INDICATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL VULERABILITIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-04864A000200090009-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 1998
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: March 17, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL INTELLIG
INFORMATIO
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS O
ENCE AGENCY REPORT NO. OO
N FROM
RAD O BROA~ APPER TJ#L
-F-217
COUNTRY USSR
DATE OF
SUBJECT INDICATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL V
ULNERABILITIES INFORMATION FE B l-tS-
HOW
PUBLISHED
DATE DIST. 1-1
March 1952
WHERE
CHANC.
TO
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PUBLISHED
)
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NO. OF PAGES
DATE
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IULLET$N NO._2 '~
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LANGUAGE
REPORT NO.
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
Of THE UNITED STATES WITHIN THE MEANING OF ESPIONAGE ACT E0
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 IB PROHIBITED.
SOURCE Monitored Broadcasts
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
CPW Report No. 22 -- USSR
(Feb. 1-15, 1952)
SUMMARY
The.treatment of agricultural shortcomings in the period reviewed is largely familiar except
that the emphasis is on the need for more and better agricultural propaganda. Unfavorable
climatic conditions for agriculture in 1951 are for the first time officially admitted in the
tatistical Bureau announcement on last year's plan
performance. The shortage of trained
personnel is aired in context of inadequate agricultural study courses. There appears to be no
diminution in machinery breakdowns which continue to claim considerable attention. The output
on the livestock industry is negligible. No reference is made on any of the regional transmitters
to the expansion of the crop-acreage although the official figure on the 1951 plan show a 6.7
million-hectare increase in the cultivated area. Official concern about continued low harvest
yields,, mostly in the southern areas, is seen in the remedial measures repeatedly urged by the
authorities.
Radio references to Party activities continue to stress the importance of a more thorough
grounding in Marxism for Communists and non-partisans alike. Communist Party organizations
everywhere are also urged to have their decisions implemented instead of leaving them on paper.
In industry, as in agriculture, the stress is on personnel problems and labor discipline as
priority targets to be achieved, and socialist competition is treated as a means to that end.
The old refrain of "eradicating the ideological remnants" of capitalism and'securing a firmer
grip on Marxism-Leninism is still echoed by many regional transmitters in conventional terms.
The ideological education of the intelligentsia as well as the ideological behavior of the
Ukraine and Kazakh SSR are still the object of close official attention.
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CFW Report No. 22-A USSR 1
(Feb. 1-15, 1952)
DATE PUBLISHED:
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
SOURCE: Monitored Broadcasts
CONTENTS
AR1ICU.WiURE........ ~.saara..a.r.rt.. r?
INDUS`!.'RY.r,+.........?a....?s......,rr..4
PARTY ACTIVITIES .........ar........??
IDEOLOGICAL WEAKNESSES ..................8
Agriculture: PRAVDA (Feb. 11) reflects the collective complaint of the regional transmitters
about the major obstacles to agricultural progress -- insufficient agricultural propaganda and
disappointing results of the agro-technical study courses which are said to produce a variety of
dislocations. The Main Administration for Agricultural Propaganda (Glavnoye Upravienie
Selskokhozaistvennoy Propagandy) and its regional branches created about eighteen months ago are
reported to have fallen on the job of popularizing advanced agricultural technology and inducing
the farmers to make more extensive use of machinery. PRAVDA's chief complaint is that the mentionei
propaganda organizations tend to become "bureaucratized" and "pursue their work without regard for
collective and state farm practice." Another drawback, according to the paper, is that in a
number of areas, including oblasts and republics, advanced agricultural methods are made
available "to a small number" of collective and state farms.
In Kaliningrad oblast, for example, there are no agricultural propaganda experts at all, and this
is said to hamper the dissemination of advanced farming experience. Among the areas little
affected by agricultural propaganda are also Semipalatinsk, East Kazakhstan and "several other"
Kazakh oblasts. The 18 agricultural research institutes of Rostov oblast appear. to manifest
little concern about actual farming practice and are reluctant to "concentrate on vital questions"
connected with furthering agricultural progress. Lack of cooperation between the various
propaganda bodies and the experts in the field may be inferred from the oblique editorial remark
that these propagandists "frequently... do not support". the initiative of the leading agricultural
workers.
Inadequate agricultural propaganda is also the object of STALINGRADSKAYA PRAVDA's editorial
criticism of Feb. 3. Indeed the dissemination of agricultural technology in the oblast is so
slow, the paper says, that many collective and state farms are not even familiar with the crop-
rotation system (travopolye) initiated in the country a long time ago. Scientific achievements
are not incorporated into production because many of the agricultural scientists seem to consider
their experiments as an end in itself and their interest in actual field work is very superficial:
We have an absolutely abnormal situation
in that experimental and selective stations
and the agricultural institutes carry on
their scientific research work independently
from kolkhoz production...
