SOVIET SPORTS AS AN INSTRUMENT OF POLITICAL PROPAGANDA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A005800260002-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 19, 2008
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: January 20, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2008/06/19: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005800260002-1
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
SUBJECT Soviet Sports as an Instrument of
Political Prop:.gunda
This is UNEVALUATED
Information
This material. contains information affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United States within the mean-
ing of the Rirpionap Laws. Title 1$. U.S.C. Secs. 790
and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in
any manner to an unsuthorlaed person is prohibited
by law.
REPORT
DATE DISTR. 20 January 1955
25X1
NO. OF PAGES
REQUIREMENT NO. RD
REFERENCES
THE SOURCE EVALUATIONS IN THIS REPORT ARE DEFINITIVE.
THE APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
(FOR KEY SEE REVERSE)
1. Soviet sport is not the same as sport in the non-Comaunist world. Instead, 25X1
it is a political device used by the Central Committee of the CPSU to attain
its political ends, both at home and abroad, by endeavoring to prove that only
in a ConQminist society does the average person have the opportunity to achieve
outstanding sports results. Conversely, this is impossible in a capitalist
bourgeoisie,where, according to Comm mist beliefs, human beings are slaves to
the ruling class and have no opportunity to advance up through the ranks of
sc:.iety. Perhaps it is unconscious, but the Soviets are following the example
of Hitler, who tried, in a like manner, to show the rest of the world that it
was dominated by a race of supermen.
2. the Soviets persist in accusing the United States
of the guilt of arrogating to the American people an attitude of super-race,
as frequently exemplified in American motion pictures and comic books. It
is, of course, the USSR that is the most culpable in this respect. Using as
a basis Stalin's words to the effect that the lowest individual in the Soviet
Union stands a thousand heads higher than the topmost official in the capitalist
world, the Soviet leaders "are spoiling the soul of the people".
3. One way to prove this theory at home and impress people abroad is to give evi-
dence of the propaganda point of the Soviet superman by sending abroad only
teams that will be victorious. Soviet athletic.teams do not vi,-it foreign
countries to compete; they go to win. For this reason, no.team is dispatched
abroad unless it stands a near-r'rfect chance of winning. The question of keen
athletic competition never arige3.
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4. Each problem of athletic competition with foreign teams is carefully studied
in advance by the Council of Ministers' Committee of Physical Culture and
Sport. Only when the Committee of Physical Culture and Sport can give the
Party Central Committee tle assurance that the Soviet team in question will
win is that team approved for travel abroad. The Soviet Government makes
use of every asset available to determine the effectiveness and level of
ability of any given foreign sports competitor, whether bicycle racer or
soccer team. Even the secret intelligence apparatus abroad is used to find
the answer to the question: Can the Soviets win thl.s match? If the free
world team under study is reported to be strong and unlikely to lose to the USSR
team, then the Committee of Physical Culture and Sport submits a negative
recommendation, and the CC rules that the team will not be dispatched.
5. The Committee of Physical Culture and Sport selects All-Union stars from
sporting societies and clubs throughout the country. Only the cream is picked,
although for purposes of deception this composite group is lent the name of
the Dynamo or Spartak or other well-known team. This is intended to show
foreigners that the team is only one of a number of good Soviet amateur sports
teams. Prior to their departure from the USSR, all athletes are security-
cleared. Their patriotism, political reliability, and possiblity of defection
are weighed. Thus ,it so happens that sometimes good athletes with black marks
in their records are not permitted to go abroad, or else are permitted to go
only if they are under the watchful eye of a specially designated "coach" or
"trainer". The foreign intelligence service (KGB) has the responsibility for
the security of these teams while they are abroad. For this purpose, the
security service always recruits informers among the team; their job is to
report any undue interest or friendliness shown by their teammates in whom
they meet and what they see while traveling.
6. InL,:-Iiately before their departure from the USSR, all athletes are summoned
to the Central Committee,where they are given a serious pop-talk. They are
reminded of their responsibilities in defending Soviet glory and holding high
the banners of Soviet honor. Some of these sportsmen are politically unsophis-
ticated, and set out to accomplish their patriotic tasks "with wild-eyed
enthusiasm". This is one reason why foreign sports writers covering events
featuring Soviet athletes often comment on the apparently fanatic attitude and
regimented discipline of the Soviets.
7. Soviet propaganda has persistently shouted to the free world that there are no
professional athletes in the USSR. The "incomparable" Soviet society, accord-
ing to this theme, provides the average Soviet citizen, whether male or female,
with the opportunity to engage in the sports of their desire. This opportunity"
exists uniformly throughout the Soviet manses. There, unlike in capitalist
countries, "sports are for the people". The inevitable result of such"un-
paralleled freedom of choice"is that Soviet teams vanquish easily other teams
when they engage in athletic competition abroad.
