INDICATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL VULNERABILITIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-04864A000200060010-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 13, 1998
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: January 24, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

CLASSIFICATION
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
Approved For ReI~~O/~I~j~Q
COUNTRY USSR
SUBJECT INDICATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL VT~MRABILITIES
HOW
PUBLISHED
WHERE
PUBLISHED
DATE
PUBLISHED
LANGUAGE
CHANGE TO
UNCL ST FICD
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF THE UNITED STATES WITHIN THE MEANING OF ESPIONAGE ACT 50
U. S. C.. 31 AND 32. AS AMENDED. ITS TRANSMISSION OR THE REVELATION
OF ITS CONTENTS IN ANY MANNER TO AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON IS PRO-
HIBITED BY LAW. REPRODUCTION OF THIS FORM 13 PROHIBITED.
SOURCE Monitored Broadcasts
PORT NO.
CD NO.
DATE OF 16-30
INFORMATION Nov 51
DATE DIST.z1 January 1952
a0v
NO. OF PAGES 9
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
CPW REPORT - No. 17--USSR
(16 - 30 November 1951)
CONTENTS
Agriculture............ a .................2
Industry .................. ta..t.....t....6
Mining.......... .........................6
Party Activities .......t..............a..?
Ideological Weaknesses ........
SUWARY
Artillery Day gets little publicity in regional broadcasts. The livestock
industry is still criticized as the weak spot of Soviet agriculture, and agro-
technical sources are said to be poorly organized and hindering collective farm
progress. In industry, criticism continues to focus on figure juggling and attempts
to produce good "averages" instead of concentrating on better unit performance.
The drive for the adoption of the cyclical production system (tsiklichnost) in
the coal-mining industry is gaining momentum. The so-called report and election
meetings (otchetno-vybornie sobrania) which precede the elections to the primary
Party organizations, dominate the news on Party activities. There is repeated
emphasis on the reluctance to apply criticism and self-criticism within these
organizations. Weaknesses of the Komsomol Party get some official attention.
Comment on ideological affairs is along familiar lines, and the Uzbek and
Esthonian Republics are given more prominence in this connection than any other
areas. The Peace Partisan Conference in Moscow is widely publicized in the
central press and to foreign audiences but gets practically no mention on the
regional transmitters.
CLASSIFICATION
DISTRIBUTION
I I
Approved For Release 2000/08/29 : CIA-RDP78-04864A000200060010-2
 Approved For Release 2000/08Tont
I~1164AOO
CONFIDENTIAL
AGRICULTURE
PRAVDA discusses the slow progress in stockbreeding (22 November) and points to
Ulyanovskaya Oblast as an example of good intentions and bad performance. Endless
discussions, pious wishes and numberless orders and instructions issued by the
Oblast officials, says the paper, have been substituted for practical work. All
that resulted in a very poor showing by the livestock industry. The complexity of
the red tape involved in running the Oblast's livestock industry is cited in the
30 different decisions adopted by the Oblast Party Committee, the 50 directives by
the Oblast Executive Committee and the 170 orders and directives issued at the same
time by the Oblast Agricultural Administration. A PRAVDA article by Karamyshev of
the same date (not broadcast) says that the stockbreeding industry of the Gorno-
Altai Autonomous Oblast is behind plan because of the lack of emergency fodder
supplies and temporary winter shelters for the cattle at the remote pastures
(otgonnie pastbishcha). The Oblast fodder production, according,to Karamyshev,
fell short of this year's target and is also below last year's achievement by
35,000 tons of hay and 30,000 tons of ensilage fodder. (There is no mention,
however, of the planned production figures for this or last year.)
