ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE SOVIET UNION

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• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 4, 2005
• Sequence Number: 55
• Publication Date: January 1, 1964
• Content Type: OPEN

1964
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE
1227
one which will allow our farmers to farm,
put their cotton on the world market at
competitive prices and relieve the textile
industry from the iniquitous two-priced
cotton system.
As I have repeatedly stated, it is be-
coming increasingly imperative that the
Congress abandon the present cotton
program and begin anew with a sensible
and economical plan for aiding the cot-
ton industry. I believe that these de-
sired goals could be achieved through
the enactment of the Talmadge-Hum-
phrey cotton plan, which in addition to
being the most practical one proposed,
it is also the least expensive, when com-
pared to our present cotton program and
the one recently passed in the House of
Representatives.
Mr. President, there appeared in the
New Orleans Times-Picayune on Janu-
ary 22 a splendid editorial calling atten-
tion to the advantages of the Talmadge-
Humphrey Plan, and I ask unanimous
consent that it be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the editorial
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
[Prom the New Orleans Times-Picayune,
Jan. 22, 19641
MERIT IN TALMADGE COTTON PLAN
The cotton industry's troubles are so seri-
ous and involved as to raise the question
of whether an entirely new approach to solv-
ing them is necessary.
One plan after another has led finally to
the frustration represented by the Cooley
bill (passed the House and now in the Sen-
ate) prescribing a subsidy In the form of a
discount to domestic textile manufacturers
to protect them against the effects of an-
other subsidy-the export subsidy which en-
ables foreign manufacturers to procure U.S.
cotton at. the world price and sell the goods
in this country. The Cooley bill would add
an estimated $220 million or more to the
cost of the Government's cotton program.
Congress has dealt with numerous cotton
bills, most of which offered nothing toward
a fundamental solution.
There Is an exception, however. It is Sen-
ate bill 1190, introduced last spring by Sen-
ator HERMAN TALMADGE, Democrat, of Georgia,
and Senator HUBERT HUMPHREY, Democrat, of
Minnesota. The essence of the bill Is to
abandon the high price support and acreage
allotment system that has kept the domestic
price of cotton about 25 percent higher than
the world market price. Instead, unlimited
acreage and a support price of 50 to 60 per-
cent of parity would reduce the domestic
price to about the world price. This single
price would eliminate the need for export
subsidies of 8.5 cents per pound that have
been necessary to make American cotton
competitive in the world market. And It
would permit American textile manufactur-
ers to meet foreign competition without sub-
sidies.
To preserve the cottongrowers' income,
current high price supports would be re-
placed by a direct income supplement based
on assigned shares of the domestic market
and computed in inverse ratio to the farm-
er's output. Thus large cotton producers,
principally In the West, would be permitted
to produce to the full extent of their re-
sources for the world market, ' while small
farmers, principally in the South and South-
east, would maintain their income levels.with
the aid of the direct subsidies.
The straightforward logic of this approach
h
as not earned the Talmadge-Humphrey bill
the congressional attention it deserves. The
men, but presumably for political reasons
administration support went to the Cooley
bill.
Opposition to the Talmadge-Humphrey
approach rests on the direct dependence
placed in the Federal Treasury to maintain
farm income. But it is hard to make much
over the direct payments if the plan is going
to cost the Government less, free the market,
and possibly bring the supply of cotton into
balance with demand.
MERIT IN TALMADGE COTTON PLAN
Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. President, for a
number of years this Nation's cotton ex-
port subsidy program has placed an eco-
nonfic hardship on the U.S. textile indus-
try by enabling foreign manufacturers
to buy American-grown cotton at a price
81/2 cents below that paid by our mills.
This inequitable two-price system,
coupled with lower wage scales prevailing
in other countries, has resulted in a flood
of cheap textile imports into the United
.States to the serious detriment of our
textile industry.
Along with many other Members of
Congress, I long have protested against
this intolerable condition, but up to now
we have been unable to make our voices
heard above that of the State Depart-
ment. However, I am delighted to note
that the Committee on Agriculture is
now conducting hearings. on various pro-
posals to provide a solution to the cotton
textile proble .
One of the bills before the committee
is the plan sponsored by my distin-
guished colleague [Mr. TALMADGE], and
cosponsored by the Senator from Min-
nesota [Mr. HUMPHREY], which under-
takes to establish a single world market
price for American cotton, while, at the
same time, providing a sound program
to assure a fair income for the Nation's
cotton producers.