The following rayons are said to be the worst in the oblast in point of agricultural propaganda
but others, it is claimed, are not far behind: Kalachevskiy,,Komsomolskiy, Voroshilovskiy,
Netkachevskiy, Proleyskiy, Kaganovichskiy, Keltskiy, Ivolinskiy and Rudnyanskiy.
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A ZARYA editorial (Feb. 5) contends that lack of agricultural knowledge is responsible for the
poor judgment in the selection of crops in Dnepropetrovsk oblasts. The "majority of the
kolkhozes , it appears, considered such crops as maize, buckwheat and millet of "secondary
importance", neglected them and in the end obtained extremely low yields. Another indication of
the farmers' ignorance, according to the paper, is the almost primitive methods of planting
employed in Apostolovskiy, Pereshchepinskiy, Petropavlovskiy and Solonyanskiy rayons id ere
"nearly the entire area under millet seed was sown according to the old method with hardly any
manure."
Personnel training, another chronic ailment of agriculture, is discussed by RADYANSKA UERAINA on
Feb. 5. The drive for agricultural cadre training has been pressed with varying degrees of
success for a long time but the overall picture, in the paper's view, is not encouraging. Citing
Zhitomir and Chernigov oblasts as typical cases, the editorial declares that failure to take
remedial measures may "jeopardize the whole kolkhoz training program." The reluctance of the
farmers to take up agricultural courses is implicit in the paper's references to the inadequacy
or total lack of study facilities in a great many districts. The premises assigned for kolkhoz
schools are either unheated or otherwise unsuitable for the purpose and text books, agro-technical
manuals and other study aids are often unavailable. It often happens that these conditions are
improved but the students receive no instruction at all, as in the case of Drogobych and Stanislav
oblasts where the agronimists and other agricultural specialists "have not delivered a single
lecture during the past three months under various inexcusable pretexts."
The regional output on the technical end of agriculture continues in prodigious volume, and the
theme is discussed mostly in context of insufficient skill on the part of the mechanization
workers (mekhanizatory--tractor and combine operators). Rostov oblast, according to MOLOT
(Feb. 1 and 13), is still one of the most backward agricultural oblasts although there is no
visible justification for it. The machine-tractor stations, says the editorial of Feb, 1, are
just as abundantly supplied with all sorts of farm machinery as in any other oblast but the
tractor repairs do not keep up with the breakdowns. Over 60 machine-tractor stations were about
40% behind schedule last year, and others were even more than 50%. Lack of mechanical skill is
particularly conspicuous in the case of caterpillar tractors. The Zlodeyskiy rayon station,
for example, managed to put in decent shape only four of its 22 caterpillar tractors. A similar
"intolerable" situation is said to exist in Alexandrovskaya, Anastassievskaya, Gornyatskeya,
Trishakovskaya, Holitvenskaya, Glubokinskaya, Bokovskaya, Litvinovskaya, Konstantinovskaya and
many other unnamed machine-tractor stations in the oblast. Pursuing the subject on Feb. 13, the
paper says that "despite their enormous possibilities", many of the oblast collective farms
prefer to stick to the old pattern of work, making poor use of the available machinery and
taking little or no advantage of scientific achievements in agriculture.
Preparations for spring sowing are unduly protracted by the lack of tractors and other machinery
in working conditions; according to KAZAKHSTANSKAYA PRAVDA (Feb. 6). All available reserves, says
the paper, must be mobilized to lick the shortage of skilled drivers and mechanics and thus
forestall the possible collapse of the sowing campaign. The urgent problem of the day, the
editorial continues, is for every agricultural organization and artel to have a "full complement"
of tractor drivers and operators. MOLDOVA SOCIALISTA (Feb. 9) publishes the decision of the
Moldavian Council of Ministers on "stricter control" over tractor repairs which were found to be
of low quality and inadequate quantity. A ZARYA editorial (Feb. 13) makes disparaging comment on
the slow progress of tractor repairs in the oblast and questions the agricultural officials'
"bolshevik integrity of principle" (bolshevistskaya printsipialnost),. The failure of the
harvest-yield plan last year, the paper declares "must not" be repeated this year, and the
situation can only be improved by concentrating all the available manpower and machinery on the
job on hand -- speedy and thorough repairs of tractors. The Krivoy Rog, Dnepropetrovsk,
Krinichanskiy and Sinelnikovsky rayons are referred to as the critical areas in addition to a
number of machine-tractor stations located In other unnamed rayons.