VELIKOLUKSKAYA PRAVDA (1$ November) reminds its readers that the livestock
situation this year is not much better than it was last year "when a large number
of cattle perished as a result of insufficient fodder, lack of warm sheds and bad
care." Exceptionally alarming (osobenno vyzyvayet trevogu), according to the paper,
is the lack of winter quarters for the cattle in Serezhinsky, Leninsky, Ilyinsky,
Kudeversky and Kholmsky Rayons where the plan (for cowshed construction) has
"practically failed." The oblast fodder storage plan has been fulfilled by only
65.7%, and in a number of rayons--Leninsky, Oktiabrsky, Nelikovsky and others--
the figure is "even smaller." Another reason for this lagging behind (nedopustimoye
otstavanie), the editorial points out, is the inadequate technical training of the
cattle breeders who need to engage in more socialist competition: "every cattle
breeding farm must have an agitator attached to it." A K011MUNA editorial broad-
cast from Voronezh (27 November) also complains about the insufficiency of fodder
which, it claims, in many farms is covered up by filling the cattle feed troughs
with straw. The construction of winter sheds is far behind schedule and even the
available barns fail to meet the requirements: "there are indications that in
some places the premises have not been heated." Such facts, the paper concludes,
cannot be tolerated any further, and it urges that the respective kolkhoz heads
and agricultural specialists be brought to account. (There is no mention of the
particular rayons or officials involved.)
Criticism of the Kazakhstan livestock industry has now shifted to the Institute
of Stockbreeding of the Kazakh Academy of Sciences which has "relaxed its work" to
develop new types of animals, such as Kazakh fine-wool sheep and whiteface cattle.
"Certain ministries and enterprises," on the other hand, are censured for "dis-
regarding" valuable suggestions of the scientific workers. The result of this
official bureaucracy and "scientists' indifference" is that scientific research is
losing contact with production"and neither the field workers nor the stockbreeders
get any benefit from it." Such, for instance, is the case of the Aktyubinsk
experimental station of Dzhurun rayon Where scientific activities are "carried
on apart from kolkhoz practice." (KAZAKR'STANSKAYA PRAVDA, 23 November)
AKTYUBINSKAAYA PRAVDA (27 November) admits that Dzhurun rayon is about the worst
in the. oblast in regard to fodder preparation, and blames the wastage of fodder
reserves on the "indifferent attitude" adopted by a number of collective farms.
The lack of fodder is said to be felt also in Novorossiysky; Stepnoy and other
rayons.
The livestock situation in Novosibirsk oblast, according to SOVETSKAYA SIBIR
(30 November), has deteriorated to a point where the future of the entire industry
is jeopardized: "stockbreeding brigades are not staffed... order is lacking in the
farms ...and severe infringements of zoo-technical and veterinary rules are much
~?in evidence," This, the paper adds, is further aggravated by the peculiar
attitude adopted by the oblast machine-tractor stations which are said to be
"systematically disrupting the plans" for assistance to the stockbreeding workers.
CQNFIOENTI
Approved For Release 2000/08/29 : CIA-RDP78-04864A000200060010-2
 7 1 Ok 111 Alt.
Approved For Release 2000/0 P78-04864AO00200060010-2
CONFIDENTIAL
25X1A6c
_ 3 -
The shortcomings are so numerous and varied, according to the oblast Party
Committee, that every organization in any way connected with the stockbreeding
industry must assume its share of responsibility. Listed among them are the
Oblast Consumers Union, the Oblast Agricultural Department, the Oblast Industrial'
Cooperative, the Communications Department, the Supplies Department, the
,Cultural and Enlightenment Department and the Oblast Executive Council.
A long report on the plenary session of the Kursk Oblast Party Committee
(29 November) reveals that the fodder shortage in the oblast is as acute as it has
ever been and that no steps are being taken to remedy the situation. "How is it
possible to breed stock when the kolkhoz has no large fodder-supply base?" It
was disclosed at the session that in a number of cases, particularly in Verkhne-
Lyubazhsk rayon, fodder brigades hake not even been formed; in others--Medvensk
rayon--they were organized but given no work to do, and in still others the
organization existed only on paper.
AAgro-technical study courses: The three-year agricultural study courses
introduced by the government to raise the qualifications of the kolkhozniks,
particularly the collective farm chairmen, have often been criticized on regional
broadcasts as unproductive due to indifferent attitudes, low attendance and lax
supervision. The official campaign to improve the agricultural education system
and to increase the enrollment was intensified in September and October for the
new school year. This theme is taken up again in a number of areas, mostly in
the Ukraine, where both instruction and attendance are reported to be unsatisfactory.
