INDICATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL VULNERABILITIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000500740005-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 31, 2001
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: January 24, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

f}1II38F~eI6EET6OtpZeSECURTTY IlNFO1I~(9.T11U 1M&A -2
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT N
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
COUNTRY USSR
SUBJECT INDICATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL VULNERABILITIES
HOW
PUBLISHED
WHERE
PUBLISHED
DATE
PUBLISHED
LANGUAGE
CHANGE TO
UNCL S IFIED
PER REGRAD-NG,
BULLETIN l10.~_..
DATE OF
DATE DIST.2.4 January 1952
C)v U
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
T I$ DOCOMIMT CONTAINS INFORMATION Arr/CTING THE I A11DNAL OIrUUI
or '"It UNITED ATATU WITHIN THE MEANING Or IIPIONAII ACT IG
CONTENTS
Agriculture ..............................2
Industry .................................6
Mining ...................................6
Party Activities .........................7
Ideological Weaknesses ...................a
SWIIMARX
Artillery Day gets little publicity in regional broadcasts. The livestock
industry is still criticized as the weak spot of Soviet agriculture, and agro-
technical sources are said to be poorly organized and hindering collective farm
progress. In industry, criticism continues to focus on figure juggling and attempts
to produce good "averages" instead of concentrating on better unit performance.
The drive for the adoption of the cyclical production system (tsiklichnost) in
the coal-mining industry is gaining momentum. The so-called report and election
meetings (otchetno-vybornie sobrania) which precede the elections to the primary
Party organizations, dominate the news on Party activities. There is repeated
emphasis on the reluctance to apply criticism and self-criticism within these
organizations. Weaknesses of the Komsomol Party get some official attention.
Comment on ideological affairs is along familiar lines, and the Uzbek and
Eathonian Republics are given more prominence in this connection than any other
areas. The Peace Partisan Conference in Moscow is widely publicized in the
central press and to foreign audiences but gets practically no mention on the
regional transmitters.
CHANGE: (J
BULLET N MU..
slATE
ARMY
NSRB
FBI
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2 -
AGI JCULTURE
PIRiAVUA discusses the slow nrorress in stockbreeding (22 November) and points to
Ulyanovskaya Oblast as an example of food intentions and had performance. Endless
discussions, pious wishes and numberless orders and instructions issued by the
Oblast officials, says the paper, have been substituted for practical work. All
that resulted in a very poor showing by the livestock industry. The complexity of
the red tape involved in running the Oblast's livestock industry is cited in the
30 different decisions adopted by the Oblast Party Committee, th', 50 directives by
the Oblast Executive Committee and the 170 orders and directives ssued at the same
time by the Oblast Agricultural Administration. A PRAVDA article by Karamyshev of
the same date (not broadcast) says that the stockbreeding industry of the Gorno-
Altai Autonomous Oblast is behind plan because of the lack of emergency fodder
supplies and temporary winter shelters for the cattle at the remote pastures
(otgonnie pastbishcha). The Oblast fodder production, according.lto Karamyshev,
fell short of this year's target and 'is also below last year's achievement by
35,000 tons of hay and 30,000 tons oflensilage fodder. (There is no mention,
however, of the planned production figures for this or last year.)