Care of Livestock Still Inadequate: SOVETSIAYA RODINA (Bobruisk, in Russian Feb. 3) admits that
the tractor maintenance in the oblast leaves a great deal to be desired but the livestock industry
is still more serious and demands immediate attention. Among the gravest shortcomings of 1951,'
the paper asserts, quoting the eighth plenum of the Belorussian Communist Party, was the failure
of the agricultural yield plan in the oblast as a whole. This year the situation is little more
promising since a number of the machine-tractor stations are still making insufficient use of
the available machinery, the land-reclamation program is not pushed fast enough and the area
under cultivation is not being expanded. The paper incidentally reveals that Bobruisk oblast is
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not alone in its poor livestock-raising job -- the neighboring Polessye and Gomel oblast are just
as far behind their schedules. (There is no intimation, however, as to how far behind they are).
The "serious shortcomings" revealed in the provision of fodder and maintenance of livestock in
these areas are said to have adversely affected the meat and dairy industry.
"The situation as regards fodder is really confused," complains SOVETSKAYA SIBIR of Feb. 13.
And this situation is further confounded by the seemingly unchecked losses of livestock through
squandering and pilferage. A number of rayons have also failed to take the necessary measures
to protect the stock from sickness which is also responsible for great losses, particularly of
young calves and piglets.:
Many of the calves born in January were lost...
large losses of piglets occurred in Novosibirsk
rural rayon, and of kids in the Cherepanovsk rayon.
Squanderers of stock must not go unpunishedj...the
quarterly plan for milk deliveries was fulfilled by
not much more than ten percent.
Reports on agricultural shortcomings of a general nature, particularly inadequate preparations for
the spring sowing campaign, are broadcast from Pskov, Grodno, Nostov, Stalingrad and Saratov
oblasts. The latter two oblasts are said to be particularly slow, and socialist competition
between them has been promoted as one of the methods to speed up progress. STALINGRADSKAYA
PRAVDA (Feb. 8) admits however, that spring preparations in the oblast are '-still unsatisfactory
and that the oblast is lagging behind Saratov, which.is itself not among the most.advanced
agricultural areas:
Stalingrad collective farms and machine-tractor
stations are lagging.behind Saratov...in spring
preparations. Ten percent less tractors have been
repaired...while three times less fertilizers have
been spread than in Saratov...more than 30% of the
tractors and about half the number of plows must be
repaired.
The Stalingrad farmerst lukewarm attitude toward the competition with their Saratov counterparts,
as inferred from STALINGRADSKAYA PRAVDA of Feb. 11+, stems from the "weak and half-hearted" work
of rural. agitators who have so far failed to whip up more enthusiasm for socialist competition.
The rayon Party Committees, on the other hand, are accused of "lack of appreciation" in regard.
to this important job which is said to be carried out "intermittently rather than consistently."
Isolated reports of agricultural shortcomings are broadcast also from the following areas:
Ternopol: There are many kolkhozes and rayons of the oblast which
underrate the importance of production brigades... such facts
are peculiar to many kolkhozes of Zalozhtsevsky, Buchachskiy,
Zolotnikivskiy and many other rayons. (VILNE ZHITYA, Feb. 13).
Pskov.- Many collective farms of the Oblast are intolerably behind
with the primary processing of flax and the delivery of flax
to the State. (PSKOVSKAYA PRAVDA, Feb. 3).
Orel: Shortcomings noted at Nikolskiy and other rayons last year
still persist this year...the training of mechanic cadres is
also proceeding unsatisfactorily. (ORLOVSKAYA PRAVDA, Feb, 5).
Grodno: In many collective farms of our oblast the stockpiling and
spreading of fertilizers is utterly unsatisfactory; the
overhauling of agricultural machinery and equipment is too
slow. (GRoDNENSKAYA PRAVDA, Feb. 6).
Rostov: ...preparation of local fertilizers... is not being satis-
factorily carried out in the oblast as a whole...and some
rayons have not even begun this work. (MOLOT, Feb. 7).
As a result of low efficiency, infringment of agro-technical
rules and unsatisfactory use of good machinery and equipment,
the Rostov oblast kolkhozes get poor harvests... Rostov oblast
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failed to fulfill the three-year plan for the
development of communal stockbreeding. (MOLOT)
Feb. 8).
Voronezh: The seventh plenary session of the oblast Party
1 d +1,.+ a oup of rayons including
r
committee revea e g
Vodopianovskiy, Vedugskiy, Semilugskiy, Voroshilovskiy,
Liskiy, Ladomirovskiy, Orachevskiy, Lipetsk and
M.ikhailovskiy rayons have been lagging behind in the
development of agriculture for a long period of time.
,...
KOMMUNA, Feb-5).