Mr. President, the merits of the Tat=
madge cotton bill were ably discussed in
a recent editorial of the New Orleans
Times_Picayune. As the editorial sug-
gests, the bill's approach to the prob-
lems of the textile. industry and to our
cotton farmers is so straightforward
and logical that it may not have received
the attention it deserves. I, therefore,
ask unanimous consent to have this edi-
torial printed in the body of the RECORD,
in the hope that all our colleagues will
have an opportunity to read it.
There being no objection, the editorial
was ordered to be printed in the REC-
ORD, as follows:
MERIT IN TALMADGE COTTON PLAN
The cotton industry's troubles are so seri-
ous and involved as to raise the question of
whether an entirely new approach to solving
them is necessary.
One plan after another has led finally to
the frustration represented by the Cooley bill
(passed the House and now in the Senate)
prescribing a subsidy in the form of a dis-
count to domestic textile manufacturers to
protect them against the effects of another
subsidy-the export subsidy which enables
foreign manufacturers to procure U.S. cotton
at the world price and sell the goods in this
country. The Cooley bill would add an esti-
mated $220 million or more to the cost of the
Government's cotton program.
Congress has dealt --_..--
f
hi
s
, _==..~v o
---e,?- ^? ??
w
ch offered nothing toward
last May by Agriculture Department spokes- a fundamental solution.
There Is an exception, however. It is Sen-
ate bill 1190, introduced last spring by Sen-
ator HERMAN TALMADGE, Democrat, of
Georgia, and Senator HUBERT HUMPHREY,
Democrat, of Minnesota. The essence of the
bill is to abandon the high price support and
acreage allotment system that has kept the
domestic price of cotton about 25 percent
higher than the world market price. In-
stead, unlimited acreage and a support price
of 50 to 60 percent of parity would reduce
the domestic price to about the world price.
This single price would eliminate the need
for export subsidies of 8.5 . cents per pound
that have been necessary to make American
cotton competitive in the world market.
And it would permit American textile manu-
facturers to meet foreign competition with-
out subsidies.
To preserve the cotton growers' income,
current high price supports would be re-
placed by a direct-income supplement based
on assigned shares, of the domestic market
and computed in inverse ratio to the farmer's
output. Thus large cotton producers, prin-
cipally in the West, would be permitted to
produce to the full extent of their resources
for the world market, while small farmers,
principally In the South and Southeast,
would maintain their income levels with the
the aid of the direct subsidies.
The straightforward logic of this ap-
proach has not earned the Talmadge-
Humphrey bill the congressional attention
it deserves. The bill was endorsed during
committee hearings last May by Agriculture
Department spokesmen, but presumably for
political reasons administration support went
to the Cooley bill.
Opposition to the Talmadge-Humphrey
approach rests on the direct dependence
placed in the Federal Treasury to maintain
farm income. But it is hard to make much
over the direct payments if the plan Is going
to cost the Government less, free the market,
and possibly bring the supply of cotton into
N
Mr. HUMPHREY. Mr. President, it is
well known that there has been a re-
vival of anti-Semitism in the Soviet
Union. This unfortunate development
is all the more significant in the light of
previous claims that the blight of anti-
Semitism had been banished from Rus-
sian life.
Reports of anti-Semitism have been
widely circulated in the free world, but
they have been suppressed in Russia it-
self. While few Soviet citizens could
have been ignorant of these ugly trends,
scarcely any voices of protest were
raised in public. Very recently, however,
a new and more hopeful development has
occurred. Protests have been made both
of anti-Semitism and of the official pol-
icy of pretending that this evil does not
exist. The most dramatic of these pro-
testers is the young poet Yevtushenko.
He insisted on speaking his mind in pub-
lic, even in front of Nikita Khrushchev.
Confronted by Khrushchev, Yevtushenko
stood his ground, refused to back down,
and flatly contradicted the Russian dic-
tator to his face.
Transcripts of this public defiance have,
been reproduced secretly and bootlegged
all over Russia. This debate and a nota-
ble speech by another rebellious artist
have been smuggled out of Russia and
reprinted in Commentary, . along with a
preface by Moshe Decter. These smug-
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1228 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE January 28
gled speeched-illustrate the ferment of hand, and have been read. by many thou- now, the young intellectuals are simultane-
creative spirit th?,t is stirring Russians sands in Moscow, Leningrad, and eleew'here. ousiy fighting those forces in Soviet society
One of these typescripts-brought out of which stand In the way of greater freedom
today. This revolution is a source Of the U.S$.R. in various versions by western of expression in general.