VELIKOLUKSKAYA PRAVDA (18 November) reminds its readers that the (livestock
situation this year is not much better than it was last year "whein a large number
of cattle perished as a result of insufficient fodder, lack of warm sheds and bad
care." Exceptionally alarming (osobenno vyzyvayet trevogu), according to the paper,
is the lack of winter quarters for the cattle in Serezhinsky, Leninsky, Ilyinsky,
Kudeversky and Kholmsky Rayons where the plan (for cowshed construction) has
"practically failed." The oblast fodder storage plan has been fulfilled by only
65.7%, and in a number of rayons --Leninsky, Oktiabrsky, Nelikovsky and others--
the figure is "even smaller." Another reason for this lagging behind (nedopustimoye
otstavanie), the editorial points out, is the inadequate technical training of the
cattle breeders who need to engage in more socialist competition: "every cattle
breeding farm must have an agitator attached to it." A KOMMUNA editorial broad-
cast from Voronezh (27 November) also complains about the insufficiency of fodder
which, it claims, in many farms is covered up by filling the cattle feed troughs
with straw. The construction of winter sheds is far behind schedule and even the
available barns fail to meet the requirements, "there are indice.tions that in
some places the premises have not been heated." Such facts, thelpaper concludes,
cannot be tolerated any further, andlit urges that the respective kolkhoz heads
and agricultural specialists be brought to account. (There is no mention of the
particular rayons or officials involved.)
Criticism of the Kazakhstan livestock industry has now shifted to the Institute
of Stockbreeding of the Kazakh Academy of Sciences which has "relaxed its work" to
develop new types of animals, such ati Kazakh fine-wool sheep andlwhiteface cattle.
"Certain ministries and enterprises," on the other hand, are censured for "dis-
regarding" valuable suggestions of the scientific workers. The result of this
official bureaucracy and "scientists' indifference" is that scie tific research is
losing contact with production and n ither the field workers nor the stockbreeders
get any benefit from it." Such, forlinstance, is the case of the Aktyubinsk
experimental station of Dzhurun rayon where scientific activities are "carried
on apart from kolkhoz practice." (KAZAKHSTANSKAYA PRAVDA, 23 November)
AKTYUBINSKAYA PRAVDA (27 November) admits that Dzhurun rayon is about the worst
in the oblast in regard to fodder preparation, and blames the wastage of fodder
reserves on the "indifferent attitude" adopted by a number of collective farms.
The lack of fodder is said to be felt also in Novorossiysky; Stepnoy and other
rayons.
The livestock situation in Novosibir k oblast, according to SOVESKAYA SIBIR
(30 November), has deteriorated to a~point where the future of tie entire industry
is ,jeopardized: "stockbreeding brigades are not staffed...orderlis lacking in the
farms. . .and severe infringements of oo-technical and veterinarylrules are much
in evidence." This, the paper adds,~is further aggravated by the peculiar
attitude adopted by the oblast machine-tractor stations which are said to be
"systematically disrupting the plans1" for assistance to the stockbreeding workers.
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The shortcomings are so numerous and varied, according to the oblast Party
Convnitte , that every organization in any way connected with the stockbreeding
industry must assume its share of responsibility. Listed among them are the
Oblast C nsumers Union, the Oblast Agricultural Department, the Oblast Industrial
Cooperative, the Communications Department, the Supplies Department, the
Cultural and Enlightenmen*. Department and the Oblast Executive Council.
A long report on the plenary session of the Kursk Oblast Party Committee
(29 November) reveals that the fodder shortage in the oblast is as acute as it ha
ever bee and that no steps are being taken to remedy the situation. "How is it
possible to breed stock when the kolkhoz has no large fodder-supply base?" It
was disclosed at the session that in a number of cases, particularly in Verkhne-
Lyubazhsk rayon, fodder brigades have not even been formed; in others--Medvensk
rayon--they were organized but given no work to do, and in still others the
organization exizted only on Paper_
Afro-technical s .jidy courses: The three-year agricultural study courses
introduced by the government to raise the qualifications of the kolkhozniks,
particularly the collective farm chairmen, have often been criticized on regions
broadcasts as unproductive due to indifferent attitudes, low attendance and lax
supervision. The official campaign to improve the agricultural education system
and to increase the enrollment was intensified in September and October for the
new school year. This theme is taken up again in a number of areas, mostly in
the Ukrine, where both instruction and attendance are reported to be unsatisfactory.
