INDICATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL VULNERABILITIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-04864A000200100002-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 18, 1998
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: March 31, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT NO.
INFORMATION FROM
CD NO.
COUNTRY USSR
SUBJECT INDICATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL VULNERABILITIES
HOW
PUBLISHED
WHERE
PUBLISHED
DATE
PUBLISHED
LANGUAGE
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF THE UNITED STATES WITHIN THE MEANING OF ISPIONAGI ACT SO
U. S. C., S1 AND S2. AS AMENDED. ITS TRANSMISSION OR THE REVELATION
OF ITS CONTENTS IN ANY MANNER TO AN UNAUTHORIZED PINSON IS PRO-
..SITED BY LAW. REPRODUCTION OF THIS FORM I$ PROMIRITID.
SOURCE
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CPW Report No. 25 -- USSR
(Feb. 25-Mar. 10, 1952)
25X1A9a
'
The continuing session of the Supreme Soviet, the Finance Minister's budget message
(Feb. 29), International Woman's Day (Mar. 8), the anniversary of Gogol's death (Mar. 4),
and the revived story of the Katyn Forest murders account for the bulk of the central
and regional radio output. The large flow of budgetary themes familiarly link Soviet
appropriations with peaceful intentions. The significance of International Woman's Day
is also uniformly interpreted as part of the struggle for peace--by the Soviet Union.
The Katyn Forest incident is discussed in the context of a renewed anti-Soviet war
campaign.
The most significant agricultural news comes from the Ukrainian and Moldavian Republics
where past failings and present unpreparedness are aired in special Party decisions.
Broadcasts on Party activities are below the normal volume and are presented in familiar
terms. Communist organizations throughout the USSR are cautioned against a relaxation
of their vigilance over the country's life, and against "drifting with the tide"
(plyt po teeheniu). Closer Party attention to Komsomol education and stricter control
over regional publications are urged.
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DATE PUBLISHED:
SOURCE:
CPW Report No. 25-A
(Feb". 25 Mar. 10, 1952)
UT5 as
THIS IS UNEVALUATED,INFORMATION
C0N` TENTS
AGRICULTURE ........................
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PARTY ACTIVITIES.........'...:......
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MISCELLANEOUS ..... .................
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The Plenary session of the Central Committee of the Ukrainian Communist Party (Kiev,
Feb. 29) reveals that the agricultural situation in various parts of the Republic
ranges in definition from barely satisfactory to chaotic. Mismanagement, lack of
proper organization, and deteriorating production are attributed to a "large number"
of machine tractor stations of the Republic as a whole, but the Western provinces are
said to be the worst of the lot. The 5000-word Central Committee decision even hints
darkly at "a mutual coverage of shortcomings" (vzaenmii pokryvania khib) in a number of
places but does not elaborate the point. The long list of "serious" and "intolerable"
agricultural shortcomings, as mentioned in the Party decision, is indicative of the
official concern about the matter.. Agricultural personnel is said to be only partially
or inadequately trained, and wrongly distributed on top of that.
The Central Committee is particularly irate about the persistent practice of appointing
politically qualified, rather '*61`1 trained personnel to responsible agricultural posts,
such as chairmen and managers of collective farms. The violation of contractual
obligations by machine tractor stations is said to be widespread enough to suggest a
standard procedure, particularly in the Western regions. Complicity between high Party
and Soviet officials, on the one hand, and machine tractor station personnel, on the
other, is vaguely referred to in the Party's assessment of the existing situation:
Many oblast and rayon Communist Party Committees and
oblast and rayon Executive Committees of Soviets of
Workers Deputies still preserve a false attitude toward
the intolerable mistakes of a number of machine tractor
stations.
At least 9 of the Ukraine's 25 oblasts are said to be far behind schedule in their tractor
and combine maintenance anu j.-epairs. The Western obiasts, however, are mentioneu as
being uniformly "unsatisfactory," and this would seem to indicate a greater number of
critical areas than the following nine oblasts: Chernigov, Zhitomir, Kamenets-Podolsk,
Odessa, Drogobych, Stanislav, Ternopol, Volhynia,` and Rovno. Significant in this
connection also is the Central Committee's reference to the "many" machine tractor
stations of the Republic as a whole which failed to fulfill their plans last year, and
are showing no visible improvement this year.