hope for all believers in man's indomita- vJeitors--ap9ears below, together with the YivTUSHEN80 VERSUS HHRUSHCHEV
ble will, just as it is a source of despair text of a speech by U khall Romm that has YSVTt,SHENSO. First of all I want to thank
for those Communists who would im- circulated in similar fashion. The challenge the leaders of the party and the Govern-
prison man's spirl'L in a straitjacket. to publication of such documents in the ment for kindly making It possible for me
These two speeches are about anti- West is twofold: to obviate any danger to speak here. Permit me to begin my
Senlitism, but they have a larger mean- the authors, since their real names are used: speech with a verse which I wrote not so
and to authenticate the testa. long ago which I consider very timely. [Re-
my- They show that 45 years of Commu- Both conditions can now be essentially cites the two last lines of the poem, "Sabi
nist tyranny have not stifled the wish satisfied. By this point, the positions of both Yar ?1
to be free, that two generations of police Mikhail Romm and Yevgeny Yevtushenko Comrade KHRVSHCHSV. Comrade Yevtu-
tertor cannot eradicate Common hu- are clearly known to Khrushchev and the shenko. this poem has no place here.
inanity and COmp:lssion. party leadership, to scores of thousands of YEVTVSHENxo. Respected Nikita Serge-
It is equally significant that these intelligentsia and university youth and their evich, I especially selected this poem and with
voices of protest have not been allowed supporters on the peripheries of the Intellec- the following purpose in mind. We all know
public expression. They have been tual and academic community--and. not that no one has done more than you in the
heard in Russia only through the black least, to the West. The Soviet authorities liquidation of the negative consequences of
are fully aware of their views. of the fact the Stalin cult of personality and we are all
-market in Ideas that have sprung up In that such manuscripts have circulated wide- very grateful to you for this. However, one
that thought-controlled society. The ly, and that they have also found their way problem yet remains which is also a negative
Soviet Governmcnt still does not dare into the hands of Western visitors and ob- consequence of those times, but which today
to let the minds of Its people run free. servers. Their publication" can therefore has not yet been resolved. This Is the prob-
But, to borrow Yevtushenko's phrase, come as no shock to the authorities. lem of anti-Semitism.
that spirit Canna- be denied, and it can- An for the problem of authentication, it Comrade KHRUsHCHEV. That is not a prob-
not be suppressed. has been, for obvious reasons, a technically tem.
1. President. I ask unanimous con- difficult one. As indicated, these texts YsvrusnzNxo. It Is a problem, Nikita
emerged from the U.S.S.R. In various ver- Sergeevich. It cannot be denied and It can-
.b
sent that this revealing article from the lions and each posed a different kind of not be suppressed. It is necessary to come to
December article of Commentary be problem. The versions of the Romm text grips with it time and again. It has a place.
printed in the RE ORD. differed so little from one another that in_ I myself was a witness to such things. More-
There being no objection, the article time and after a meticulous process of In- over, It came from people who occupy official
was ordered to b,: printed in the RECORD, quirt' and cwuntercheeking. -t became very posts. and thus It assumed an official char-
as follows: easy to determine Its genuineness. (The aster. We cannot go forward to communism
speech was delivered at a public meeting of with such a heavy load as Judophobia. And
RUSSIAN ART AND /.NTI-SrrirrLSM, Two Doco- cinema and theater workers during Novem- here there can be neither silence nor denial.
MENTS: YEVT7USHSNKO VERSUS KHaUSHCHZV, ber-December 1962.) The Yevtushenko text The problem must be resolved and we hope
A SPEECH ST MLSHAIL Ros's is more complicated. The same kind of In- that it will be resolved. The whole progres-
roaEwoaD ST MOORE DECrM vestigative process, coupled with everything sive world is watching us and the resolution
Exactly I year ago, on December 1,190. else Yevtushenko has published at home and of this problem will even more greatly en-
Nitita S. Khrusb :hev paid an unexpected abroad, has made it clear that the remarks Nance the authority of our country. By res-
visit to the Mane+zh gallery In Moscow, to attributed to him here are genuineboth in olutlon of the problem I mean the cessation
inspect a special exhibit of abstract and substance and spirit. What may be In ques- of anti-Semitism-incrt clear), along with In
Rem abstract pail Ange by a group of young tion is whether he made all these remarks stituting criminal proceedings against the
Soviet artists. Has angry reaction, couched on the same occasion. It seems entirely anti-Semites. This positive measure will
in expletives and obscenities, Immediately possible that the two sections of his "speech" give many people of Jewish nationality the
became the sensetion of Moscow, and the were delivered on two separate occasions opportunity to take heart and will lead us to
events of the succeeding 6 months revealed the part on abstract art, In the course of P. even greater success In all areas of Commu-
more clearly than ever before the nature of running debate with Khrushchev at the nist construction.
the ferment that has been agitating major Manezh: and the part on anti-Semitism, at I would like to say a few words about
segments of the Intelligentsia in the the December 17 meeting. But their authen- abstract painting and our artists. I think
last few years. They supplied evidence of ticity-aa of Khrushchev's interjections-is that our young artists have acted Incorrectly
three truly sensational developments (of no longer disputable. in organizing the "underground exhibition"
which close students in the West had been Yevtuahenko needs no introduction to and Inviting foreign correspondents to It.'