MOLOT (16 November) discusses the importance of kolkh 'k i
that last year's failure has not been remedied this year. Studiesbhaveannotadmits
begun in
Bagayevsky, Azovsky and other rayons. In Oktiabrsky rayon there is an insufficient
number of students and a lack of qualified instructors. In other rayons, lessons
are conducted "with completely unsatisfactory attendance" and the students have
not been provided with textbooks, copybooks or other paraphernalia. Both the
oblast Agricultural Administration and the Agricultural Propaganda Department are
said to display a lukewarm attitude to agro-technical courses. The Oblast book
selling department and the branch of the Union press, apparently taking their cue
from the higher officials, do not "bother" to supply the students with the
necessary study aids.
STALINGRADSKAYA PRAVDA (21 November) also refers to last year's failure of the
agricultural study program in Molotovsky rayon where the classes for the kolkhoz
workers "almost had to be discontinued.'r In Machesansky rayon this year, the
Party Committee has adopted a "strange policy of noninterference" (strannaya
politika nevmeshatelstva) in the farmers' education. A number of resolutions have
been passed but none have been put into effect. In other rayons classes have not
even been started. "Nothing can justify the delays experienced in Proleysky,
Eltonsky and Kletsky rayons." A "formalistic attitude" is listed as the only
reason for all these shortcomings.
The three-year course for agricultural experts in Ivanovsky, Oktiabrsky, Ovideo-
polsky and Shyryaevsky rayons "have been set up only formally," complains
CHERNOMORSKA. KOLSAUNNA (22 November). The leaders of these rayons, the paper says,
are underestimating the importance of kolkhoznik training, and oblast officials are
not paying sufficient attention to the whole program. An unsigned KIROVOGRADSKA
PRAVDA article (30 November) says that the three-year agricultural courses were
all but abandoned in Novoukrainsky, Adzhamsky, Peshchanobrodsky and Znamensky
rayons. "No one there is interested in...the three-year courses for the
kolkhozniks. Not one class has been held." PRIURALSKAYA PRAVDA (27 November)
blames Povodelova, head of the Agricultural Propaganda Administration for "all
the serious shortcomings" in the organization of kolkhoz studies. Many rayons
in West Kazakhstan oblast, says the paper, are doing a poor propaganda job, and
some of the rayon Party Committees do not exercise control over the propagandists.
The remedy for the situation offered by the paper, however, is vague.
CONFIDENTIAL
Q
0 Uf.Ti.
Approved For Release 2000/08/29 : CIA-RDP78-04864A000200060010-2
 Approved For Release 2000/08 r 64.000200060010 2 6c
-4-
Agricultural Statute Violations: PSKOVSKAYA PRAVDA (25 November) angrily denounces
the "distortions and direct violations of the collective farm statute" in a
number of farms in the oblast. The editorial hints at complicity between the
farmers and local officials by asserting that certain rural administrative bodies
"frequently close their eyes to obvious infringments of the statute" (chasto
zakryvayut glaza na yavnie narushenia ustava). What is more, some leaders are
"guilty of corrupting the administrators of collective farms and sanctioning the
illegal disposal of collective farm funds." In some collective farms the working
norms and working days are said to be ;lowered arbitrarily and the distribution of
labor is bad. One of the most sinister practices observable at the cattle breeding
farms, according to the paper, is "the incorrect method of payment for working
days." This it says, is known to some agricultural officials who do not care to do
anything about it. (The work day in Soviet agriculture does not necessarily imply
an eight-hour shift, as in industry. A tractor driver is usually credited with
five work days for every shift, and stakhan.ovites get even more. On the other hand,
some unskilled laborers earn less than a work day per shift.)
A report from Dzaudhikau, North Osetian ASSR, (27 November) quotes the Chairman
of the Autonomous Council of Ministers as demanding "the rigid execution of the
basic law of kolkhoz life," that is the collective farm statute. Addressing the
oblast Communist Party session "on measures for the liquidation of the agricultural
artel statute violations," the Chairman revealed serious errors and shortcomings
"in. the adherence" to the charter but gave no details. There can be no doubt, he
said, that the Party and Soviet organizations will be able to cope with those
"malpractices" and to put an end to the abuses in agriculture.