The agricultural shortcomings discussed in the Party decision are indeed so many and
varied that responsibility cannot be pinned on any single Party, Soviet, or agricultural
organization. Lack of guidance from above, however, is considered as the chief reason.
That guidance, the Central Committee declares, should be, but isn't coming primarily
.,.from the Ministries of Agriculture and Cotton Growing. These Ministries have failed
to react in time to numerous machinery breakdowns, inordinate overexpenditures of fuel
and other materials, and the a satisfactory repairs of tractors and combines, particularly
caterptl'laa -tractors.
RI'TUI W TO ARCH MS & RECQRCS CENTfw
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The political aspect of agricultural activities is said to have been gravely neglected,
and that is where proper control is to be maintained from the bottom up, beginning with
the political departments of the machine tractor stations. "The deputy directors of
machine tractor stations for political affairs must assign Communists and Komsomol
members to the most responsible tasks." This, is one way+,to !'crease the struggle
against pilfering of communal property." Another way is to look into the working and
living conditions of the tractor drivers and combine operators",3 The premises of the
machine tractor stations are to be "cleaned of waste and garbage," and the. wages of
brigade leaders, drivers, and other workers must henceforth be paid "on time and in
proper order."
The agricultural situation in the Moldavian SSR is bad enough to warrant grave official
concern, according to a lengthy report by Brezhnev, First Secretary of the Moldavian
Party's Central Committee. Although much progress is said to have been made in the
amalgams ion"of'small collective farms into larger units, the -'Appears to be litil"r
progress if any elsewhere. The 2,001 collective farms of the Republic have been combined
into 1,367, and the number of agricultural' specialists servin""6s`kolkhoz chairmen has
risen from 35 in.1950 to 293 in 1952. Similar though less spectacular successes were
registered by the rural Party organizations. Twelve thousand two hundred Party members
are now"said to be "active" in the villages in addition to the 185 "groups of candidates"
for Party membership.
Discussing agricultural shortcomings in the Republic, Brezhnev'had much more to say,
however. & e*,f the most se ous''drawbacks is' that agricultura`hts so far failed'
to justify' expections: "We`did' lot obtain an increase in yields Yri~many rayons and
kolkhozes." Only small harvests are said to have been gathered in many rayons, and the
result was,large-scale defaulting "on obligations to the State." Big losses of grain
and other crops are admitted in a number of rayons, among them Volontirovka, Kipertcheny,
Vertyuz1 any,' 'and Romanovka. In many others the performance is'' ;just as,poorc
?e cannot permit such a'state of affairs in which many
kolkhozes...fail every year to fulfill the agricultural work
within the set time limits. They obtain small crops; they do
not settle accounts with the State; they pay the kolkhozniks
little for their work.
Brezhnev is particularly critical of the tendency to underpay the collective farmers.
This practice, in his opinion, is not conducive to higher production and greater
enthusiasm for collectivization, and may even account to a large extent for the poor
crops. Equalization of pay, reminiscent of the long abolished practice in the other
itbedlliquidated" at once. Labor discipline among the collective
Soviet repo lics, must
rticularly unsatisfactory," should be strengtheid'd gelid
"permanent" field brigades and teams established.
The gist of Brezhnev's report is that, despite some measure of success attained iii'
some phases of agriculture, notably collectivization and political organization, this
branch of Moldavia's economy is still backward and needs a thorougt'overhauling.
Following are some of the salient points indicative of the many weaknesses yet to be
overcome:
t Sri: .Lt is well known that the...Vulkaneshty, Kagul, Baymakliya, Romanovka, and
Kaynary Rayons failed to fulfill their 1951 cotton delivery plans;
Machinery: Many machine tractor stations are utilizing their equipment very badly;
they are allowing idleness of tractors and machines;
F,?, ? The kolkhozes of Moldavia need a huge army of cadres ...more serious attention
must
1,,Paid to the 3-year agrozootechnical courses where matters are going rather badly;
;gar beets: The fact that the Party and Soviet organs...are paying little attention to
the growing of sugar beets bought about a situation in which many kolkhozes...are obtain-
ing very small sugar beet yields;
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Pn a..n a: The problem of seed potato growing is not being solved in our Republic;
Ccs, Milk: We still have many kolkhozes where there are very few animals, particularly
cows. In the past year the k oLkhozes of the Republic did not fulfill the State milking
Bread: The production capacities of the bread factories and bakeries are not fully satisfy-
ing the growing demands of the population;
HOg~ We are not even able to fulfill the State tasks regarding the building and
commissioning of industrial enterprises or, more particularly, housing.
