The University of Toledo

The University of Toledo Digital Repository

War Information Center Pamphlets Ward M. Canaday Center: University Archives

Soviet Culture in Wartime, no. 3, 1945

Follow this and additional works at: http://utdr.utoledo.edu/ur-87-68

This Pamphlet is brought to you for free and open access by the Ward M. Canaday Center: University Archives at The University of Toledo Digital
Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in War Information Center Pamphlets by an authorized administrator of The University of Toledo Digital
Repository. For more information, please see the repository's About page.
 PEOPLES OF THE U.S. S. R.
By ANNA LOUISE STRONG
Outstanding Au.t hority on Life in the U.S.S.R.

A vivid introduction to the citizens of the 16 Soviet Republics -

the people who Iive in the biggest country of the world. Through
their history, geography, races and occupations, we see these
allies as they really are. Over 100 photographs illustrate this out
standing book which belongs on every library shelf.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

350 Mission Street - Or Your Local Bookseller

HmERICHn RUSSIHn lnSTITUTE PUBLICHTIOns

STRONGER THAN DEATH- Ten notable short stories of the
Russians at war by distinguished Soviet authors. A limited
edition printed by the Grabhorn Press and illustrated by
Giacomo Patri. $2.00
VANDALISM-A catalogue of Nazi destruction and looting of
cultural treasures in the Soviet Union. Fine copper-plate
photo engravings of architectural monuments. 25 cents
SOVIET WAR CARTOONS- The best of Kukriniksi, Efirnov
and others. With an introduction by Alexander Kaun .
25 cents

Order from the
AMERICAN RUSSIAN INSTITUTE
101 Post Street San Francisco 8, Calif. Telephone SUtter 4298

101
 Ross T. McINTIRE, Vice Admiral, Medical Corps, Surgeon General, U.S. Navy:" your idea
is an excellent one. You have produced a most presentable journal both from the profes-
sional and technical viewpoints. Difficulties in language have made Soviet medical experiences
available only infrequently, and then often in abstracted or popularized versions. The articles
in your first number are engrossing and original. Let me compliment you again."

American RevUw SOVIET CULTURE In WARTHTIE

ofJ

SOVIET MEDICINE NUM B ER

3
DR. HENRY E. SIGERIST, Editor

ARTICLES OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO READERS
OF THIS MAGAZINE
The Organization of Medical Care for the
Wounded, by E. I. SMIRNOV.
Experimental Cancer Research in the Soviet
Union, by MICHAEL B. SHJMKIN.
Some Aspects of Psychiatry in the U.S.S.R .. by
GREGORY ZILBOORG.
Twentyfive. Years of Health Work in the Soviet
Union, by HENRY E. SIGERIST.
RussianMedicine Organized for War, by HUGH
CABOT. .
Russian Advances in Military Medicine, by
VLADIMIR v. LEBEDENK.O,
Professor of neurosurgery at the First Moscow Med
ical Institute at present in the U. S. representing
Russian Red Cross and Red Crescent.
Medical Care Through Medical Centers in the
Soviet Union, by HENRY E. SIGERIST.
Book reviews, editorials, surveys, biographical
material covering the field of Soviet Medical
Science and Public Health.
The AMERICAN REVIEW OF SOVIET MEDICINE is the
only magazine published in this country which
is devoted exclusively to recording the unique
developments in the fields of medical science and
-----------------------------------
DR. ROBERT L. LESLIE. BmiMsa .M11naqer,
AMERICAN REVIEW OF SOVIET MEDICINE,
180 West 66tb Street. New York 19, N. Y.
Dear Birt
EnclO!!ed please ftnd my money order for Sn.oo for which
kindly send me the bl-monthly Al<EJUCAN REVLE\'V OP Sovtn
M>ICI><E tor one year (e luues). atartllljl Vol a No. 1.
sew
public health in the Soviet Union. Its articles are
contributed by outstanding Soviet authorities
and translated by eminent American medical
scientists. The AMERJCAN REVIEW OF SOVIET MEDI
CINE is the official organ of the American-Soviet
Medical Society, Dr. Walter B. Cannon, President,
and is published hi-monthly.
Because of the paper shortage, the print ordel'.
of the Review is limited.
96 pages 7" x 1O" Illustrated
Some Opinions of
The American Review of Soviet Medicine
"'Dr. Henry E. Sigerist, renowned Johns Hopkins medical
historian and editor of the AMERICAN REVIEW OF SoVIET
MEDICINE, has a fact-packed survey of '25 years of Russian
health work."
"The American-Soviet Medical Society, headed by the
distingu.isbed Harvard physiologist, Dr. Walter B. Cannon,
has for Its purpose the interchange of medical information
between the two great Allies, breaking the barriers of dis-
tance and language. ft bas just issued the first number of
its handsomelyprinted journal. AMERICAN REVIEW OF
SOVIET MEDICINE, which is chocklull of interesting facts
about recent advances in Russian medical science."
-ALBERT DE\JTSCH, in PM.
"The AMERICAN REVIEW OF SOVIET MEDICINE . will not
only succeed in strengthening the bods of friendship and
cultural understanding between our "two great peoples but
will add to the enlightenment of the entire world and will
prove an important step in the mutual sharing of scientific
achievements among nations, which will enrich the life of
man after the plague of fascism bas been cleansed from
the earth." -VLADIMIR V. LEBEDENKO, Representative of
Rwsian Red Cross in tM United State&.
"The AMERICAN REVIEW OF SoVIET MEDICINE will con
tain translations of important papers from the Russian, AMERICAN RUSSIAN INSTITUTE
1urvey articles written by American experts on various
aspects of Soviet medicine, news of current medical events 101 POST STREET SAN FRANCISCO 8, CALIF.
in the U.S.S.R., reviews of Soviet medical books, and ab.
streets from Soviet medical periodicals. At a time when the
Soviet Union is enduring magnificently and most valiantly
the 8'(acting strain of total war and when Soviet surgeons,
meeting the exigenciee of mobile combat, are confronted
with unique situations, the Review will present a section on
war medicine."-WALTER B. CANNON, Profes.or Emeritus
25
of Physiology, Harvard University.

--------------------------------,----!-----------------------------------------
 ./J!Kud THE AUTHORS ~aide oJ CONTENTS
HoLLAND RoBERTS is President of the American Russian Institute and Director of Educa-
tion of the California Labor School. Until recently he was Professor of Education at This Is the Hour, by Holland Roberts 4
Stanford University.
Soviet Schools, by Eugene Medynsk.y 5
EuGENE MEDYNSKY is Doctor of Pedagogy and Professor of the History of Education at
the Lenin Pedagogical Institute in Moscow. Note on Nursery Schools . 10

Tribute to Alexander Kaun, by Ernest /. Simmons 11

ERNEST J. SIMMONS is Chairman of the Department of Slavic Languages at Cornell Uni-
versity and directed its Intensive Study of Contemporary Russian Civilization. He is
Alexander Kaun Exchange Fellowship . 11
the author of the definitive life of Pushkin and of many other works on Soviet
literature.
Minorities in the Soviet Far East, by Owen Lattimore 12
OwEN LATTIMORE is Director of the Page School of International Relations and co-author 16
The Organization of Soviet Science, by Peter L: Kapitsa
of The Making of Modern China. He is author of numerous books and magazine
aHicles on China and the Soviet Union. He is at present Far Eastern Consultant 24 /
Note on Science .
for the O.W.I.

Some Aspects of Psychiatry in the U.S.S.R., by Gregory Zilboorg, M.D. 25

PETER L. KAPITSA is Academician at the head of the Institute of Physical Problems of the
Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. Note on Refresher Courses for Physicians 30
GREGORY Z1LBOORG, M.D., is a New York psychiatrist. He is the author of a History of Notes on Music 31
Medical Psychology and of Mind, Medicine and Man.
Notes on Films 35
ALEXANDER KoRNEICHUK is the author of a number of plays and a Stalin Prize Winner.
He is now Chairman of the Council on Arts of the Ukrainian Republic. Soviet Theater 36

LEONID LEONov is one of the great novelists and playwrights of the Soviet Union, and Scenes from Two Soviet Plays, by Alexander Korneichuk and
also a Stalin Prize Winner. His novel Road to the Ocean has ju~t been published Leonid Leonov 39
in English.
Report on the American Russian Institute 48

Drawings by Giacomo Patri

Edited by the Publications Committee of the American Russian Institute
LomsE R. BRANSTEN, Chairman
CovER ILLt:STRATioN: Leningrad, the Cradle of Russian Classical Culture-The City of
Peter, of Pushkin and of CfiaikovskY.
 <Jlul u THE HOUR
By HOLLAND ROBERTS
"Anything that can be done to bring about understanding between the United States and
the U.S.S.R. is a direct contribution to the peaceful world we are all trying to construct."-
ARCHIBALD MAcLEISH, Assistant Secretary of State.
How shall American-Soviet cultural relations be established
on the solid foundation of our long term common interests
and the brotherhood of our united struggle against the Axis
destroyers? That is a problem and a responsibility second
only to the urgent necessity for all-out support of the war, for
it is the key to the establishment of the just and lasting peace
for which we fight.
The urgency for building broad and deep i:ultural relations
between our two great peoples rises -out of the critical need for
sympathetic understanding of our joint role as the two leading
industrial and military powers of the earth. We must either
forge unity now in the fiery caldron of this battle of extermina-
tion, or force upon the helpless peoples of the world an armed
truce, for which we may accept responsibility as the recalcitrant
instigators. Now we need a clear practical program for the
personal daily interchange that can turn the mutual respect
and admiration. of wartime allies and good neighbors into a
close working friendship.
To read that the heroic embattled people of Leningrad cele-
brated their survival after the terrible siege of the winter of
1941 with a concert, and that starving Leningraders offered
their bread rations for Olga Berholtz' "Poem of Leningrad"
on the day of its publication, fills us with pride and astonishment
that we merit and fight with such allies. But intermingled
with these epic stories of the battlefront we need an interchange
of ideas and experiences on the little, homely things of every-
day life.
Practical programs for the development of broad friend! y
relations are now arising in all parts of the United States, and
even in the midst of unparalleled devastation, are finding their
counterparts in the Soviet Union. They are so numerous and
varied that the interested newcomer to the ranks of those
fostering intercultural relations is even now in need 0 a guide
for his activity.
The American Russian Institutes of New York, Philadelphia
and San Francisco are pioneer institutions in the fieid of cul-
tural exchange, as VOKS, the Society for Cultural Relations
with Foreign Countries is in the Soviet Union. They are basic
centers for the thorough pcnetrati::ig understanding that can
come only through interest in the appreciation and comparative
-4-
study of the science, arts, literature, music, and customs of
our two civilizations in an atmosphere of friendly exploration.
To a very considerable extent, all other organized activity in
the field must depend upon these centers for the basic facts
with which they build.
The announcement by Archibald MacLeish of the develop-
ment of the famous Gennadius Yudin library, purchased by
Congress in 1907, into the Russian division of the new Slavic
Center in the Library of Congress, will, as he notes, "provide
American students of the 'U.S.S.R. with expert assistance and
promote the exchange, between the U.S.S.R. and the United
States, of librarians and scholars able to interpret the two coun-
tries to each other." Such a government center will stimulate
the universities and colleges who offer programs in the study
of Rus.sian language, literature and life, and encourage them -
to place the work on a parity with French, German and Span-
ish. It will also be reflected in more rapid growth of the
Russian studies in the elementary and secondary schools.
This increased activity may well support an exchange of
students, and instructional staff, in the immediate future. The
American Russian Institute of San Francisco is now at work
on a proposal to arrange such an exchange as a memorial to
Professor Alexander Kaun, Chairman of the Slavic Department
of the University of California, at the time of his death. The
residence in this country of selected Soviet students and in the
U.S.S.R. of capable American youth would carry forward the
splendid tradition of purposeful scholarship to which he gave
his life.
Every year thousands of So".iet seamen and other citizens
come to the great ports of the United States, and hundreds of
American seamen, members of the armed forces, and civilians
travel to the U.S.S.R. There are many opportunities for first
hand acquaintance while these temporary travelers are in port
or in transit. Soon we will have a solid basis to give reality
to the proposal made by Dr. Ralph E. Turner of the U. S.
State Department: "the time is now opportune for the negotia-
tion of a bilateral arrangement under which cultural exchanges
of all kinds may be carried on between the American and
Russian peoples."
This is the hour.
S<WJet SCHOOLS
By EUGENE MEDYNSK y*
Public education has always been given special atten-
tion in the U.S.S.R. Budget appropriations for this pur-
pose have mounted yearly, the number of schools and
pupils have vastly increased and the percentage of
literacy has greatly risen as compared with 1914-1917.
The integrated school system today consists of the
following links:
1. Pre-school social education for children up
to 7 (kindergartens, pre-school homes for
orphans, children's playgrounds).
2. Elementary school with a four-year course
of instruction for children of both sexes
aged from 7 to 11.
3. Junior secondary school with a seven-year
course for children from 7 to 14.
4. Senior secondary school with a ten-year
teaching course for children from 7 to 17
inclusive.
5. Higher educational institution (universi-
ties with a five-year course; institutes-
technical, agricultural, medical, pedagogic,
and other, with a four or four-and-a-half
years' course of training).
On completing a junior secondary school boys and
girls can either enter a senior ( 8-10 classes) secondary
school, or a secondary technical training institution
with a three-year course (industrial and agricultural
technicums, medical and pedagogical schools, etc.) for
training workers of intermediate qualifications-tech-
nicians, assistant surgeons, elementary school teachers.
After three years of practical work in their respective
specialties, these workers, if they wish, can continue
their education in a school of higher learning.
*By permission of the A merirn11 Sociological Review.
The Moscow State Uni'l'ersity.
EDUCATIONAL AND LITERACY STATISTICS
The following figures show the growth of the num-
ber of elementary and secondary schools and the num-
ber of pupils therein.
Before the Revolution, in 1914-1915: 105,524
schools with 7,896,249 pupils.
In 1930-1931: 152,813 schools with 17,614,537
pupils.
On the eve of World War II, in 1938-1939:
171,579 schools with 31,517,375 pupils.
A particularly big increase occurred in the number
of secondary schools and of pupils therein; there was
an increase of 50.8 times in the number of pupils of
junior secondary schools and 14.2 times in senior sec-
ondary schools. In 1914-1915 secondary schools were
attended only by 635,591 pupils-children of the privi-
leged strata of the urban population, while in 1938-1939
this number reached 9,028,156. There was an especially
great increase in the number of secondary schools in
the countryside and in industrial settlements. Before
the Soviet Revolution there were practically no such
schools here.
The number of schools and pupils accelerated their
increase in 1929-1930, when universal compulsory edu-
cation began to be introduced. During the following
year the number of pupils increased by 4 million, and
a year later, in 1931-1932, by another 3.3 million.
From 231,000 in 1914-1915, the number of elementary
and secondary school teachers reached 1,027,164-a
4.4-fold increase-by 1938-1939.
To appreciate fully such a huge growth of the school
system and the number of pupils and teachers one
should take into consideration the tremendous diffi-
culties involved here: the construction of new schools
had to be extensively developed, great numbers of
teachers trained, and for many peoples of the U .S.S.R.
(especially peoples of the E;ist, such as Uzbeks, Tajiks,
Kazakhs, Kirghizians, etc., as well as peoples of the
North), whose education had been deliberately hin-
dered by tsarism in the past days, new textbooks had
to be compiled, and even alphabets written, since a
number of nationalities of Russia had not any letters
of their own before the Revolution. At present text-
books, books and newspapers are printed in about 150
languages of different peoples of the U .S.S.R.
The Soviet Government regarded the speedy intro-
duction of universal compulsory free education as a
matter of vital significance. Thanks to energetic
measures, by 1938 this had been already introduced
among all . peoples of the U .S.S.R.: to the extent of
four-year elementary schooling in countryside and
junior secondary schooling (seven years, for children
from eight to fifteen) in town and industrial settle-
ments. From 1944, compulsory education is established
from the age of 7.
TEACHERS AND THEIR TRAINING
The swift growth of the school system and the num-
ber of pupils caused unusual difficulty in training the
requisite number of teachers.
Teachers for elementary schools are at present trained
in teachers' colleges-intermediate training institutions
with a three-year course which corresponds to normal
schools in other countries. These colleges enroll stu-
dents of both sexes from among the pupils who have
completed junior (7-year) secondary _schools. Teach-
ers for classes V-VII of junior and senior secondary
schools are trained at 2-year teachers' institutes where
students who have graduated from 9th- and 10th class
of secondary schools are eligible for enrollment. In
1943 there were 76 such institutes in the Soviet Union.
Besides this, a considerable number of secondary school
teachers are trained at universities.
Evening courses, and especially correspondence
courses, are widely used in the U.S.S.R. for the pur-
poses of pedagogic training, students thus continuing
their main occupation uninterrupted. A soecial deci-
sion of the Soviet Government binds ali practising
teachers who have not received the required diploma
to complete their pedagogic education by correspond-
ence courses.
During the decade since 1920, 837 schools of higher
learning trained and graduated 124,000 teachers for
secondary schools and technicums, while teachers' col-
leges graduated about 265,000 elementary school
teachers.
-6-
The building of the Moscow Unirersity, the oldest unirersity in
Russia, is undergoing capital repairs and restoration after damage
by enemy bombs.
Teachers enjoy great respect and attention in the
U.S.S.R. Over 4,000 teachers have been decoratd with
orders and medals for their pedagogic work. A con-
siderable number of teachers have been elected depu-
ties to the Supreme Soviets of the U.S.S.R. and the
Union Republics. The. title "Merited Teacher" has been
instituted, this conferring the same privileges as those
enjoyed by scientific workers:' Special sanatoriums and
rest homes have been established for teachers.
HIGHER AND VocATIONAL EDUCATION
Universities of the U.S.S.R. have a five-year course
and train workers for research institutions and teacli-
ers for elementary schools. University faculties include
language and literature, .history, geography, physico-
mathematics, biology, chemistry, etc. In 1938 our uni-
versities numbered 47 ,705 students. College-trained spe-
. cialists are prepared in the U.S.S.R. at a four or four-
and-a-half year course of the institutes: industrial-
technical, economic, etc. In 1943 there were 750 schools
of higher learning in the U.S.S.R., including 23 uni-
versities.
The number of students of all higher educational
institutions totalled 619,897. Since the Soviet Revolu-
tion of 1917 the number of these establishments in-
creased sevenfold (in 1914-1915 there were only 91)
and the number of students grew sixfold-112,000 in
1914-1915.
A still bigger increase took place in intermediate
vocational training institutions ( technicums, etc. )-in
1914-1915 the total number was only 295, whereas by
1939 the figure had mounted to 3,732-an increase of
12.7 times.
For training of foremen and skilled workmen there
exist trade, railway, and factory apprenticeship schools.
OVERALL ADMINISTRATION
The management and administration of public edu-
cation in each of the 16 Union Republics is effected by
the People's Commissariat of Education of each Re-
public. These bodies organize pre-school educational
establishments, general educational schools, universi-
ties1 teachers' institutes, teachers' colleges, as well as
cultural-educational work among adults (libraries,
schools and courses for adults, etc.) in accordance with
the specific national characteristics of each Republic.
Vocational training institutions - secondary and
higher - are under the jurisdiction of the appropriate
People's Commissiariats: medical schools fall within
the province of the Health Commissariat, transport
schools under the Railways Commissariat, etc. The
supervision over elementary vocational training insti-
tutions - trade, railway and factory apprenticeship
schools - is within the province of a special depart-
ment - the Labor Reserves Board.
Thus there is no all-Union body in charge of gen-
eral-educational elementary and secondary schools in
the U.S.S.R. Each Union Republic. is autonomous in
building up its public education system. But the most
important general directives concerning elementary and
secondary schools in matters concerning the whole of
the Soviet Union are established by the Council of
People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R.
Organizationally, schools of higher learning are ar-
ranged somewhat differently-they are under the direct
guidance of the corresponding People's Commissariats.
But the general supervision is effected by an All-Union
body-the U.S.S.R. Committee on Higher Schools.
Despite all the hardships of wartime, the number
of educational establishments, including the schools
of higher learning, was not reduced in the U.s:s.R.
On the contrary, the 1944 budget provided 21.1 billion
-7-
rubles of appropnations for public education, this being
a 66.l '/t increase over 1943.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM AND OBJECTIVES
In all schools of the U.S.S.R. the term commences
on September 1. There are three short vacations dur-
ing .the school term besides the long summer vacation
of two or three months' duration.
Soon after the Soviet Revolution, in 1918, co-educa-
tion was introduced in all types and grades of Soviet
schools. This measure was necessitated by ( 1) the fact
that at that time the question of establishing equal
rights for men and women was one of most vital
urgency, demanding priority, and (2) the necessity of
placing schooling within the reach of the whole popu-
lation.
Under these conditions one of the most important
measures in the struggle for equal rights was the estab-
lishing of co-educational schools, because even iden-
tical curricula providiflg for general knowledge in
girls' and boys' schools could not have surmounted
undesirable traditions formed in girls' schools during
the many decades before the revolutionary years, when
the education of girls was far below the general edu-
cational requirements prevailing in boys' schools. The
entire structure and curriculum of girls' schools was
prone to cultivate a nurpber of undesirable features,
it was fenced off from reality and involved unwhole-
some isolation of boys and girls. Had segregated school-
ing been introduced at that time, it would have re-
quired many years to eliminate these negative features
which had become so firmly rooted in girls' schools
of pre-revolutionary- days.
At that time there was an inadequate number of
schools and the introduction of segregated schools in
many inhabited places where there was only a boys'
secondary school would have deprived many girls of
a secondary education.
Thus co-education in that period played its desirable
and progressive role. Co-education, however, entails
certain shortcomings which, though duly appreciated
at that time, still had to be left standing.
Co-education hinders the adaptation of the school
program to the different rates of physiological devel-
opment of boys and girls. It prevents adequate treat-
ment of certain psychological differences, and the nec-
essary differentiation of training of boys and girls for
practical activities. Under co-education the composi-
tion of intermediate and senior classes of secondary
schools becomes very heterogeneous, this negatively
influencing the efficiency of the instructional program .
The full equality of women's rights and the general
availability of education has been completely achieved

