(SANITIZED)SOVIET EVERYDAY REALITIES(SANITIZED)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T00246A000500600001-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 19
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 12, 2007
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: December 12, 1956
• Content Type: REPORT

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General ;fmpressionsned in a Short Visit to Russia
We left Helsinki`by night plane, Russian plane for
Moscow. As it was dark=.we saw very little. We were met at, the
e& ow airport by the tantour and taken to a comfortable but
shabby Broom w i t h g ? drapes an _ tuffed furniture. The
Russians were processed first cau a wait: of about an hour.
.Our actual processing was brief- They looked. at our passports,-
stamped and ret .'` ed t
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bags here opened going: t}?ugh
customs and no declaration concerni.ng money was required.
ee long black limousines were famished. -b Intourist . .
three of us to a -caYp for the ride into Moscow. ?fie were impressed
by the fine wide straight, highway from airport to c
At the Moscow Hotel the two girls in-tie of~fce said
we were not expected T
' took our pas ptrnd> we sat and
waited in the lobby. Nothing happened. We just waited. After wn.
hour or so we called Ifitourist. Ina short time a very sleepy
man arrived. He spoke little English but we were,conductsd to
our rooms, each was given a single room with bath. 'It was quite
cold but there was no heat. The heat is not turned on until
October. Next morning we were met by the Intourist agent and
given our meal tickets. We slept at the Moscow Hotel and ate
at another which was just across the street.
Meal tickets were in a small bound folder, four for
each day, breakfast, dinner$ tea and supper. They can be used
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only at Intourist Hotels. If you wo dine' at a hotel other
`than the one assigned to you arra eme:ntts must
be made --:in" advance.
It was obvious that there was special food for tourists. The
food was adequate but not tasty, 3 or 1} eggs for breakfast, -very
little fresh fruit, just a w small apples, melon once and we
V,i
saw=watermelons on the street.FCav ar was on the table for
several meals. The red caviar was excellent.
At the Moscow Hotel we learned that there are five
classes of travellerw in this classless countr,y. First, the
teluxe, second, superior, then first, second and.third class.
All foreign tourist travel is paid t4 r before entering Russia.
The deluxe costs on? hundred dollars .'day. The superior.-class
which was how.we travelled costs about fifty dollars a day.
From the original money which wasssaht we received a spending
allowance of five rubles a day. The exchange gave us--four rubles
cents.. 'oarever,
the Quakers estimated the value of the ruble-:to be about ten'
cents. Some Americans have evaluated it at six cents. At the
present rate of exchange nylon stockings cost eight dollars a
pair and baloney is one dollar- and fifty cents': a''pouncl: At all
storesssselling food there were many people buying...
The first time we went to the dining room we wore our
coats because-i.t was cold. We learned later that this. wasagainat
the, rules. "No coats should ever be taken to the dining room,-
because of sanitary reasons. Everybody knows that except Amer
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On the streets we saw many ctipples,:'men without a
or an arm. These-were chiefly younger men- perhaps-a-result
of -the war. Only a few seemed to have prostheses. On the whole
STAT
Russians a3re robust people especially the, women.
While in Russia we had a guide with us most of the
except for short shopping..', tours', Often. we had a second
I I
invited our chief guide to attend the opera'with us_...She accepted
Russia.so,they thought everything they had.was wonderful. We
"
guide to guide the first guide and one day we had three. Everyone
grreted the guides warmly. None of our guides::has been out of
gladly, and told: us that the opera house i.n Leningrad was the
All-of the guides and most of the ;people we met seemed
is in Budapest, the second in Moscow and the third in Leningrad.
third most beautiful in the.-'world, stating the most beautiful
sold on their scheme of life after.-for ty years. They are now on
their sixth five year, plan which promises more'fruit
comforts. Many of their beauty show places date from
days.'notable exceptions
and more
Czarist
are the permanent Fair; Grounds; with six-
teen Lovely buildings, the.,'metropole or subway and the large
new university building.
oiY 'L xoi o.
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Tours in Moscow
Information received, largely from the Intourist Guides:
Moscow is about the size of Chicago and is 'a little
north of the latitude of Edmonton, Canada. Edmonton has a
population of 200,000. In the We?tjrn Hemisphere one million
':people live north of this parallel while. in Russia a hundred
million live north of this line. They are doing concentrated
development~L_of the north for food and manufacture.
The streets of Moscow were widen*d to 19 to,-55 meters
by,moving buildings back. Surrounding the city are two wide
circular, roads. A third is planned.