Shallow plowing, wrong cultivation of fallow, wastage of
soil moisture, delays...as well as dogmatic attitude toward
agronomical techniques--these shortcomings have led to low
harvest yields in a number of rayons and machine-tractor
stations. (BOLSHEVISTSKOYE ZNAMYA, Feb. 10).
dustry: PRAVDA devotes four editorials to industrial failings in the period under review, three
the
Feb. 3
il
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,
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.
them pointing to the lack of qualified personnel as the source of all ev
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"wrong"people are said to have been appointed to responsible jobs by the Kemerovo and Kostroma
oblast Party Committees. The paper also censures the continued reluctance of the Turkmenian
Paxty officials to encourage the ai9vancement of women in industry: "There are too few women
among executive cadres." Only a "communist attitude" to labor, says the editorial on Feb. 4,
can cope with the "numerous instances" of,inadequate use of first class machinery as. .s the
case in some of the Kuznets Basin coal mines and in a number of lumber camps. Many loading
machines, designed to release miners from unproductive work, it is revealed, are standing idle,
while coal is frequently cut "by manual means." Examples of excellent work in the mines and
other industries, the paper says, are shown daily but not all the workers are willing or able to
emulate them. The lack of qualified personnel is also held responsible for the failure of the
timber production and delivery plans of the Kotlas-lea, Dvina-les and Kir-lea lumber trusts,
according to PRAVDA of Feb. 6, where "scores of tractors, power generators, winches and hauling
machines stand idle during the crucial winter period." Similar shortcomings are said to be
evident in the Karelo-Finnish SSRts timber industry, but no details are offered.
In a four-column PRAVDA article on Feb. 6 (not broadcast) Titarenko and Nikanorov discuss the
importance of "socialist" labor discipline which, in the words of Lenin, implies "iron discipline
and absolute obedience" (zheleznaya disciplina i besprekoslovnoya provinovenie) to the will of
the Soviet leader. The total number of manual and white collar workers in soviet economy, they
say, has now reae'hed.}+0.8 million. This is an impressive labor force and, would be capala of
great production feats if certain undesirable features of some of the workers" attitude were
dishonest attitude to work and mucrh ado about nothing
are. slovenliness
The
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i
li
,
y
e
na
e
m
. (razgildaistvo, nedobrosovestnoye khalturnoye otnoshenie k delu). Asserting that rigid labor
discipline per se is not the ultimate aim of the Soviet economy, the authors declare ttthat it is
the only method of developing a "sense of collectivism, a sense of responsibility... in the
Soviet workers which they apparently still lack. Tardiness and absenteeism are still plaguing
industrial production and causing great damage (nanosiat seryozniy ushcherb) and most therefore
be eliminated as rapidly as possible.
A summarized dispatch from Vologda (Feb. 2) cites the Sholsky lumber camp (les-prom-khoz) as
typical of many others. breakdowns are frequent and many, and there is a shortage of skilled
laborers and. workshops to make the necessary repairs; only15% of the workers fulfill their
quotas. VELIKOLUKSKAYA PRAVDA (Feb. 2) admits that the oblast lumber industry, having failed
to fulfill its 1951 plan, is still lagging behind.. Of the nine lumber camps of the Velikoluk-les,
the largest oblast lumber trust, "not one has completed its 1951 plans." What is worse, many
enterprises produced in January even less than in December. Neither are the other oblast
industries doing so well, according to the paper. More than half of the industrial combines have
been unable to cope with their State plans. This "impossible situation" is said to have arisen
because the mentioned enterprises are in charge of bad administrators who care little about improvi
the backward technology and their machinery "often stands idle." The oblast flax trust (ino-treat)
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the consumers industry (obl-mest-prom) and the industrial building trust are said to, be among the
:slowest despite-the fact that the State has equipped them with first-class machinery, ample
manpower and raw materials.
Some of the Odessa oblast industries persistently violate the State targets by producing in
quantity and disregarding quality. Others are behind the plan in both respects. Listed among
such violators are the electrical motor industry, the footwear and leather industries whose
production is characterized as "harmful to our planned socialist husbandry" (CHERNOMORSKA
KOMUNA, Feb. 6), A similar complaint is voiced by BOLSHEVISTSKOYE ZNAI A (Feb. 9) which states
that "serious shortcomings still exist in the Odessa oblast enterprises." The current drive for
higher quality production, the paper intimates, has not been very successful because the pledges.
made by the workers and plants in regard to higher qualitative indices "are very often vague and
-unrealistic." Individual performance records are not kept up to date and often neglected
altogether, and that makes it impossible to differentiate between.stakhnovites and laggards.
The failure of a number of (unnameed) local industries to show better performance is also blamed
-on the trade union organizations which are said to be making "a great deal of noise for appearances
.sake," leaving everything else on paper.
The fact that the oblast industry completed its gross production plan by 102.3% last year is no
indication of good work since many enterprises which failed to fulfill the plan are "hiding
behind this aggregate figure," according to DNEPROPETROVSKAY PRAVDA (Feb. 7). The industries
whose production figures are not indicative of their actual performance are the Novomoskovsky
State Mining Trust, Krasniy Profintern and Spartak enterprises, Dzerzhinsk Ore Mining Trust,
Kaganovich Footwear Plant, Dnieper Communications Construction Trust (Dnepro-Svyaz-stroy) and
-others.