Increasingly aware but of which the general Western readers. He burst into national and This was done without forethought and de-
public was largely ignorant) : that the world renown after September 19, 1901. when serves widespread censure. We also cannot
younger generation of intellectuals and ere- his poem, "`Baba. Yar. " appeared In Llteratur permit our artists to sell their works abroad.
ative artists. supported by a considerable nays Gazeta (Literary Gazette), the organ This can only be a blow to our prestige and
number of middle aged and even a handful of the Soviet writers union. He remains to- to our art. But I want to say that we must
of elderly established literary figures, were day a significant If erratic and somewhat have great patience with this abstract trend
making an effort to expand thearea of their ambiguous, spokesman of the younger Soviet In our art and notrush to suppress It, for
freedom to write, paint, and sculpt: that this Intelligentsia. the result may be the opposite. I know the
effort was being combated by many Stalin- Romm, In his own way. Is no less fascinat- artists in question, I know their work, and I
let artists and officials of the artistic unions ing a figure. He Is perhaps the most distin- can emphasize that side by side with the
and enterprises; and that the Communist guiehed living Soviet film director. He began abstract aspect, they are attracted to the
Party leadership, divided in Its counsels on his career as one of a band of experimenters realistic manner of expression. I am con-
bow to cope with the phenomenon of a re- in the silent screen of the early 1920's. estab- vinced that several formalistic tendencies in
bellious young intelligentsia, was exerting llshed himself a decade later as a leading their work will be straightened out In time.
some pressures, clamping down on certain director of orthodox films. and then re- Comrade KHRUSHCHEV. The grave straight
"excesses," exacting some grudging and am- emerged In the post-Stalin period as both ens out the humpbacked.
biguous self-criticism from, a few-but was an avant gardist and a public exponent of YEVTusHENxo. Nikita Sergeevich, we have
settling for now Into an indecisive muddle. greater liberality in soviet art and society. come a long way since the time when only
A good deal of the foregoing came to light For Romm, as for the young Intellectuals the grave straightened out humpbacks.
as a result of the publicity surrounding the whose champion he Is and for whom he Really, there are other ways. I think that
extraordinary meetings between Shrushchev symbolizes the Golden Age of the 1920'x, the best way is to display patience and tact
and his party colleagues and several hundred there is a conbection between the struggle and give examples of how to work at our art.
I think that we should permit the existence
leading Soviet Intellectuals on three occa- against anti-Semitism and the struggle
ession of freedom in the arts.
7
Jews and
-
----_---
1962, and on March 8 and June 18, less. lsomm twho ,n
Though Khrushchev's speeches on the latter (who is not) reflect the feelings of the en-
two occasions were widely published in the tire dissenting generation of young Intelli-
Soviet press, neither his speech of December gentsia, sons who are turning away from
17 nor his spontaneous exchanges with the their fathers of the 1930's. 1940's, and 1950's,
intellectuals on any of the three occasions and turning back to their grandfathers of
have appeared in print. For months now, the 1920's-s period when there - as expert-
however, typed manuscripts-purporting to mentataon In the arts and when anti-Semit-
give the texts cf who said what, to whom, Ism was officially regarded as a disease and
where, and wheat-have passed from hand to was openly fought. In fighting at openly
hibit of young artists organized on November
28, 1962, at the studio of Ell Bellutin, an art
teacher. A number of Western correspond-
ents were invited to view It, as well as some
Soviet cultural officials and a couple of hun-
dred of Soviet citizens. This exhibit -was
closed after a few hours and then summoned
to be hung at the Manezh.
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1964 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE 1229
of various schools in painting and let art,
our Soviet art, progress in the arguments
among them. Artists, like writers and musi-
cians, are most sensitive to any pressure.
Therefore, it best not to resort to it. Every-
thing will remain in its place.
Comrade KHRUSHCHEV. I don't believe that
you personally like abstract art.
YEVTUSHENKO. Nikita Sergeevich, there are
all kinds of abstractionism. What is impor-
tant is that it should not be charlatanism. I
submit that a situation can occur when it
would not be possible to convey the newest
trends of our epoch in the old manner of
writing. I must openly admit that I do not
like our portrait painting although it is
realistic. I very much respect those com-
rades who are, depicted in these portraits,
but the portraits themselves seem to me to
be ordinary color photographs incapable of
stirring the viewer. I cannot permit the idea,
Nikolai [sic] Sergeevich, that you can like
the tastelessly drawn picture, "N. S. Khrq-
shchev among the Workers." The latest pe-
riod of my life has been closely linked up with
Cuba. I like Cuban abstract art very much.
