#23

2d Session

THE UNITED STATES THROUGH THE EYES
OF SOVIET TOURISTS

AN ANALYSIS OF THEIR PUBLISHED REPORTS
PREPARED BY THE STAFF

OF THE

SUBCOMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE
ADMINISTRATION OF THE INTERNAL SECURITY
ACT AND OTHER INTERNAL SECURITY LAWS

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

JAMES O. EASTLAND, Mississippi, Chairman

SUBCOMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE INTERNAL SECURITY ACT AND OTHER INTERNAL SECURITY LAWS

JAMES O. EASTLAND, Mississippi, Chairman
THOMAS J. DODD, Connecticut, Vice Chairman

J. G. SOURWINE, Counsel

BENJAMIN MANDEL, Director of Research

THE UNITED STATES THROUGH THE EYES OF SOVIET TOURISTS

In the 11 months ended January 19, 1960, the Soviet Union sent to the United States 1,897 politically reliable and carefully trained civilian observers to report on our way of life.

These were not all spies, as we understand the word, though there were unquestionably some intelligence operatives among them. The Soviet visitors were official guests of the United States under the 1958 cultural exchange agreement between the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. It was their mission to gather information which could be used, by means of their published reports in Soviet journals, to downgrade the United States, and thus crush any spark of desire their fellow citizens might have had to experience a life like that in this country.

That was not the objective which our Government sought under the agreement. Its hopes are outlined in part in the following excerpts from "The Citizen's Role in Cultural Relations" published by the Bureau of International Cultural Relations of the Department of State in September 1959:

Under the full realization that public opinion has great influence in the formulation of public policy, it has become important for governments to communicate with the citizens of other countries. Because the peoples of different countries are separated by deep-seated cultural differences as well as by political and natural boundaries, governments have turned to the medium of exchange-ofpersons programs in an effort to overcome the prejudice and distrust that are based on ignorance and distorted information (p. 1).

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The International Educational Exchange Program, conducted for the U.S. Government by the Department of State, builds and maintains more friendly attitudes toward the United States in other countries, increases respect for and confidence in our aims and policies, * * * (p. 2).

Working together, the U.S. Government, private sponsors, and the American public have opened a two-way avenue of communication between the United States and the other nations of the world, designed to provide the present and future leaders of overseas opinion with the truth about the American way of life and the ideals of the American people (p. 4).

After more than two decades of government-sponsored cultural exchange, and many more years of private experience in this field, it can be said that much has been accomplished in terms of spreading the truth about America's institutions and way of life, *** (p. 35).

The high hopes expressed in this pronouncement certainly have been dashed so far as the Soviet Union is concerned as the material to follow will reveal. The goal of the Communist leadership was obviously far distant from the American objective.

Information favorable to America which is found in the printed reports of Soviet visitors usually refers to the beauties of nature, the past history of the United States with particular emphasis on the

Franklin D. Roosevelt era, during which the Stalin Government was accorded diplomatic recognition by the United States, and our Government dealt with the Soviet leaders on a friendly basis. Attention also has been paid to other individuals or institutions regarded as friendly to the idea of coexistence or to the Soviet cause.

A Soviet citizen cannot decide for himself spontaneously, as can an American, that he will go abroad. This is a matter which, in all cases, and at all times, is decided by the Soviet government, as a matter of policy.

The screening process through which prospective visitors to these shores are selected leaves little to chance. Regardless of his status, every nominee for a trip to the United States is, first of all, checked by the organization which proposed him. In the majority of cases, the prospective traveler would be also a member of the Communist Party or of the Young Communist League, but the organization to which he belongs is directly responsible for him. Usually, his credentials include written recommendations from the party or the league and his government organization. Since his superiors risk their own official reputations and status by vouching for this man, the recommendation is not lightly granted. All recommendations are sent to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the U.S.S.R., which has a special section responsible for sending people abroad and has the last word about such matters. In many cases, approval depends on the result of a final check by state security organizations.