during t_he quarter of a century that has elapsed since
the Soviet Revolution. The number of schools has
vastly increased. In all towns and industrial settle-
me.nts universal compulsory seven-year secondary edu-
cation has been introduced.
In view of ~ll t~is and with the object of eliminating
the shortcomings inherent in co-education, in all capi-
tals of the U. S. S. Republics and in large industrial
centers and cities .(72 cities in all), as of autumn 1943,
segregated education of boys and ,girls has been intro-
duced in all of the ten classes of secondary schools
by means. of establishing separate schools for boys and
girls. This was preceded by six months of experiment
at segregated teaching in several Moscow schools dur-
ing the spring term of 1943, yielding good results. In
all other towns and in rural localities junior and senior
secondary schools continue co-education.
~s distinguished from the pre-revolutionary times,
this segregated education provides for an identical level
of g~neral-educational knowledge for boys and girls,
and involves no segregation in any extra-school activi-
ties. The principals of the schools concerned declared
that during ~he ~rst six months, the principle of segre-
gated e~uc~tion mtroduced in 1943-44 showed up favor-
ably as indicated by achievement.
I~ m.oral training considerable attention is paid to
cultivating the feeling of love for the country. This love
for one's country and people is combined with culti-
vating international spirit-respect for other nations
fostering. the spirit of equality of all nations. ' stations of young technicians.
Pt1rentTet1chers' meeting on child psychology.
ExTRAcURRICULAR Acr1v1T1Es-ScHOOL AND FAMIL y
Diversified experiments outside of lessons and school
are an important part of educational work. These are
a.chieved by voluntary activities in school and by crea-
tive endeavors of the pupils outside of school hours.
~hese acti~ities and experiences are provided by all
k.mds of circles (clubs), which may be classified as
follows:
1. Educational (literature, history, biography,
etc.)
2. Artistic (choirs, music, drawing, theatri-
cals, etc.)
3. Domestic science and manual training
(sewing, carpentry, etc.)
4. Physical culture
5. Military
~uch attention is paid to reading done by pupils
outside of school hours. School libraries recommend
lists of books on the s~bjects being studied . in lessons,
on current events, anniversary dates, etc. Exhibitions
of books are also arranged, besides which there are
special circles of young readers.
With the object of cultivating in children love for
~ature and interest in farming there exist organiza-
tions as follows: ( 1) Young naturaHsts whose activi-
~ies are directed ~y the c~ntral station of ~oung natural-
ists, at local stations which are established all over the
S?viet Union. (2) Similar work in th~ ~phere of tech-
mq~e and engineering effected by central and local
EJitorit1I bot1rd of d 111t1ll-ne1npt1per di one of Moscow's schools
making up the next issue of their paper.
Pre-school educational establishments (kindergar-
tens and playgrounds) and schools and extracurricular
organizations aim at carrying out their character build-
ing work in close cooperation and unity with chil-
dren's families. Through parents' meetings, parents are
drawn into collaboration in school and pre-school ac-
tiviti~s, and the active assistance of parents in school
(helping lagging pupils, work in organizaton of hot
lunches, etc.) is welcomed and encouraged in every
way.
Industrial workshops have been set up at many
schools, and their production (accessories for war
equipment, military uniforms, materials for army hos-
pitals, etc.) helped to supply wartime needs.
Soviet schools are helping a great deal in farm work
during wartime; thus assisting to supply the country
with more provisions. In the Russian Republic alone
in .1943 no less than 4,112,000 pupils helped in farming,
doing 140,000,000 workday units. Besides this, school
pupils collected .a vast quantity of medicinal herbs,
mushrooms, and wild berries and handed them into
state delivery points. Since the spring of 1941 pupils
of classes VI to X, together with their teachers have
been regularly helping in farm work.
From towns and areas threatened with Nazi invasion
hundreds of thousands of children were evacuated far
i~land, frequently to a distance of 2,QOO to 3,000
kilometers-to the Urals, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Uz-
bekistan and other Republics. The evacuation of chil-
dren from the menaced towns and areas of the Ukraine
and Byelorussia involved tremendous difficulty. Let
alone the fact that these children had to be evacuated
for great distances in order to ensure their safety, it
was necessary also to ensure food accommodations, etc.,
for millions of these evacuees. A considerable part of
these evacuees, especially children of service men and
:_9_
orphans who had lost their parents as a result of the
war, were placed in children's boarding establishments.
Local inhabitants adopted many of these orphans. A
substantial number of Uzbek families, for example,
adopted one or two orphans coming from the Ukraine,
Byelorussia and other parts of the country temporarily
occupied by the enemy. In this solicitous care for the
children whose parents fell victim to the Nazi is a
striking testimony of friendship and fraternity among
all the peoples of the U.S.S.R.
In towns besieged or subjected to enemy air raids,
teachers and senior pupils who still remained behind
joined fire-fighter squads not only for their own houses
but also for their school buildings, and also took part
in rehabilitating schools which had suffered damage
as a result of the enemy bombs and shells.
Throughout the whole two years of the siege by the
Nazi invaders Leningrad schools never suspended les-
sons. When the Nazis blockaded Leningrad, cutting
off the heroic city from all roads of supply and thus
placing the inhabitants under the conditions of actual
famine, Leningrad schools provided additional rations
for their pupils over and above the food ration issued
to the general population.
The Soviet Government displays constant solicitude
for the children of service men and school pupils whose
parents fell victims to the Nazi invaders. Service men's
children enjoy special privileges at secondary educa-
tional institutions. Special military training schools-
Suvorov schools-have been set up for preparing Red
Army officers, these schools giving complete secondary
education. Service men's children as well as children
of citizens who have . suffered at the hands of Nazi
occupationists enjoy priority of enrolling in these
Suvorov schools.
By Government decision special trade schools have
been established in several regions and territories.
These schools are already being attended by 9,000 boys
and girls-children of Red Army men and orphans
who lost their parents during the German occupation . .
Soviet school teachers have proved themselves su-
preme patriots. On the day the war broke out many
of them enlisted for active service as volunteers. Sev-
eral teachers in Sevastopol and Stalingrad, after having
evacuated their schools together with part of the teach-
ers' staff, themselves remained behind to defend the
city against furious onslaughts of the Nazis, and won
fame and glory as heroic defenders of these two cities
which are today known to the whole world. Twenty
teachers, today in action at the front against the Ger-
man invaders, have been awarded the highest title
in the U.S.S.R.-the Hero of the Soviet Union-and
 many teachers have been decorated with orders and
medals for bravery in action.
As soon as one or another town or rural area is lib-
erated from the Nazis energetic work immediately
starts on restoration. Teachers, parents and senior
school children who have escaped falling victim to
Nazi tortures promptly set about rehabilitating schools,
often on the very next day following the liberation by
the Red Army. Teachers and senior pupils tempo-
rarily become builders, repairing half-wrecked school
premises; they clean and scrub the building, or that
part which has escaped destruction, they rummage
around for tables and chairs or make them themselves,
Na-k ~NURSERY SCHOOLS
About two-thirds of all nursery schools in the USSR
are administered by industrial, trading and other en-
terprises under the various Peoples' Commissariats.
The rest are run by the Peoples' Commissariats of
Education of the various Soviet Republics, which also
exercise general supervision over the training of nur-
sery school teachers.
This year's Budget allocated 108,600,000 rubles for
the construction of still more nursery schools. In 1944
the Soviet nursery schools will have cared for 1,837,840
children. Furniture especially designed for the use of
children, and toys, linen, and household articles are
made to careful specification.
The increase in the number of nursery schools fur-
ln the t1urserieJ, infat1tJ are trained in "gymnaJtio" from Yery
babyhood.
-10-
they organize collections of books - and very soon
schools resume their work.
In the RSFSR areas liberated from the German in-
vaders by January 1944, there were 31,931 schools before
the war. Of these, 24,132 have been rehabilitated and
were working by the beginning of 1944. Schools for
higher learning have been restored in Kiev, Kharkov,
Rostov, Kursk, Stalingrad, Smolensk, and other cities.
Only a few months have passed since these cities were
liberated; the Nazi Huns had worked havoc on these
higher educational establishments - still, as early as
January 1944 universities and colleges in all these cities
had already resumed studies.
ther demands contingents of trained teachers. This
year, in the Russian SFSR alone, one-year courses in
pre-school education will be provided for 2,000 persons,
and three-months courses for 6,000 persons. In Sep-
tember, 20 nursery school training centers were opened,
accommodating 1,860 students. Six teachers' training
schools are opening pre-school departments, with places
for 240 students. Departments of pre-school education
have been established at the Kazan, Gorky, and Molo-
tov Pedagogical Institutes. In addition, there are many
bureaus, correspondence courses and evening courses
where nursery school teachers receive instruction in
the latest methods of nursery school education.
Special wartime post-graduate courses are provided
for Soviet nursery school directors. When so many of
the parents are fully occupied in work of national im-
portance, the teachers have a special responsibility for
safeguarding the children's health and inculcating
proper habits and behavior. There is very close parent-
teacher cooperation. The children work in their vege-
table gardens, keep the paths neat and clean, take care
of the flower beds, wash their dolls' linen, help to set
the tables for breakfast and dinner and to clear away
the dishes.
Many Soviet kindergartens now arrange for the chil-
dren's clothes to be washed and darned at the kinder-
garten.
The war has obliged pre-school teachers to recognize
more sharply their responsibility toward the child, and
has forced them to display a high degree of initiative
and ingenuity. In the regions liberated from the Ger-
mans, as well as in reception areas, they must create
normal conditions for children in the most unusual and
difficult situations.
TRIBUTE <Jo .JI~ KGM,H,
By ERNEST J. SIMMONS
The sudden death of Professor Alexander Kaun
came as a sad shock to his many colleagues in the
w~rld of Slavic scholarship. They knew him as a great
teacher who with fine, sensitive appreciation and keen
critical understanding had conveyed to hundreds of
students his own wonderful enthusiasm for the beau-
ties of Russian literature and culture. They knew him
also as a writer possessing unusual scholarly discern-
ment and real literary talent. Through his many pub-
lications he reached a vaster audience than the class-
room provided, and his readers always came away from
his works enriched in knowledge; and charmed by the
vital personality of the author that so thoroughly suf-
fused his writing. His early book on Leonid Andreyev
still remains one of the principal studies of this writer;
and his book on Gorky not only brought to light a
wealth of fresh literary biographical information about Alexande Kaun.
the great Soviet author, but it also revealed to Ameri-
cans the important p,olitical and social role played by with the qualities that go to make a fine teacher and
Gorky in the movement that brought about the Soviet scholar. As a youthful student in Russia he ha~ been
Revolution. active in the 1905 revolutionary movement directed
Professor Kaun early became interested in Soviet lit- against the despotic regime of Ni~holas II. And. aft~r
erature and in the course of years he made himself the he came to this country and achieved success m his
foremost American authority on the subject. As a con- chosen field Kaun never ceased to interest himself in
tributing editor to Books Abroad, he regularly reviewed the cause of the lowly and oppressed. With his pen
the works of Soviet writers, reviews that maintained and on the public lecture platform he gave .freely of
a high level of honest, fearless criticism co~~ined wi~h himself to advocate the truth as he understood 1t. When
the Soviet Revolution came he never for a moment
sympathetic insight. The copestone of his mterest m
Soviet literature was to be an extensive history of its hesitated to espouse its ideals to his Americ~n. audi-
development since 1917. Unfortunately he lived only ences. For with his love of artistic beauty he Jome? a
conviction that the lives of all people could be beautiful
long enough to publish a part of this, Soviet Poets and
Poetry, the excellence and significance of which only when freed from the economic, social, and political
serve to emphasize what a serious loss to our knowledge oppression that makes . the~ ugly. To achieve this
in this field is the unfinished larger work he projected. freedom he dedicated his mmd and heart, and all wh.o
knew him honored him for his convictions and his
There was another and notable side to Alexander
Kaun's career, a side that is rarely found in combination courage in expressing them.
r.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~
''
'''
''
''
I
'I Jn memory of Alexander Kaun, the American Russi~n ~n~titute is in!tiatin_g
' an exchange fellowship to begin after the war. This lt~ing memorial wzll
make it possible for 10 Soviet students to come to the U.m ted ~tates eac~ ye~r
in order to study in any American University of their choice, a"!'d it ~ill
enable the same number of American students to go to the S~vtet Umo'f!.
A committee is in charge of raising the funds for the scholarships and. will
welcome any inquiries or contributions which may be sent to the Institute.
o.;;;..------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~!
-11 _.;..
 M~ m tke SOVIET FAR EAST
By OWEN LATTIMORE*
[Mr. Lattimore accompanied Vice President Henry Wallace to the Far East last summer.]
On many occasions during a brief recent journey
through the Soviet Far East and Central Asia I was
struck by the obvious success of the Soviet policy
toward its minority peoples, and by the international
importance of this policy. The essentials of the Soviet
method are simple. The Russians work by removing
legal, social and economic obstacles to the progress of
minority peoples and "backward" peoples. These
peoples are then free to work out their own progress
according to their own capacities. The method is any-
thing but paternalistic. Because the people work out
their own progress, they feel that everthing which they
accomplish is their own, not something charitably be-
stowed on them.
The chief obstacle removed by Soviet action was,
of course, the "old order'.' of Tsarism, with its legal
discriminations and its policy of favoring privileged
groups among non-Russian minorities, in order to use
them as instruments for ruling the unprivileged. For
this reason the . minority peoples, who feel that their
local self-government is their own, also feel that the
Soviet State as a whole is their own. This accounts
for an outstanding difference in the psychology of mi-
norities in the Soviet Union and in America. With us,
minority rights are largely identified with the right to
non-conformity. Consequently, Americans sometimes
ask, "What would happen if one of these Soviet minor-
ities were to try to use its minority rights to attempt
to set up laws, institutions and practices conflicting
with Marxist doctrines and Soviet.Orthodoxy?" The
answer appears to be that this would be the last thing
that would occur to their minds, not the first. All of
them have a long history of oppression. Since, in all
their long history, only the Soviet Government ever
freed them from discrimination and gave them the
opportunity of progress, they identify their own interest
with the Soviet interest, and in everything which they
do to advance their own particular interest their in-
stinct is also to advance the general Soviet interest, not
to encroach upon it, because the general Soviet interest
is the primary safeguard of their own particular
interest.
Within the framework of the Soviet economic order
and state structure, Soviet policy has been to encouraae
the national pride and sense of cultural or communi~y
By permission of The Far Eaj/ern Survey, American Council, Institute of Pacific Relations.
-12-
identity of minority groups. In Soviet Asia, this in-
cludes peoples like the Buryat Mongols, Kirghiz, Ka-
zakhs, Uzbeks and the Tungusic tribes, whose lan-
guages, traditions and way of life are very different
from those of the Russians. They encourage these
peoples to go ahead and assert their independence in
all cultural forms-<:ostume, theater, art and so forth-
and to work out their own adaptation to the general
structure of the Soviet Union.
Although many of the places visited were new to
me, some of the peoples were not new, as I had known
Mongol, Kazakh and Kirghiz nomads, Turkish-speak-
ing oasis dwellers, and Tungusic forest tribes on the
southern side of the Russo-Chinese border in Sinkiang,
Mongolia and Manchuria. Familiarity with several of
the cultures which are spread on both sides of the bor-
der, and an ability to speak Mongol and a certain
amount of Russian, made it possible for me to get some
valuable indications, even in a very short time, as to
Dairy farming is rapidly developing in Y akutia.
how contented and prosperous these people are as mem- doubt whatever that the Buryats are running their
bers of the complicated Soviet system of peoples, re- own show. This is also true in Uzbekistan and in
publics and autonomous communities-uniform m Kazakhstan.
some respects and variegated in others. In the great Kazakh Republic, which extends from
Sov1ET Poucy Is FLEXIBLE the Chinese frontier to the Caspian Sea, the national
autonomy policy is most successful. Among the Ka-
The actual way in which Soviet policy works is zakhs before the revolution there had been a long 'tra-
naturally not uniform in all places and among all dition of hostility to the Russians and the Tsarist Rus-
groups. The Yakuts, for instance, seemed to me to have sians had never attempted to recruit Kazakhs as troops.
integrated themselves with the Soviet order less than An attempt to conscript them into labor battalions led
such peoples as the Buryats. This is not surprising to rebellions in 1916, even before the Russian Revolu-
because the Yakuts are a tough-fibered people who tion of 1917. In the present war, however, Kazakhs
have long been noted more for their ability to extend have supplied whole divisions of cavalry to the Soviet
their own culture to other sub-Arctic peoples than army. Since few of them speak Russian they are bri-
for their absorption of Russian culture. Moreover, they gaded in their own units under their own officers. The
live in small, widely scattered and isolated communi- Russians speak admiringly of the battle record of
ties in which the spread of education in schools, by these Kazakhs.
radio, and so forth, is less uniform than it is in more While Kazakh nomadic herding is flourishing, the
close] y settled regions. Kazakhs - like most nomads - also show a marked
Among people who are. few in numbers, also, it is aptitude for machines and industry. At Karaganda, in
difficult to preserve a separate culture. The Khakass the Kazakh Republic, there are some of the largest
near Minusinsk, for instance, are so minor a minority open-cut coal mines in the world. About a third of
A young Turltmenian, pupil of the music school in CharJjui.
that they tend to merge with the Russians rather than the miners are Kazakhs. Kazakh engineers and tech-
to preserve their own way of life. nicians are being trained there, and there is a high
In Buryat Mongolia, on the other hand, there is no percentage of Stakhanovites whose output is higher
-13-