Lenin Library in Moscow contains eighteen million
volumes printed in one hundred and sixty languages. Eighty
languages are embraced in the USSR. Twenty-six thousand books
are used roach day.
There are three hundred acid ninety thousand libraries
in the USSR with two thousand in Moscow. Russia also,_,boasts of
twenty-eight planetaria,
Soviet Square was established to commemorate the
eight hundre.th anniversary of the founding of Moscow, from 1247
to 1947. In the center is a statue of the founder, Prince the
Longarm. Standing at the square we could see a hospital for
eye diseases, a puppet theatre and an apartment building 156
meters high with 333 dwelling floors containing 452 flats. In
this building a three room apartment costs 60 rubles a month
while four rooms cost 100 rubles.
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n ~ h yy'
Fri! O ~. , ,S c N
Uprising Square or December Square commemorates the.
Noblest Revolt of 1425. The Peasants' Rebellion- occured in 1905
gad was the dress rehearsal of the real revolution in 1917.
In the afternoon we visited the Kremlin which has
90 towers, five with stars marking the open gates. The following
notes concern articles seen the nuseum and converaation with
the guide.
When the daughter of Peter the Great died she had six
thousand dresses but only one ruble. In the museum are many
elaborate thrones and crowns. The most elaborate was the ivory
throne studded with jewels of Ivan the Terrible, the Fourth
Ivan. Peter and Ivan reigned at the same time. In the hall of
coaches are many ornate gold vehicles, the most interesting are
the small coaches for children which were pulled by ponies.
Ivan the Terrible vowed to build a church for every
victory of Russia over Turkey. Our guide added, "He cheated God'
for there were more victories than churches but he did build a
most beautiful cathedral known as St. Basil's
In the 18th Century there were two wars with Turkey.
Russia won both of them. The Sultand sent very expensive gifts
to the Great Catherine.
Elizabeth the First of England sent a god coach to
the Czar. The seat for the coachman was in the rear for no one
should have his back to the Czar. Some wag replied, "What about
the horses?"
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There was a tremendous ivory eagle from Japan sent in
the 18th Century. Each feather can be removed and has its separate
location. There are more than one thousand feathers.
Peter the Great was a master of fourteen trades.
He made his own boots. ne also.had a large collection of surgical
instruments, some of them quite ingenious. Extracting teeth was
one of his hobbies. He had a unique way of punishing those who
committed wrrors.There was a large wooden bowl. It must have
held several gallons. The erring fellow was supposed to drink this
bowl dry. If he couldn't drink it, it was forced down and of course
he died.
One afternoon we visited the Agricultural Fair. This was
held in the permanent Fair Grounds outside of Moscow. The USSR
is comprised of 16 republics, each republic has a permanent
building on the fair grounds. Each building is architecturally
representative of the republic for which it stands.
The agricultural produce was beautifully exhibited.
The one that interested me the most was the building pepresenting
Siberia. Here they had all types of agricultural produce
including fruits such as apples and pears. I expressed my suprise
at this because I thought Siberia was a cold waste land. The guide
replied, "Our agronomists have studied the soil. They can grow
many crops by making proper beds for growing." Also in the
Siberian building were large exhibits of furs and minerals.
The extensive fair grounds have formal gardens with
flower-beds, fountains and statues.
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We saw groups of tiny tots out for walks, kindergarten
kids whose mothers worked. There was an older woman at the
head andrear of each of these small parades. The children were
well disciplined, warmly dressed and sturdy.,
Women were doing everything, working on the streets,
spreading tar, acting as policemen, switchmen on the railroads
and at crossings, guides in museums and one older woman sits
in each museum room. Most of the guides and professors said they
'would like to visit the United States.
-Many persons along the streets were wearing Peace Medals.
These had red or blue backgrounds and a gold world over which is
surmounted by the hammer and sickle. The whole hangs from a bar
containing the inscription "World Peace."
The guides are certainly dedicated to the cause. Our
chief guide, Marguerita, is a sweet little blond with blue eyes
and is the mother of a ten month old son whose picture she shows
with pride. She said he weighed over nine pounds at birth. She
wore an aqua sweater with a tan raincoat and a red scarf. She is
honest, as are all of her group. They believe what they say for they
have been raised in it. When I asked about the last Czar only
Valerie, one of our guides in Leningrad knew of Nicolas II and
his end. Valerie pointed out the palace where Rasputin was
murdered and his body hid under the ice of the Neva. We wished
to visit this palace but were informed it was 4iAte:~itipossible.