MOLOT (16 November) discusses the importance of kolkhozniks' education and admit
that last year's failure has not been remedied this year. Studies have not begun} in
Bagayev~ky, Azovsky and other rayons. In Oktiabrsky rayon there is an insufficient
lessons
In other rayons
uctors
d i
t
lifi
,
.
ns
r
e
number of students and a lack of qua
are conducted "with completely unsatisfactory attendance" and the students have
not beert provided with textbooks, copybooks or other paraphernalia. Both the
oblast Agricultural Administration and the Agricultural Propaganda Department ar
said to display a lukewarm attitude to agro-technical courses. The oblast book
selling department and the branch of the Union press, apparently taking their Cu
from the higher officials, do not "bother" to supply the students with the
necessary study aids.
STALINGRADSKAYA PRAVDA (21 N- vember) also refers to last year's failure of the
agricul-ural study program in hlolotovsky rayon where the classes for the kolkhoz
workers "almost had to be discontinued." In Machesansky rayon this year, the
Party Committee has adopted a "strange policy of noninterference" (strannaya
politika nevmeshatelstva) in the farmers' education. A number of resolutions ha e
been passed but none have been put into effect. In other rayons classes have not
even been started. "Nothing can justify the delays experienced in Proleysky,
Elt onsky and Kletsky rayons." A "formalistic attitude" is listed as the only
reason for all these shortcomings.
The thr e-year course for agricultural experts in Ivanovsky, Oktiabrsky, Ovideo-
polsky and Shyryaevsky rayons "have been set up only formally," complains
CHERNOMORSEA Y.CWU"2A (22 November). The leaders of these rayons, the paper sayr
are und'resti*nating the importance of kolkhoznik training, and oblast officials rre
not pay.ng sufficient attention to the whole program. An unsigned KIROVOGRADSKA
PRAVDA hrrticle (30 November) says that the three-year agricultural courses were
all but abandoned in Novoukrainsky, Adzhamsky, Peshnhanobrodsky and Znameriky
rayons. "No one there is interested in...the three-year courses for the
kolkhozniks. Not one class has been held." PRIURALSKAYA PRAVDA (27 November)
blames ovocielova, head of the Agricultural Propaganda Administration for "all
the serious shortcomings" in the organization of kolkhoz studies. Many rayons
says the paper, are doing a poor propaganda job, and
in West Kazakhstan oblast
,
some of the rayon Party Committees do not exercise control over the propagandist;.
The remedy for the situation offered by the paper, however, is vague.
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Agricultural Statute Violations: PSKOVSKAYA PRAVDA (25 November) angrily denounces
the "distortions:and direct violations of the collective farm statute" in a
number of far:isTin the oblast. The editorial hints at complicity between the
farmers and loc~l''officials by asserting that certain rural administrative bodies
"frequentl?,? close 'their eyes to obvious infringments of the statute" (chasto
zakryvayut glaza'ma yavnie narushenia ustava). What is more, some leaders are
"guilty of corri.pting the administrators of collective farms and sanctioning the
illegal dioposall of collective farm funds." In some collective farms the working
norms and wcrki#g,days are said to be lowered arbitrarily and the distribution of
labor is bad. (~ne of the moat sinister practices observable at the cattle breeding
farms, according,to the paper, is "the incorrect method of payment for working
days." This itJsgys, is known to sc;:;e agricultural officials who do not care to do
anything about (The work day in Soviet agriculture does not necessarily imply
an eight-hour si}ift, a- in industry A tractor driver is usually credited with
five work days floc every shift, and s-.akhanovites get even more. On the other hand,
some unskilled . boz-ers earn less than a work day per shift.)
A report from D.audhikau, North Osetian ASSR, (27 November) quotes the Chairman
of the Autonomo4s'!Council of Ministers as demanding "the rigid execution of the
basic law of ko oz life," that is the collective farm statute. Addressing the
oblast Communist, Party session "on measures for the liquidation of the agricultural
artel statute violations," the Chairman revealed serious errors and shortcomings
"in the adherenc,e? to the charter but gave no details. There can be no doubt, he
said, that the Party and Soviet organizations will be able to cope with those
"malpractices" and to put an end to the abuses in agriculture.