U:z:bek school girls ha11e been taught to wea11e carpets by their
mothers.
than the norms on which wage rates are based. The
head of the mines is a third-generation miner from
the Don. When I asked him if he planned to stay on
after the war, he replied, "No, I shall go back to the
Don. The Kazakhs will want to run their own mines."
One detail of policy interested me as being particu-
larly significant. Primary education is in the language
of the people and in general Russian is not taught in
their primary schools. In high schools Russian is taught
as a second language for a few hours each week. In
the universities, where they are advanced enough to
have their own universities, Russian is compulsory.
Conversely, when Russians are living as a minority
group in an area that is overwhelmingly Kazakh or
Mongol, the Russians have the same privilege of hav-
ing their own primary schools; but for Russian chil-
dren the Kazakh or Mongol language is compulsory.
Thus the cultural autonomy of these various minorities
within the bounds of Soviet Asia is maintained, and
the minority languages are given a prestige value.
All of this is important because it will have reper-
cussions far beyond the Russian frontier. There has
-14-
/
been a steady movement of attraction toward Russia Kazakh, the average age of people in high pos1t1ons This situation gives these minont1es a great deal of
set up among a number of Central Asian peoples. The seems to be between 30 and 35. They are a post-i:evo- bargaining power. Therefore, their political importance
Russians do not need to propagandize among them. lutionary generation, old enough to have had the new is great. They have more option than weak minority
These peoples are attracted toward Russia because of education and young enough to be free of the old social populations usually h ave. They can get wh at they
the success and prosperity of their cousins on the Rus- cleavages. To them the present order is right, inevitable, want by taking sides. This is true to some extent even
sian side of the frontier and there are bound to be and above all their own. as far as Iran and Afghanistan.
some important international consequences of this ten-
dency. The implications of the Russian policy are evident. The war in the F ar East is being won largely by air
China and the Soviet Union have a common frontier and naval power in the Pacific. Yet in spite of these
MOBILITY IN BORDER REGIONS in Mongolia, Chinese Turkistan (Sinkiang) and Man- victories at sea and in the air, the political situation
churia, and along this frontier minority populations which will develop inland on the continent is likely
Along most of the Soviet border the political frontiers
uccupy large and strategically important areas. Any- to be largely out of reach of naval power and carrier-
are artificial, and identical or closely similar peoples
live on both sides of the line. This is true not only where along the frontier, except in Manchuria, you based aircraft. The possibility of a political outcome of
could move the line 800 miles south and still affect the this kind has not entered into the political thinking
along the Chinese but along the Iran and Afghanistan
personal destinies of no Russians and very few Chinese. of America to the degree that it should have.
frontiers as well. In the 19th century political develop-
ment in that part of the world was in abeyance. Cen-
tral Asia was in suspended animation except for the A Russian and a Kalmyk bor at summer camp.
superficial conquests by Tsarist Russia. If there was
oppression on one side of the line there was a tendency
for some of the people to skip over to the other side;
but such movements did not express a choice between
the two different systems of government.
The genetal impression today among their neighbors
is that the people on the Soviet side of the border are
well off. They are envied for the law, order and secur-
ity which they enjoy and for their individual and com-
munity prosperity. If there is turmoil in Chinese
Turkistan or Iran or Afghanistan, many people will
want to move to get away from the trouble and Soviet
territory is the nearest area which looks safe and un-
trouble9. This is a comparatively recent development.
During the Soviet revolution there was a bad time of
turmoil, and elements which were opposed to the
revolution moved to the Chinese side and into Iranian
and Afghan territory; but that period is now over.
The situation is one which requires adjustment of
American thinking. We still tend to assume, when-
ever Soviet influence is noticeable in an Asiatic commu-
nity, that ignorant people have been "misled by Com-
munist propaganda." To think in this way is to mis-
lead ourselves. The Soviet prestige in Asia today has
little to do with propaganda. It is noteworthy that
Soviet prestive is highest among those who are nearest
to the Soviet frontier and influenced primarily by what
they know, and by the practical comparisons which
they are able to make. Among such people the Soviets
are rated highly not because of promises of what they
might do for others, but because of the impressive evi-
dence of what they have actually done in raising their
own standards.
Everywhere in the Soviet Far East there is a note-
worthy age uniformity among those who are running
local affairs. Whether Russian, Buryat Mongol, or
 <'fits (j~rditui oj
By P. L.
This material was included in a report by Academician Kapitsa made at the meeting of
the Presidium of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences and Social Organizations, when it
occasioned much debate and comment by leading Soviet scientists. l Eo1T0Rs. J
The organization of science in general and scientific
work at the Institute under my charge in particular
were problems which greatly interested me when I
returned to work in the U.S.S.R. I was quite familiar
with the organizat_ion of science and scientific work
abroad. I had been director of an institute in the very
center of English scientific thought-at Cambridge-
for a number of years. On the basis of that experiens:e
I felt that the organizational forms of scientific work
accepted in the West could not be applied in our coun-
try as they stood. It occurred to me that we had to
seek our own forms of organization of scientific work
at the Institute, and, even more so, of the organization
of science in general.
This is principally caused by the fact that in our
socialist country science occupies a special place. Sci-
ence is recognized as one of the essential mainstays of
the development of culture and is accorded a leading
position in the development of our technology and na-
tional economy. The organization of science in our
country must have a more purposeful character than
that to be found in other countries, where it is more
accidental and spontaneous. The connection between
science and life must be close and more complete in
our country. The problems of the organization of sci-
ence are particularly important to us-workers of the
Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union.
In dealing with the organization of scientific work
in our Institute I shall first try to outline a picture of
the general principles from which we developed and
then speak of what we actually succeeded in accom-
plishing.
Our Institute is young; it is only 7 or 8 years old.
rhough I came here as a more or less experienced sci-
entist, still it was difficult to set up an institute without
having a school or scientific workers. For this reason
the development of the Institute has been much slower
than would have been the case if it had branched off
from another institute and continued to grow from
that basis. The selection of the personnel presented
additional difficult~es connected with the peculiarities
of our work, which belongs to the sphere of strong
magnetic fields and low temperatures-a sphere of
scientific work which was but little developed in the
U.S.S.R. at the time. During the first years we were
-16-
SOVIET SCI ENCE
KAPITSA
Vladimir Komara,,, President of the Academy of Sciences, U.S.S.R.
busy forming and training the scientific personnel an<l
staff of the Institute. It could only begin to grow and
expand normally after the working nucleus had been
formed. This explains why our Institute is less devel-
oped than it will be in time to come.
The question I put before myself from the very
outset was what sort of problems must an institute of
the Academy of Sciences work up? Of course, in put-
ting this question, I had in mind an institute of physics,
or, at any rate, an institute devoted to research in the
field of natural science; naturally, the problems of an
institute working in other fields of knowledge will be
different, therefore I wish to stipulate in advance that
too broad generalizations of the theses which I shall
develop must not be made.
I emphasize further that I am speaking in particular
of the organization of an institute of the Academy of
Sciences. What is the Academy of Sciences? It is the
Chief Headquarters of Soviet Science. In my opinion
it is called upon to direct all our science ideologically,
from top to bottom, along a sound channel. Each of
its separate institutes must pursue the same policy, i.e.,
aspire to wield a directing influence on science in the
field in which it is working, 9nd strive to bring it
into the front ranks.
For this reason, the first task which an institute of the
Academy of Science must set itself, is' to study a "great"
science. "Great" science is the science that studies the
essential phenomena necessary for the most profound
knowledge of nature. The task of a science is to give
the necessary knowledge for transforming nature so
that it can serve man in his cultural development. For
this reason, the choice of the lnstitute's thematic mate-
rial, the choice of fields in which its work is directed
is extraordinarily important. The direction which the
work of the Institute takes must correspond to the trend
of scientific development which is the most promising
at the given moment, and in the given state of science,
which may_advance most rapidly and fruitfully taking
into consideration the methodical possibilities.
In my opinion three such essential trends exist in the
fiel<l of physics: research in the field of low tempera-
tures, in the field of atomic nucleus, and, finally, in
that of soli<l bodies. I cannot here justify the reasons
P. L. Kapitsa, Director of the Institute of Physical Research. Stalin
which lead me to consider these directions the most Prize Winner. Member of the Academy of Sciences.
important, and, perhaps, some of our physicists may not
agree with me. Our Institute is working on phenom- formed from a small number of carefully picked scien-
ena occurring at temperatures approaching absolute tific workers. This group must devote itself whole-
zero and it must be noted that, in recent years, this has heartedly to scientific work. The Institute must be
been one of the most rapidly developing trends in phys- organized so that the working conditions are such that
ics and many new and fundamental discoveries may be the scientific workers are able to spend not less than
expected in this field. . 80 % of their time on actual research, with no more
The scientific work at our Institute is done by a than 20 % of their time consumed . by social and other
small number of leading research workers. This gives activities. Only if suitable conditions are created will
the Institute's work purposeful character and concen- the scientific workers be able to stay in theif labora-
trates it around a small number of main subjects. Noth- tories and work themselves. Only when one works
ing is so dangerous for the scientific work of an Insti- in the laboratory oneself, with one's own hands, con-
tute as when it is cluttered up with petty themes which ducting experiments-even the most routine parts of
distract attention from the essential problems and aims. them-only under these conditions can real results be
The main themes of the Institute are worked out by a achieved in science. Good work cannot be done with
small number of its scientific personnel-3 to 4 sci- other people's hands. A person who devotes ten or
entists, and are thus given a unified purpose. twenty minutes a day in directing scientific work can
The problem next in importa.nce to that of deciding never be a great scientist. At least, I never saw or heard
on the general trend is the selection of scientific work- of a great scientist who worked in that manner, and I
ers. Only a person with a profound creative talent and do not think it can be done. I am certain that the very
one who treats his work creatively can achieve con- moment even the greatest scientist stops working in
siderable success in "great" science . . For this reason the laboratory himself, he not only ceases to develop
the leading group of the Institute must undoubtedly be but, in general, ceases to be a scientist. These prin-
-17-
 ciples are very important, but they belong only to
peace-time; war-time forces us to act differently.
It is particularly important to inculcate these prin-
ciples in scientific beginners. For this purpose I try
to put their work into rather rigid organizational
frames. For instance, a scientific worker must not be
occupied with several subjects at one time, especially if
he is at the beginning of his scientific career. When
the scientific worker has grown somewhat and becomes
more experienced, he may be able to work simultane-
ously on two or three subjects as a rare exception; but
he must always begin with one.
The next point in the organization to ensure suc-
cessful work is that the scientist must work in the
laboratory a limited number of hou;s. Long spells of
work are harmful; it is exhausting and lowers a per-
son's creative powers. In our Institute, for instance
it is a rule that all laboratory work stops at 6 :00 P. M'.
The scientist leaves for home, to ponder on his work,
read, study and rest. In exceptional cases, by permis-
sion of the Vice-Director, work may be permitted until
8:00 P. M. Night work is sanctioned only by the
Director and may be justified by technical require-
ments, caused by special conditions of the experiment.
This is the regime observed by the scientific workers
of our Institute.
An institute, which by the quality of its scientific
forces and that which it has produced, is capable of
?ecoming a center of major science, may still develop
mto a closed and isolated unit, not satisfying the
requirements we set in the beginning, i.e., actively to
influence the science and culture of the whole country.
How can an institute manifest its influence on the
development of the leading science of the country?
How can it bind itself to the other seats of scientific
thought of the country? There are several means of
doing so. I shall name the principal ones.
First of all, it must avail itself of the advantages it
should have as an Institute of the Academy of Sciences.
These advantages consist of rich and modern technical
equipment, the possibility of selecting experienced per-
sonnel which make it possible to accomplish scientific
work inaccessible to other institutions. For instance,
in our In titute the possession of a special plant for ob-
taining quantities of liquid helium gives us exceptional
possibilities for conducting experiments in the field of
low temperatures, which other institutes lack. Thus,
taking advantage of this, our Institute offers the work-
ers of other institutes opportunities to come and do their
work in the field of low temperatures, which cannot be
done elsewhere. This work is usually not of lead~ng
importance and sometimes in no ~ay connected with
the essential themes of the Institute.
-18-
Such v1s1ts of comrades from other institutes are and it must do so with great diligence, by gradually and sent their students to us willingly. In the process
usually arranged as follows: The comrade, who wishes nurturing them from youth. For this reason, the post- of the work of the practicum the following system was
to work at. our Institute, is invited to our scientific graduate institute which we have set up, must be wel- established: the best students were noted and, if they
meeting where he reports on the experiment he pro- comed and supported by every means. so desired were allowed to work on more than the three
poses to conduct. This is discussed and, if the proposal We started developing the method of selection, used allotted problems. The scientists supervising the work
is of scientifically grounded interest and the author at our Institute only two or three years before the war of the practicum gave them advice; the best students
is sufficiently qualified, he is given the opportunity to so it is as yet difficult to say what results it will yield. were sent for consultation to me. Thus we were in a
do his work. At our Institute such work is very lim- It consists of the following. Taking advantage of the position to note our most capable students, establish a
ited, usually consisting of not more than two or three fact that we possess greater amounts of liquid helium closer contact with them from the beginning of their
outsiders at a time so as not to disorganize the inain for experiments at low temperatures than the refrig- third or fourth university year, and watch them. Later
work of the Institute. erating laboratories of the whole world put together, we invited the best of them to do their practical work
So far there have been many more people in the we were in a position to set up a workshop at the Insti- at our Institute. In this capacity they took part in the
U.S.S.R. who wanted to come to our Institute to work tute, which is attended by every student of the Moscow research work as junior laboratory assistants, helped
than we were able to accommodate. Tl}.is .is a strong University School of Physics. Of course, at first this our scientific workers in their experiments, kept notes,
proof that it is an advanced institute, as only in this workshop was organized for the best students only, but set up the simpler apparatus, etc. The selection for
case would other scientific institutions be interested in during the last two years every ph~ics student without graduate work was then. made from amongst these
the work conducted by an Institute of the Academy exception passed through it, each one working on two students, not only on the basis of their answers at the
and seek to establish connections with it. or three laboratory themes with liquid helium. From examination, but also by taking into consideration how
The constant presence of workers of other scientific the point of view of criogene institutes this is a luxury. the candidates had shown up in their work at the Insti-
institutions enabled us to establish one of the forms of For iostance, at the Leiden and other laboratories, work tute. Of course this method of selecting young scientists
vital connection with scientific activities outside the with liquid helium is even now considered inaccessible makes it possible to embrace a larger circle of youths
Institute. Leaving us at the completion of their work, to many scientists, whereas at our Institute every stu- and eliminates the accidental element. At this point
these guests acquaint their institutes with our other dent of the Moscow University had the opportunity to our experiment was interrupted by the war but had
work besides the experience gained by them in the work on such problems as, for example, the properties we been able to continue, it would have developed
course of their own research at our Institute. Thus our of super-conductors and magnetic phenomena at tem- along the following lines; having compieted their
own experience penetrates ever farther into the other peratures approaching absolute zero, etc. graduate work and obtained their Master's degree,
scientific institutions of the country. In this manner Naturally, the University welcomed this opportunity these young scientists would have gone to other scien-
vital contact is established with other institutions and
we, in our turn, learn what is being done there. ' The Academy of Science$, U.S.S.R.
utilization of this vital contact is a good method of
influencing the development of science in the country.
In the future similar vital contacts must be estab-
lished with scientists in other countries. Scientific work-
ers from abroad visited us during the first years of the
existence of our Institute. But in recent years the polit-
ical situation has grown so complicated, that though
there were those who wanted to come here, our con-
nections with foreign countries .had been severed, so
we can only speak of this aspect of our relations with
foreign scientists in view of plans for the future. But
these relations must, of course, be deemed a normal and
sound condition of the work of any academic institute,
because science throughout the world comprises one
indivisible whole. If an academic institute wishes to
claim a leading position, workers not only of its own
country but also those from abroad must aspire to
come to work in it. This will serve as an objective
proof that a leading "great" science is being conducted
at the Institute.
The leading academic institutes have one more sphere
of influence on our culture and science-that of training
scientific workers.
Only the Institute itself can train its future personnel,
 tific institutions and spread the scientific experience of
our Institute. Further, it is most probable that one out
of ten, or one out of fifteen of these students, on com-
pleting their graduate work, would have proved suffi-
ciently talented to remain on the main scientific staff
of our Institute. Thus, the Institute would have grown.
This method of observing young students from the
time they are at the university, the thorough and con-
stant verification of their abilities is, in my opinion, the
only correct way of selecting young scientific workers.
We must spare no efforts in this work, not only because
the young workers represent our future but because
they represent our present. As you grow older, it is
only young people, only your pupils, who can save you
from premature mental staleness. Of course, every
pupil must know more about the field in which he is
working than his teacher. And who teaches the teacher,
but his pupils? Thanks to his experience the teacher
supervises the general course of the work, but he is
taught by his pupils, who deepen his knowledge and
extend his scope. Without pupils the scientist very
soon dies as a creative unit and ceases to advance. I
have never forgotten the words of my former teacher
Rutherford: "Kapitsa," he would say, "do you know,
it is only because of my pupils that I, too, feel so young."
And as I myself am approaching old age, I feel that
intercourse with youth must be the modus vivendi,
safeguarding one from withering away and insuring
the maintenance of courage and interest in all that is
new and advanced in science. Conservatism in science
is worse than premature death to a scientist; it acts as
a brake on the development of science.
The propaganda of science is not merely a recount-
ing of ideas in simpler language. It is a creative process,
because itris not quite so clear and easy to see for oneself
and explain to others how any particular scientific
achievement is likely to influence the development of
science, technology and culture as a whole.
I always try to encourage the most extensive discus-
sion of all scientific work and when disputes arose at
our scientific meetings I not only never objected but
considered it a good thing to egg on disputants some-
what, to make them argue in earnest. Any, even the
most extensive discussions of scientific work, must be
welcomed. The more disputes, the greater the contra-
dictions; the keener the disputes, the greater the stimuli
for the healthy development of scientific thought.
Many people think that all scientific work must be
immediately and directly applied to technology. This
approach is naive and leads to harmful simplification.
Even the superficial study of the history of science and
culture shows that every great science inevitably influ-
ences not only technology, but the whole mode of
-20-
our life as well. It is perfectly cle"1r that such modern
weapons of human culture as the dynamo, telephone,
etc., were only possible owing to Faraday's funda-
mental works and discoveries. But it is quite obvious
that we cannot insist upon the Faradays themselves
building the dynamo and telephone. Faraday did not
possess an engineering turn otmind, nor was the indus-
try of his time ready to materialize all his ideas. Bell,
Simens, Edison and other great engineers did it some
few decades later. There are many such examples.
But the fact that Faraday did not embody his ideas in
technology does not in any way belittle his highly
gifted discoveries of the laws and properties of electric
current. In our country the achievements of science
are often judged by their practical results, and it ap-
pears that he who plucks the apple does the principal
work, whereas, as a matter of fact, it was he who
planted the apple tree which produced the apple.
The attitude which I am contesting belittles the
importance of great science and, in particular, the best
part of the work conducted by the scientists of the
Academy of Sciences.
Our war technology, as was stated many times by
Stalin, in some respects is even superior to that of our
enemies. What does it come from? In the first place,
of course, from major science and scientists in our
country who in a number of ways influence our tech-
nology.
For instance, to what is our metallurgy indebted for
its high level of development? In the first place, of
course, to the work of Chernov and his pupils, and
the traditions of scientific approach to metallurgy
which they reated over a period of many years. Of
course, the engineers deserve great credit; they were
capable of perceiving and taking from the major sci-
ence, created by the founders of our scientific metal-
lurgy, all that was necessary. But without Chernov,
Kurnakov and their followers our metallurgy could
not yield such good steel necessary for: the guns with
which our army is armed, nor could we manufacture
such ,magnificent armor plates without which the de-
signers would be unable to build first-class tanks.
It may appear, at first sight, that what I am going to
say will contradict the ideas I have been developing.
But this contradiction is due to accidental causes-the
fact that I also engage in engineering problems in
addition to scientific work. But this is, of course, an
accidental situation, which should not be viewed as
a rule.
Approximately in the '30's, the very important ques-
tion of the wide use of oxygen in industry and its pos-
sible influence on modern technology was discussed
with animation in our press. A number of interesting
Mikhail VasilieYich LomonosoY (17111765). Oil painting by an
unknown artist of the Eighteenth Century.
articles and calculations contributed by our outstanding
engineers showed how great the influence of cheap
ox;ygen might be on our industry. Of these, the intensi-
fication of the iron and steel industry was especially
attractive: blast-furnace smelting, the obtaining of steels
by oxygen blowing. Then came the questions of sub-
terranean gasification of coal, intensification of a num-
ber of chemical productions, etc. All these tempting
and interesting prospects depended on the problem of
obtaining great quantities of cheap oxygen. At the
same time methods of obtaining large quantities of
oxygen were proposed and discussed. I was interested
by the material discussed and my attention was caught
by some of the articles which contained obvious errors.
I began to consider the various possibilities of obtain-
ing the cheapest oxygen. On the basis of modern phys-
ical conceptions it was possible to show that it would
be cheapest to obtain oxygen from the air, where it is
present in a free state. It was further possible to show
that the chc;apest way of obtaining oxygen in the con-
temporary state of technology was by liquefying the
-21-
air, and separating it. Liquid air can be separated into
oxygen and nitrogen in a manner similar to that used
in separating alcohol when in a weak solution with
water. Then too, on the basis of general scientific con-
siderations, it is possible to show that in the modern
plants for obtaining liquid air the efficiency is no
greater than 10 to 15% , and that the existing cycles of
liquefaction and separation are very complex. Then
it was possible to show how to build a cycle, approach-
ing 'closer to the ideal. It was possible to show that
the most infallible way to simplify and reduce the
costs of these processes for obtaining great quantities
of oxygen would be to reject the use of piston refrig-
erating machines, and employ rotating-turbine ma-
chines. It was interesting to note, that though the idea
of building a refrigerating turbine had been expressed
by Raleigh as far back as the '90's, the idea had not
successfully materialized until now, despite numerous
attempts. It was possible to show theoretically the
probable cause of these failures and how these errors
might be avoided.
Having come to these results I passed them on to
engineers, specialists, indicating the course which, in
my opinion, had to be followed in order to create a
new technique to obtain cheap oxygen. They answered
in plain terms that the professor was engaging in a
little fantasy, that all that was extremely unrealistic and
far from their modern conceptions.
Actually, as a scientist, I could have stopped at this
point, published the results already obtained and
waited until the technical thought absorbed their un-
derstanding and was brought to life. Today I know
that the outline of theoretical research I gave them com-
prised the work I have been doing myself during the
last four years. I had a perfect right to stop at the
theoretical work. But I am an engineer myself, and I
shall not conceal it, I was captivated by the enthusiasm
of an engineer. I was told that the ideas that I had
advanced as a scientist were unrealis~ic. I decided to
take another step forward.
It took me 1Yz to 2 years to build a machine at the
Institute for obtaining liquid air on these new prin-
ciples. The general theoretical principles which I had
put forward proved correct. The machine was in-
spected by a commission of experts. By decision of the
Economic Council one of the factories was appointed
to take over our technical and scientific experience and
develop the matter further. I thought I could rest at
this stage. The factory would begin working out new
plans and develop them further in the same direction.
I supposed that from our laboratory model, offering
all the necessary indices and thus confirming all the
advanced essential theoretical principles, industry
 would develop a new technique for obtaining cheap
oxygen. But it worked out differently. Even though
the government had issued quite rigid instructions to
the factory it failed to carry them out.
Upon examination of what was transpiring at the
factory it was not difficult to understand the reason
for the delay in the development and application to
industry of the new plans. There were talented young
engineers and designers at the factory, and they treated
our assignment with great interest. Some of them are
still working with me. The general attitude of the
factory staff to the new work, could not have been
called hostile. It recognized the benefit and the interest
of the new machine but the workers simply had no
time for it. They were tied down to the daily routine
of the factory, and most important, the fulfilling of
the main plan of the factory.
Our factories want to treat new scientific achieve-
ments fairly conscientiously, but the conditions of life
make them feel that the fulfillment of the factories'
plan is the most important of all. A year's work showed
that there was no hope. Under such conditions the
factory could never develop independently the prob-
lem of cheap oxygen.
We then decided to change our tactics. The assign-
ment was transferred to another factory, where a spe-
cial shop and designers' office were set up. These
worked only on our installations. By a decision of the
Economic Council approval of the appointment of the
personnel for this shop and the technical supervision
of this work was assigned to the Institute.
Meanwhile, in order not to waste time, the Institute
transferred its attention from the installation for obtain-
ing liquid air to the materialization of new cycles and
the building of a plant for obtaining liquid oxygen.
We continued to check our theoretical constructions
and . obtained liquid oxygen in turbine installations.
Besides this we were interested in how many hours
on end our installation could work uninterruptedly
and what their working conditions would be at the
factory. For this reason, though the lnstitute's oxygen
plant worked well, it was impossible ~o say b.eforehand
that it had reached the stage of an mdustnal model.
At the new factory matters stood better than at the
first one, but still the start was a slow business and,
though we supervi"sed the shop, .our interference as
that of an outside element did not always pass smoothly.
Within 1Yz to 2 years we succeeded in building sev-
eral plants and turned them over to industry. It is diffi-
cult to say how the matter would have progressed
since at this stage the war broke out and our new form
of contact with industry was severed.
The experience at the factory had taught us a .great
-22-
deal. It showed us that there are creative engineers
and that industry aspires to new techniques. From the
very first steps of our work on oxygen we met with
great help, support and interest on the part of the gov-
ernment, which willingly responded to all our under-
takings.
The war has aggravated the country's need for oxy-
gen. We have to roll up our slee~es and set to ~ork
with all our might on the completion of the machmes,
bring them up to industrial standards, and study the
problems of durability and length of service. We did
this in Kazan to which town the Institute had been
evacuated. Parallel with this, on the basis of the Kazan
experience from drawincrs, under the supervision of
'
and in conjunction with l:lthe Institute, large in dustna
. I
installations are being rapidl y built and their indus-
trial exploitation is being begun.
The war and the country's forthcoming postwar
problems have posed the oxygen problem very sharply.
We had to act very energetically in order to put all
the industrial possibilities opened by our method of
obtaining oxygen at the disposal of our country. I
cannot discuss the details of the measures adopted: I
may only say that an independent Chief Administra-
tion has been set up-the industrial administration of
oxygen, one of the main problems of which is to work
out and give practical application to plants of our The application of science to a blast furnace at the Tula Steel Works.
type. The Chief Administration has its own factory.
I have been charged with directing this organization. theory of detonations emanating from his works and no less harmful to burden our great scientists with
those of his school have a colossal and generally recog- this work.
The idea underlying this organization is to make an
nized influence on the modern development of internal The relation of science to industry is, it seems to me,
attempt to set up an organization, conn~cting. major combustion engines, explosives and a number of other
science with industry and an attempt to mtens1fy our a very sore point and it must be widely discussed in
fields of technology. Both in our country and abroad, order to bring to light sound methods for forming
metallurgy, chemical industry, energetics, etc., by the
wherever one encounters the study of the processes of this relation, which is so necessary for our rapid cul-
use of oxygen. combustion, the name of Semionov is mentioned as of tural growth.
It was all a simple coincidence that I was able to fundamental importance. But if Semionov himself The problems which the Institute set itself undoubt-
work both as a scientist and an engineer. There are attempted to .build an internal combustion engine or edly influence its structural nature. There is a small
cases on record of men who have two professions. For supervise such building, he would achieve few, if any, staff of permanent scientific workers, as well as a staff
instance, Borodin was a chemist and a composer. But results and his time and energies would be distracted of scientists and graduate students working tempo-
this must not be elevated to a rule and used as an from major science, in which he has shown himself rarily. Only one-third of the scientific workers are per-
example. If you are listening to a singer, you must not to be a virtuoso. We appreciate N. N. Semionov as a manent. This necessaril y has had a definite influence
insist that he should accompany ' himself at all costs. great Russian scientist, as the pride of our theoretical on the whole structure of the Institute. Since the tem-
For this reason it is not right to insist that a scientist thought, and, of course, his works in theoretical chem- porary workers are not salaried by the Institute, it is
should seek the application of his scientific work to istry will continue to be appreciated by many genera- natural that the size of our economic apparatus does
industry. Some scientists have the necessary inclination tions to come. But as an engineer he is below average.
towards engineering and then it is, of course, well to not correspond to the number of people working at
And if a singer is not able to accompany his own sing- the Institute but to the number of permanent scientific
utilize this lucky coincidence. But if this is not the ing, then why encourage him to do it? Is it not better workers only. From the bookkeeping point of view
case , forcincrl:l a person to do thinQ"s for which he is not
~ .
to train accompanists separately? But we must confess this often puts us in the unfavorable position of an
adapted will only produce harmful resu lts. I cite as
that industry does not occupy itself very much with overdraft, but if the whole expenditure is applied to
an example Academician N. N. Semionov. The works
the problem of training the necessary specialists ~ho all the scientific workers engaged in work at the Insti-
of Academician N. N. Semionov on chain reactions
will be able to apply new and advanced techmcal tute this expenditure is balanced. Besides, we must not
and combustion represent some of the most brilliant
methods to life. I must say frankly that this is a great forget temporary workers necessitate a more experi-
and advanced works conducted in our country. The
theory of combustion, the theory of explosions, the shortcoming, and we must fight against it. But it is enced technical staff. If the graduate students are left
-23-
without supervlSlon at the beginning of their work,
they inevitably spoil and break the apparatus before
they have learned how to work. The visiting workers
may also prove a destructive force as far as the equip-
ment of the Institute is concerned if not watched by ex-
perienced laboratory technicians. The latter also expe-
dite the work because they can set up the special appa-
ratus used for low temperature work, arrange the
rather complicated low temperature thermometers,
show the methods of handling liquid helium, etc. Be-
sides the staff of certified and experienced laboratory
technicians, ~ur Institute has highly qualified mechan-
ics for building quickly the special apparatus. It must
be observed that nothing delays, dampens and oppresses
scientific work so much as the slow preparation of the
apparatus for the experiments. Therefore a good shop
at the Institute is of great benefit to us.
The finance of an Institute is a matter of no small
importance. The finance system ;iccepted in our coun-
try for scientific institutes differs very little from that
of any other institution.
We succeeded in obtaining permission to simplify
and change considerably our system of finance, the
chief consideration being that a scientific institute must
have a very flexible organization. Indeed, in the course
of creative work .it is difficult to look even one month
ahead, let alone a year. It is sometimes impossible to
foresee the development of any particular work and
what organizational forms and expenditures it will
require for its success. One of the things that helped
to give the organization of our Institute flexibility was
that we were given permission not to register our
staffs in advance, which I consider a most essential
point. The staff is determined by the Director of the
Institute, as needed. It would take too long to describe
our finance system in detail, but its main idea is that
the Institute gets a fixed sum for the year which it cat.
dispose of more freely than the usual forms of state
budget for institutions.
I. shall now touch upon the last problem-that of
the reorganization of the work of the Institute during
the war.
The Institute did not have to reorganize very much.
The work on oxygen proved to be an important war
time problem. The war impelled us to endeavor to
materialize as fast as possible all our accumulated
know ledge and experience in this field. We tried to
organize our work. so as to be able to transmit all our
experience in oxygen to our industry as fast as possible,
so that it could make full use of it for the struggle
against the enemy. It likewise happened that work in
other fields also proved of real importance to the solu-
tion of problems raised by the war. Much to my regret
-24-
I can not tell you about this in greater detail. Directin~..
all the energy of the whole staff to these ends the Insti-
tute had to reduce considerably its work in other direc-
tions. We concentrated all our forces almost entirely
at the most important point-on oxygen-in order to
achieve definite and quick results by means of a con-
centrated blow. We based our reasoning on the premise
that any scientific work which is not completed during
the war and does not yield results must be regarded
as harmful because it detracts time and energy from
more actual problems.
I have attempted to touch only on the most general,
the principal problems of the organization of scientific
work. Some of these problems have not yet been
solved by us. I assume that a number of our solutions
can be considerably improved and I am quite sure that
the conditions of our country allow of many as yet
untapped possibilities for the organization of science.
Even with the imperfect scientific organization which
we have now, our "great" science already wields a
much bigger influence on technology and our whole
life than is generally supposed. This influence is mace-
rialized by those developing traditions created by
"great" science and its ties with our life and industry.
We must remember that without these great scientific
traditions created by our scientists as far back as
Lomonosov, we could not now have good guns, scrong
armor and fast planes.
We do not yet understand all the possibilities inher-
ent in our country, the powers offered us by the close
contact of our science with life, the possibilities given
scientific work by th~ Soviet State. We are as yet in-
capable of utilizing the great freedom which exists in
our country for the development of scientific thought.
We are still committing many mistakes; we still mis-
understand the great role which the Academy of Sci-
ences is ordained to play. The Academy of Sciences
belittles its own importance. But with all this our
achievements are quite real.
We are called upon to do great work in a great
country, and we ourselves rnst be the first to appre-
ciate and respect this work and care for its development.
* * * * *
Note on SCIENCE
The Kazan Aviation Institute recently published a
pamphlet in Russian on Isaac Newton which contained
the four papers read at the tercentenary celebration in
honor. of the English scientist. The foreword and two
of the papers mention the fact that the U.S.S.R. is
celebrating the memory of the scientist amidst all her
occupation with the war because she is fighting for
"freedom of scientific, artistic, and philosoph,ical
creation."
S<JHU!, ll~oJ PSYCHIATRY IN THE U.S. S. R.
By GREGORY ZILBOORG,
1
The introductory statement on th e background of Russian psychiatry did not appear in
the "American R eview of Soviet Medicine," but is part of an earlier brochure by Dr.
Zilboorg. [EDITORS. ]
HISTORICAL AND IDEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND
The history of Russian culture cannot easily be under-
stood unless one bears constantly in mind the special
circumstances of its evolution. Russia is an old country,
of course; she is rich in tradition and great events. But
unlike the rest of Europe, she was never in intimate
historical contact with the classical civilization of
Greece and Rome, and the Byzantine influences came
late and were more or less limited to the religious
trends of the Eastern Church. Whatever streams of
classical inheritance there were in Russia came via
Western Europe, after Europe had .already gone
through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and
was approaching the French Revolution. Russi~ re-
mained isolated for many centuries. When Ivan III, in
1480, threw off the yoke of the Mongolians who had
overrun Russia, Europe was already at the great turn
from medievalism to the Renaissance. When Rodrigo
Borgia ascended the throne of St. Peter in 1492, the
year America was discov~red , Russia was still almost
as isolated as China and had nothing to contribute to
the Western World. Nor did she yet possess the curi-
osity and impulse to acquire and assimilate what Europe
had to offer. When Galileo died and Newton was born
in 1642, Francis Bacon had been dead for sixteen years
and Shake$peare for twenty-six, but Russia was still
deeply rooted in her own semi-Byzantine tradition,
without a literature of her own, torn by civil strife,
steeped in problems which were far fro111 the scientific,
artistic, and religious revolutions of Europe. Russia did
not establish any definite cultural contact with Western
Europe until the eighteenth century. The French Revo-
lution was already in the making and a new economic
class was about to enter the political scene of Europe;
Russia was at the time still a vast feudal country with
millions of serfs, an autocratic governing class, no
middle class, and almost no industry.
The cultural contact with the Wes tern World once
established, Russia proved a capable and original pupil.
Within one century, or not very much more than that,
she not only became a legitimate member of the
European cultural family but succeeded in making
By permission of the American Review of Soviet Medicine.
-25-
M.D.*
great contributions to that culture. Dostoyevsky, Tol-
stoi, and Tschaikovsky belong to the whole world as
well as to Russia; the work .Qf Mendelyeev in chem-
istry, Bechterev in neurology-:- and Korsakov in psy-
chiatry became an integral part of European science;
as early as 1818 Lobachevsky's contributions testified
to the maturity of Russian mathematical scholarship
and its revolutionary approach to the revision of ,Euclid-
ian geometry. Now, some one hundred and fifty years
after the French Revolution, hardly a century and one-
half after Russia joined the Western World, Russia
stands politically, economically, and scientifically a full
equal and in many respects a superior to the old West-
ern European tradition. Such phenomenal assimilation
of centuries of European culture could not help but
produce certain unique paradoxes.
The revolutionary forces of Russia, coming from the
lower economic strata, espoused the most advanced
European economic theories, those of Marxism; these
theories were based on problems which arose in the
most industrialized countries of Europe, while Russia
remained primarily agrarian and almost feudal to the
very last day of the Empire. The .c ultural varnish of
the upper classes became French; the industrial trends
were taken mostly from Germany and only recently
from America; the scientific methodology was as much
German _as it was French. Philosophy and literature
and music remained singularly Russian. In short, the
picture of Russian culture is truly kaleidoscopic. The
history of Russian medicine, and particularly of psy-
chiatry, reflects both the meteoric rise of Russian science
and those especially Russian peculiarities which were
not lost in the process of rapid assimilation of foreign
importations.
* * * * *
Far from discarding its creative past, the revolution
incorporated it -into the new scientific efforts. The
political and economic structures of Old Russia were
done away with, but science and medicine were given
a new impetus and turned into a new path of efflores-
cence.
 Everything that was creativ~ or otherwise valuable
in the past performances of Russian science and medi-
cine was faithfully and carefully collected and brought
together into the new frame of reference. On the other
hand, many new institutions for study and research
were created, which in number and energetic activity
surpassed many an ambitious dream of older scientists.
There is no strict differentiation of neurology from
psychiatry in the Soviet Union as it exists in America.
The Soviet neurologist is also a psychiatrist, and the
Soviet ps-ychiatrist is for the most _part also a neuro-
pathologist. Soviet neuropsychiatry is strikingly open-
minded and moderate. This attitud~ is exemplified by
the words of Snyesariov: "There is no place in psychi-
atry for morphologic, biochemical, or psychopathologic
maxima/ism. We all have one task in _common-the
gradual uncovery of the essence of mental diseases.
This is a difficult task. But we are not agnostics: we
face this task with confidence." 1
So much for the very general trend and tone of Soviet
psychiatry. Confronted with the acute and urgent prob-
lem .imposed by the war, Soviet psychiatry has turned
its attention almost entirely to the immediate needs
which arose out of the war.
In this connection we must recall that a great num-
ber of psychiatric hospitals and institutions of learning
were either destroyed or- otherwise devastated during
the first year of the war. Yet it is of the utmost interest
to not~ that the scientific and clinical workers were not
dispersed, nor was their activity interrupted. On July
18, 1942 a special meeting was held at Omsk: Psychi-
atrists travelled this immense distance eastward to
discuss traumata of the _nervQus system. It is to be
recalled that this Omsk meeting was held just thirteen
months after Hitler had invaded the Soviet Union.
The program of the meeting suggests that less than
five months after the first enemy bomb fell on Soviet
soil the neuropsychiatric services of the Soviet Army
functioned smoothly and efficiently enough to be able
to offer a goodly amount of clinical material properly
evaluated and properly managed.
One finds almost no American psychiatrist quoted by
Soviet writers on psychiatric problems, and the thought
suggests itself that both psychiatries lose from this scien-
tific isolation, that the barbed wire which until recently
delimited these two largest groups of psychiatric work-
ers in the world, and which recently has been so sUC7
cessfully cut in other fields of science and technology,
' Snyesariov, P. E., Soviet Pathornorpho/ogy of tl1e Nervous
System. Trans. Gannushkin Inst., 1940, 5:149.
-26-
might well be now fully removed and a way opened
for more frequent and substantial exchanges of ideas.
While I am on the subject of this need for inter-
change, I wish to add th at it is important not only to
learn from one another the essentials of the respective
clinical approaches but also, if not primarily, the funda-
mental psychiatric orientation as regards the function-
ing of the human personality. One simple example
will illustrate what I have in mind. The term most
frequently used in America, and among English-speak-
ing psychiatrists for that matter, to describe a so-called
psychologically normal person is "a well-adjusted per-
son." The Soviet psychiatrist is apparently not ac-
quainted with this term. He speaks of a "full-valued
( polnotsieni) person," that is to say, a person who yields
or expresses the full value of his capacities, a person
who by virtue of this free, complete expression also
presents a full or complete value to society. Thus the
collectivistic philosophy <;>f the Soviet Union seems to
1ay particular stress on the true value of a properly
functioning individual as a criterion of mental health.
In other words, the humanitarian tradition of medi-
cine, which throughout the ages has placed the indi-
vidual in the center of all human values, is not only
fully preserved by Soviet psychiatry but has been made
a cornerstone of its medico:psychologic principles. One
may even go a step further and wonder whether the
term "adjusted" does not connote too much that ele-
ment of compliance with social demands which does
injury to the individual, or at any rate does not stre~s
appropriately the psycho-social value of his independent
psychologic-that is t-0 say-creative functioning.
At any rate, ~hile this terminologic difference and its
implications might be a matter for further ~iscussio~,
it is important to underscore the fact that Sov1i;:t psychi-
atry, while serving the community as an important
medico-sociologic force, stands firmly on the founda-
tion of individualism which is the mainspring of every
curative endeavor, particularly in psychiatry. Society
must be served and preserved, and this psychiatry can
do by serving and preserving man.
These are the general trends and the chief bases of
Soviet psychiatry, and it is in this spirit that the psy-
chiatrists of the Soviet Union turned to the problems
which the Nazi invasion raised with such suddenness
and acuteness. The organizational and therapeutic
ingenuity of the profession was at once taxed to the.
utmost.
The question now arises as to the nature and extent
of psychiatric casualtie~ in the Red Army. It is rat~er
difficult to estimate the number of these casualties.
A 1peciali1t gi>'ing leHom lo 1hel/ 1hocked men who ha>'e lost
their power of 1peech.
No statistic.al data are given, since these are restricted,
but one may infer that the number of psychiatric
casualties was not very great, since provision was made
for only five psychiatric beds at each evacuation point.
N. N . Timofeev pointed out that on the basis of his
experience in the army there was no need for a special
psychiatric division in the army hospitals closest to the
front; all that he thought necessary to have on hand was
a group of trained psychiatrists. As to caring for the
psychiatric casualties, a period of 30-45 days of treat-
ment at the evacuation hospital was considered neces-
sary. Timofeev cites the experience of one such hospital
an<l states that on ly 17.l per cent of the psychiatric
casualties had to be evacuated to the rear; 67.8 per cent
were returned to their units; 26.2 per cent were se nt
to special battalions of convalescents, and on ly 4.2 per
cent were discharged from the army. The averao-e
number of bed-days for these patients was 18.2.
b
As to the clinical types of the psychiatric casualties
in the army, the Soviet psychiatrists seem all to be in
agreement on one point; the term "war neuroses" or
"traumatic neuroses" is seldom if ever used. On the
basis of the well-known observation that the greatest
number of psychologic war casualties develops in the
wake 'of an explosion, and consequently a sudden in-
crease in the air pressure in the immediate vicinity of
the combatant who becomes an unwound ed psycho-
logic casualty, the Red Army psychiatrists and the
clinicians in the rear consider all these casualties "baro-
traumatic" (Yudin). The general hypothesis as to the
pathogenesis of these cases could be formulated as fol-
~Neuropathology and Psychiatry, 1943, 12 :4:76.
-27-
Stricken dumb by shell shock, the wounded fighter learns lo ta/le
axain.
lows: The sudden explosion produces a contusion of
the brain, or some other similar trauma, without any
wound of the sk ull or any cerebral hemorrhage. The
victim as a rule is thrown to the ground, loses con-
sciousness, and upon coming to manifests a variety of
personality deviations, or psychopathologic disturb-
ances. The outstanding feature of these disturbances
is that they are reversible and therefore as a rule yield
good results after proper therapeutic efforts are made.
Speaking before the Moscow Meeting of Neuro-
pathologists and Psychiatrists, Lebedinski: stated,
"Before the war, there were those who averred that
there would be no psychogenic illness in the forth-
coming war; but this war has demonstrated that psy-
chogenic disturbances may develop not only on the
basis of perverse social conditions, but also on the basis
of organic shifts." " Almost all observers agree that
war conditions, especially those prevailing at the battle
line, are particular conditions which propitiate the de-
ve lopment of psychogenic disturbances following an
"air contusion." Haimanovich comes to the conclusion
that the variety of visceral disturbances, sweating, and
purely psychologic reactions observed in acute stages
at the front yie ld to psychotherapy, particularly to the
type of psychotherapy suggested by Babinski.
In a brief review like this it is naturally impossible
to subject to exhaustive analysis all, or even the major-
ity, of the psychiatric contributions made by Soviet
psychiatry. Suffice it to say that the amount of work
done is enormous, the amount of thought and organi-
zational effort expended immense. The elasticity of
adaptation to severe conditions which Soviet psychiatry