Later I learned that two American correspondents had tried to
see this palace. They put forth great effort but permission was
never granted.
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I detected no spark of sympathy for the former Czars
and their `grandeur. A great deal of evidence of the former life
of luxury is preserved, much more is stored away and an unknown
amount looted. They have done a good job of cataloging and
displaying.
There are very few dogs and cats in either Moscow or
-eningrad, in fact I saw only two doge: and two cats. During the
siege of Leningrad the dogs were eatencand even now there is not
enough food for pets. There is a line of people at every food
STAT store for hours to get
milk and bread.
There were few children playing with toys.. They walked,
see-sawed, played in sand boxes but few had toys.
During the war Hitler's forces advanced to within
16 kilometers of Moscow. He was so certain of victory that he
had massive amounts of granite sent from Finland to build a
41,
large victory memorial in Moscow. Later the granite was used toH
build an apartment building for the people.
The population of Russia has increased about 22,000,000
in the last five years. However so far as we could tell nocensus
has been taken. In Leningrad we were told the last census was in
1939.
Swamp Market is where Pugachov was quartered and execute
during the Peasant's Revolt.
Red Square does not refer to color. Anything beautiful
was called Red.
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The subway is known as the Mebropole. This is really
a work of art. Each station has its own artistic motif and is
dedicated to a famous person or industry. Here I rode on my
longest, fastest and steepest. escalators. At one station there
were huge heroic figures in bronze depicting the life of the
Russian people. In the subway everyone was in a hurry. The
trains were controlled by a huge clock and the doors opened and
closed automatically. You were either in or out. Some people
were polite and some were not. One station contained beautiful
crystal chandeliers. I suppose it was dedicated to the glass
industry but I'M not sure. The ceilings were covered with
Italian glass mosaics. They imported Italian workers to install
it. We asked our guide why a utilitarian thing like the subway
should be made a work of art. The reply was, "We wish. to bring
beauty and culture to the people." As the people rushed in and
out of the trains they seemed to take little notice of the beauty.
On the streets the pedestrians paid no attention to
traffic lights. The streets are more difficult to crass than those
of New.York. They are crowded and everyone seems to be in a hurry.
Most women have long hair, many with plaits which are
wound around their heads.
The streets are very clean and are continually swept by
women with brooms made of faggots. Around the trees there are
plates of.wroughtiron scroll work. We saw women with forceps
picking up bits of paper from between the ?ron scrolls.
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Most calculations of sales -peopl'e' and others Soo
by using the abacus, We bought tickets for the opera anf t girl
d an abacus to calculate the cost. She gave us an incorrect
figure. When we told her it should be such an amount she looked
up in amazement and said, "Did you also specialize in mathemati, l#'?"
Than she explained that she had studied office work and had had
o special training in arithmetic.
On the streets of Moscow are crowds of warmly dressed
people, The busses are overloaded and the people quo to get
on them.
Every day a long line, about five blocks long of people
three abreast form to see the tombs of Lenin and Stalin. They
?tand patiently for hours to take their turn.. Many come from
the villages, a few wearing native cost*mese and high rubber
boots. I asked the guide if the government sponsored pilgrirage
to the tombs and he replied, "Definitely not, every person in
that line paid his way to Moscow,,"
In the hotels and on the streets were many Chinese,
some Indonesian and some Tibetans. A beautiful Tibetan family
sat near us at the ballet..
We left Moscow on September 13th by night train for
Lwntrgrrad, two in a compartments Our guide Marguerita accompanied
The trains wire similar to European trains? with a corridor on one
dice and the compartments opening from it The walls of the oar are
of greenish plastic with blue velvet curtains at the windows. ire
couch like berths, all very clean with heavy warm blankets,
sthi to linen face towels. Rot tea was served with cookies before
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we retired. Everytime we left our compartment we saw one man
STAT
standing at the end of the :corridor
"Big brother is watching." When'tt got light next morning we
put up the curtains and looked. atChe country side. We passed
through several villages of small cottages, some were badly
in need of repair, Extensive buildingxWas in progress in almost
every village. There were several large factories ia$.groups of
oil tanks. All houses seemed to be furnished with electricity,
even the small tumbled down ones. There were several collective
farms with large three and four story bui:dings in groups.
There were many large hay stacks but our guide said, "Our crops
were poor this year, as we had a cold summer and too much rain."
In Leningrad we were met by three cars and taken to
our hotel, three persons in each car. This hotel is old but
comfortable. Here again each of us was assigned a single room.