BOLS1iEVISTSKA'YA MOLODEZH (23 November) appeals to the kolkhoz Komsomols to enforce
the observance of the kolkhoz statute and to "combat the squandering of communal
resources" in Smolensk oblast. The paper does not elaborate the point beyond
inferring that the practice is still prevalent and that something had better be done
about it:
Loafers and idlers, squanderers and pilferers of kolkhoz property
must be boldly unmasked. Poor economy and incorrect use of work days
must not be allowed to pass unnoticed. The guilty must be punished!
Infringements of the agricultural statute are also alluded to in a report from
Kursk of 29 November (already quoted). This reference was made in a speech by the
secretary of the oblast Party Committee Goroshnikov who gave no specific information
as to the nature and scope of the state violations. He urged the collective farmers
to hold frequent meetings to discuss "questions of preserving communal economy."
Shortcomings in Ukrainian Agriculture.- RADYANSKA UKRAINA (15 November) declares
that agricultural progress in the Ukraine leaves much to be-desired. The potato
deliveries, it says, have not been cool ~leted, and the same applies to oil-bearing
crops, wool, milk, butter and other agricultural produce. Nor have preparations
been made for winter premises for the livestock. The cotton-picking plan for the
Republic as a whole has been fulfilled by 82.9% and the delivery plan by only
68.2%. A "great amount" of uncollected cotton still remains. on the fields, and in
Zaporozhye and Kherson oblasts one quarter of the cotton crop remains on the plants.
Sugar beet deliveries are slow, especially in Sumy and Kamenets-Podolsk oblasts.
The fallow-plowing plan has been fulfilled by only four oblasts, and the situation
is "particularly bad" in Western Ukraine, Polessye, Odessa and Kherson oblasts.
PIVDENNA U AINA (16 November) takes a similar dim view of the fallow-plowing
progress. In a number of rayons where the plowing should have been finished, the
paper asserts, t1,- plowing has only begun. Among them are Telegulo-Bereznyansky,
Bratsky and Shirokolanovsky rayons. In the Novokrasnyanska machine-tractor station
"not one tractor driver fulfills his shift-norm. Tractors are idle for long periods
of time because of faulty technical equipment and maintenance."
CONFIDENTIAL
COM(DENtiA
Approved For Release 2000/08/29 : CIA-RDP78-04864A000200060010-2
 Approved For Release 2000/08/29 : CIA-RDP78-04864A000200060010-2
CONFIDENTIAL
-5-
The cotton theme is dealt with again by RADYANSKA UKRAINA on 22 November. No improve-
ment in the cotton situation has been noted in recent days, says the paper. A
number of rayons in Odessa and Nikolayev oblasts are far behind plan and continue to
work "unsatisfactorily." The machine tractor stations serving the cotton plantations
are said to be just as slow, some of them having completed their assignments by
"only 30 to 401o." Among them are the Radelska, Novo-Zburivska and Bestirska
stations of Kerson oblast and Antatolivska, Shirokolanevska and other machine
tractor stations of Nikolayev oblasto
Opposition to Mechanization: Idle Machinery: The familiar complaint about
inefficient utilization of farm machinery and excessive idleness of tractors is
heard again on a number of regional transmitters. A broadcast from Velikie Luki
alludes to what might be construed as o position to further mechanization of
agricultural labor. MOLOT (20 November speaks of the serious shortcomings in the
organization of repair work in the machine-tractor stations which have been lagging
behind "for several years." And yet, says the paper, many machine tractor stations
and sovkhozes are repeating last year's mistakes. No adequate preparations have
yet been made for the coming agricultural year, essential tools and equipment are
lacking; but "no action is taken." The reasons for this may be deduced from the
remedies suggested by the editorial: "all mechanics should be brought up to date
on progressive technology, and the living conditions of the repair
workers should
be improved."