When a delegation is to be organized, the Ministry of Culture writes to each Government agency requesting it to designate certain individuals for assignment abroad. It is never a matter of individual choice. The requirements for approval are:

(1) That the person has excellent or positive "characteristics" in the Communist Party and the government.

(2) That he is a member of the Communist Party or the Young Communist League. A non-Communist may go if he can obtain permission to make the trip for a special purpose and if his record is satisfactory.

(3) That the person does not have any relatives abroad. As a rule, people who are going abroad are attached to a group under organized leadership and group discipline is maintained throughout the trip. The leader usually has some official title. In addition to this supervision, the group is usually penetrated by special informants who keep the Soviet authorities well informed as to the activities of each member. It also is routine that Soviet Intelligence Service try to plant within each delegation a representative acting under cover. When the members of the delegation return to Russia, each is expected to submit an exhaustive report to his own agency. But no tourist would dare to submit to the totalitarian press of the U.S.S.R. a description of the United States contrary to the official propaganda line.

Because of the great volume of material from the reports published in the Soviet press, the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee made arrangements for a study by means of which excerpts could be used to provide the American people with a view of America as seen through the eyes of these carefully selected visitors. These excerpts will disclose to what extent we are accomplishing our objectives and to what extent members of the Russian delegations are living up to

the Soviet Government's professed desire for coexistence and friendship.

Reports reflecting the publicly revealed impressions of our Soviet visitors have appeared throughout the Soviet Union, in books and in articles of varied length appearing in newspapers and periodicals. Among these are:

(a) The Moscow, as well as the "republican" and provincial party press.

(b) The labor union press (for example, the Moscow Trud), (c) Literary publications issued by the Writers' Union of the U.S.S.R. (Literaturnaya Gazeta, Oktyabr, Novyi Mir, Znamya, Zvesda, etc.) and its branches in Moscow (Moskva), Leningrad (Neva) Kiev (Dnipro), Voronezh (Podem), etc.

(d) Youth newspapers and periodicals (Komsomolskaya Pravda, Molodoi Kommunist, Smena, Molodaya Gvardiya). (e) Moscow and provincial technical journals.

Since the scope of the present study makes it impossible to give consideration to the abundant material available, the reports selected were limited to (a) the most recent from the standpoint of date of publication, and (b) the most important from the Soviet point of view.

This explains the selections of statements made in April 1960, by Stepan Shchipachev, a Soviet poet, in preference to books by Polevoi and Gribachev or articles by Goryaev, Moiseev, and others of the period from 1956 through early 1959. This also explains the selection of "Litsom K Litsu S Amerikoi" ("Face to Face With America") which received the Lenin prize for 1960 and must therefore be regarded as an outstanding work, and of Ekaterina Sheveleva's article published in a widely read periodical. The writer is a staff member of Moscow

Trud.

Soviet visits to the United States are an element of Soviet tactics of the "peaceful coexistence" period. They are an important factor in a program founded on the premises of Marxism-Leninism that (1) capitalism (imperialism) must be destroyed, and (2) the struggle between capitalism and socialism is inevitable.

"Peaceful coexistence" is a tactical interlude utilized to strengthen "socialist-communist" countries and weaken capitalism. So-called "competition" belongs to the tactics of the "peaceful coexistence" period as a form of class struggle. Thus Soviet visits to the United States serve these purposes:

(1) Obtaining information ranging from the study of American conditions, collection of technical data and verification of previously obtained data, to direct espionage and the establishment of a network of contacts,

(2) Engaging in propaganda, both

(a) Pro-Soviet in the United States where it is aimed at misinforming American society on the objectives and possibilities open to the U.S.S.R. and communism, and at decomposing and demobilizing American public opinion, and

(b) Pro-Soviet in the U.S.S.R. and other so-called socialist countries where it is aimed at confirming Soviet theses concerning the superiority of the Soviet system over the capitalist and the inevitable destruction of capitalism, and at presenting documentary proof of the prestige enjoyed by