It would be good if we would organize an
exhibition of Cuban art. Cuban abstract art
is very popular among the Cuban people and
their leaders. Fidel Castro is attracted to it.
Cuban abstract art is helping the Cuban rev-
olution and is walking In step with it. I
think that our art, including the abstrac-
tionists, is also going in one straight line of
fighters for communism. I appeal not for
appeasement, but I call for self-restraint, for
the deepened study of the theory and prac-
tice of modern art, and in the final analysis,
a consolidation of the forces of literary and
aristic workers for the good of our country.
Thank you for your attention.
A SPEECH SY MIKHAIL ROMM
The subject of the report "Traditions and
Innovations" offers an occasion to talk about
such serious things. The Voronezh theater
director, Comrade Dobrotin, spoke before me
very well and with much passion. He ve-
hemently protested against the remnants of
Stalinism in the field of consciousness.
He told us the story of those leaders in a
province who-after a drunken party-start-
ed a fire on the terrace of a sanitarium and
imposed disciplinary measures against the
person responsible for cultural affairs at the
sanitarium because he tried to protest. This
is a significant example.
At the same time, however, Comrade Do-
brotin advised that Comrade Leonov 2 should
be called before the CC (Central Committee)
and told to write a comedy. And if Com-
rade Leonov has other wishes? If at the
moment he doesn't feel like working for the
theater? In accordance with Dobrotin, if the
party's CC asks it, Leonov will start writing,
obediently, and turn out a good comedy.
Are there no other means? You don't seem
to understand, Comrade Dobrotin, that this
way of thinking also stems from the old
methods, that it resembles a bit starting a
fire on a terrace.: [Applause.]
During your speech you let yourself go
about the modern ballet. You expressed
regret, that on New Year's Eve your actor
Popov did a Western dance. I have never
danced in my life; simply because I can't
dance, be it the waltz, the mazurka, or the
pas de patineur. But it seems to me that
in a small hall it is preferable to do a West-
ern dance rather than the mazurka because
for that the hall would be too small,
For many years we tried to invent a real
Soviet dance. Finally it was invented. It
is called the. "Promenade" and requires a
lot of room. On putting it on television, the
2 Leonid Leonov, with Sholokhov the pre-
mier novelist of the U.S.S.R. Born 1899, au-
thor of numerous novels, stories, and plays.
His best work was perhaps done in the 1920's.
No. 14-13
explanations concerning certain steps of this
dance took four sessions, but no spectator
understood all its finesse. On the other
hand Popov learned how to do his dance
at once. Evidently it was a simple dance.
I should like to know if, performing this on
New Year's Eve, Popov did much harm and
what the harm was exactly.
Comrade Dobrotin also let himself go on
singers without voices. For myself, con-
trary to him, I like singers without voices.
I prefer Bermes and, in general, those who
talk instead of sing, their mouths wide
open, emitting trills. Of course, the aria
"Perdona, Celeste Creatura" must be sung
by a well-trained voice. On the other hand
the song "The Little Girl Goes Toward the
Fields" needs other qualities. In the field
of art, I like everything that is expressive.
[Applause.]
In our country, however, certain methods
were imposed against which it is necessary
to fight. I'm ready to fight against my own
shortcomings still remaining from the pasta
Precisely because of that, before we take up
traditions and innovations I should like to
clarify the problem of certain traditions
which were imposed in our country. There
are good ones and there are very bad ones;
for example, the one of playing the Overture
of Tchaikovsky's "Symphony 1812" twice a
year.
Comrades, as I understand it, this over-
ture expresses a very clear political idea-
the idea of the triumph of orthodox religion
and autocracy over revolution. It's a bad
piece of music written by Tchaikovsky on
command. It's a thing Peter Ilyitch was
himself ashamed of at the end of his life.
I'm not a specialist in the history of music,
but I am convinced that this overture was
composed for passing reasons, with the very
clear aim of .pleasing the church and the
monarchy.
Why should the Soviet power humiliate
the "Marseillaise," the marvelous hymn of
the French Revolution, by drowning it out
with the noise of church bells? Why should
it celebrate the triumph of czarist ideology,
,the ideology of the "Black Hundreds"?
But to play this overture has become a
tradition. After the October Revolution,
this overture was played the first time dur-
ing those years when the expression "cosmop-
olite without a fatherland" was invented to
replace that other expression "dirty Jew."