A considerable number of machines stand idle and the agreements with collective
farms are not being fulfilled, complains PSKOVSKAYA PRAVDA (17 November). It suggests
that the lack of well-trained personnel is a factor. The paper also warns against
a repetition of last year's mistakes, the neglect of the welfare of the mechanization
students. This, in the paper's view, is all the more to be prevented now that
"many girls" are joining the mechanization courses. (There is, of course, no
reference to the fact that the low attendance of mechanization course by male students
may have forced the officials to induce girls to join.)
The failure of the tractor-repair plan in the major areas of Kirovograd oblast
is admitted by KIROVOGRADSKA PRAVDA (30 November`), The fourth-quarter plan has been
fulfilled by only 44.5% and there is no improvement in view, according to the paper.
The large inter-rayon workshops designed for capital repairs of farm implements are
said to have failed to justify their existence. They barely managed to take care of
17 to 29% of the repair jobs assigned to them, and "the Bobrynetska, Alexandriyska
and Dolynska inter-rayon workshops for capital repairs have in effect completely
failed.,,in the fourth quarter." The Kirovograd spare part plant "Piatnadtsat
Rokiv Zhovtnya,11 has "without any reason whatsoever" failed to produce a single
spare part for tractors. Its production plan called for 2,000 sockets (gilza) and
2,000 pistons (porshen). An "extremely unsatisfactory" job is imputed to the
Khmelevska, Kapustyanaka, Alexandriyska and Novoprazhska machine-tractor stations.
VELIKOLUKSKAYA PRAVDA (27 November) calls the flax-processing and delivery plan
"extremely alarming" (kraine trevozbno), and pins the responsibility on the
bureaucratic attitude of the Oblast Agricultural Administration. The latter, it
says, does not display much interest in helping the mechanics to run their
machines which results in frequent breakdowns and unnecessary idleness. Another
reason, and perhaps the most important, the paper hints, is the "prevalent anti-
mechanization mood" (nalichie anti-mekhanizatorskikh nastroyeniy) among many collect-
ive farm managers and in many rayons. And what is "most regrettable," according
to the paper, is that "no fight is being waged against this attitude." Reference
to tractor repairs, in a different context, is made by the same paper on
30 November: "..the overhaul of tractors is carried out in an unorganized
manner...the technology of overhaul is being crudely violated."
Approved For Release 2000/08/29 : CIA-RDP78-04864A000200060010-2
 Approved For Release 2000108129: 1CI `RUR78- 64A000200 IN 25X1A6c
CONFIDENTIAL
Un-Soviet Approach to Production: PRAVDA (16 November) speaks in disparaging terms
of the prevailing practice of using the above-plan performance of efficient
enterprises to cover up the inefficiency of the backward ones. (As mentioned in a
previous CFW report,~this device is often resorted to in industry where the gross
production figures for a given area or branch of industry do not reflect the
actual performance of individual plants or of the departments within a plant.) The
paper refers to the leaders of "some ministries and departments" whose standard
procedure is to make up the deficiencies of certain enterprises at the expense
of the more productive plants. This is a wrong, un-Soviet approach to the fulfillment
of the State plans (eto nepraviiny, nesovetsky podkhod k vypolneniu gosudarstevennykh
planov), declares the editorial. These unnamed leaders are reminded again that
what the State plans call for, in addition to fulfillment,, is a detailed accounting
for every type of production (po vsemu assortimentu). One of the methods widely
used in industry, it is claimed, is to "produce items which require the least
effort and trouble" and to leave the planned production of more complicated
products underfulfilled. Following are some specific examples cited by the paper
as "detrimental to the interests of planned economy":
The Kharkov Electrical-Mechanical Works--fulfills the gross production plan but
every quarter it fails to deliver dozens of
large electrical machines;
Chelyabinsk Precision Instruments Plant --fulfills the monthly plan for only two out
of the six main types of its products;
The Kuibyshev Works --regularly fails to fulfill the plan for the
production of three out of the eight items
it produces;
Sverdlovsk Furniture Factory --fulfilled its October gross output plan by
112.3% but failed in the output of tables,
couches and other items which are in
greatest demand.