"'Basic defects," says PRAVDA editorially on Feb. 12, exist in the work of the scientific-research
institute of the building-and-road-machine construction industry. Production technology would
have been considerably advanced by the numerous technological suggestions submitted' had. they been
,given any support of been properly studied. But the institute, it appears, prefers to "stand
aside" instead of contributing to the solution of vital production problems. The editorial also
points to the All-Union Research Institute of Forestry which "has done practically nothing" to
help solve the problems connected with the steppe-area afforestation or the mechanization of the
lumber industry. (No details are given as to the nature or extent of the mentioned failures).
Slow construction progress is also reported from Novosibirsk. A SOVETSKAYA SIBIR editorial
(Feb. 7) says that the failure of a number of local industrial industries is overshadowed by the
"big problem" facing the building workers this year; they are still working "most unsatisfactorily"'
(kraine neud.ovletvoritelno).Road construction, for example, is said to be so far behind schedule
that the Siberian Track Construction Trust (Sib-Stroy-Put) was the only one among the numerous other
construction organizations to complete its January assignments. A number of Novosibirsk town
enterprises -- including the building machine plant, timber works and "many artels" -- are still
'"in debt to the State . "
Mining to be seeddeed u - The substance of Deputy USSR Coal Minister Kuzmich's long statement of
Feb. 1 is that the coal miners must work a little faster. There is too much hand labor still
involved in the auxiliary coal-mining processes, and that, in turn, holds up production in the
mechanized sector. Although complete mechanization of mining must be looked forward to, the
only. present remedy for higher production is, according to Kuzmich, "A further increase in the
productivity of labor." The industry-wide drive for the introduction of the cyclical graph system
(tsiklichnost), he reveals, is still far from being an integral part of coal production since only
55% of the Donets Basin coal seams are expected to adopt that method by the end of 1952. The
year-end figure for the Moscow and Far Eastern basin will be over 4o%. The Deputy Minister also
urges the "compulsory implementation of the plan" by every mine and pit section which, he says,
:an only be achieved by a radical improvement of the preliminary mining processes and a "wide
application of "high-speed methods" of work. (shirokoye primenenie skorostnykh priemov)..
Echoing the Minister's statement, MOLOT (Feb. 12) asserts bluntly that "the Rostov miners are in
debt to the State," and admits that in a number of trusts and in half of the coal pits the
mining situation this year "is even more acute" than last year. The paper is even more censorious
of the oblast Communist Party organizations for letting coal production deteriorate so far and
remaining satisfied with "average figures" despite the timely warning of the Central Committee of
the Party:
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The State plan for the entire Rostov coal combine
remains unfulfilled....machinery is poorly used and
efficiency is low. In many sectors production costs
are considerably higher than quoted in the plans...
the progressive cyclic methods of production are
frankly ignored at the pits...
Consumer Goods Production: RABOCHIY PUT (Feb. 3) speaks about the "serious shortcomings" in the
oblast consumers cooperatives and the "low level" of retail trade in a number of rayons without
giving any further details. STALINGRSKAYA PRAVDA (Feb. 7) is somewhat more specific in its
treatment of the subject. Asserting that the Stalingrad oblast and town trading organizations
fell short of their 1951 plan,, the paper reveals that the pitcute is not much brighter now: "the
minimum assortment of goods is lacking in the shops..." Returning to the cooperatives' last year's
performance, the editorial declares that only 29 out of the 58 rayon consumer goods unions
managed to complete their plans last year, and the results of that poor job can be felt now,
particularly in Olkhovskiy, Frunzenskiy and Alexeyevskiy rayons.
Warty Activities: The political education of the non-Communist youth and intelligentsia, which
rates in importance as the enlightenment of the Party and Komsomol members themselves, claims a
considerable share of the output on Party life. Most of the regional transmitters note the slow
increase in the ranks of the Komsomol inferring that the political immaturity of the youth is
responsible for the lagging recruitments. SOVETSKAYA SIBIR (Feb.. 5) discusses the activities of
the oblast Komsomol and concludes that the shortcomings in the political enlightenment of the
non-partisan youth are "particularly serious." Many primary Komsomol organizations, particularly
in the rural areas, remain understrength, and about three quarters of them are not increasing
their membership at all. The paper says that despite the remedial steps already taken, Party
-educational work at the oblast committee level is still very poor:
Almost one third of all the secretaries of the primary
organizations were dismissed...many first and second
secretaries of the rayon. Komsomol committees were also
changed. These facts bear witness to the serious short-
comings in the work of the oblast Komsomol Committee.
Referring to the sema theme on Feb. 12, the paper admits'a drop in Komsomol membership in Barabinsk,
Dzerzhinsk, Ubinsk and Kupnovsk rayons where the organizations are said to "shrink and lose
interest" (sokrashchayutsia i teryaut interes) in their work under the adverse effect of
"inattentive Party attitude."