Among other things, and in certain in-
stances, the latter expression was even
printed, On the cover of the [satirical]
magazine Crocodile a cartoon appeared dur-
ing those years presenting a "cosmopolite
without a fatherland" of clearly Jewish type,
holding a book in his hands on which one
could read in big characters the word "GID."
Not "Andre Olds" but simply "Gid." 4
Neither the cartoonist nor any of those re-
sponsible for. this scoundrel's joke has been
condemned by us. We have preferred to keep
quiet, to forget all this, as one could forget
that dozens of our best theater and movie
people were declared "cosmopolites without a
fatherland": for instance, comrades Yut-
kevic,9 Leonid Trauberg a Sutyrki,7 Kovarski s
a Here Romm seems to be referring to the
fact that he was a dutiful and well-rewarded
director during the thirties and forties,
producing some of the most effective adula-
tory films for Stalin,
4 In Russian the words "Gide"-and "Zhid,"
dirty -Jew, are pronounced exactly alike.
9 Should read Yutkevich. Sergei Yutke-
vich, born 1904, originally a painter, became
one of a group of experimental artistic de-
signers and directors of films in the 1920'x.
Until the late 1940's, he had achieved enor-
mous success with a long series of films. A
1947 movie, "Light Over Russia" was banned
Bleiman,9 and others present here. They
have been authorized to work again, some in
the party, some in their particular union.
But is it really possible to heal the wounds,
to forget what one has suffered for many
years, when you were trampled on and cov-
ered with mud? 10
And those who directed this shameful cam-
paign with joy and pleasure, who racked their
brains to invent other things and to drag
other people into the mire, have they been
made to pay for what they did? People
don't even reproach them, holding that this
would show lack of tact I.
The magazine "October, 1 edited by Koce-
tov; 2 has recently become interested in mo-
tion pictures. From January to November
it published articles smearing all the prog-
ress achieved by Soviet films, expressing sus-
picion toward the critics of the great artists
of the older generation and even the new
one. These articles were inspired by the
same persons who led the campaign of de-
nunciation of "cosmopolities without a
fatherland." It seems to me, however, that
we should not forget all that happened.
Today many writers are starting to do
scripts for the theater or motion pictures de-
nouncing the Stalinist epoch and the cult of
the personality. This is because it has be-
come possible and necessary, while 3 or 4
years ago it was still thought that Nikita
Sergeevich's speech at the 20th Congress
was sufficient. A more or less leading official
told me this clearly: "Listen, the party has
shown infinite courage. Study Comrade
Khrushchev's speech, and that's enough.
Why stick your nose into this business?"
Today it has become definitely clear that
it was not sufficient, that it is necessary for
us to think for ourselves, to speak and write
for ourselves.
It is very important to unmask Stalin and
Stalinism, but the heritage left by Stalin-
ism is not less important. And it is not less
important to'look around at what surrounds
us and to formulate a judgment on events
that occur in the social life- of art.
Our meetings are conducted in a calm,
tranquil, academic tone. In the meantime
because of "serious errors," By 1949, when
the cultural purge presided over by Andrei A.
Zhdanov was In full swing, he was under
attack and his career threatened because he
had contributed favorable articles to volumes
in honor of D. W. Griffith and Charlie
Chaplin.
0 Born 1902, another of that galaxy of silent
screen experimenters of the 1920's and an
established director in subsequent decades.
Like Romm, Yutkevich, and all the others
to be mentioned below-except for Kalata-
zov-he is a Jew, and came under vicious
attack in the late forties for, among other
things, "spreading and elaborating the false
and un-Soviet myth that the American film
director D. W. Griffith was the father of
world film art."
+ Should read Sutyrin, Vladimir A. Su-
tyrin; born 1902, a distinguished film critic
and theoretician of the cinema.
8 Nikolai Kovarsky. Also a- distinguished
film critic.
9 Mikhail Bleiman. Born 1904. Highly
successful screen writer until the late forties.
"All the above were attacked at that time
as a "group of estheticizing cosmopolitans
in the film industry, miserable tramps of
humanity, homeless and nameless cosmo-
politans of the cinema, base spokesmen- of
reactionary estheticism, who conducted an
organized slander campaign against its [the
Soviet film's] lofty ideology, its truthfu.ingss
and its patriotic content."
11 A major literary monthly, the stronghold
of the literary Stalinists.
12 Should read Kochetov. Vsevolod Koche-
tov, born 1911. The party's favorite Soviet
novelist.
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE January 28
a very energetic group of rather bad writers
hits out viciously in the magazine October
against the new literature and nobody an-
swam them In this arena. On the other
hand, the very moment Yevtushenko pub-
lished his poem "Sabi Tar," this group
printed a reply in -;he journal Literature and
Life [Literature I Zhisn]. 1?