Among the other agricultural broadcasts monitored in the period under review is an
appeal by the Estonian Conference of Collective Farm Chairmen,, in Estonian, Mar. 2)
to all farmers, urging them td'13Yitain greater harvests and tc~1yi#ase their cattle
herds--at least 17 centners of grain crops per hectare and a 15,percent minimum
increase in the number of
The spring sowing campaign 'is`bbtthd to fail ?ifthe"existing- : 3gation network is-'not
reconstructed on time and new canals added, according to KAZAkHS;'hNSKAYA PRAVDA on
Mar. 5. Most of the available machines and "earth-moving detachments" did not start
work'until recently, although they had been standing idle "for a long time." In many
of the rayons work has not even begun. The planned new irriga .se`stem is said to
be far from completed where it'" needed mot....
: >
In Kzy7.=` t `a -` Alma Atd ldy-Kurgan, 3 "Minsk,
and East Kazakhstan Oblasts soil improvement teams have
not yet been formed; very few projects and plans have
been drawn up.
PRAVDA (Feb. 28) previews the great tasks facing Soviet agriculture'' in 1952, which will
involve the "utilization of all forces" of the collective farm villages. It concludes
that, "In order to implement these tasks, the standards of leadership in agriculture
must be improved." Idle machinery, frequent breakdowns, and consequent poor harvests
are discussed editorially in familiar terms by RADYANSKA UKRAINA '(Feb. 28), MOLOT
(Feb. 28), KOMMUNIST (Feb. 28), BOISHEVISTSKOYE ZNAMYA (Feb. 29),'and HADYANSKA
ZHIROMIRSHCHINA(Mar. 5).
Cultural services for collective farmers are dealt with briefly in a PRAVDA editorial
on Feb. 26 which bemoans the lack of cultural and educational facilities in remote
agricultural artels, particularly enlarged farms. MOLOT (Mar. 5) speaks of the
"ineffectiveness" of the rural wall newspapers which tend to "lose contact with the
masses." The paper reminds the farm editors that the Central Committee of the
All-Union Communist Party "forbids the publishing of general articles and notes having
no connection with the practical task of a given collective." A wall newspaper, it
says, must discuss present realities and encourage greater constructive efforts on the
part of the farmers. The publication of "unmasking notes" (razoblachitelnie zametki)?
is not enough. The publicizing of shortcomings'must be followed'by "suggesting ways
for their elimination."
Misceilan n s : A Home Service report of Feb. 27 refutes the claim of "bourgeois
historians!' that hunting and trade were the chief Russian occupations up to the 16th
century. "Not only the Slavs, but even the pre-Slav tribes living in the territory of
our Motherland 2,000 to 3,OOu years before our era were agriculturists."
PARTY ACTIVITIES
Purposefulness (tseleustremlennost), says PRAVDA on Feb. 27, should characterize the
activities of every Bolshevik leader. This is particularly true now when the country
is in the process of advancing from one stage of development to another. Too many
Partyeaders are said to be "scattering their efforts and attention" (raspylyaut
svoi shy i vnimanie) in the attempt to solve a variety of problems which come within
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the competence of the,Soviet and economic organizations. Lenin and Stalin are quoted in
support--of the Party's unalterable view that all the Party efforts must always be
concentrated on?tse key sectors (kiuchevie uchastki) of the national economy, that is,
the weakest link. ?
Agricultural backwardness (otstavanie seiskogo khozaistva) is implicitly admitted to be
the present weakness demanding concentrated attention. The Kurgan Oblast Party is
held up as a model of Communist efficiency and "purposefulness": It has directed all
its efforts toward the speediest elimination of agricultural backwardness. The same,
however, cannot be said about many other oblasts, according to PRAVDA. In Kirov and
Yaroslav Oblasts, for example, the lumber industry and agriculture are still doing a
poor job because the appropriate Party officials are trying to solve too many problems
at the same time. While frowning upon the wasted efforts of well meaning but obviously
overzealous Communists, the editorial also infers that the other extreme is just as
undesirable in the Soviet scheme of things: "the desire to drift with the tide smoothly
and impertL.Luably..," (zhelanie plyt Po techeniu plavno i spokoyno) must be alien to the
true Bolshevik leader.
