ATTITUDE OF POPULATION TOWARDS THE WEST

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00047R000100210006-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 3, 2013
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: February 11, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

% YThe
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CLASSIFICATION SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCan
INFORMATION REPORT'
COUNTRY USSR
SUBJECT Attitude of Population towards the West
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATIO AFFECTING TOE NATIONAL D NNNNNN
OF TUE U NNNN TTTTT $ T WITHIN THE RANIWOOF TTTTT IS, SECTIONS 703
AND 704, or THE U.S. COOto AS ASENSIO ITS ISSION OR ROTE.
TTTTTT OF ITS CONTENTS TO OR RECEIPT NY AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON IS
FOOHISITIO LAW. THE SErRODUCTOON OR THIS FOSS It FROHISITID.
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50X1
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DATE DISTR. it Feb 1952
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NO. OF PAGES 3
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
NO. 514D
1. In the Kurgan and Chelyabinsk regions the attitude of the population toward
the West is rather friendly. The war veterans and later the peacetime Soviet
soldiers coming from occupation forces stationed in Germany, Austria, Hun-
gary, Rumania and Poland, had brought along and spread the truth about the
western life, which is considered much better, and the living standard of
western peoples, which is uncomparably higher than the Soviet. This dif-
ference in living standards is common knowledge throughout the USSR. Told
and repeated are stories about comfortable houses and apartments in which
the western peoples are living; of how a family usually occupies an apart-
ment consisting of three to four nicely furnished rooms, while the Soviet
family is happy to be assigned one single room of "zhilploshchad" ("living
space"). Admired are western clothes and the fact that one person posses-
ses several suits or dresses, an almost inconceivable situation for the
average Soviet Citizen, who normally has one, or at best, two suits of
clothes - the working one and the "holiday" suit. Characteristic in this
connection is the Soviet line of propaganda, aiming to ridicule the west-
erners and the abundance of clothes in western countries, the US in partic-
ular. This propaganda is typified in the following scornful remark, very
popular among Soviet propagandists and radio commentators: "Is it not
foolish to possess several hats having but one head to put them on?".
Yet, even if some Soviet citizens sincerely believe that this is foolish,
it is at the same time attractive. Stores in the west full of free mer-
chandise and consumer goods in enormous quantities, available to all
classes of population, are admired by Soviets. Western workers are
envied for short working hours and unlimited freedom outside of this
period, not taken by the "voluntary" overtime work performed for the
"Fatherland" or :Comrade Stalin", or spent in attendance of obligatory
political meetings, lectures, etc.
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It As interesting to note that all these stories are told more or less
openly as mere statements,. with none of the discussion Which would be only
too natural in the comparison of western and Soviet life, Neither is
there, en such occasions, any criticism of the Soviet living conditions,
-nor is blame put on the government. It is impossible to determine whether
this lack ofcriticism is caused by fear of the regime and the ever-present
Ma; or is s result of the passive attitude of population used to the hard-
ships of the Soviet life, and of the universal almost fatalistic nonforesis-
tance to all they have been subjected for many years. Both are probably
contributing factors,
3. To understand this unusual attitude it should be borne in mind that through
the years of privation, insecurity, fight for the daily:bread to maintain
the bare existence, and all the hardships of the Soviet life, to which the
population had been exposed, the Soviet people have acquired a ritherpecul-
iar mentality. For almost everybody in the USSR life is very hard. There
is no-time or use for meditation and mental analysis. With a fatalistic
shrug of the shoulders . *what can we do about it?" people simply dismiss
with ne comment everything not directly connected with their daily .life,
which absorbs not only their entire time, but their mental and physical
strength, as well. That is why stories of the western standard of living
and western life in general are passed around with no comment or dis-
cussion. It would be wrong, though, to assume that these stories are
passed unnoticed. Dismissed or not dismissed, they contribute to the
existing and ever..increasing postwar dissatisfaction of the Soviet people
with their lot, and under favorable conditions would produce definite
results.
The friendlyattitude of the Soviet people toward the U$ had its beginning
in World War U, when enormous quantities of US military equipment, loco-
motives, trucks and food were sent to the USSR. Although the Soviet
Government tried to keep tho population unaware of this help and even to
minimize and to ridicule it, not only millions and millions of servicemen,
but Soviet civilians also, benefited from this generous help. This will
not be forgotten by the people. The US equipment is highly praised and
admired in the Soviet Union. It goes so far that the adjective ItAmer-
ikanskiyo is becoming a general term among the population to describe
inr ereign equipment or machinery of high quality. Frequently even
the dismantled German machinery brought to the USSR is mistaken and
admired as IfAmerikanskir.