has displayed has had a great deal to do with the appar-
ently e.xcellent recovery rate of psychopathologic war
casualties. The very fact that these casualties are not
set apart as conditions of some special and almost non-
med1cal nature-although it would seem to militate
against strictly psychiatric therapeutic measures-ap-
pears almost pa~adoxically to have served a good pur-
pose: Under this system the severe neurosis finds him-
self among all other war casualties, considered and
treated as one of the many victims of the war a person
injured in battle. ' mvest.1gat1ve approach, which is always compared and
It is o~ no small ifl_"lportance to note here that the unity
of medical effort in the Soviet Union-which only
some scant twenty-five years ago presented for the most
part a pict~re of scattered and socially and financially
undern~unshed e~deavors-that this unity was achieved
by ~he .inco.rporat10n of medicine, therapeutic and in-
ves.t1gat1ve, into the total functioning of a nation which
stnves not on.ly for max~mum economic efficiency but
also for maximum service to the individual. In the
Soviet Union health has became an essential part of the
concept of the standard of living, which latter as a
rule connotes mistakenly only economic criteria. It is
this trend that made the Soviet psychiatric profession
act with the maximum of effort to save manpower to
continue old an~ ~ncourage new research work, reg~rd
less of war condtt10ns and despite immense devastation.
At. a conference at Samarkand, General Osipov em-
phasized how important it was to revise the older
views and modes of approach to the problems of mili-
tary psychiatry .. I;Ie remarked that "It is absolutely
neces.s~ry to delimit the psychogenic from the organic
cond1t1ons, and to differentiate the medical behavior
in evacuation hospitals in relation to psychologic dis-
turbances of psychogenic nature, as contrasted with
those of organic nature."
Profes~or E. V. Maslov presented a paper typical for
the meeting. He spoke on "The Neuroses of Wartime
and Their Treatment," and said that their treatment
should be based on a consideration of the psychogenic
fac~ors as well as of the somatic mechanisms through
which the psychogenic reactions manifest themselves.
The therapy is complex, active; it must consist of
~hysiotherapy, psychotherapy, cultural and occupa-
t10nal therapy.
Th~se views are not new to an American psychiatrist
who is accustomed to well-organized psychiatric hos-
pitals with their rounded-out, concerted, and concen-
trated programs of coordinated activities. But one can-
not repeat too frequently that this quick rise of Soviet
3
/bid, 1943, 12 :4:77.
-28-
psych~atr~ to ~e level of a most progressive therapeutlL
orga.mzat10n ~s a ne.w achievement in the history of the
~pec1altr TQ.1s achievement stands out with particular
1~press1veness against the background of the devasta-
t10n caused by the war. Not a single opportunity seems
to have been lost to. st~dy and to utilize the data pre-
sented to the psych1atnst ~y the cruelties and ravages
of war. Thus, when Leningrad was under siege and
German fire, and the population was impoverished
and starved, Professor A. Z. Rosenberg turned to the
stud~ .of exhaustive psychoses, .which the particular
condtt10ns then prevailing in Leningrad generated with
an unwonted frequency and clinical clarity. Professor
Rosenberg reported his careful observations to the meet-
ing at Samarkand.
When the Ukrainian psychiatrists lost their scientific
homes, they left everything that was material behind
an~ took their scientific enthusiasm and gift to the Ural
r~g10n, wh~re th~y continued their work. Not only
did the Soviet U mon develop an efficient system for the
evacu~tion of war industries to the Urals, to be set up
ther~ in the shortest possible time; the same plan and
e~c1e?cy seem to have been in practice as regards the
SC1ent1fic medical institutions. It is this that made it
possible for the Ukrainian Psychoneurologic Institute
to foregather for its eleventh scientific meeting at
Tu men.
Among many interesting communications presented
at . ~he Turne? meeti?g, we mig~t note S. A. Volpian-
sk1 s observat10n, whJCh agrees with that of Yudin, that
the number of mental diseases in the civilian population
as a whole had decreased during the war. This holds
true for all forms of mental disorders including the
psychogenic ones. There is, on the ~ther hand an
increase of disturbances among .those civilians ~ho
?ave been evacuated from war areas. "Especially large
is the number of psychogenic psY.choses among women
of the climacteric age." 3
One may note parenthetically that it would be a mis-
take . to assume t~at th.ere is an established uniformity
of views and onentat10n among Soviet psychiatrists.
There is nothing monotonous or standardized in the
scie.ntific methods of approach or in the opinions of
vanous workers as one sees them reflected in the reports
of the scientific meetings and the discussions that fol-
low, or in the papers published in the professional press.
There is general and uniform agreement only on one
point: Psychiatrists as a body, as well as each individual
worker, appear to consider themselves servants of the
commonwealth. Their scientific curiosity and creative
energy are determined by this social consciousness.
This point of view or state of mind is n~ither delib-
erately displayed nor debated. It seems to be taken
for granted; it is the unspo~en but ever-evident and
obvious substratum on which the scientific clinical
work ~s acco.mp.li~hed. The work itself is v~riegated
and highly ind1v1dual; the scientific discussions are
lively, and points of disagreement and critical scien-
tific divergences are constantly stressed and tested. The
~ar has pr.oduced ~erhaps a greater uniformity of clin-
~cal n:iate~1al, but it has not impaired the individual
coordinated with other individual approaches to a given
problem. Many examples of this coordination, as well
as preservation of individual scientific efforts could be
cited. Perhaps one such example will suffic~.
It appears that among the neuroses of wartime in the
Soviet Union deaf-mutism is rather more frequent than
other types of reactions. The problem arose early and
created a number of difficulties. The typical case of
"war deaf-mutism" presents the following features and
clinical signs.
The patient is unable to hear or speak, and he seems
to be only slightly concerned about this sudden inca-
p~ci~y. The majority of these cases seem to be quite
w1llmg to communicate with their comrades and the
doctors through writing, but many are rather loath
to ~o so. While the outstanding symptom is deaf-
mut1sm, this condition is apparently not a homogeneous
one. Some patients are placid and seemingly not very
tense; others are lethargic, dull; still others show trem-
ors ~nd mannerisms of various kinds and appear psy-
chotic. In some there are signs of disturbance of con-
sciousness, everi of twilight states. The onset of the
condition is acute and more or less uniform. As has
been mentioned, the combatant usually falls to the
ground as a result ~f a sudden and violent air pressure
produce? by .an aenal bomb or shell exploding nearby.
The patient 1s not wounded, but he loses consciousness
for a c~mparatively short time, and upon regaining it
finds himself unable to hear or say anything.
The diagnosis presents rather a delicate problem be-
~ause ~rop_er treatment in such cases must be applied
1mmed1ately. Psychologic deaf-mutism, like a number
of reactive neuroses of wartime, if not attended to
promptly shows a tendency to become fixed and the
condition either becomes chronic or runs a ~ery pro-
tr~cte? c~urse. Moreover, 50 per cent of all cases of
this kmd in the armed forces are of psychologic origin.
Ibid, 1943, 12:5:39.
5
Ibid, 1943, 12:5:68.
-29-
The importance of an immediate, correct diagnosis
becomes even more evident, if we bear in mind that
the rate of recovery in this type of case is very high.
lo.tfe found that almost 86 per cent of this type of cas-
ualty c~n be returned to some active war duty! At the
sa~e time all agree that evacuation of the psycho-
logically deaf-mutes far into the rear is not good; for
best results they must be treated as close to the front
as possible.
Acute deaf-mutism of wartime differs from similar
conditions of peacetime in that in peacetime acute
mutism is not associated with deafness or vice versa
( Giliarovski). Wartime mutism is absolute in that the
patient is .apparent~y unable to produce the slightest
sound; . this is an important differential point, since
phonat1on does not completely disappear even in
severe aphasias (Zalkind). Apparently in part because
of. the above considerations but primarily because he
wishes to show the patient that the latter has a voice
at .least, Joffe by means of signs suggests that the patient
cough; .the phonation produced by coughing is highly
suggestive as to the nature of the condition as well as
encouraging to thd patient. '
Slivko, Streliukhin, and Mizrukhin, working to-
gether on an "Objective Method for the Differentiation
of the Various Forms of Non-Organic Deafness" which
they reported to the Samarkand meeting, pointed out
first that the patients in question show little if any
attempt to compensate in any manner for the defect. 5
Organically deaf people do make an effort to develop
compensatory means to make up for their deafness.
The three above-mentioned workers invented a simple
apparatus, by means of which they develop in the deaf-
mu~es an isolated conditioned reflex to sound; it is quite
obvious that only the psychogenically deaf-mutes are
capable of developing such a conditioned reflex, since
the anatomic and physiologic unity of their auditory
apparatus remains unimpaired.
The . diagnosis. e~tablished, treatment must begin
~.orthw1t?. ~offe 1?s1s~.s on having the first therapeutic
suggestive mterv1ew on the very day of the patient's
arr~val at the treatment center, preferably but not neces-
sarily before the latter has had his breakfast. The at-
mosphere around the patient should be a working one
Whi.le all observers agree that psychotherapy and sup~
portive tr.eatment . should be instituted at once, they
warn agamst forcing the patient; one should proceed
rather slowly. Joffe forbids the afflicted to write to
other patients ; he also for?ids smoking. He aims appar-
ently to produce a certain amount of tension in the
patient-although he does not say so. His order not .to
smoke is not purely peremptory-he suggests to the