8. In actuality, however, everyone in the USSR who has any familiarity with Soviet
sports knows that in each sports club, especially in the top-notch Dynamo, 25X1
Spartak, Torpedo, and TBDSA, there exist cadres of real experts who specialize
in soccer, or in track-and-field events, or in swimming or hockey, and so forth.
The champions receive a salary, in effect for being "master of s Dort". Their
wares Pre paid on an established. re mom basis.
9.
As in some other countries, the USSR selects annually the ten best players in
each sport. The first-rank players gain not only acclaim, but also 2,500 rubles
monthly for the coming year. Players in the second to seventh or eighth positions
receive a smaller stipend, perhaps 1,500 or 1,200 rubles monthly. For purpose
of formality, these players are known publicly as job-holders, whether on the
Committee of Physical Culture and Sport or in industry. Mikhail Karchyagin was
at one time the fourth or fifth ranking tennis player on the Spartak team. He
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was a graduate physician, and was carried on the Spartak's rolls as a doctor.
However, "he has never cured a patient and has surely forgotten his medical
training".
10. The ZIS Torpedo soccer teem has as its captain an ace player, Gomez (fnu), who
came to the USSR from Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Gomez is known as
"an engineer" at the ZIS plant. "Gomez has forgotten
his engineering because he devotes his full time to soccer".
11. Nina Leo, who at one time held third or fourth place among
the USSR's women's tennis singles champions. (Her husband was arrested in 1937
or 1938 as "an enemy of the people", and has not been seen since.) Mrs. Leo
received her compensation, as a tennis star, from the
Finance Section o the Committee of Physical Culture and Sport. When she and
her fellow-athletes stopped by to pick up their pay, they were required to
sign a secrecy oath in which they promisei, never to reveal the fact that they
receive pay for their athletic endeavors, "under threat of legal prosecution
and punishment".
12. Soviet athletes are given, free of charge, all items of sports equipment needed
to outfit them completely, from head to foot. Each autumn and spring, these
"amateurs" get a special month's leave to rest and relax in a fashionable Crimean
or Caucasian health resort. While actually engaging in matches or games, the
athletes receive reimbursement for their food, hotel, and travel bills. The
best of modern medical care is available to them when needed. "They are looked
after as if they were valuable racing horses."
13. The soccer teams are a good example of this amateur's paradise. The training
of the "A" Conference soccer teams begins in the spring of each year. The
first teams in each area "A" Conference are sent to a Black Sea resort for two
months of pre-season training. The schedule begins in late April and continues
until the final play-offs in late November. That is to say, the soccer players
spend one-half the year playing their schedule, touring the cities and towns
of the USSR. And still Gomez is known as a ZIS automotive engineer.
14. After the play-offs, the soccer teams return to Sochi, or some other spa, for
another month's rest. Members of the All-Union championship team receive
personal bonuses of 5,000 rubles. Athletic amateurism in the Soviet Union de-
veloped after World War II to the extent that, during the yearly soccer finals,
a soccer player was awarded 400 rubles for each goal he could score. Soccer
players also share in the gate receipts. The official price to enter the
Dynamo Stadium is only 10 to 15 rubles, but the tickets are usually scalped at
50 to 100 rubles.
15. First-string athlete-3 live as well as the higher-paid government functionaries.
They have autos, a definite sign of material comfort in the USSR; they are well
paid; and they do not complain about their circumstances.
16. Sporting events in the USSR are not devoid of problems. In 1947, during the
championship match at the Dynamo Stadium between the TsDSA and Dynamo teams,
there were, as usual, two or three battalions of MVD Internal Troops dispersed
through and around the spectators. There were 80,000 spectators at this match,
and the Internal Troops occupied the lowest two or three rows in the stands,
forming a ring between the field and the spectators. The favored team that year
was the TsDSA, mainly because the Dynamo Club was comprised wholly of MVD-IOB
personnel. The game was a close one, and the crowd tense. The TsDSA won and
the fans, disregarding the guards, rushed onto the field to congratulate the
winners. The mica and troops made a desperate effort to keep the crowd
in the stands, but unsuccessfully. A number of altercations broke out and,to
the satisfaction of the spectators, several policemen were seriously mauled on
the field by the crowd. The police became terrified, but they were unable to do
anything about the situation. The only result was that the guards around the
field were increased at the resumption of the schedule.
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Approved For Release 2008/06/19: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005800260002-1