STAT
I had a sitting room with sofa, two upholstered
chairs, two straight chairs, desk, table, wardrobe with long
mirror, Persian rug.on the.floor. The bed was in an alcove,
arated from the sitting room by blue velvet curtains.
In Leningrad there is more laughter and more smiles
than in Moscow. The children waved at our bus, tittered, laughed.
Formerly Leningrad was named St. Petersburg founded by
Peter the Great in 1703. It is situated on the Neva River, has
forty-eight canals and is known as the Venice of the North.
There are one hundred and one islands. In 1939 the pppulation
was between two and three million. There has been no census since
1939. Leningrad is an induatrial and cultural center with.forty-
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1825. In this square is Peter the Great on horseback car-"d from
buried here along with the other Russian Czars. This fortress
was used also as a political prison.
The guide stated that Nicholas II and his family were
massacred ikiSiberia. Their bodies were cremated and the ashes
shot from a cannon so Nicholas II.can never take his place in
the burial grounds of the Czars.
December Square commemorates the Nobles' Rebellion in
a warning shot at the time of the Revolution. Peter the Great is
students are women.
The fortress of St. Petersburg is built on an island.
This fortress was built for protection against the Swedes. Oniyy
one shot was ever fired from this fort. It was fired in. 1917 as
eight museums, four hundred and sixty-one'schools, seven hundred
kindergartens, nine hundred nurseries, fifty hospitals, one
hundred thousand college students. Seventy percent of the medical
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the c ity. They issued tickets for the Victory Banquet to heheld
in the Winter Palace. The tickets were never used.
The name of the square was changed in 1924.
There is a single granite monolith to the victory over
Napoleon. It is the largest in the world. It is fixed only by
its own weight.
During the last war the Germans besieged Leningrad for
nine hundred days. They advanced within three kilometers of
a single granite block. He is arising from the ocean waves.
Nicholas I reigned 1825 - 1855. The Nobles rebelled against him..
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The children seemed very gay, dressed in bright colors,
anxious to have their pictures taken. Each mother wanted her
childrens' picture to be taken and had .no objection to being
photographed herself. The people were much more friendly and
many more laughing than in Moscow. They seemed happy to have
visitors and welcomed the tourists. Here too where food was
sold there were long lines. Numerous buildings were under repair,,
with concrete. There were other women working on the railroad
and spreading tar on the street and women o,erating a pile
driver and a stone crusher.
During this siege one half of the population of
Leningrad died. There were as many as forty air raids daily.
Starvation was rampant. There was no food or water, People
were dying on the streets. Our guide could still see their
staring eyes and bloated bodies. Just as he paused a truck
passed with cabbages and watermelons piled high. There are
many signs of shelling and cannon balls can still be seen in
some walls.
Then there is Military Square, a reminder of the
October 'Revolution and Victory Square. Nevaky Boulevard is
the main street, There in not so much traffic in Leningrad
as in Moscow but more historic buildings and many palaces.
As we talked three women passed pulling a cart filled
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 f `alc In sn lopes. nany -Ahurches. This was the repair from
the nine hundred dy siege.
was eur'rised to lead that the Birch tree was
onal tr c of Ituss ;
Pushkin school and park were founded in 1910 but
nf.mf-d after . -'usehkin in 1924.
era itage is the name of thi4 p :?.c.ca which is now a
aro o onsi1e art Ueriess, all on
ndkerchief. A room of ! ubenrs with
thirty-et ht on inrii s, a roam o f Van Dykes with twenty-six
ineluutin his self' p ,rtr it in youth.
Then there was the r,1emish i'toom whose paintings were
all food and fight cunt .nth ; forty eij ht originals, ten of
heroic size in a, ,ll.N3ry supported by ten taseive pillars of
granite.
of o$`ir?te culture,
this contains part of the history
Palace show
s 'uoh of thc-~ hisstori
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paint s, n for s,
enah influence and *on'
the Russian Royalty and people
coats of arm,eto. All the
pictures lepict r? ussie n victory.
Italtt
Room there are the rty-nine originals
p .ante between the 16th an:. 17th Centuries. a, any (obelin
tapestries on:. used si
eon some ;corkers. Numerous
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ma.donaae,one imitation of the Vatican gallery and sever
salons of Italian art. There were two originals of Leonardo
Di Vinci, Madonna k3enois, Madonna lAttA.
In the bedroom of the Czarina the walls are ot`
malachite and marble with a lapis lazuli table top two Inches
thick and five by eight feet in stse. There are massive urns o
lapis.
