THE SOVIET UNION AND ITS PEOPLE

Heat. Heat. [Music] Russia is vast in size. It is the biggest country in the world. Its territory covers 16th of the land surface of the globe. Its people number onetenth of the earth's population. Although the United States could fit comfortably inside its boundaries three times over, most portions of Russia are uninhabitable. It has limitless variety in scenery, climate, and terrain. Its rivers, the Vulga and the upper, the NSA, are among the world's longest. Mountain ranges like the Caucuses soar 18,000 ft into the sky. Its lowlands, a continuation of the great plane of Europe, extend for thousands of miles across European Russia and beyond the Eurals into Siberia. The subarctic cold that dominates much of the land most of the year is countered by blistering heat in the summer. Nature's indulgence in giant extremes has endowed the Soviet Union with many natural resources. Almost every material necessary for modern civilization can be drawn from her soil. Coal, oil, cotton, wheat, lumber, and water power. In addition to various other minerals and crops, the people that inhabit the Soviet Union are as diversified as its natural products. Over 150 races and nationalities compose its far-flung population. [Music] Most of its people live in western or European Russia. Chief among its peoples are those of Slav stock, Great Russians, Ukrainians, and Bellarussians. Of these, the great Russians are the most numerous and influential. The history of the Russian people has been shaped chiefly by the Slavs. But they themselves were shaped by the size and remoteness of the country they inhabit. Isolated deep in their endless plains or steps, they had comparatively little contact with the rest of Europe except when they were fighting off invasion by German or Swedish armies or invading other countries themselves such as Poland, Finland, and the Baltic states. One of the few impacts of the western world on Russian Slavs was the Greek Orthodox faith imported from Asia Minor by Russian princes over a thousand years ago. The Mongols of Asia exerted a permanent influence upon ancient Russia when Genghask Khan's Golden Horde overran the country in the 13th century and remained as conquerors for nearly 200 years. The effort to throw off the Mongol yoke led to the rise of the Zars. Ivan III and his successors not only destroyed the Mongol power but crushed the opposition of rival princes and land [Music] owners so that Thesar became the most absolute ruler of medieval and modern times. At the other end of the scale was the Russian peasant who over the course of centuries was reduced to the level of slavery by Zar and noble alike. He had little he could call his own and knew nothing of personal or political liberty. Today Stalin and his communists wield power even more absolute than that exercised by thesar and his nobles. The Kremlin claims that the people own the country's industries and farms. In fact, however, they are run by a giant bureaucracy controlled by the Communist Party. The ordinary workers and farmers are helpless to challenge the decisions of these state officials. This bureaucracy is so inefficient that the Soviet standard of living, always low, is still only 15th that of the average American. A giant propaganda machine keeps telling the people they are the freest in the world. But freedom as we know it is non-existent when all expression, activity and thought is completely ruled by the state. The Soviet citizen is allowed to vote but there is only one choice that of the communist party. Communists supervise the elections and communists check the returns. Soviet rule today has much in common with the despatism of the [Music] Zars. There are differences in appearance, but the tyranny is the same, only far worse. Thesar at least acknowledged criticism by granting his people a small voice in the government. These overlords of the Kremlin, however, brookke no challenge to their limitless power. The secret police still hunt down political opposition. But this agency is far more ruthless and efficient than the Zars. There is the same glorification of one man as all powerful and all wise. But the name is not Zar Nicholas. It is comrade Stalin. There is even a highly privileged aristocracy. They're not baronss and dukes, but government officials, engineers, and industrial executives, artists. They enjoy an extremely high standard of living garnished by all the comforts of modern civilization. While the average Russian suffers from a chronic shortage of the most elementary necessities of [Music] life. Forced industrialization under the 5-year plans has made the Soviet Union one of the biggest industrial nations. But most of the country's production is diverted to the colossal Soviet war machine. Illiteracy has been greatly reduced. There's been an enormous increase in educational facilities and information media. But everything the Soviet citizen is taught, everything he is permitted to see or read is carefully censored by his communist rulers. In a state where rigid thought control begins with the very young, independence of thought is considered a crime against the public welfare. Giant contradictions are common place in Soviet Russia today, just as they were in ancient times. Great cities like Moscow and Lennengrad are constantly improved with new buildings. But thousands of towns are as primitive and drab as they were hundreds of years ago. The Soviets put a fabulous fortune into building a small but elaborate subway in [Music] Moscow. Yet their railroad system is hopelessly inadequate while their roads are primitive and few. The sharp contrasts that are typical of the country are inherent in its people. Ordinarily, the Russian is a genial person. Yet, regardless of place and occasion, he will slip abruptly into fits of sadness and melancholy. He can be friendly and trusting one moment and rapidly suspicious of foreigners the next. He is vicious and vengeful in battle. A complete fatalism about human life, including his own, has made the Russian soldier legendary as a courageous fighter. [Music] It has also made him the victim of some of the most appalling mass slaughters in human history. A clue to the Russian temperament can be found in their climate and terrain. The dominant feature of the Russian countryside has always been the endless steps repeating themselves for thousands of miles. and the vast monotonous sky that caps the planes from horizon to horizon, filling the human observer with a sense of futility and melancholy. Throughout the greater part of Russia, the long grim winter has always immobilized the farmer for most of the year. The bitter cold turns the earth to stone from fall on. while the heavy spring thaws make a sea of mud out of pasture and farm. Thus, the farmer is forced to be idle most of the time and make up for it by a furious burst of activity during the few good months of the year. City dwellers too are inhibited by the vicious winter that paralyzes industry and transportation by 40% or more. These violent contrasts are reflected in the Russian swings from energy to apathy. From careful craftsmanship to incredible sloppiness. From modern mechanized methods to old-fashioned hand labor, traditionally the Russian has sought escape from his grim humrum everyday life in the world of imagination. The brilliance and color of Russian drama, opera, and ballet have been world famous since before World War I. It is in music, however, that every Russian finds release. Unlike the theater which can be enjoyed only by a privileged [Music] few, Russians are a people of great musical gifts as singers, instrumentalists and composers. Their love of music and gift for spontaneous music making rivals the Italians. It is every man's heart and in it we may find the fullest expression of his flashing changes of mood, the riotous gaity, the earthiness, the sadness and the deep strain of religious mysticism that persists despite the hostility of an atheistic government which seeks to regiment all religion. literature and art in the name of communism. Today, when the future of civilization is at stake in our relations with the Soviet Union and its people, it is vital that we learn what they themselves feel and believe. The tyrannical Soviet government claims that it speaks for the people and has forcibly isolated them behind an iron curtain. But it can never be sure of what the average man really feels or thinks, for he is never given a chance to speak for himself. the widespread purges that periodically sweep through the Soviet Union. The strange sudden deaths of prominent communists. The millions of people in slave labor camps are evidence of dissatisfaction in the Soviet population and fear by its communist rulers. We cannot tell how serious or widespread unrest is. We know that the Soviet police state maintains a ruthless vicelike grip on its victims. But we also know that the Russian remains a Russian. His temperament is unchanged. His moody unpredictability is as much a problem to his rulers today as it was to the Zars. After all, this man who has submitted meekly to a succession of ancient tyrannies has also revolted with fanatical fury. [Music] [Applause] Who will ultimately decide the question of war or peace? This man or this? For even though he rules the country with an iron [Music] hand, he is only one of 200 million. [Music] These are the Russians. [Music]