The friendliness towards Americans is especially noticeable among the
population Of territories occupied during the war by Germans. Starving
and homelesp people of these devastated areas were taken care of by
UNRRA, which in the broad masses of soviet population was considered as
an American welfare organization. The unselfish and generous help ren-
dered after the war by the US to these distressed peoples of Ukraine: and
White Russia soon became common knowledge throughout the USSR, and con-
tributed very much to the friendly and sympathetic attitude of the popu-
lation toward US,
It is not uncommon to hear_frem Soviet veterans that ?Studebakeras won
the battle of Berlin. It is well-known among servicemen that toward the
end of World Wr-sa' II the GAZ and ZES trucks (auto manufacturing plants:.
Gortkovskiy Avto Zavod and Zavod Imeni Stalina) used as prime-movers for
Soviet artillery were discarded and replaced mainly by powerful Studebaker
trUOWS. Soviet veterans say that GAZ and ZIS trucks, compared with Stude-
Skerl, are just "junk". In this connection, it is of interest to mention
that at the present time the Soviet occupation army in Germany has on its
we/41i* TA is artillery prime-movers almost exclusively American Studs.
bekorS., They are kept in garages in perfect mechanical condition, cleaned,
ApNlatme!Latid oiled, ready for any emergency, and are not used even for
? training purposes
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It:is-a. general belief in the Soviet Union that the country is heading
for an all-out war with the US, Korea is but the start. Soviet propem
ganda efforts to create again A national spirit in the country and to
unite the people for defense of "Fatherland" are seriously hampered by
the hopeless position in Which disabled Soviet Army war veterans have
:Pound theneelves since the war. The government has not provided them
with sufficient disability pensions to maintain even n bare existence,
and it is not at all uncommon to see nemedaled Soviet veterans, officers
tftd soldiers, begging for a piece of bread and few kopeyek in town
markets and other public places. This certainly does not contribute to
the creation of a national war spirit and enthusiasm for a new war,
Another important resistance which Soviet war propaganda is encountering
is caused by the poor experience the population had in the past war.
During World War II, trying desperately to inspire and to unite the
people to resist the German invasion, the Soviet Government got away
from any enforcement of COmmunist doctrines and has switched overnight
its vast and powerful propaganda apparatus to the strictly Russian.national
field. Russian national heroes, Aleksandr nevskiy, Minin and nezharskiy?
Suvorev? Nutuzov, were taken out of "moth-balls" and glorified. The war
was officially proclaimed the "Second Fatherland tar" and put on the same
glorious national level as the Russian Fatherland War of 1812. In numer.
cue statements made during the World War II the Soviet Government promised
the population farmreaching economic reforms, higher standard of living,
freedom and liberties yet unknown to the Soviet people. However, the
Soviet Government has shamelessly broken all it promises and subjected
tne population to the same ruthless exploitation and police state adm1n.
istration as before the war. Famine which swept over the vast Soviet
areas # 19464.47 made living conditions almost unbearable, All this has
created among the pupulation a widespread feeling that the government
has misused and deceived them.
9. There isghowever, a noticeable difference in the attitude toward the West
of the older and younger Soviet generations, The older group, and
especially the war veterans who had been exposed to the hardships of mar
And experienced the deceptive Soviet propaganda, are mostly disillusioned
and dissatisfied. They fought and won the war, but their lot has not
become any better; it may even be worse, Unless the government can succeed
in presenting the coming wan to the population as a national one (Which
after the World War II deception is an extremely difficult task), it can be
reasonably -assumed that the Soviet veterans would not willingly fight and
die for Stalin's regime, but would rather surrender in masses at the first
opportunity. Hope that the Soviet Union would be defeated in another war
is not at all unusual among the older people. But the younger generation,
starting with the age classes born 1927, is much more reliable in this
respect. net shaken by war experiences in their beliefs in Communist
ideology and subjected day in day out to Soviet propaganda and indoctrinm
&tiara, the younger generation is inclined to believe the government's
propaganda that the US is preparing for an aggressive war sonnet the
Soviet Union in order to enslave its peoples,
10. And yet, nothing would be more wrong than to expect the dissatisfied
and disillusioned population of the USSR to start an armed uprising
against the regime in case of a new war. State control in every field of
the Soviet life, including the military, is so tight, and every movement
is se thoroughly checked and observed by the everproaent MVD and NDB,
that anything like a spontaneous revolution in the Soviet Union is cemm
pletely,out of the question. Many major victories on the battlefield
neuld be necessary to disorganize the Soviet system and shake the struc-
ture of the Communist police state, thus creating conditions ripe for an
internal revolution.
mend.
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