patient that smoking is injurious under the circum-
stances.
Among the psychotherapeutic methods used in these
ca.ses, a forin of psycho-analysis is utilized by Z. S.
Schwartz. Joffe does not directly object to this method,
but he points out that it requires a great deal of time.
~ r:f r_r~
Soviet public health organizations have always tried
to improve and extend expert medical aid to the popu-
lation. Toward this end special refresher courses _have
been established for physicians. About 125,000 men and
women have attended these courses in the past 25 years.
Many medical workers, particularly in the rural dis-
tricts, are unable to follow thoroughly the rapid strides
made by modern medicine. Physicians and surgeons
at the front are also cut off from scientific centers and
need the opportunity of catching up with the latest
developments.
During the war the maJonty of physicians in the
armed forces were given rapid review courses in field
surgery, traumatology, neurosurgery and ophthalmol-
ogy. In the past three years over 15,000 physicians
completed refresher courses in Moscow.
Long before the outbreak of the war the Soviet Gov-
ernment passed a law granting three months' special
leave every three years to all rural doctors for the pur-
pose of bringing their knowledge up to dai:e.
-30-
The above summary of the problem of deaf-mutism
in wartime is illustrative not only of the problem itself,
which is apparently one of the most important in
Soviet military psychiatry, but primarily of the man-
ner, scope, and perspective of Soviet clinical psychiatry
as a whole.
Those attending the courses receive their full wages,
plus a stipend of 300 rubles. All traveling expenses,
textbooks, and board and lodging are free. Preference
is given to doctors working in or near villages and at
the front.
During their training period the physicians are as-
signed to a specific medical institute or research labora-
tory. They spend much of their time examining pa-
tients. In the operating rooms they work uncle~ such
well-known surgeons as Academician Burdenko,
founder of Soviet neurosurgery, and Honored Worker
of Science Professor Priorov, eminent specialist in re-
storative surgery.
Medical conferences, reports on important questions
of medicine and lectures for doctors in large industrial
centers are also arranged.
Forty-one departments, staffed with 50 professors
and numerous assistant professors, are offering refresher
courses this year. A consultation bureau is always ready
to aid physicians practicing in remote regions with :id-
vice and literature on questionable cases.
~ MUSIC
Noie4
Until the 60's of the last century Russia had had no
professional music school of its own. Even its great-
est composers, such as Glinka, Balakirev and Dargo-
myzhsky, had been practically self-trained dilettanti,
who only intermittently received scraps of musical
knowledge from masters abroad.
Founded in 1868, the Moscow Conservatory at once
became the national music center. Chaikovsky's activ.-
ity is inextricably bound up with its history. It was in
the Conservatory that Tolstoi made Chaikovsky's per-
sonal acquaintance. Taneyev, Arensky, Scriabin, Rach-
maninov, Ippolitov-lvanov and many other Russian
composers and virtuosi have matured within its walls.
During the Soviet period the great traditions of the
Conservatory have flourished as never before. Most of
the outstanding virtuosi-Oborin, Oistrakh, Gliere,
Tamarkina, Zak, Hillels and other Stalin Prize winners
The self-criticism ttJhich is characteristic of Soviet culture wa. illustrated at the 1944
meeting 0 the Union of Soviet Composers. Excerpts of some of the reports are given
here as an illustration of this. type of collective thinking.-[EoIToRs.1
The last meeting of the Organization Committee of
the Union of Soviet Composers, held in Moscow, was
an important event in the Soviet musical world. Com-
posers, musicologists, literary men, actors and Red
Army officials took part in the work of the Conference.
. The opening report was made by Dimitri Shostako-
vteh. He presented a critical analysis of the most sig-
nificant works written by Soviet composers during the
past year. The second report, on mastery in composi-
tion, was made by Professor Vissarion Shebalin. Acad-
emician Boris Assafyeff's report on "Soviet Music and
Soviet Musical Culture" was concerned with the vital
organic ties linking the works of Soviet composers
with folk art.
The main topics of discussion concerned the folk and
national elc;;ment in music; music for the stage and
-31-
and winners of international contests-have been
closely connected with this institution. Myaskovsky,
Khachaturyan, Kabalevsky, Khrennikov and Shebalin
are but a few of the composers who have been either
students or pedagogues there. Now that Shostakovich ,
Assafyeff and Sofronitsky have associated themselves
with the Moscow school, as they have for the past two
years, one may say that practically every personage of
importance in the Soviet music world has left his
stamp on it.
As for the national groups (Tatar, Bashkir, Uzbek,
Kazakh, Kirghiz and others), after studying at the
Moscow Conservatory they have become the backbone
of their respective national music. This really makes
a fascinating new chapter not only in the history of
the Conservatory but the history of Oriental music
in general.
musical criticism. All these highly pertinent problems
were not discussed as abstract theoretical questions
but in connection with a detailed analysis -of the style
of outstanding Soviet compositions.
Composers from the National Republics dealt with
problems connected with the intensive development
of national music and pointed out the need for closer
contact between the Organizational Committee and
the composers living in Union and Autonomous
Republics.
At the beginning of his report, Shostakovich noted
the patriotic uplift that had swept over the whole coun-
try and inspired Soviet composers to produce numerous
works permeated with love for country and hatred for
the enemy.