BOLSHEVISTSKAYA ~10LODEZH (23 November) appeals to the kolkhoz Komsomols to enforce
the observance of, the kolkhoz statute and to "combat the squandering of communal
resources" in Smolensk oblast. The paper does not elaborate the point beyond
inferring that t e', practice is still prevalent and that something has oetter be done
about it:
Loafers and idlers, squanderers and pilferers of kolkhoz property
must be boldly unmasked. Poor economy and incorrect use of work days
must not be allowed to pass unnoticed. The guilty must be punished!
Infringements of the agricultural statute are also alluded to in a report from
Kursk of 29 N(.veiber (already quoted). This reference was made in a speech by the
secretary of the'oblast Party Committee Goroshnikov who gave no specific information
as to the nature and scope of the state violations. He urged the collective farmers
to hold frequent meetings to discuss "questions of preserving communal economy."
Shortcomings in Ukrainian Agriculture: RADYANSKA UKRAINA (15 November) declares
that agricultural] progress in the Ukraine leaves much to be desired. The potato
deliveries, it s4ys, have not been cone leted, and the same applies to oil-bearing
crops, woo]., milk,', butter and other agricultural produce. Nor have preparations
been made for- witt,ter premises for the livestock. The cotton-picking plan for the
Republic as a whJale has been fulfilled by 82.9% and the delivery plan by only
68.2%. A "great amount" of uncollected cotton still remains on the fields, and in
Zaporozhye and Kierson oblasts one qua--ter of the cotton crop remains on the plants.
Sugar beet deliveries are slow, especially in Sumy and Kamenets-Podolsk oblasts.
The fallow-plovti plan has been fulfilled by only four oblasts, and the situation
is "particularly bed" in Western Ukraine, Polessye, Odessa and Itherson oblasts.
PIVDENNA UiQ AINA ''1,(16 November) taker a similar dim view of the fallow-plowing
progress. In a number of rayons whe,e the plowing should have been finished, the
paper asserts, tbP';plowing has only begun. Among them are Telegulo-Bereznyansky,
Bratsky and Shir kolanovsky rayons. In the Novokrasnyanska machine-tractor station
"not-one-tractor driver fulfills his shift-norm. Tractors are idle for long periods
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The cotton theme is dealt with again by RADYANSKA UIRAINA on 22 November. No improve-
ment in the c.,;.:on situation has been noted in recent days, says -the paper. A
number of rayons in Odessa and Nikolayev oblasts are far behind plan and continue to
work "unsatisfactorily." The machine tractor stations serving the cotton plantations
are said to be just as slow, some of them having completed their assignments by
''only 30 to 4C%." Among them are the Radelska, Novo-Zburivska and Bestirska
stations of Kerson oblast and Antatolivska, Shirokolanevska and other machine-
tractor stations of Nikolayev oblast.
apposition. to Mechanization: Idle Machinery; The familiar complaint about
inefficient utilization of farm machinery and excessive idleness of tractors is
heard again on a number of regional transmitters. A broadcast from Velikie Luki
alludes to what might be construed as opposition to further mechanization of
agricultural labor. MOLOT (20 November) speaks of the serious shortcomings in the
organization of repair work in the machine-tractor stations whichlhave been lagging
behind "for saveral years." And yet, says the paper, many machine tractor stations
and sovkhozes are repeating last year's mistakes. No adequate preparations have
yet been made for the coming agricultural year, essential tools and equipment are
lacking; but "no action is taken." The reasons for this may be deduced from the
remedies suggested by the editorial: "all mechanics should be brought up to date
on progressive technology, and the living conditions of the repair workers should
be improved."