Not long ago I happened to be in Italy and
America, and I should like to say that what
was considered to be a scandal in the West
was not Yevtusbcnko'e poem, but the re-
sponse to It. The local journalists asked me,
"What do you think of the new wave of
anti-Semitism In the U.S.S.R.?"
I asked with p-rrplexity what they were
talking about. They mentioned Starikov's
article" and Markov's poem"
That Issue of the journal Literature and
Life was shameful, as are the latest issues of
the magazine October.
Since the articles In October are aimed at
me, it is difficult and embarrassing for me
to reply. Difficult but necessary.
The attacks against films carried in October
began in the Janucry Issue with an article on
the picture 'Pence to Him Who Enters," an
article written in an absolutely inadmissible
tone of political denunciation. The only
error in calculation made by the editorial
board was that they failed to name anyone
specifically In their denunciation. Ten years
ago, after such ar, article, somebody would
be put in chains, forbidden to work, sent
to faraway regions. But It Is a fact that
times have changed and that this denuncia-
tion probably wasn't even read. But the
denunciation remains.
Then came the attack on the films "The
Lester That Wasn't Sent," 1? "When the
Storks Take Ther Flight," N "If This Is
Love," and "Nine Days in a Year." 18 The
themes of the accusations were not new.
For "Nine Days" the hero wasn't "positive."
The same thing applied to "When the Storks
Take Their Plight." In "The Letter That
Wasn't Sent," a do cadent pessimism is to be
found. Reisman's =? heroes show moral de-
flctencfes and amorality Is decadent.
In the past, one was severely punished for
such shortcomings. Today denunciations
like these haven't had any consequences.
simply because the authorities in charge
don't read them or don't even exist any
more. That is wl.y neither Kilatozov r nor
Reisman nor myself were hunted out of the
movies, and the magazine became very
angry. In the firs ; and second issues of that
is Now defunct organ of the Writers Union
of the Russian Republic, a consistent Stalin-
ist paper.
a Dmitri Starikcv. a well-known Soviet lit-
erary critic, who, on September 27. 8 days
after the publication of "Babi Yar," pub-
lished a violent attack on Yevtushenko. He
accused him of provocation and of a "mon-
sta?ous" insult to the Soviet people, and of
nurturing chauvinism and fanning the
"dying flames of nationalist attitudes."
" Alexei Markov, author of a poem which
attacked Yevtushenko for defiling the Rus-
sian people with "pygmy's spittle.""
"Shown here as "The Letter That Was
Never Sent."
L7 Better known here as "The Cranes Are
Flying."
'? The most recent film, 1961, directed by-
Romm.
1? Yulf Reisman Born 1903. Active as a
leading screen director since the early 1920's.
Won a Stalin Prize: for his 1945 documentary,
"Berlin" Now again experimenting.
?Should read Kalatozov. Mikhail Kala-
tozov. Born 1903, a Georgian. Major film
director and administrator. Surrealistic in
early 1920's and up to 1980, then became
orthodox. In post-Stalin period, director of
"The Cranes Are Flying" and "The Letter
That Was Never Bent," the latter of which
was considerably revised by censors.
magazine some terrible articles were pub-
lished, containing general accusations
against everything and everyone. Only the
word "cosmopolite" wasn't used. For the
rest there was a surprising resemblance to
articles published 15 years ago,
To author of the article that appeared In
No. 2 of the magazine October writes among
other things: "Whereas the Italians them-
selves recognize that neorealism is dead,
Romm continues to praise It." (I quote
from memory.) In fact neorealism is dead.
It died with the help of the Vatican and the
capitalist censorship. The artists of Italian
neorealtsrn created films like Oermi's '"The
Railwaymen." De Sica's "The Bicycle Thief,"
"Two Coins in the Fountain." "Rome 11
O'Clock in the Morning." and other really
great and unforgettable masterpieces.
Never has the film Industry under a bour-
geois regime created such work before. In any
case not as a group and with such unity. All
forces were mobilized against Italian neo-
realism-the censorship, bribery, threats,
sabotage of distribution, violence of all kinds.
All this in order to destroy, to break, to crush
this group of artists. World reaction as a
whole went Into action against Italian neo-
realism. At that time a single article was
published in our country, unfortunately
signed by Polevoi,a a man r respect. In that
article. POIevot also attacked Italian neo-
realism. I was ashamed of that article, a
reaction common to all of us. That hap-
pened 6 years ago. We didn't encourage this
current, which was very close to the Italian
CP. They were strangling neorealism and
we attacked it. And it was only recently that
Solovteva it finally wrote a book on neo-
realism. She wrote It When it was necessary
to treat the subject on a historical plane.