That the Komsomol organizations are falling down on the job of enlightening the non-partisan youth
is also the object of a ZVYAZDA editorial attack of Feb. 6. The education of the Soviet youth
"in the lofty ideas of Communism...in the spirit of the dictatorship of the proletariat" (v
velichestvennikh ideyakh komunizma...v dukhe diktatury proletariata), says the paper, is far
from adequate. The numerical weakness of many Komsomol organizations is cited as the direct
result of the low political and educational standard of the youth from which the necessary
xeinforcements for the Komsomol ranks are to be recruited. The editorial strictures about this
"intolerable state of affairs" are prompted by the fact that over 2,,000 collective farm Komsomol
organizations are numerically weak and that in many farms of Grodno and Molodechno oblasts "no
Komsomol organizations have been get up."
A dispatch by Zinkovitch from Grodno oblast published in PRAA"VDA on Feb. 11 (not broadcast) notes
that neither the Party nor the Komsomol organizations pay much attention to the political
education of the non-Komsomol youth. The latter, in fact, are not studying anything anywhere
(nigde inchemu ne uchatsya). "Causing great alarm". (vyzyvayet bolshuyu trevogu) also is the
fact that the number of backward (etstayushchie) study circles in the oblast is constantly
growing (nepreryvno rastet). More than half of the Komsomol primary organizations are said to be
arable to increase their membership while 300 collective farms still do not have any organization
at all. A KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA editorial (Feb. 12) hints darkly at what might be construed as
diminishing Komsomol influence among the youth in a number of areas. Discussing the maintenance
:)f forest shelter belts, the paper says that the Komsomol organizations of the steppe and forest-
steppe areas have signally failed "to mobilize the youth for more active work" in the growing and
preservation of forest belts in Kazakhstan SSR, Penza, Tambov and Orel oblasts and Bashkir ASSR.
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The Communist education of youth, though one of the Komsomol*s duties, is, in the final analysis,
the responsibility of the Communist Party, according to KOMMUNIST (Feb. 14). This, however., is
not-the case in Saratov oblast where in a number of Komsomol groups "studies...often break down
completely." The oblast Party officials are reminded that the "political enlightenment" of the
non-partisan youth is every bit as important as the education of the Komsomols and that in a .
number of rayons the Party has failed in both respects. Political and cultural shortcomings are
said to be particularly conspicuous in Saratov, Ternovsk, Pugachev, Krasavsk and "some other'
rayons.
The importance of seminars, lectures and political education within the Party in general is
discussed by KAZAKH TANSKAYA PRAVDA it its issue of Feb. 2 and 9. The paper assails the low
theoretical level of Party education brought about by the dogmatic and uncritical approach
(nachetnicheskiy podkhod) to the study of the Party history and Marxism-Leninism. In North
Kazakhstan, Dzhambul and Guryev oblasts and Party educators have taken what appears to be the
safest line by having the students "memorize numerous statements, dates and figures." Some of
the political schools are said to confine their activities to the selection and appointment of
"advisers" for political study circles but disregard the actual studies. Seminars, the chief
vehicle of intraparty propaganda and education, are often left in charge of unqualified
propagandists, according to the paper's editorial of Feb. 9. In Paviodar Oblast, for example,
not a single Party propagandist has a college degree, and only one of them was found willing to
improve his education through a correspondence course.
STALINGRADSKAYA PRAVDA (Feb. 5) refers vaguely to the "faulty selection" of propaganda cadres and
blames it on the "unprincipled leadership" of certain Party organizations. Referring to the lack
of Party control in the Government apparatus and elsewhere (Feb. 11), the paper instances a case
of plan failure brought about by the lack of such control:
...the absence of labor discipline, an attitude of
indifference to production and many other defects have
become one of the main causes behind the collapse of
the fish production plan, and yet the Party organization
seemed to be unaware of this.
Party negligence is also held responsible for the fact that the Ilovlinskiy Agricultural Department,
for example, received three different instructions concerning forest planting at the same time.
Particularly sharp Party vigilance over Government activities is urged in view of the fact that
the performance of the government machinery is still far from perfect:
Bureaucracy, red tape, indifference to people--these
and other birthmarks of capitalism still pop out here and
there...such important matters as the workers' observance
of state secrets...and other similar matters cannot be
ignored.
Making decisions and failing to implement them is, according to PRAVDA and RADYANSKA UKRAINA (Feb-7)
still characteristic of many Party organizations. PRAVDA points to the Mogilev obiast Party ,_.