From Baranovichi, Belorussia, comes a report (24 November) that a number of enterprises,
particularly in the timber industry, have failed to organize effective socialist
competition for the fulfillment of the production plan "in all aspects." The Timber
Trust No. 16, for example, completed its annual production targets ahead of schedule
but was behind plan in the output of four types of products.
Production Losses. the Cyclic System- KAZkKHSTANSKAYA PRAVDA (16 November) reveals
that "millions of rubles of state funds" have been lost through unsatisfactory work
at the Karaganda coal pits. Many collieries, says the paper, continue to "work at
a big loss" and to increase production costs instead of reducing them as specified
in the plan. These growing losses are said to stem from the "insufficient
exploitation" of modern technology and extravagant use of raw materials,
The struggle for the "cycle method" (borba za tsikl), says VOROSHILOVGRADSKAYA PRAVDA'
(21 November), is a struggle for technical progress, and the slightest manifestation
of indifference to this. new technological system should be dealt with summarily by
.the Party organizations concerned. This editorial stricture is directed primarily
against the Voroshilovgrad Coal Combine where little attention is said to be devoted
to the organization of cyclic schedule work. This benevolent attitude toward the
.advancement of technology, says the paper,'is particularly reprehensible in view
.of the fact that most of the coal faces are not fulfilling the new schedule (there
;. is no indication whether bhe coal production targets have been increased but
the words "new schedule"lnovy gr.fiJ as used in this sentence suggest an upward-
revised norm):
CONFIDENTIAL
. W T1 .
Approved For Release 2000/08/29 : CIA-RDP78-04864A000200060010-2
 Approved For Release 2000/08/29 ' CIA-RDP78-04864A0002000
CONFIDENTIAL
-7-
In October, out of 165 selected coal faces of the combine only 46
fulfilled their norm, and only 45 performed at a rate of one cycle
per day...These figures show that the introduction of advanced
technology... has not yet become ..the, primary work of the combine.
Just how much importance the authorities attach to the introduction of the cyclic
system in the coal industry is made clear in the concluding editorial remark about
the prevailing indifferent attitude toward the new production system.
It is high time to put an end to all that. The exploitation of coal
faces according to the cyclic schedule is not a campaign, not a
fashion. It is the very foundation of modern labor organization and
production at all Soviet mines...the main duty of the managers of
the combine, trusts and mines.
Russian version:
Pora so vsem et>im reshitelno pokonchit. Pabota lav po grafiku
tsiklichn.osti ne kampania., ne moda. Eto osnova osnov sovremennoi
organizatsii truda. i proizvodstva na sovetskikh shakhtakh.....glavnaya
obyazannost rukovoditelei kombinata, trestov i shakht.
A frank admission that labor productivity in "most of the enterprises" of the Donets
coal basin is still very low- !'lower, in fact, than before the war"--is made in a
report from Stalino on the All Donets Conference of the coal industry workers
(22 November). This low efficiency is interpreted as the inevitable outcome of the
wrong production system now in force, and the "organization of the cyclic system"
is suggested as the only remedy. The large-scale introduction of new technical
equipment into the Donets mines, says the report, has not brought about the expected
production results, and the "achieved increase (in coal extraction) is completely
unsatisfactory." It appears that the new machinery and the additional miners employed
have left the total coal output more or less unchanged:
Eighty-eight more people than before the war are now engaged in the
extraction of 1,000 tons of coal. Even-where a large number of
machines have been introduced, considerably more people are working
than before the war.
PARTY ACTIVITIES
RADYAN,SEA TJ RA.INA (16 November) reiterates the familiar warning against the lack of
criticism and self-criticism on the part of the rank-and-file Party membership. This
lack of criticism, the paper declares, is particularly conspicuous at the current
report-and-election Party meetings when it is most needed. Alluding to the high-
handed methods of dealing with rank-and-file critics of Party affairs, often dis-
closed at the prima'' Party meetings, the editorial says that the suppression or
discouragement of criticism,the "keystone of proletarian dictatorship," ranks among
the cardinal sins:
Every Communist has a right and duty to take part in the discussion
of practical problems of the Party9a policy, to criticize any of
the Party leaders and organs; he can be elected to any of these organs.
Communist Party members are further reminded that the Party is the sole repository
of power in the country and it is up to them alone to discover shortcomings and
correct them-.