Three yearsago r ventured to intervene in
favor of Italian neorealism. And even today
people who Insist on the Importance of re-
maining loyal to tradition recall this sin.
How did I dare intervene in favor of neo-
realism? But In my opinion, neorealism has
had an Influence on the youth. It must be
admitted. If this Influence existed, It did
exist. You have to decide then whether this
Influence was positive or negative. I know
our youth. I know the impression created by
the Italian Alms. I can underline that this
Influence was real.
Why should we bow In all fields to what Is
called "the first- as we had to do in the past?
I em not at all certain that this "first" Is
always a good thing. Let's suppose that a
lone American genius Invented the phono-
graph and that we developed the invention.
Who then should be proud of it? In my
opinion we should" because genius wasn't
recognized in America while we developed the
phonograph. We. to the contrary, make It
appear that we invented everything, the
cinema, the phonograph, the electric light,
and the telephone while In fact it was the
Americans who developed all these good
things. There is no reason why we should be
proud of this.
We are combing history hunting for some-
one who Invented the locomotive before
Stevenson although we know very well that
we didn't build one at that time. We should
give ourselves airs because of our lack of effi-
ciency, our backwardness. Those who built
the first locomotives, who made the first
flight, they were right. We should be proud
of being the first to fly Into outer space, of
having the biggest power stations in the
world. and not about what occurred 200 years
ago. about the man who said "E" for the first
time, whether It was Dobchinsky or Bob-
chineky.
By defending and sometimes inventing this
n Boris Polevol, famous novelist, also
editor of Yunost (Youth), a literary journal.
- tuna Solovieva, film historian, published
the volume. "Neo-Realism in Italian Movies"
in 1901 (Moscow).
claim to be "the first" at all costs, it's im-
possible to say how far you can, go. Only 10
years ago, we tried to cut ourselves off com-
pletely from Western culture-and this, too,
was covered by the word "tradition"
I was very happy today to hear Yutkevic
speak about Innovations and about spending
much time in the West. We have lost the
habit of considering that something also ex-
late in the West. And this in Russia, the
country in the world where more foreign lit-
erature is translated than anywhere else.
One of the strong points of the Russian intel-
lectuals was precisely the fact that they read
all of world literature, that they stood at the
top in knowledge of world culture. This, too,
E is one of our traditions. An excellent tradi-
tion which we needn't be reminded of toda
. A TIME FOR AFFIRMATION
Mr. HUMPHREY. Mr. President, I
invite the attention of the Senate to a
moving and forceful statement relating
to the tragic loss of President Kennedy, a
statement written by Marion Harper, Jr.,
president and chairman of the Board of
Interpublic, Inc., and a leader in the
communications profession.
This statement is concise and to the
point. Mr. Harper emphasizes the re-
markable courage and vision of our late
President and how we must not now
falter in our quest for a better America,
just as President Kennedy did not falter.
This is a statement which every Amer-
ican should read and ponder carefully.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous con-
sent to have the article entitled "A Time
for Affirmation" printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the state-
ment was ordered to be printed in the
RECORD, RS follows:
A Tnrn rox AFFnnmmON
"In your hands, my fellow citizens, more
than mine, will rest the final success or fail-
ure of our course."-JosN F. KENNEDY, in-
augural address. -
"I will do my best. That is all I can do.
I ask for your help-and Gods."-LYNnoN
B. JOHNSON, first statement as President.
In the first numbered reaction to days of
horror and tragedy, it was perhaps inevitable
that a stunned and saddened Nation should
for a moment shudder under the cold hand
of despair. And, for a moment, fall prey to
the calamity-howlers and doomsayers who
were keening that all was lost-the American
spirit had finally bogged down in a welter
of violence, immorality, greed, and hatred.
Our martyred young President would be
the first to say-that's a lot of nonsense. He
was fully aware of the currents of violence,
distrust, and bigotry that swirled around his
office, his country, and the world-aware of
their causes, and determined to seek their
cure. But never once did be falter in his
buoyant confidence that anything was pos-
sible, given a real commitment; that the
American dream of peace, decency, and free-
dom was realizable, and worth living and
dying for-as he lived and died for it.
"In the long history of the world." he said,
"only a few generations have been granted
the role of defending freedom in its hour of
maximum danger. I do not shrink from this
responsibility-I welcome it. I do not be-
lieve that any of us would exchange places
with any other people or any other genera-
tion. The energy, the faith, the devotion
which we bring to this endeavor will light
our country and all who serve it-and the
glow from that fire can truly light the
world."
That fire, which flickered momentarily to
the shock of horrendous events, still burns
_ ? ? in the marvel of orderly transfer of the
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