Committee as typical of many others: It is "inordinately absorbed" in drawing up various resolu-
tions without bothering to check their implementation. Only efficient leadership, says the
paper, will succeed in exposing the "incorrigible penpushers and windbags capable of drowning any
live cause in a torrent of speeches and resolutions,." The Lvov oblast and municipal Party
Committees are said to be even less responsive to the "voice of the masses" and to criticism from
below with the result that their work is faltering ideologically. Serious shortcomings in
ideological work are being "extremely slowly" removed. RADYANSKA UR A refers vaguely to the
Party bureaucrats in the Republic who "see the beginning and the end" of their work in the
preparation and issuance of orders. Checking the implementation of orders, the editorial
states, should-be constant, not "episodic and desultory", and the only way to achieve this is to
remove "the second-rate people" from Party and economic leadership.
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Ideological Weaknesses:- PRAVDA (Feb. 10) takes a dim view of contemporary Soviet operas and
libertti which, it ways, are still suffering from serious ideological imperfections. The
admitted preference of leading Soviet composers to deal with the past rather.than taking chances
with the ideological pitfalls involved in interpreting the present has been discussed in the central
and regions.l papers on numerous occasions before. That this situation still prevails is evident
from the editorial back-handed admission that "...many leading composers have not yet seriously
tackled the composing of operas on modern topics." Opera composing, comic opera and light music
are still said to be lagging "behind the demands of the public.," and lacking in popular appeal
and national characteristics. The editorial concludes by urging a "fresh departure" in the
development of Soviet opera and calling for "more initiative and energy" on the part of the Fine
Arts Committee, the leading composers and the Writers Union.
KRYMSKAYA PRAVDA (Feb. 6) frankly admits that the Crimean artists and composers are justifying
the people's expectations and that their ideological qualifications are "insufficiently high."
Literary and artistic workers are, on the whole, in "heavy debt" to the Crimean people having
failed to write a single play or song which is "generally acceptable and enjoyable."
PRAVDA (Feb. 2) pays tribute to the Soviet intelligentsia and points out that since it is called
upon to play an important part in the "eradication of the remnants of capitalism in the minds of
the people," its own education must be improved accordingly. The paper's prescription is "to
arm" the intelligentsia and scientists with more Marxist-Leninist science which alone is capable
of pointing the way toward "proper orientation."
The recent 7-day Republican conference on ideology in higher education, sponsored by the Central.
Committee of the Ukrainian Party, is discussed by Chernichenko in PRAVDA on Feb. 8 (not broadcast).
The conference revealed that the teaching of Marxism-Leninism, philosophy and political economy
in a number of Ukrainian universities -- particularly in Lvov, Kiev and Odessa -- is still "not
in keeping with the increased demands (ne otvechayet vozrosshim trebovaniaan). Uncritical
approach (nachetnichestvo), talmudism and dubious ideology in general are still common among these
and other university faculties. The distortion of historical facts (iskazhenie.istoricheskikh
faktov) and a variety of other "bourgeois-nationalist manifestations" are said to be characteristic
of many lectures on the mentioned subjects. Stressed as one of the gravest errors is the fact
that too little publicity is given to the "friendship of peoples" in the USSR, particularly the
Ukrainian and Russian people:
Too few lectures are read in the Ukrainian universities...
about the eternal friendship of the Great Russian and
Ukrainian peoples, about the beneficial influence of the
Great Russian culture on the cultural development of the
Ukrainian people.
Russian version:
Male chitaotsia lektsiy v VUZakh Ukrainy...o vekovei
druzhbe velikoge russkoge i ukrainskogo narodov, o
blagotvornom vlianii velikoi russkoi kultury na
razvitie kultury ukrainskege naroda.
A further investigation by the%mentioned conference also revealed that the USSR Ministry of
Higher Education itself is not entirely blameless in the matter of "supervising" the teaching-of
social sciences. This point is not elaborated, however, beyond the remark about the lack of close
ties (otsutstvie tesnoi svyazi) between the Ministry and the respective Party organizations.
The magazine BOLSHEVIK UKRAINY and the dailies PRAVDA UKRAINY and RADYANSKA UKRAINA are mildly
censured for insufficient attention to the work of universities in general and social sciences In
particular. A "merciless struggle" against the smellest manifestations of Ukrainian bourgeois-
nationalism and other expressions of bourgeois ideology--with the aid of an enlightened
intelligentsia -- is discussed in a summarized version of a PRAVDA UKRAINY editorial on Feb. 5.
The editorial, however, contains no specific reference to personalities or places in the Republic.
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Moscow's transcendental importance vis-a-vis any other capital or city of the USSR is reviewed
in familiar laudatory terms by RADYANSKA UKRAINIA on Feb.6. Moscow alone, it appears, is credited
with saving the fatherland from foreign invasions in the past and with the present-century
discovery that "all the roads lead to Communism." Moscow, says the paper, means as much to the
non-Russians as it does to the Russians: "Our own native Moscow--that is how Moscow is called by
Russians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Uzbeks, Georgians, Latvians..."