This (proletarian) dictatorship is led by a single party of
Communists which does not share, and cannot share, the power
with any other Party. This makes it plain that the Communists
themselves must expose and remedy all mistakes....
CONFIDENTIAL
Approved For Release 2000/08/29 : CIA-RDP78-04864A000200060010-2
 OUR IDENT
25X1A6c
Approved For Release 2000/Q; b29ID RiDP78-04864AOO02
-8 -
RADYANSKE PODILYE (20 November) admits that the first report-and-election meetings
(etchetno-vybornie sobrania) have already revealed numerous weaknesses in the primary
Party organizations: "attempts are being made to suppress criticism... and to leave
the shortcomings hidden." In a virulent diatribe against the Smotrytsky rayon Party
officials, the paper tells of a rank-and-file Party member who, risking his superior's
displeasure, attempted to criticize certain financial abuses by high functionaries.
He was interrupted with the admonition that "it was not for him, a rank-and-file
Communist, to know how the higher Party functionaries are working.,'
A report from Stalingrad (27 November) reflects the concern of the Kumylzhensky
rayon Party Committee over the lack of new applicants for Party membership, and
intimates that the allegedly preferred jobs held by Communists may not provide
sufficient inducement for non-Party youths to seek membership in the Party. "Numerous
members of the plenary session noted that in many primary Party organizations
Communists had not been placed in vital production posts...."
The "low level" of Party agitation is dealt with in a number of transmissions from
Kirovograd, Stalingrad, Orel Zhitomir and others. Typical of them is a SOVETSKAYA
SIBIR editorial (29 November). Naming several agitators of the Novosibirsk freight
station, the paper wonders how the "Bolshevik word" can be carried to the masses by
the people who "are still not familiar with the decree on the elections to the
people's courts" and "who have not read Beria's October Anniversary Speech."
The poor performance of the oblast Komsomol organizations is deplored by VELIKOLUKSKAYA
PRAVDA on 24 November. One of the "many defects and weaknesses" of these
organizations is that the growth of their membership is "very weak ." The apparent
reluctance of the youths to participate in the life of the, collective farms, a primary
duty of Komsomols, is referred to as a "particularly deficient" feature of Komsomol
propaganda:
In Idritsky, Kudeversky, Podberezinsky and Serezhinsky rayons not one
young collective farmer joined the Komsomol.... In Leninsky,
Nevelsky and some other rayons there are collective farms which have no
Komsomol organization at all.
Other reports on Komsomol activities, as heard from Alma Ata, Izmail and Kherson, point
to the same failings that are characteristic of the parent Party organizations:
aloofness from the non-Party masses, restricted criticism and self-criticism and the
inordinately wide gap between the organizations of the various levels of the Party
hierarchy. An interesting sidelight on the social structure of the Communist
Party is cast by a report from Dzaudzhikau, North Osetian Autonomous Oblast
(29 November). The 317 people admitted to the Promyshlenny rayon Party between
January 1950, and November 1951, "included 97 workers."
IDEOLOGICAL V EA.KNESSES
Moscow's concern over the ideological aspect of Uzbek life is evident from the PRAVDA
editorial on the subject (17 November), a long article by Nyazov, Secretary of the
Uzbek Communist Party, broadcast on the same day and other reports. PRAVDA
emphasizes that the relapse into an unpatriotic mood (retsidiv antipatrioticheskikh
vzglyadov) on the part of a number of Uzbek writers is a recent phenomenon and
should be looked into without delay. Some poets and writers says the paper, are
still "busy glorifying the remote past trying to mold modern content into archaic
forms of the long extinct feudal culture...." (zanimayutsia voskhvaleniem dalekogo
proshlage, pytayutsia viit sovremennoe soderzhanie v arkhaicheskie formy davno
izzhivshei sebya feodalnoi kultury.) The same "censure" (upryok), concludes the
editorial, is applicable to a "number of composers" of the Soviet Far East whose
"obsolete canons" (ustarevshie kanony) of art are contrary to the optimistic out-
look of the Soviet people.