A cons idera lc number of machines stand idle and the agreements with !collective
farms are not being fulfilled, complains PSKOVSKAYA PRAVDA (17 November). It suggests
that the lack of well-trained personnel is a factor. The paper also warns against
a repetition of la=,t year's mistakes, the neglect of the welfare Of the mechanization
students. This, in the paper's view, is all the more to be prevented now that
"many girls" axe joining the mechanization courses. (There is, of course, no
reference to the fact that the low attendance of mechanization course by male students
may have forced the officials to induce girls to join.)
The failure of the tractor-repair plan in the major areas of Kirovograd oblast
is admitte,' by KIROVOGRADSKA PRAVDA (30 November). The fourth-quarter plan has been
fulfilled by only !,4.5% and there is no improvement in view, according to the paper.
The large inter--rayon woric,shop_ designed for capital repairs of farm implements are
said to have f=iled tq justify their existence. They barely managed to take care cf
1.7 to 29% of the repair jobs assigned to them, and "the Bobrynetska, Alexandriyskn
and Dolynsl;a int:=r--rayon workshops for capital repairs have in effect completely
failed...in the quarter." The Kirovograd spare part plant)"Piatnadtsat
Rokiv Z hovtnya," h,is "without any reason whatsoever" failed to produce a single
spare part for tractors. Ite production plan called for 2,000 sockets (gilza) and
2,000 piste- (porehen). An "extremely unsatisfactory" job is imputed to the
Khmelevska, I-pust anska, Alexandriyska and Novoprazhska machine- ractor stations.
VELIKOLUKSKAYA PRAVDA (27 November) calls the flax-processing and delivery plan
"extremely alarming " (kraine trevozhno), and pins the responsibility, on the
bureaucratic attitude of the Oblast Agricultural Administration. I~'tie latter, it
says, does not display much interest in helping the mechanics to .?antheir
machines which results in frequent breakdowns and unnecessary idleness. Another
reason, and perhaps the most important, the paper hints, is the "prevalent anti-
mechanizLtior mood" (nalichie anti-mekhanizatorskikh nastroyeniy) I among many collect-
ive farm managers and in many rayons. And what is "most regrettable,." according
to the paper, is that "no fight is being waged against this attitude." Reference
to tractor repairs, in a different context, is made by the same paper on
30 November: "...the overhaul of tractors is carried out in an unorganized
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INDUSTRY
Un-Soviet Approach to Production: PRAVDA (16 November) speaks in disparaging terms
of the prevailing practice of using the above-plan performance of efficient
enterprises to cover up the inefficiency of the backward ones. (As mentioned in a
previous CPI report, this device is often resorted to in industry where the gross
production figures for a given area or branch of industry do not reflect the
actual performance of individual plants or of the departments within a plant.) The
paper refers to the leaders of "some ministries and departments" whose standard
procedure is to make up the deficiencies of certain enterprises at the expense
of the more productive plants. This is a wrong, un-Soviet approach to the fulfillment
of the State plans (eto nepravilny, nesovetsky podkhod k vypolneniu gosudarstevennykh
planov), declares the editorial. These unnamed leaders are reminded again that
what the State plans call for, in addition to fulfillment, is a detailed accounting
for every type of production (po vsemu assortimentu). One of the methods widely
used in industry, it is claimed, is to "produce items which require the least
effort and trouble" and to leave the planned production of more complicated
products underfulfilled. Following are some specific examples cited by the paper
as "detrimental to the interests of planned economy":
The Kharkov Electrical-Mechanical Works--fulfi] is the gross production plan but
every quarter it fails to deliver dozens of
large electrical machines;
Chelyabinsk Precision Instruments Plant --fulfills the monthly plan for only 'two out
of the six main types of its products;
The Kuibyshev Works --regularly fails to fulfill the plan for the
production of three out of the eight items
it produces;
Sverdlovsk Furniture Factory --fulfilled its October, gross output plan by
112.3% but failed in the output of tables,
couches and other items which are in
greatest demand.
