Basic HTML Version
"SOCIALIST REALISM"
style of
Soviet art depicting a victorious
Lenin, graces a Leningrad building
during annual May Day celebrations.
This powerful portrait with a mes–
sage reflects officially approved ar–
tistic concepts which emphasize
and glorify Soviet social, economic
and political achievements. Ab–
stract art and sculpture is general/y
frowned upon by authorities.
HIGH-WIRE ACT
thrills an audi–
ence at the famous Moscow Circus.
The Soviet government heavily sub–
sidizes the performing arts. Top
performers are we/1 paid and enjoy
certain pri vileges.
with thc Uni ted States was here to
stay. With three a nnua l summit
conferences a lready written into the
history books, détente. to Yuri's way
of thinking. was on the way to be–
coming " irreve rsi ble," a te rm Mr.
Brezhn ev has emp loyed co ntin–
uously. But nettlesome China was a
different sto ry a ltogethe r.
His exp rcssion cha nged with the
very thought of the men a t the he!m
in Peking.
" !
ha te Mao! " he ex–
claimed . He rcpeated hi disgust
with double emp hasis. War between
the Soviet Union and thc Peoplc's
R ep u b l ic of C hina might be
unavoidable sorne day, he believed.
Yuri was not alone in his prognosis.
The chief Russ ia n guide assigned to
ou r Nationa l Press C lub tour group
believcd that war between her <eoun–
try and thc United States was "un–
thinkable." but tha t co nflict with
C hina was probably inevitable.
In this light it is no teworthy to
mention th at s ho rlly before his
forced exi lc. Soviet author Alexan–
de r Solzheni tsyn dispa tched a dra–
mat ic 15,000-word open le tter to the
leaders of hi s country. Among o ther
things he wa rned th e Krem lin lead–
er hip aga inst the folly of entering
into a n " id eologica l wa r" with
China - in order to try to prove
once and for a ll which state is the
true sta nda rd-bea re r of Ma rx ist Le–
nin ism. Such a wa r, warned So lzhe-
22
nitsyn . could co t the Soviet Union
60 million dead - three times the
horrendous t o ll of th e Second
Wo rld Wa r ! "After
this
war,' ' he
said. "the Russian people will vir–
tua lly cease to exist on this pl anet."
Neve rthelcss, based upon my ad–
m itted ly limited "poli tak.ing." tbe
Soviet people seem to be a lmost re–
signed to a n inevitable showdown
between the two Communist gia nts
- but hopefully not in the ir day.
Dét ente - Whys and
W herefores
Yuri 's feel ings a re but a persona l
re fl ection o f his na tion's
we!t–
anschauung,
o r world perspective. In
actuality. fear a nd s usp ic io n of
Chin a constitutes one of the three
major planks o f the policy o f dé–
lente as pu rsued by the Jeade rs of
the Soviet Union .
C losely linkcd with the C hina-fi x–
a tion a re two o the r factors - the
Sovie t dema nd for sta bilizing once
and for all her "Wes tcrn front" in
Europc. a nd th e need to ga in
g rea ter access to Western, especiaUy
American, techno logy in order to
moderni zc and cxpand Russia's in–
dustria l sys tem.
Why détente is necessary was
graphica lly illustra ted in a remark–
able disclosure ea rlier this yea r. In a
speech deli vercd on a visit to Soviet
Ce ntral As ia. Mr. Brez hnev re–
vea led p lans for a g igant ic mul(,ibij_,..
!ion ruble scheme Lo recla im and
deve lop millions of acres of new
land in the centra l a nd northern re–
gions of the vast Russian federation.
largest of the U.S.S. R.'s 15 repub–
lics. The a rca involved in the new
"virgin lands" master plan would
encompass as much land as the en–
tire American Midwest!
Concurrently. Soviet a uthorit ies
have ca lled fo r an equa lly awesome
undertaking - a crash p rogram to
construc t a new 2.000-m ile trunk–
line ra ilroad from Lake Baikal east
to the Amur Ri ver near the Sovie t
Union's Pacific Coast.
The new "BAM" (for Baikai–
Amur Mainline) wil l be built a t
g reat expense through sorne of the
world 's most difficult te rrai n - over
gorges. through thick taiga fores ts
and across soggy marshlands.
It
should prove to be of grea t eco–
nomic irnportance in opening up the
vas t mine ra l wealth of Siberia. And
o f eq ua l political i rnpa ci. th e
" BAM" line will be rnuch more mil–
it a rily defensible than the eastern
portion of the Trans-Siberian rail–
road it is intended to bypass. For
mo re than ha lf its length, t he Trans–
Siberian is a lmost with in gunshot of
the Chinese border.
For the Soviets to devote their
a ttention to mammoth undertakings
in th e cast, it is essenti al for th em to
fee l secure on their Western bor-
PLAIN TRUTH December 1974