
of science. The Soviet exhibits will illustrate, among other
things, the Soviet Union's research in the sphere of organic
compounds containing metals, chain reactions, and the use of
isotopes in plant physiology.
In addition to these international pavilions, each of the
countries exhibiting at the fair will have its ovm pavilion. 25X1
I don't suppose that you expect me to describe
the pavilions and exhibits of every country. For that reason,
I'm only going to take up the'plans of the Soviet Union for the
fair. The ceremony at which the cornerstone for the Soviet
pavilion was laid took place in January. It will be one of the
biggest at the fair, with a total of 1)376,000 square feet of
floor space, and will be unique from the engineering standpoint.
It will be 3,500 feet long and 82 feet high, and will be male
of aluminum and glass. The whole of this. huge building will be
suspended by means of invisible cables on sixteen slender columns.
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The entrance to the building will be decorated 'ith a two hundred
foot obelisk and a sculpture of stainless steel.
But what will surprise the visitor When he gets to the top of
the beautiful broad staircase leading into it? I think I am
safe in saying that they will be surprised by everything that
the peoples of our country have done in advancing their
industry, engineering, science and culture. In answer to our
reporter's questions, the manager of the Soviet pavilion,
Alexander Nikiforov, said that the USSR would not strive for
sensation for the sake of sensation. It intends to show itself
as it is. The building of soviet society presents a wide
choice of interesting subjects, Alexander Nikiforov said, and
we'll be slecting themes from among them for the fair."
The Soviet people
have transformed their
country from a-backward power to one o.,' the most advanced
industrial powers in the world in just the few decades since the
land-owner-capitalist order here was abolished. or that reason
their biggest displays will be devoted to the country's raw-
materials resources and the develo-ment of its industries. The
exhibits will show the visitors to the fair the latest industrial
methods used in the USSR its unique machines and apparatus, and
developments in Soviet electronics, remote-control, supersonics,
aviation and so on.
That is not all that will be shown in the Soviet pavilion
however, by any means. Among many other things, the visitors
will get acquainted with Russian and Soviet painting, and they
will be able to see Soviet films and see Soviet stage artists
perform and hear Soviet musicians. Also, if they like, they
will be able to try the national dishes of the peoples of the
various republics of the USSR.
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-4.
The way they're planning things now, the fair will be open for
six or seven months, and about thirty-five million people are.
expected to visit it. Just think hat a big part 25X1
the fair will play in increasing mutual understanding among
nations. Those thirty-five million Russians, Americans, Arabs,
Chinese and other people will be seeing each other's achievements
qnd what they are doing. And that is a sure way to mutual
confidence.
I .have mentioned this because you and I have the same
idea. You write in your letter of April 2 that if there were
more exchange of opinion like that which hs taken place between
you and Radio Moscow commentators, the need for arms would be
cut by simple understanding. And that's a fact. This series
of answers to your questions
should show you how far from the truth`
are the ideas about the USSR being spread by supporters of the
cold war in the United States. True, this time, Fortune put it-
self in a spot with the anti-Soviet articles you based your
questions on and by means of which it was trying to show that the
Soviet system was going through a crisis. Since it published
them, it has had to 'take a slap in the face.
the letter published in its April issue
I have in mind
which completely refutes the February articles
25X1
and calls them a poor service. But how many such poor services
spoiling the relations between our peoples have been done by the
American press and political leaders with impunity?
As concerns means for counteracting propaganda, and the
hatred of one country for another and of one people for another,
which is so dangerous to all, the most reliable of them is to
build up close international contacts in all spheres of human
activity.
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