From Baranovichi, Belorussia, comes a report (24 November) that a number of enterprises,
particularly in the timber industry, have failed to organize effective socialist
competition for the fulfillment of the production plan "in all aspects." The Timber
Trust No. 16, for example, completed its annual production targets ahead of schedule
but was behind plan in the output of four types of products.
MINING
production Losses the Cyclic System: KAZAKHSTANSKP.YA PRAVDA (16 November) reveals
that "millions of rubles of state funds" have been lost through unsatisfactory work
at the Karaganda coal pits. Many collieries, says the paper, continue to "work at
a big loss" and to increase production costs instead of reducing them as specified
in the plan. These growing losses are said to stem from the "insufficient
exploitation" of modern technology and extravagant use of raw materials.
The struggle for the "cycle method" (borba za tsikl), says VOROSHILOVGRADSKAYA PRAVDA
(21 November), is a struggle for technical progress, and the slightest manifestation
of indifference to this new technological system should be dealt with summarily by
the Party organizations concerned. This editorial stricture is directed primarily
against the Voroshilovgrad Coal Combine where little attention is said to be devoted
to the organization of cyclic schedule work. This benevolent attitude toward the
advancement of technology, says the paper,' is particularly reprehensible in view
of the fact that most of the coal faces are not fulfilling the new schedule (there
Is no indication whether he coal production targets have been increased but
the words "new s,.uedule"Lnovy grafik/ as used in this sentence suggest an upward-
revised norm):
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In October, out of 165 selected coal faces of the combine only 46
fulfilled their norm, and only 45 performed at a rate of one cycle
per day. ..These figures show that the introduction of advanced
technology. ..ha6 not yet become... the primary work of the combine.
Just how much importance the authorities attach to the introduction of the cyclic
system in the coal industry is made clear in the concluding editorial remark about
the prevailing indifferent attitude toward the new production system:
It is high time to put an end to all that. The exploitation of coal
faces according to the cyclic schedule is not a campaign, not a
fashion. It. is the very foundation of modern labor organization and
production at all Soviet mines. ..the main duty of the managers of
the combine, trusts and mines.
Pora so vsem etiln reshitelno pokonchit. Pabota lav po grafiku
tsiklichnosti ne kampania, ne moda. Eto osnova csnov sovremennoi
organiznt..-ii truda i proizvodstva na sovet?skikh shakhtakh...glavnaya
obyazannost rukovoditelei kombinata, trestov i shakht.
A frank admission tL.at labor productivity in "most of the enterprises" of the Donets
coal basin is still very low--"lower, in fact, than before the war"--is made in a
report from Stalino on the A].1-Donets Conference of the coal industry workers
(22 November). TMs low efficiency is interpreted as the inevitable outcome of the
wrong production system now in force, and the "organization of the cyclic system"
is suggested as the only remedy. The large-scale introduction of new technical
equipment into the Donets mines, says the report, has not brought about the expected
production result:, and the "achieved increase (in coal extraction) is completely
unsatisfactory." It appears that the new machinery and the additional miners employed
have left the total coal output more or less unchanged:
Eighty-eight more people than before the war are now engaged in the
extraction of 1,000 tons of coal. Even.. .where a large number of
machines have been introduced, considerably 'more people are working
than before the war.
RADYANSKA UICRAINA (16 November) reiterates the familiar warning against the lack of
criticism and self-criticism on the part of the rank-and-file Party membership. This
lack of criticism, the paper declares, is particularly conspicuous at the current
report-and-election Party meetings when it is most needed. Alluding to the high-
handed methods of dealing with rank-and-file critics of Party affairs, often dis-
closed at the primary Party meetings, the editorial says that the suppression or
discouragement of criticism,the "keystone of proletarian dictatorship," ranks among
the cardinal. sins:
Every Communist has a right and duty to take part in the discussion
of practical problems of the. Party's policy, to criticize any of
the Party leaders and organs; he can be elected to any of these organs.