The composer, Serge Prokofieff.
Ihe composer, Nicolas Miaskonky, Stalin Prize Winner for 1940.
-32-
Composer and Musicologist Boris Assafyeff.
Aram Khachat11rya11 , composer, and S talin Prize Winner for 1940.
While the first and immediate response to the out-
break of war took the form of war songs and marches,
Shostakovich said that the following period was char-
acterize<l by compositions of various genres and large
forms.
Among the major works of this period Shostakovich
included Myaskovsky's 22nd, 23rd and 24th Sympho-
nies as well as his 8th and 9th Quartets; Prokofiev's
7th Sonata, Shebalin's 5th and 6th Quartets; Khachat-
uryan's 2nd Symphony and Ballet Gayaneh, Koval's
Opera Emelyan Pugachev, Shaporin's Saga of the
Battle for Russian Soil, Popov's 2nd Symphony and
Kabalevsky's Opera In Flame.
"Symphony and the large symphonic forms express-
ing lofty ideas are receiving much attention in the
Soviet Union," said Shostakovich. "The symphony is
reaching new h_eights of development in our country,
following in the footsteps of traditions established by
great masters of the past. Myaskovsky has done a great
deal in this respect. He has created a school of Soviet
Symphony. Myaskovsky is often criticized for a lack
of originality in his symphonies. This, of course, is
not justifiable at all. True, we do not find any strange
melodic 'tricks' in his music, but his melodies are always
convincing, vivid and expressive. He has a perfect com-
mand of polphony and his orchestration is deserving
of the highest praise. Myaskovsky belongs to the type
of artist who is continually in search of new ideas. This
is my reason for reproaching him with a certain slug-
gishness in some of his recent works, for example his
23rd Symphony, which adds nothing new to what he
has already produced. In my opinion his 19th Sym-
phony for brass band also falls below his usual
standard."
In discussing the works of Prokofiev, Shostakovich
spoke of the recent amazing progress of his talent and
drew attention to such splendid works as his Operas
War and Peace and The Duenna, as well as his
ballet Cinderella, his 7th Piano Sonata and his Sonata
for Flute. Shostakovich characterized Prokofiev's Suite
The Year 1941 as a failure, remarking that this com-
position did not live up to its serious and challenging
title.
-33-
Expressing his opinion of Prokofiev's Cantata Ballad
A bout an Un known Boy, Shostakovich said: "Proko-
fiev possesses a marvelous gift for writing musical
illustrations to a text, but his style of illustration con-
tains one very essential defect. Engrossed in the illus-
tration, the composer neglects the inner constructive
integrity of the musical form. In the Ballad About
an Unknown Boy the music lacks any sound con-
structive foundations. To me it seems a series of sepa-
rate, disconnected musical pieces."
Touching on the arguments about the national and
folk element in music, Shostakovich said: "Soviet com-
posers have assimilated only a very small part of the
very rich melodic heritage of Russian folk music ....
We must not limit the understanding of the folk ele-
ment in music t9 a mere usage of folk songs and in-
tonations from everyday life. The essence of the folk
element in music is its organic connection with the
whole classical musical culture of our people, embrac-
ing the greatest achievements in Russian symphony
and opera."
Shostakovich also remarked on the fact that Soviet
opera leaves much to be desired.
Speaking at the meeting Sergei Prokofiev made a
critical evaluation of Shostakovich's 8th Symphony.
He said: "One of Shostakovich's chief merits, it seems
to me, is that he is a thinking composer, reflective and
ingenious not in the pedantic sense of these words but
in the best creative, artistic sense. . . . As regards his
8th Symphony, I shall not say that. I was disappointed
in it, but it did fail to enchant me as much as I had
expected. If we consider the melodic aspect of Shosta-
kovich's works, we shall see that the composer himself
was the first to notice his weakness in this respect and
immediately gave it all his attention. The result was
apparent in the numerous well-developed melodic lines
which appeared in his Quintet, the 5th Symphony and
other works, but it seems to me that the 8th Symphony
contains no perceptible improvement and development
in this direction .... As far as the form of the Sym-
phony is concerned, it seems to me that in a work of
such length the composer should exert himself to retain
the attention of his listeners. After the second half-hour
the listener begins to demand something more effec-
tive in order to overcome his fatigue. And it is just
at this point that the slow Fourth Movement begins.
It is written in the form of a passagalia where first the
theme is presented and then recedes into the bass while
its counterpart appears in the upper register. Then
you must train your ear to the bass and catch the strains
of the main theme. This is an excellent form, but
Shostakovich was unable to find a sufficiently vivid
counterpart... . If the 8th Symphony did not have
this Fourth Mov~ment but went directly into the final
movement with its superb Coda, if it did not have its
Second Movement which is not new and is rather
crude, but instead had only the First, Third and Fifth
Movements, I .am sure there would be much less argu-
ment about it."
The composer Victor Biely devoted most of his report
to the problem of the folk and national elements in
music. In explaining his objection to the narrow con-
ception of musical language as mere lexicology he said:
"On the basis of an extremely limited understanding of
the national element in a composer's musical language,
some people refuse to recognize any national aspect in
Shostakovich's work. The mistake here lies in failing
to take into consideration the whole complex of expres-
sive means conveying the essence and the idea of the
work. . . . What is the national essence of Shostako-
)
vich's musical language? The fact that he uses means
of expression common to composers of all countries in
no way contradicts the expression of his national char-
acter in his music. The development of Shostakovich's
talent is organically linked with the intellectual-ethical
conceptions of his work, where the development of
themes is subordinated to the attainment of conflicting
or confirming culminations in all their elemental force,
a quality which is very characteristic of Chaikovsky's
music . . . . Intellectual-ethical problems, so character-
istic of Russian symphony, have found fu; ther develop-
ment in Shostakovich's works."
Nok4 OH, FILMS
Boris Agapov, Soviet scenario writer, recently spoke How WE MAoE "THE RAINBow,"
of the truthfulness and the interesting quality of the By MARK DoNSKOY, Director
American film Battle for Russia.
The making of The Rainbow was a wonderful ex-
"This picture," he said, "which was made in Amer-
perience for everybody connected with it. We were
ica, is not only a document of the great struggle the
Soviet Union is waging against Nazism. It likewise aware of our great responsibility in transposing to the
screen a book whose story was so close to the hearts
documents the American attitude towards us. It dem-
of the people.
onstrates the earnest attention and very serious and
profound interest existing in America in regard to our The production of the picture was carried on under
country. The film was made with minute attention great difficulty. In Ashkhabad, in Central Asia, more
to the history of our country and witli great love for us. than a thousand miles. away from the Ukraine, to
which the Kiev studios had been evacuated, we had
"The more such productions we had the easier it
would be to achieve our common aim, that is, the
greatest possible mutual understanding and public ex-
posure of the senseless and absurd nonsense that is fre-
quently disseminated high and low by our common
enemies and that hinders rapproachement between
America and the Soviet Union."