There is one sculpture by Michael Angelo. There are
a number of Della Robias. The ceilings are ornate, the .loors
14
parquet. There was room after room of medonnaa German paintings
from the 13th Century. Lovely malachite urns, the loveliest
you have ever seen. Inlaid tables, twenty--"our enormous crystal
chandeliers built for Nicholas II
The word Hermitage means Rest. The entrance faces a
portico overlooking formal fountains and flower gardens .vOn one,
dide of the Czarina's room was the fountain of tears, there were
eight shells so arranged that a single drop of water dropped
from shell to shell, The fountain of tears was certainly
appropriate for the last Czarina.
In each room of every museum there was an older woman
who acted as guide or perhaps watchman.
We were very anxious to see Russian art as we were In
Russia. The catalogue shows a wing of the museum devoted to
Russian. art from the 7th to the 13th Century. Unfortunately this
was closed for repair.
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Russian art from the 17th to the 18th Century was
open. There was much there about Peter the (Treat and ale
instruments for pulling teebh and performing surgical operations.
Iq Peter's apothecary's box there were Many surgical instruments
such as scalpels, knives, brace and bits, saws an:. spreaders.
There was a life size image in wax of Peter the Great
in blue sikk suit embroidered in silver, wearing embroidered
stockings and, shoes of his own making. His own hair is used for
the wig. His death mask is aloes there. His son by his first wife
was ordered to be executed by him.
There is a solid silver casket of Alexander Nefsky.
It was brought here by Peter the t" et,
Malachite Mill is the most ornate room I have ever
.seen. It has geld doors with real rubies for door lobs. The
ruby door knobs were three inches In diameter. There is a six
foot basin of malachite and fifteen malachite pillars and a
malachite vase six feet hih, a mantle of malachite and a
charming desk set. The room is circular with a domed ceiling.
-73'verybbing is massive and heroic.
Pushkin is considered the Shakespeare of Russia.
"In his heart is freedom and the spirit of the famous people
of Russia in his soul." even his nurse is famous. He is descer od
from an African negro. Peter made this African negro a boblemaff
and Pushkin was the great grandson of this African. Pushkin's
/to
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b.auty in Russia. The Czar awarded Pushkin
so his wife could come to court and at the
low. rank was an insult to Pushkin.
same time
Later Pushkin was exiled. Pushkin at the age of .2 was
killed in a duel with the son of a French ambassador. On hearing
of his death the Czar said, "A dog's death to a dog #"
Valerie, our guide in L ni
young man with a black cravat and.* light raincoat, Ve we
glasses and seems quite sensitive, he speaks English well without
an accent, lie, told us his story his father was killed during
days of the siege at.. Loni ngrad. He as a child was
evacuated to Archangel where a ship was to bring him and other
to the United States, Tj..:e Guns had blockaded the
port so the ship never arrived, Instead of sowing to the United
States they were sent to Siberia, rye said food was scarce and
now it he-has only bread he does not complain, While in Sibs
he and some other boys found a sow? They milked her every
'To keep her tail from switching them they tied a heavy box to it.
,witched it anyhow and knocked one of the boys unconscious.
After this they bound her to'a post to milk her. He remained in
Siberia four years, He said# "I was fortunate,, my mother found rue.
Z did not know her," He further stated that twenty million were
killed during the war, chiefly me, The women preserved the country,
bothc the homes' and the industries, During the siege of Lening
of the inhabitants died, many starved, Most buildings
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were destroyed, !-!any have not yet been reconstructed,
of tho artist Church is almost soMlete and they are
Services,
Sunday.
wr holding
to hear the choir at 10 A.M. at the
Greek Orthodox Church. There was a .wader and twenty si ners, It
was v+?rY dark inside the church. There Baas - a small group of
worshippers oo4stantly coning and going. They knelt and placed
their foreheads to the floor in front of each praying station.
Two ola)orately robed priests conducted the services.
The Romans cross themselves from ft to right. The
Russian Orthodox or Old Russian crosses himself from right to
left* lie used to use thxee f ing_'
he uses two.
Three funerals were in progress with flowers and
mous.zrners, Caskets were shaped to fit the body closely. Upstairs
are many religious treasures and ancient icons used only for
festivals. A lthou41h most of the congregation were middle aged
and older p. oplo there was a scattorinL# of the young and a
n xvibor of children.
's did not visit the anti religious museum, In fact
we did not hear of it until it was too late to Co.
Some places we wanted to visit were under reT)air, such
-a the gallery ' n the Winter Palace for the development of
Russian art.
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