Communist Par-ty members are further reminded that the Party is the sole repository
of power in the co mtry and it is up to them alone to discover shortcomings and
correct them.
This (proletarian) dictatorship is led by a single party of
Communists which does not share, and cannot share, the power
with any other Party. This makes it plain that the Communists
themselves must expose and remedy all mistakes....
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RADYANSKE PODILYE (20 November) admits that the first report-and-election meetings
(etchetno-vybornie sobrania) have 'already revealed numerous weaknesses in the primary
Party organizations: "attempts are being made to suppress criticism...and to leave
the shortcomings hidden." In a virulent diatribe against the Smotrytsky rayon Party
officials, the paper tells of a rink-and-file Party member who, risking his superior's
displeasure, attempted to criticize certain financial abuses by high functionaries.
He was interrupted with the admonition that "it was not for him, a rank-and-file
Communist, to know how the higher Party functionaries are working."
A report from Stalingrad (27 November) reflects the concern of the Kumylzhensky
rayon Party Committee over the lack of new applicants for Party membership, and
intimates that the allegedly preferred jobs held by Communists may not provide
sufficient inducement for non-Party youths to seek membership in the Party. "Numerous
members of the plenary session noted that in many primary Party organizations
Communists had not been placed in vital production posts...."
The "low level" of Party agitation is dealt with in a number of transmissions from
Kirovograd, Stalingrad, Orel, Zhitomir and others. Typical of them is a SOVETSKAYA
SIBIR editorial (29 November). Naming several agitators of the Novosibirsk freight
station, the paper wonders how the "Bolshevik word" can be carried to the masses by
the people who "are still not familiar with the decree on the elections to the
people's courts" and "who have not read Beria's October Anniversary Speech."
The poor performance of the Oblast Komsomol organizations is deplored by VELIKOLUKSKAYA
PRAVDA on 24 November. One of the "many defects and weaknesses" of these
organizations is that the growth of their membership is "very teak ." The apparent
reluctance of the youths to participate in the life of the collective farms, a primary
duty of Komsomols, is referred toll as a "particularly deficient" feature of Komsomol
propaganda:
In Idritsky, Kudeversky, Podberezinsky and Serezhinsky rayons not one
young collective farmer joined the Komsomol.... In Leninsky,
Nevelsky and some other rayons there are collective farms which have no
Komsomol organization at ally
Other reports on Komsomol activities, as heard from Alma Ata, Izmail and Kherson, point
to the same failings that are characteristic of the parent Party organizations:
aloofness from the non-Party masses, restricted criticism and self-criticism and the
inordinately wide gap between the lorganizations of the various levels of the Party
hierarchy. An interesting sidelight on the social structure of the Communist
Party is cast by a report from Dzaudzhikau, North Osetian Autonomous Oblast
(29 November). The 317 people admitted to the Promyshlenny rayon Party between
January 1950, and November 1951, "included 97 workers."
IDEOLOGICAL WEAKNESSES
Moscow's concern over the ideological aspect of Uzbek life is evident from the PRAVDA
editorial on the subject (17 November), a long article by Nyazov, Secretary of the
Uzbek Communist Party, broadcast on the same day and other reports. PRAVDA
emphasizes that the relapse into an unpatriotic mood (retsidiv antipatrioticheskikh
vzglyadov) on the part of a number of Uzbek writers is a recent phenomenon and
should be looked into without delay. Some poets and writers says the paper, are
still "busy glorifying the remote' past trying to mold modern content into archaic
forms of the long extinct feudal culture...." (zanimayutsia voskhvaleniem dalekogo
proshlage, pytayutsia viit sovremennoe soderzhanie v arkhaicheskie formy davno
izzhivshei sebya feodalnoi kultury.) The same "censure" (upryok), concludes the
editorial, is applicable to a "number of composers" of the Soviet Far East whose
"obsolete canons" (usta:revshie kanony) of art are contrary to the optimistic out-
look of the Soviet people.