ScIENTIFic-EoucATIONAL FILMS
A full-length popular film called "Siberia in War-
time," produced by Merited Worker of Arts M. Kauf-
man, film director Y. Zadarozhny and A. Litvinov,
tells the story of how Siberia is doin_g its bit to supply
the front with all those things the occupied areas were
temporarily unable to supply. It is a film about the
natural resources of Siberia being turned into weapons
of war, and about the people who work in the Siberian
factories and mills and on the Siberian collective farms.
The film consists of three separate sketches: the first
about the untold treasures of the Siberian taiga forests
which are being utilized to satisfy defense needs, the
second ab~ut Siberia as ~e country's biggest granary,
and the third about the mineral resources and industry
of Siberia, the birth of a new industrial base, and the
first offspring of industrial Siberia-the Kuznetsk iro~
and steel mills that are producing special metals for
tanks, airplanes and artillery.
The producers of scientific-educational films are
working on a wide range of subjects that embrace the
most varied fields of science and culture. Film Director
A. Zguridi is now working on White Fang, adapted
from Jack London's book.
Vissarion Sheba/in , composer, and Stalin Prize Winner for 1943.
Wanda W asilewska, author of "The Rainbow," among the soldiers.
to build the entire Ukrainian village which is the set-
ting for the picture.
The necessity of using local people -for the crowd
scenes, too, resulted in unexpected complications. The
extras showed such animosity against the "Nazis" in
the cast that we had to interrupt production several
times to restore order. One woman in particular, an
evacuee from Rostov, took her part so seriously that she
threa~ened a player in Nazi uniform, shouting "Let
me kill at least one Nazi."
When it came to portraying the emotions of the
people in general the actors needed very little coaching.
But Anton Dunyasky, who played the role of an
elderly villager, didn't have to act at all. His tears at
the suffering of the villagers were real, his hatred and
contempt for the N azis were intensified by his own
personal ~motions. He received word, while the pic-
ture was m progress, that his wife had been shot and
his daughter sent to a concentration camp in Germany.

-34- -35-
 S<Wki TH EATER
By LEONID BoRovoY
A critical evaluation of a cu/'l'ent per/ ormance which indicates the dynamic character of
Soviet theatrical productions. [THE Eo1T0Rs.]
Bernard Shaw wrote Pygmalion in 1912, and that
same year it was staged by the Alexandrinsky Theater
in St. Petersburg.
Since then this play has been produced in Russia
many times, both in the Capitol and in the provinces,
and has now acquired an interesting stage-history of
its own. At different periods the play was produced
so as to stress either the first part or... the second part of
the paradox: one production emphasizing that any
street girl can, if she takes the trouble to do so, learn
manners and deportment and master perfect pronun-
ciation, and another laying stress on the fact that having
donned evening dress and learned perfect pronuncia-
tion, this girl does indeed become another person.
. She does not expect anything of Higgins ; in any
The early perform:rnce mainly brought out the sec-
ond part of the paradox, which seemed to be more pro-
found, more ideological-almost "Ibsenian": the revolt
of Liza, who declines to be Higgins' doll.
Then this was relegated to the past, and our stage
producers enthusiastically turned their attention to the
exposure of the conventionalities of high-society up-
bringing, the tragi-comedy of Higgins or the unusual
transformation of Liza's father, that philosophical dust-
man, from the moment the fortune of the American
multi-millionaire descended upon his head. At one time
Doolittle was near to becoming the hero of the per-
formance.
Five years ago this play's history entered upon a new
stage: the Moscow Theater of Satire produced Pyg-
malion as a vaudeville-an old-time vaudeville of the
first years of George V's reign-outspoken irony ad-
dressed to those who at one time might have taken it
all seriously.
And now, at the very height of the war, Shaw's
Pygmalion has appeared once more, this time on the
stage of the oldest Russian playhouse-the Moscow
Maly Theater.
- 36-
This "fantasy" (as Shaw calls this play in the au-
thor's remarks) is interpreted by actors brought up in
the traditions of genuine realism.
The house is invariably crowded, and the audience
includes many military men who have either arrived
from the front only yesterday, or are leaving for the
front tomorrow. And everybody greatly enjoys this
old play by G.B.S.
How is Shaw's Pygmalion interpreted today? It i_s
interpreted as a most vivacious play showing the vast-
ness of human possibilities, how ludicrous any caste
restrictions are, and how incautious is any exaggerated
se If-opinion.
"Pickwick Club," presented by the Moscow Academia Theater.
Anna Karenina, portrayed by Peoples' Artiste K. N. Yelanskaya.
Liza Doolittle is performed by Dina Zerkalova-
one of the , most charming actresses of her generation
who began her stage career in Odessa, a quarter of a
century ago. Today Dina Zerkalova is one of the lead-
ing actresses at the Maly Theater.
Zerkalova's Rower girl is, above all, a most talented
girl of the people, and this is clearly evident even in the
very first scene, where she sti 11 expresses herself in the
most vulgar slangy terms and does not know how to
behave.
This, most likely, weakens the force of the paradox.
What had to be proved here was that any girl can
become a duchess, and not only one who was obviously
talented, clever and forceful.
According to stage tradition, her gradual transforma-
tion should be shown by emphasizing the involuntary
blunders and lapses <luring her first appearances in
society.
-37-
Zerkalova's Liza also backslides and jumps from very
"high" to very "slummy" pronunciation. At the most
inopportune moments her vocabulary becomes more
than slangy. But we do not carry away the impression
that these lapses are involuntary. No, if Liza wished
she could stand up to the examination to infinity. Have
we not seen how perfectly she manages her task! But
at times she ceases to take sufficient interest in it. It is
not through inability that she backslides, but from
sheer roguishness. She is fed up with being a duchess:
there's nothing very difficult about it ...
This is not quite in keeping with "tradition," but it
is highly fascinating and gives an exceedingly interest-
ing result in the last scenes. Here Liza rises in mutiny
against Higgins who, having employed her for his
experiments no longer takes any notice of her now his
experiment is completed.
For Liza Doolittle this is unbearable. She is very
proud and this alone is sufficient to make her conceal
from Higgins that she is piqued by his lack of attention.
case she will not let him think that she has her eye
on him.
Once, but only for a very short time, he had seemed
to her to be a man from another world. She was in-
clined to think that he was not behaving cleverly, that
it was through absent-mindedness that he failed to
notice the main thing-but still she hesitated to pro-
nounce the final sentence. But now, when he is no
longer an enigma to her she firmly censures him. Hig-
gins now merely irritates Liza. The play ends, not
with the mutiny of Liza, but with the condemnation
of Higgins.
Higgins is also a little unusual. He is usually shown
as a man wholly engrossed in his science, very per-
sistent and stubborn in his life of learning but com-
pliant and soft in everything else, and sometimes de-
picted as a sort of cavalier Rippafrato from Goldoni's
Mistress of the Inn . ... Towards the end of the play
he falls in love with Liza, after she has shaken him
out of his state of absent-mindedness. But at this junc-
ture she prefers to marry Freddy Einford-Hill and not
Higgins, as Shaw states in his sequel. Zubov, who
plays Higgins, does not stress either his compliancy or
his absent-mindedness. After all's said and <lone, Zubov-
Higgins did not fall in love with Liza.
 On the other hand, how magnificently ambitious he
is! And that is why his wordy duel with Liza is so
genuinely dramatic.
Diamond cut diamond. He resurrected Galatea. And
one might easily expect the unexpected. But what
really did happen was the most unexpected of all. He
roused not envy or vanity in her, but a gre~t sense of
human dignity. The better and more triumphantly she
mastered the art of "highlife" the more forceful and
convinced became her pride. It was no longer possible
to shake free of her either by means of gifts or con-
descending recognition of her talent, or even by con-
descending love. The struggle of self-pride reaches
tremendous intensity and fills the whole play. Higgins
loses Liza precisely at the moment when he first be-
comes capable of regretting it.
It might be said that this is a good performance but
that it is not quite what Bernard Shaw wrote in 1912.
But it must be remembered that Bernard Shaw-con-
trary to the prevailing opinion-never sacrificed, even
for the paradox, that which he considered to be the
main thing. Let us recall that for G .B.S. the main
thing has aiways been human dignity. Let us not for-
Stage set for the opera "Eugene Onegin" at the Moscow State Grand Opera House.
get that precisely this "main thing" is today being sub-
jected to the greatest historical ordeal. And we shall
then come to the conclusion that not only is it a good
performance but also good "Shaw"-in all its main
aspects.
* * * * *
During the winter season of 1944 the following
plays are being performed. There is Tolstoi's Anna
Karenina on the Moscow Art Theater Stage; three
Chekhov plays, The Seagull, The Three Sisters and
The Cherry Orchard; three comedies of Ostrovsky's;
Gorky's The Lower Depths, Maeterlinck's The Blue
Bird; Turgefiev's A Month in the Country; and Push-
kin's Last Days.
Among foreign plays are Balzac's Stepmother, Gold-
smith's She Stoops to Conquer, Sheridan's School for
Scandal, Shakespearian drama, and the Italian come-
dies of Goldoni.
The operas are also the old favorites, Eugene Onegin,
Prince Igor, Tosca, The Barber of Seville and William
Tell. The ballets are Giselle, Swan Lake, The Foun-
tain of Bakhchisarai, and The Tsar Sultan.
S~ ~ TW.O SOVIET PLAYS
The two war pl ays represented here
were written and produced in the first
year of the Soviet Union's war. The first
is Alexander Korneichuk 's The Front,
much discussed and highly praised in the
Soviet press at the time the public first
saw it. It is noteworthy that the play
appeared when the military situation was
very grave and the Red Army was retreat-
ing. To criticize the High Command for
being incapable of swift reactions in a
crisis speaks volumes for the freedom of
the press which exists in the Soviet Union.
In The Front the playwright in simple
terms contrasts the new style of Soviet
THE FRONT
Act Two, Scene One
Ogniev's H .Q. A large room still
showing traces of German looting.
A heap of battered books in a corner.
When the curtain rises the ADJUTANT
is standing near a table on which are
several telephones, gazing out of the
window.
Enter KoLOs.
KoLOs: Started snowing again.
ADJUTANT: Time it stopped.
KoLOs: So that their 'planes can dive-
bomb my horses? Don 't be a bloody fool!
ADJUTANT: Sorry, General.
KoLOs: Where's General Ogniev?
ADJUTANT: In the Square. (Points.)
KoLOs (looking out of the window):
What's all that crowd doing?
ADJUTANT: Funeral. They've just
brought in the bodies.
KoLOs : Were they soldiers?
ADJUTANT: No, civilians shot by the
Germans. The General's been out there,
trying to identify his father.
KoLOs : Yes, the old man stayed on,
didn't he?
ADJ UTANT : This used to be his house.
KoLOs (picking up books and looking
at them): All about geography.
ADJUTANT: He was a schoolmaster.
The Germans shot sixty people just out-
side the town day before yesterday. Ap-
parently they had a lot of fun with them.
Most of the faces are slashed to pieces.
The locals say old Ogniev was one of
military leader with the old, and comes . A degree of human complexity is in-
out strongly for the new. jected into the play when Gorlov's
brother, a director of an aeroplane fac-
Gorlov, the Red Army General com- tory, and Gorlov's son, a junior officer at
manding one of the fronts, is a hero of the front, support the younger General.
the civil war - brave, demonstratiVely
blunt, a believer in numbers, despising The playwright uses the old-fashioned
theory, staff colleges and everything but device of satirical nomenclature to empha-
"guts." Under him is the much younger size the purpose of the play which is,
General Ogniev, who has ideas as well of course, less apparent to the reader who
as courage, who believes that modern war does not know the Russian language.
is a science to be mastered and whos--:: The scene which follows was chosen
technical mastery alone saves the day when by the editors in the hope that it will
Gorlov, whom he finally replaces, would bring to the reader what in their opinion
have lost it. is one of the highlights of the play.
them. They say he marched to execution town and the house where he was born.
at the head. Barefoot. No hat. Singing. He was waiting for me-dear old father,
They were all singing. you didn't know how hard it was for me.
KoLOs: Singing, eh? You didn't believe it. Yes, you expected
something better from me . . . .
ADJ UTANT: The General'll tell you all
about it. The Germans took their boots The sounds of a Funeral March
away. come softly from the Square.
KoLOs: We'll take the hide off those
OcNIE~ gets up and looks out the
bastards. window. KoLOs gets up.
Enter OcN1Ev. He sits down si-
They' re filling in the grave.' ... Good-bye,
lently at the table and rests his head
Father .. Good-bye . . . . They'll know
on his hand.
you again, old schoolmaster. They'll know
OcNIEv (quietly): Grigory . . . Gri- you .again in your son, I swear this over
gory . . . your grave.
KoLOs: What's the matter, Volodya?
You'll hear my revenge through the earth
OcNIEv: I couldn't recognize him. I and then you'll forgive me, you dear, good
couldn't recognize my own father. They old fellow.
mutilated every one of them, the beasts! KoLOs: Volodya! (He embraces him.)
What a frightful sight! Bodies riddled
with bullets and slashed to pieces. Eyes The sounds of the Funeral March
gouged out. There they lie, but they grow louder. Farewell volleys 1e-
sound.
marched out proudly singing: "Be brave,
comrades, keep in step": that's what they Enter the ADJ UTANT.
sang.... And those beasts tortured them ADJ UTANT: General Ogniev, a major
for it.
from G .H.Q. has arrived.
KoLOs: Take it easy, Volodya. Take it Kows: Let him wait a bit.
easy, old chap. It's all over now.
OcNIEV: No, tell him to come in. (He
OcNIEV: He used to sit at this very win- sits down at the table.)
dow late into the night. A little old man
The ADJ UTANT goes out.
in spectacles, coughing and correcting his
pupils' exercise-books. For forty years he Enter the MAJOR.
taught the children geography . . . . He MAJOR: Major Gusakov from G.H.Q.
always longed to go and see the Pamirs, OcNIEV: Sit down.
"the Roof of the World." I promised him
to take him. (A pause.) He told every- MAJOR: Dispatch for you. (He hands
body the Germans wouldn't get any fur- him the dispatch.)
ther because his son was near here and he OcNIEV unseals it and reads.
wouldn't let the Germans get his home Kows: You must be frozen.
-39-

