Basic HTML Version
Do we unders tand the major
concerns of the Soviet p eople
and the ir leaders today? Plain
Truth editors report surpris es
on a recent trip to the U.S . S .R.
Here is the second and con–
cluding part of their report.
Y
URt WAS
only
16
yea rs old,
but i ntelli gc nt a nd ex–
tremely well-versed on in–
ternational affairs - from the Soviet
po int o f view, of course. Upon fin–
ishing his special educa ti on cou rses
in Moscow, he hoped someday to
enter his na tion 's diplomatic
serví ce.
We were introduced to each
o ther while artending a Rus–
sian wedding party in Lenin–
g rad. For ove r an hour Yuri
and
1
held a friendly a nd a t
times an ima ted discussion of
th e world política! scene. The
longe r we conversed, howeve r,
the more
I
was amazed to dis–
cover how to tally differen t
were our perspectivcs a nd fun–
damental v iewpo ints. We were
both obvious ly the products -
one is a lmost tempted to say
the victims - of our respective
ed ucational a nd communica–
tion systems.
Patriots and Villai ns
Language itself was no real bar–
rier. for Yuri had learned English
exceptionally well in school. But
somehow, the words a nd termino l–
ogy we used conveyed a lmost en–
tirely different meanings one to the
o the r.
It
was fairly easy for Yuri and me
to agree on tb e " big" issues - the
need for world peace, the desire for
increased understanding and coop–
eration between the United Sta tes
and the Soviet Union. But our com–
mon conceptions broke down ra ther
rapidly once we began to discuss the
" details." For example, l asked
Yuri : "What po litical leader in the
United States do you distrust the
most?"
lt
wasn' t Richard M. Nixon, he
PLAIN TAUTH December 1974
assu rcd me. The former presiden!
had , a t that ti me, just completed his
third summ it conference with Soviet
Communist Party leader Leonid
J.
Brezhnev.
" We respect Nixon," replied Yuri
with comple te assurance. " 1 think
we can trust him. But your Senator
J ...
a h...."
"Jackson?"
1
helped out.
"Yes, yes, Senator Henry Jack–
son." retorted Yuri, s haking his
head vigorously. "We don'tlike him
at a ll. He wants to bring our two
count ries back to the brink o f the
Cold War."
---
DElEBlE
STEPPING-STONE
TO PEACE?
" Well, that's who
1
thought you
wou ld name,"
I
countered. " But, do
you rea lize th a t most knowledgeable
Americans would likely view your
D efe n se Mini s t e r , Mar s h a l
Grechko, in the same light?" (Mar–
shal Andrei A. Grechko has recently
been warning that " imperialist" na–
tions are fueling the a rms race,
"ma king materia l preparations fo r
war.")
"Oh, no!" exclaimed Yuri in–
credulously, cupping his crestfallen
head in his left hand, " not Marshal
Grechko. He's a
patriot!"
I was witnessing firsthand the
ideologica l chasm t hat still sepa rates
the two superpowers, even in this
age of détente. The hero, patriot
and defender of the faith on one
side is automaticaUy the villain or
threat to the peace and security of
the other.
All t he News Not
Fit t o Prin t
Despite his persona ll y unpe r–
ceived ideologica l scree n, Yuri
displayed a ra ther remarkabl e com–
prehension of events and trends in
the United Sta tes.
I
asked him how
he was a ble to keep so up-to-date
with news from America.
" I
read the American press," he
responded quick ly.
" Oh, which newspaper?"
l
asked.
"Your newspaper from New York
City - the
Daily Worker,"
he an–
swered confidently, with a gli nt in
his eye tha t seemed to indicate
that he was sure he read the
same daily news source
1
did.
Th e
Daily Worker,
of course,
cannot be compared to the
New York Times
o r
Daily News
by a ny stretch of the imagina–
tion.
lt
is a small, intensely po–
lemical journa l published by
the Communist Party o f the
United States. Little known
and even less read wit hin the
United States, it is nevertheless
freely availa ble in most large
Sovie t citi es, along with o ther
exampl es of th e "Socia lis t"
press of countries around the
world. As a result, the
Daily
Worker
conveys to English-speaking
Soviets the impression that it speaks
for the majo rity of the American
"working class," which it most em–
pha ti cally does not.
Only in the large lntourist-run
hotels in the biggest Soviet cities
does one stand a remole chance of
finding a truly representative Amer–
ican newspaper. There, the lady a t
the hotel newsstand just might have
a recent copy of the
lnternational
Herald Tribune,
an English lan–
guage newspaper published in París.
But you'll have to ask for it! She will
invariably have the "Trib" tucked
safely out of view on sorne ne th er
shelf - as if it were a fo rm of poli ti–
cal pornogra phy.
"1 Hat e M ao"
Co ntinuing o ur con versa ti on,
Yuri sincerely believed tha t délente
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