Nyazov is even more critical and outspoken than PRAVDA: "the republic's writers
have not yet created any literature that is monumental in point of ideological and
and artistic qualities." (pisateli respubliki yeshcho ne sozdali monumentalnikh
po svoim ideinym and khudozhestvennym kachestvam literaturnikh proizvedeniy.) The
lack of criticism and self-criticism among writers, though deplored by Nyazov as
CONFIDENTIAL CON IUEN ! I
Approved For Release 2000/08/29 : CIA-RDP78-04864A000200060010-2
 ?' . afffigg.
Approved For Release 2000/08/29 : CIA-RDP78-04864A
CONFIDENTIAL
10-2 25X1A6c
a contributing factor in the present state of affairs, is not considered the prime
reason. What is worse, in his opinion, is the sinister practice of "mutual
glorification and slurring over of mistakes." (vzaimnoye voskhvalenie i zamazyvanie
oshibok). This, he says, has led to manifestations of "rootless" (bezrodniy)
cosmopolitism, pan-Turkism and pan-Islamism in Uzbek literature. Grave ideological
mistakes of a nationalist nature (natsionalisticheskago kharactera) are said to have
been made in the works of Sabi.- .r TurabTula, Sheikh-Zade, Mirtemir and other
writers. The nature of these mistakes, as defined by Nyazov, is the "idealization
of the feudal past-and truckling to the old feudal culture" of the khans and beys.
A PRAVDA article by Nikolayev and Kott (21 November not broadcast) de-emphasizes
the achievements of the popular Esthonian writer Lydia Koydula (1543-15$6), and
cautions against the "wrong interpretation" of her works. Koydula was a progressive
writer and sincere in her struggle for the freedom of her native Esthonia, the
article admits., but "was unable to rise high enough to properly grasp the historic
destinies" (ne mogla podniatsia do takogo ponimania istoricheskikh sudeb) of the
Esthonian people. There is no reference to any objectionable features of her work
but it appears that it lends itself to various interpretations, including one
favorable to the bourgeoisie. The latter, in fact, published her works twice, in
1925 and 1934, and "clutched at the erroneous tendencies" (khvatalis za oshibochnie
tendentsii) in her poems to convey a bourgois-slanted ideology. It is unfortunate,
the article points out, that the mistakes made by the publishers of Koydulats work
enjoy a certain amount of popularity (imeyut nekotoroye rasprostranenie). They
are also said to be reflected in the textbooks on Esthonian literature published
this year for senior school students. Similar "confusion" (putanitsa) is en-
countered often in the press comment on the poetess' works, the writers conclude,
and they admonish the Esthonian publishers to be more careful in the future:
It is time for a cautious approach to the publication of classic
literature, on the basis of a profoundly scientific study
(gluboko nauchnago izuchenia) of the progressive writers of the
past.
A STALINSKY PUT editorial discusses the survivals of capitalism (perezhitki kapi-
talizma) among the Kazakhs and declares that even certain rayon Party Committees
are not immune to such ideological errors. The (Kustanai) Oblast Education
Department and rayon Party Committee, for example, do not appear to object to the
practice of "not selecting" young Kazakh girls for schools. This practice made
it possible for only "a very small number" of Kazakh women to enter universities
in the past two years.
Addressing a plenary session of the central committee of the Ukrainian Communist
Party, (26 November, not broadcast) Melnikov intimates that ideology in the Ukraine
is still something to be concerned about. The Central Committee, he avers, "has
not looked far enough" into the affairs of various scientific and other
organizations. Melriikov is not specific about the nature of the affairs but, as
reported in PRAVDA, "serious failings" are imputed by him to the work of the
following organizations: the Union of Soviet Writers, the Union of.Ukrainian
Soviet Composers, the Committee on Art under the Ukrainian Council of Ministers
as well as a number of unnamed Ukrainian newspapers and magazines. The Kiev,
Kharkov, Odessa and Lvov Oblast Party Committees are said to exereize "superficial"
(poverkhnostniy) control over the ideological affairs in their respective areas.
CBNfI~ENTiA~.
Approved For Release 2000/08/29 : CIA-RDP78-04864A000200060010-2