Nyazov is even more critical and outspoken than PRAVDA: "the republic's writers
have not yet created any literature that is monumental in point of ideological and
and artiptic qualities." (pisateli respubliki yeshcho ne sozdali monumentalnikh
po svoim ideinym and khudozhestvannym kachestvam literaturnikh proizvedeniy.) The
lack of criticism and self-criticism among writers, though deplored by Nyazov as
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a contributing factor in the present state of affairs, is not considered the prime
reason. 'That is worse, in his opinion, iE!the sinister practice of "mutual
glorification and slurring over of mistakes." (vzaimnoye voskhvalenie i zamazyvanie
oshibok). This, he says, has led to manifestations of "rootless" (bezrodniy)
cosmopolitism, pan-Turkism and pan-Islamism in Uzbek literature. Grave ideological
mistakes of a nationalist nature (natsionalisticheskago kharactera) are said to have
been made in the works of Sabir Abdullah,ITurab-Tula, Sheikh-Zade, Mirtemir and other
writers. The nature of these mistakes, as defined by Nyazov, is the "idealization
of the feudal past....and truckling to the old feudal culture" of the khans and beys.
A PRAVDA article by Nikolayev and Kett (21jNovember not broadcast) de-emphasizes
the achievements of the popular Esthonian~writer Lydia Koydula (1843-1886), and
cautions against the "wrong interpret at iog" of her works. Koydula was a progressive
writer and sincere in her struggle for the freedom of her native Esthonia, the
article admits, but "was unable to rise high enough to properly grasp the historic
destinies" (ne mogla podni.atsia do takogolponimania istor,cheskihh sudeb) of the
Esthonian people. There is no reference to any objectionable features of her work
but it appears that it lends itself to v ious interpretations, including one
favorable to the bourgeoisie. The latter,'in fact, published her works twice, in
1925 and 1934, and "clutched at the erroneous tendencies" (khvatalis za oshibochnie
tendentsii) in her poems to convey a boar ois-slanted ideology. It is unfortunate,
the article points out, that the mistakes made by the publishers of Koydula's work
enjoy a certain amoint of popularity (imeyut nekotoroye rasprostranenie). They
are also said to be reflected in the textbooks on Esthonian literature published
this year for senior school students. Si.n'ilar "confusion" (putanitsa) is en-
countered often in the press comment on the poetess' works, the writers conclude,
and they admcnish the Esthonian publishers to be more careful in the future:
It is time for a cautious approach tl the publication of classic
literature, on the basis of a profo dly scientific study
(gluboko nauctlnago izuchenia) of the progressive writers of the
past.
A STALINSKY PUT editorial discusses the survivals of capitalism (perezhitki kapi-
talizma) among -the Kazakbs and declares that even certain rayon Party Committees
are not immune to such ideological errors.) The (Kustanai) Oblast Education
Department and rayon Party Committee, for lexample, do not appear to object to the
practice of "not selecting" young Kazakh girls for schools. This practice made
it possible for only "a very small. number" :,of Kazakh women to enter universities
in the past two years.
Addressing a plenary session of the central committee of the Ukrainian Communist
Party, (26 November, not broadcast) Meln ov intimates that ideology in the Ukraine
is still something to be concerned about. The Central Committee, he avers, "has
not looked far enough" into the affairs o1 various scientific and other
organizations. Melnikov is not specific about the nature of the affairs but, as
reported in PRAVDA, "serious failings" are imputed by him to the work of the
following organizations: the Union of Soviet Writers, the Union of Ukrainian
Soviet Composers, the Committee on Art under the Ukrainian Council of Ministers
as well as a number of unnamed Ukrainian newspapers and magazines. The Kiev,
Kharkov, Odessa and Lvov Oblast Party Committees are said to exercize "superficial"
(poverkhnostniy) control over the ideological affairs in their respective areas.
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