(Significant in this connection is the editorial reference to what may be interpreted as the
capital's recent services to the homeland: "The merits of Moscow before the fatherland are
immense. Moscow has become the gatherer of Russian lands, the national life center of the Russian
people." Ukrainian version: Zasluhi Moskvy pered batkivshchynoyu velychezny. Moska stala
zbirachem rosiyskikh zemel, tsentrom natsionalnoge zhytya rosiyskoho narodu.)
The Ukrainian people, RADYANSKA UKRAINIA continues, are filled with deep affection, love and
respect for their capital... have clung with all their hearts to Moscow, to the Muscovite State:
Following Bohdan Khmelnitskiy, the entire Ukrainian nation
spoke 300 years ago: We are with Moscow, with the Russian
people for all time...
Slidom za Bohdanom. Khmelnitskim, ves trudovoi ukrainskiy
narod prokholosyv trysta rokiv tomu: z Moskvoyu, z narodom
russkim, na viki vichny..
A long KAZAISTANSKAYA PRAVDA editorial (Feb. 1) reminds its readers that a housecleaning in the
Republic's theatres is long overdue because "they distort Soviet reality" (oni iskazhayut sovetskuyi
deiatvitelnost). Particularly objectionable from an ideological point of view are the theatres
operating in the oblast centers. They are not always, as the paper puts it, "hotbeds of culture
or advanced Soviet ideology and. morals." The Kazakh drama is styled backward.and the repertory of
the Kazakh theatres very unsatisfactory. As mentioned earlier in this repo;t, PRAVDA and
regional editorial strictures are directed against the tendency among com losers and playwrights
to deal with the past and shy away from anything of a strictly contemporary nature.
KAZAKEISTANSKAYA PRAVDA speaks of this "unfortunate situation" as fully applying to Kazakh SSR
where "very few plays on present soviet themes are being staged." The cuxrent theme dramas that
did make the stage are said to "suffer from purposelessness and little artistic value." This,
the paper retretfully concludes, is attested by the fact that out of 60 plays presented to the
Arts` Administration more than half were rejected and others were withdrawn from the repertory.
The same paper declares on Feb. 4 that the "reconstruction" of the science of linguistics in the
Republic is progressing "extraordinarily" slowly. It lists several Kazakh professors of
linguistics who have "not yet liberated themselves from Marr's mistakes", and some of them, in
fact, continue to '"sympathizd'with Marr.
Listed below in chronological order are some of the other sources reporting varying degrees of
ideological aberrations:
Velikie Luki -- It is regrettable that far from everywhere is educational work being conducted
on a satisfactory ideological level.u.oblast, rayon and town educational departments must
achieve the liquidation of old-world ideas. (VEI OLUKSKAYA PRAVDA, Feb. 5)
Smolensk -- The main shortcoming in lecture propaganda is the low ideological level on which
many lectures are still. read. There should be more propaganda concerning the superiority of
our socialist system and more exposition of the reactionary character of bourgeois science and
ideology. (RABOCHIY PUT, Feb. 5)
Kiev -- The lecturers at many institutes are failing to go deeply enough into the basic ideas of
Marxism-Leninism.. They are not demonstrating sufficiently the diagonal opposition between the
bourgeois and proletarian viewpoints. (RADYANSKA UKRAINA, Feb. 12)
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Aktyubinsk -- There is a marked backr ^dness in the schools of Chelkar and Khobdinsky rayons due
to the poor ideological training of the teachers. ( BINSKAYA P.RAVDA, Feb. 12)
Novosibirsk -- Scientific workers cannot be educated without any attention being paid to their
ideological and theoretical training... Scholasticism and abstraction in scientific research must
be decisively rooted out. All these tasks face the Novosibirsk colleges... (SOVETSKAYA S1BIR,
Feb. ]A)
Miscellaneous: Kiev reports that a group of 60 engineers and technicians from the Ukrainian Town
Planning Institute is now in Zaporozhye drafting plans for new settlements along the South
Ukrainian and North Crimean canals. These will be located in the area of Voroshilovka, Novo-
Grigorievka, Darievka, Vichulanka and Kamenka. (Feb. 9)
A dispatch from Tashkent (in English to India and Pakistan, Feb. 9) says that among the new
apparatuses recently designed in. the USSR is one that determines the composition of the blood
in the human organism without drawing blood. Another Soviet-made instrument consisting of a
complicated system of lenses and electric lamps enables the physician to examine the internal
surface of the esophagus, stomach and other internal organs. A special electric lamp designed
by Soviet experts throws no shadows and is widely used, to illuminate incisions during operations.
The Crimean Oblast Auto Transportation a .ounces (Feb. 10) that henceforth trucks will not be
allowed to travel without freight. All loaded trucks:, military or civilian scheduled to return
from their destination without a load must repot to the nearest "control post" and get their
loading instr tions from the "line controller" (1i,neiniy kontroler) which are compulsory for the
drivers.
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