VELIKOLUKSKAYA PRAVDA (Feb. 27) speaks disapprovingly of the way the Komsomols are handled
by the oblast and rayon Party organizations. It is the duty of the latter to "guide
and direct ,.the political self-education of the Komsomols and encourage their enlightening
activities among the non-Party youth. This, according to the paper, has always meant
an even distribution of Komsomol members among the working youth so that each of them
could inspire greaten ejcorts by setting "an example of self-denying work" (primer
;samootverzhennogo truda) '.
Reports from Penovsky, Usvyatsky, Oktiabrsky, and Usminsky Rayons, says the editorial,
provide discouraging evidence. Unable to get any assistance from their Party mentors,
the Komsomol organizatj are said to manifest a singular lack of initiative in
combating "tendencies of idleness, carelessness, bad organization, and waste," This,
says'the paper, is "all wrong." The Komsomol's lack of political influence among the
masses of the youth is said to be traceable to the lack of Party interest in Komsomol
affairs.;
LENINSKAYA SAIIENA (Mar..i,)complains that the Kazakhstan Komsomols, particularly in
Semipalatinsk Oblast, are training their cadres "badly," apparently forgetting that
Soviet youth must be brought up "in the spirit of Communism." This tieme, however, is
treated in general terms and no details' are offered.
An unsigned PRAVDA article (Mar. 1, not broadcast) supports the claim of Saratov's
KOMMUI IST that Komsomol affairpw ,receive far less regional press.,attention than they are
+eiititled to. BOLSREVISTSKOYE ZNAMYA, for example, very seldom (lish izredka) shows
any interest in Komsomol education, and the fact that many Komsomol political schools
in Odessa Oblast have not yet opened their classes have "failed to disturb the paper"
(ne vstrevr"hili redaktsiu gazety).
SOVETSKAYA MOLDAVIA, according to the article, usually confines itself to brief critical
notes on Kon:somol education while such oblast papers as MOLOT, VOLZHSKAYA KOMMIINA,
and KURSKAYA PRAVDA are "losing sight" (vypuskayut is polya zrenia) of Komsomol life
altogether:
It is the direct duty of the newspaper to elucidate profoundly
and thoroughly the questions of theoretical study by
Komsomols and non-Komsomol youth.
Russian version:
Priamoy dolg gazet--gluboko i vsestoronne osve-
shchat voprosy teoreticheskoy ucheby komsomoltsev
i molodezhi.
Podkurkov in PRAVDA (Feb. 28, not broadcast) declares that the rayon press has been
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neglected by the higher Party echelons and needs cler supervision. He is particularly
critical of the habit of many newspapers of sending their editors as "authorized
representatives" (upolnomochennie) to various economic drives, leaving the business of
publication in the hands of "second raters" (vtorostepennie ludi). This practice is
maid to be particularly widespread in Kuibyshev Oblast, Byelorussia, .:ara-Kalpak
ASSR, and Tatar ASSR, but is apparently not confined to those areas alone.
Podkurkov speaks of certain oblast, Krai, and republican Party Committees which show
little concern about "raising the ideological-political level and business qualifications
of the rayon newspaper workers" (povyshenie ideino-politicheskogo urovnya i delovoy
kvalifikatsii rabotnikov rayonnikh gazet):. As an example of what not to do, the
author cites the case of the Vyselkovsky Rayon, (Krasnodar Krai), Part chief
who declared that "there will be no harm in closing the paper for a fe days"
(ne budet nikakoi bedy, esli na neskolko?!dxiey zakryt gazetu) and sending theeditor
to participate in an economic drive. Another fault of the rayon dailies, according
to the author, is that they devote much too little space to Party life, and are generally
"grey and dull" (serie, skuchnie). In many newspapers, it is claimed, Party themes
(partiynie terry) are treated briefly and superficially, while in others they are seldom
even referred to.
MISCELLANEOUS
An unusual TASS item (to Europe, Feb. 27) informs its listeners abroad of he solemn
service that took place at the Moscow Patriarchal Church in honor of St. Alexius Day.
The Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, Alexius, who officiated, was congratulated,
by t_e Moscow faithful "on the day of his angel." This item was not heard on the he
service.
The first combine harvester in the world was invented by a Russian engineer
A.R. Viasenko 10 years before the appearance of the first American harvester,
according to .l ,cademician Danilevsky (Mar. 5). The Americans are said to have merely
"copied the Russian invention."
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