1'van Gorlov, played by Shomin, Merited
Artist of the R.S.F.S.R.
MAJOR : (Shakes his head.) Matter of
fact, we had a pretty hot time getting
here.
OcNrnv: Tell the Chief of Staff I thank
him for his warning, which is exactly
what I drew his attention to before opera-
tions began.
He hands the dispatch to KoLol,
who reads it.
KoLOs : When we warned him he didn't
take any notice. Now that it's too late he
sends us a dispatch. Well, I suppose
that's something.
OcN1Ev: Tell me, is G .H.Q. in touch
with the tank corps yet?
MAJOR: I don't think so. I don't know
for certain.
OcN1Ev: Where was it yesterday?
MAJOR: I've no information about that.
OcN1Ev : Is General Orlov asleep? The
Germans have already got our corridor
under fire.
MAJOR : I've found that out all right.
But why Orlov is asleep, search me.
O c N1Ev : You don 't seem to know much,
do you? Wha t the hell have you come
here for? What are you? A Staff Officer
or just a dispatch rider?
MAJOR: My orders are to hand you the
dispatch and go straight back.
OcN1Ev (interrupting) : Oh, I see! Hand
over the dispatch and to hell with us, eh?
You've got to get back. So that's it, is it?
MAJOR: General Ogniev, I'm afraid I
have some rather unpleasant news for
you. It was only with the greatest diffi-
culty that I managed to get through to you
at all. The corridor no longer exists. I
was under enemy mortar fire the whole
way and they damned nearly got me. I
suppose you know you're cut off and sur-
rounded?
OcN1Ev: What?
MAJOR: No doubt about it.
OcN1Ev : Stand up.
The MAJOR stands up. OcNIEV
looks at him with contempt.
Report yourself to the town comman-
dant in the house opposite and tell him
I've ordered you to" be put under arrest.
MAJOR: But General Ogniev, I'm the
representative of G .H .Q. Staff.
OcN1Ev: Silence! Carry out my orders!
MAJOR: Very good.
He goes out.
KoLOs : I thought you were going to
sock him one. What a wretched creature.
OcNrnv: If he wasn't from G.H.Q., I'd
sock him so hard he'd never use that
word again.
Enter the CAPTAIN, who is O.C.
Communications for OcNrnv's force.
CAPTAIN: Code message, Comrade Com-
mander.
OcNrnv (taking and reading it and
handing it to KoLOs): How are Com-
munications?
CAPTAIN: The gun fire's a hindrance
and the Germans are making a hell of a
row in the ether, but we're holding on.
OcN1Ev (to KoLOs): How do you liG:
that?
KoLOs: Beats me altogether.
CAPTAIN: May I go?
OcN1Ev: Yes.
The CAPTAIN goes out.
KoLOs : Either the Commander of the
front doesn't understand anything at all or
else he doesn't want to understand. We're
to dig ourselves in here and wait. Wait
for what?
OcNrnv: Till the Germans bring up
everything they've got. Then it's ten to
one he'll say : "How did you damned
fools manage to get caught in spite of all
my efforts to bash sense into your heads?
Why didn 't you use your eyes? What
d'you expect me to do for you now?"
KoLOs: That's just about what he will
say, the old rhino. Devil take him! How
on earth did he get this way?
-40-
OcN1Ev: All limited people are like
that. As soon as they get any authority
they become infatuated with themselves
and their only pleasure is to throw their
weight about. So, of course, they're always
trying to bash sense into people's heads.
The telephone rings. He picks up
the receiver.
Yes. . . . Where are you? All right.
Come around.
That was Orlik , Chief of our Army Po-
litical Department. The crazy devil nearly
got killed yesterday. As it was, he was hit
in the arm by a shell splinter. He always
charges right into the hottest spots.
KoLOs: I thought he was your philos-
opher-bloke.
Or.N1Ev: He's cleYer all right. He used
to be a Political Instructor. Speaks two
languages fluently. I always call him Pro-
fessor.
KoLOs: And he's tough as well?
0GNIEV: n1 say he is! He may look .
like a weed and wear glasses, but that
chap can stand up to anyone.
KoLOs: My Commissar's called Strate-
gistov, a great strapping hulk of fellow.
I had the devil of a job to find a horse
up to his weight. He's not so hot at brain-
work, but he certainly knows how to ride.
He's a born horseman, absolutely deYoted
to them.
OcNIEV (laughing): Strategistov-what
a priceless name ; where did you unearth
him ?
KoLOs: I didn't. He .was wished on me.
I've nicknamed him Hoof. It seems to
suit him better.
OcN1Ev: Does he mind?
KoLos: Lord, no, he"s got a sense of
humour . . . .
Enter 0RLIK. Hij arm is bandaged.
OcN1Ev: Orlik, you devil-I'\'e got a
bone to pick with you. What do you
mean by going into action with the third
battalion? As chief of our Political De-
partment, you 're not supposed to act reck-
lessly.
0RLIK: Well, you see, Comrade Gen-
eral , it was "like this. Divisional I ntelli-
gence reported that enemy agents were
trying to stir up trouble in the third bat-
talion, starting dangerous talk.
OcN1Ev: Who was it ? Some of our
people?
0RLIK: Yes. The Commissar of the
battalion was a very vigilant comrade,
super-vigilant in fact. He discovered
everything in double quick time and im
mediately reported it to the authorities.
Alexander Korneichu1t.
By the time it reached me it was a com-
plete dossier. Two men were at the bot-
tom of it, and can you beat it, both of
them had been decorated.
OcNIEV: What! What sort of things
had they been saying?
0RLIK: Oh, very dangerous talk.
(Laughs.) You'll scarcely believe it, but
they said the Battalion Commander and
the Political Instructor were regular swells
who'd got their own private chef and gt1z-
zled enough for five people while the
men's cookhouse was a damned disgrace.
The men gave the cook a hiding because
he always gave them such filthy stew.
OcNIEv makes a note.
You needn 't write it down . I've raised
such a hell of a row in the battalion that
it'll be a long time before they forget it.
Both the Political Director and the Com-
mander.
OcNrnv: The blackguards! Make me
out a short report and I'll sign it. I'll add
a ruling that in future all commanders
are forbidden to have any food until the
men have had theirs.
0RuK: That's the stuff. I'll do it right
away.
KoLOs: Now tell us, how did you man-
age to get into the thick of it? How did
you get wounded?
0RLIK (laughing): Learning that I was
going to make such an important address
to the men, rhe Germans decided to
launch an attack.
KoLOs: And what then?
ORL1K: W ell , r couldn't very well say
to the men : " You buzz off and do your
scra pping, Comrades, and when you've
fini shed I'll come back and go on with
my talk."
KoLOs: And then I suppose you went
into the attack shouting, "Hurrah for the
Motherland!"?
0RuK: Not me! Their Commander
has a voice like the last trump. I joined
up with the trench mortar boys. They
even let me have a go. My mines went
over all right. Admittedly the Battery
Commander flew into a rage and said:
"You So-and-So, why the flaming hell
can't you shoot quicker?" I gave up after
that and let a gunner take over.
OcNIEv: I think you did very well.
0RLIK: I didn't mind his cursing me.
Anyway, he was quite right. I say, is
there any answer from the Commander
of the front?
OcNIEV (going to the door and calling
to the ADJUTANT): Tell the Chief of Staff
to come in.
V 01cE (off): Very good.
OcN1Ev: Read that.
He hands the message to 0RLIK,
who 1eads it.
KoLOs: Do you understand what this
means?
0RuK: Probably it means the Tank
Corps is coming here.
OcN1Ev: You can forget about the Tank
Corps. The whole front is searching all
over the place for it.
0RLIK: Why?
KoLos: Don't you know what sort of
communications we've got? They've re-
ported me dead and buried twice already.
0RL!K: It's partly your own fault.
KoLOs: Why? One of my radio sta-
tions has been bombed and the other is
out of action. I need twenty-two, not two.
0RLIK: How many have you got now?
KoLOs: Oh, I'm all right now. I gave
Khripun a hell of a shake-up and got the
stuff right away. It's always the same
story here. They won't deal anything out,
even though the stores are full to bursting.
They all hang back and hem and haw
until you get hold of them by the throat
and squeeze them tilt their eyes bulge out
of their sockets. Then they fork out and
even sing your praises afterwards. They're
just like the merchant in the old days:
You could be at death's door in front of
his eyes and he'd pretend he didn't see
you, but if you grabbed him by the beard
he'd open up his money-bags, bow down
to the ground, and thank you into the
bargain.
Enter the CHIEF OF STAFF and
COLONEL Svrnc HKA.
-41-
CHIEF OF STAFF: I've brought Colonel
Sviechka along. The situation is getting
complicated.
OcN1Ev: Has the ski patrol returned?
Sv1ECHKA: Yes, they're back and they've
done the job.
OcNIEv: Fine. They've been pretty
quick! Report, please.
SvrncHKA (pulling out a map): Now
this, where my finger is, is the Com-
munard State Farm. From here that's
about . . .
OcN1Ev: Thirty-three miles. Go on.
SvrncHKA: A group of about a hundred
and fifty tanks has been discovered ...
OcNIEV: rust a second (he marks his
map). Well?
Sv1ECHKA: This morning an S.S. Divi-
sion and two hundred tanks arrived at the
village of Sinitsino east of the farm. An-
other column of about two regiments is
on its way there. This movement was re-
ported to our scouts by a guerilla detach-
ment. Two of them have just arrived.
CHIEF OF STAFF: I've just had a talk
with them.
OcNrnv: What sort of detachment?
How big is it?
CHIEF OF STAFF: About fifty men.
OcN1Ev: Local chaps?
CHIEF OF STAFF: Yes.
OcN1Ev: Do they know the roads?
CHIEF OF STAFF: They could walk
along them blindfold. These men have
given us extremely valuable information.
It appears that the Germans have built a
new road leading from the river to Kolo-
kol station. (He indicates it on his map.)
Here it is. They commandeered the en-
tire population and made them work on
it day and night. Over three thousand
people died of cold or were shot on this
road.
OcN1Ev: I make it eighteen miles away.
CHIEF OF STAFF: That's right. They've
built strong bridges along the road, but
at present they're not using it for trans-
port. Probably for fear of being spotted
by our reconnaissance planes.
OcN1Ev: Very likely. Go on.
Sv1ECHKA: That's all. At 11 :20 our
scouts discovered enemy units here, and
at 12:00 at the collective farm.
CHIEF OF . STAFF: Divisional Com-
mander Yakovenko has just reported that
his scouts have discovered an enemy move-
ment from Kolokol towards our corridor.
OcNIEv: How many?
 CHIEF OF STAFF: One division and
about seventy tanks.
OcNIEV: Where, exactly?
CHIEF OF STAFF: At 15: 40 they were
here.
OcNIEv: And now it's 16:00.
CHIEF OF STAFF: That's right.
OcNIEV (to Sviechka): What's it like
up your way beyond the farm?
SvIECHKA: Quiet. Enemy concentra-
tion's very weak. If you give the order,
I'll push on right up to the river.
OcNIEv: Oh, no you don't. That's just
what they're praying for. You're too far
advanced as it is. You may get a visit
from their tanks this evening, and your
position's lousy. I order you to withdraw
and join up with us here immediately.
All our forces have got to bunch togethe_r
in a fist. Cover your withdrawal with
artillery and aircraft in the proper man-
ner, so that the enemy won't mess up
your rear. Come and report the execution
of the order at 19:00 o'clock. Off you go.
SvIECHKA: Very good, Comrade- Com-
mander. But it won't be an easy job to
transfer a complete d!Vision in three
houri;. Look at the distance. Let's see:
how many miles . . .
OcNIEv (interrupting): Don't reckon in
miles, man, we've got to reckon in sec-
onds now. You'll report at 18:30 instead
of 19 hours, if you stand here any long~r,
you'll find yourself reporting at ...
SvIECHKA: 0. K., Comrade Com-
mander. I'll report at 18 :30.
(Exit.)
OcNIEV (looking at the map, measur-
ing with a pair of compasses and making
a note): Ah, that's good . . . . Now I see
their little game . . . . Ugh, what swine
those Germans are!
CHIEF oF STAFF: They've planned it all
very neatly.
OcNIEV: Who?
CHIEF OF STAFF: The German Com-
martd. Look how cunningl y they're
moving.
OcNIEv: Cunning be damned! Why,
it's child's play. If the German Command
had made the sort of mistake our Com-
mander made the day before yesterday
I'd have wiped out forces three times the
size of ours. There's nothing cunning in
what they're doing. On the contrary,
they're very slow at taking .advantage of
our stupidity, very slow. What's Gorlov's
strategy worth now, eh? His Tank Corps
has gone and got itself stuck somewhere
on these God-forsaken roads, while the
Germans have been building a brand new
road right under our noses that nobody
knew anything about. Gorlov said there
were no tanks, but there they are c<?m-
plete with infantry rushing at us as bold
as brass. They've blocked our corridor
while Orlov was fast asleep. I bet at this
moment they're having a full dress re-
hearsal of how they' re going to shout to
us tomorrow morning : "Russ Kaput.
Surrender, Russians, you're surrounded."
But we're going to give 'em a smashing
answer. (He looks at the map.)
A pause.
Kows: Not so sure about the smashing.
0GNIEV: Oh, I am. (Looking at the
map and making a note.) Aren't you,
Orlik?
0RLIK: You bet.
OcNIEv: What I like about you, Pro-
fessor, is your healthy, intelligent opti-
mism. Look here, boys. Look at the map.
The enemy have withdrawn their garri-
son from Kolokol in order to trap us.
They've sent half their tanks against us
and_ the other half is engaged with our
Tank Corps somewhere miles away on
the roads. It's simply a matter of foot-
slogging, as dear old Suvorov used to say,
footslogging and forced marches and pop-
ping up where the Germans least expect
us. We'll leave two regiments in the
town, all our dear little heavy guns, and
four squadrons of cavalry as a blind.
Scene from Act II.
-42-
There you are, Fritz, it's in the bag.
We'll ask you, Professor, and your guards
to hang on to this convenient hillock only
for twenty-four hours. As soon as it gets
dark the rest of us (turns to Kows), in-
cluding our dear little horses, will creep
out onto the new road and charge like
hell at the back gates of Kolokol. By the
time we've got the station, the German
tanks will have to make a pretty quick
withdrawal; but it will be too late then.
All their stores of petrol, shells and
food will have fallen into our hands and
w~'ll bayonet hell out of them in their own
fortifications. How about it? Have a look
at the map and unload your criticisms.
(A pause.) What's the matter, old cock?
You're looking like an undertaker!
Kows (looking at the map): Comrade
Commander, you 've put forward a very
risky proposal. I must have time to think
it over.
Oc Nrnv: Two picked squadrons of our
toughest men will lead the vanguard.
They'll knock out the sentries and to give
it the finishing touch , we'll dress up our
men in German uniforms. Fortunately,
we've taken enough prisoners for that.
0RLIK :. I don 't think we ought to use
enemy uniforms. That's the kind of low-
down trick the Fritzes play on us.
OcNIEv': I think we' re crazy to fight
honestly against an enemy who's up to
every dirty trick in the ganie. They have
that'll be the best thing for him as well.
us for mugs and we don't retaliate . . Suv?-
rov stressed the importance of cunning In
warfare, but some of our home-grown
Generals have forgotten all about it. The
only answer to cunning is more cunning.
Kows (turning away from the map, to
the CHIEF OF STAFF): What's your
opinion?
CHIEF OF STAFF: There's no other way.
OcNIEv: Hey, you can cut that out.
I'm not suggesting this operation because
there's no other way out.
CHIEF OF STAFF: I didn't make myself
clear. I consider it's the best we can do
under the circumstances.
Kows: It's awfully risky. Suppose they
guess our move?
OcNIEv: That's just why nobody must
be told where we're going. Our most dan-
gerous enemies at present are spies and
gossip. And they're all over the place,
even m our army.
Kows: Really?
OcNIEV: Of course they are. The Ger-
mans are past-masters at monkey business.
CHIEF OF STAFF: We'd better put for.
ward our proposal to the Commander of
the Front in code.
OcNIEv: Oh, no, we_ won't.
Kows: Why not?
OcNIEV: He'd waste hours "hammer-
ing sense into my skull" and we'd miss
the bus.
0RLIK: Not very "good form," is it?
OcNIEv: I know, but all this "good
form" will drive me nuts. I've had just
about enough! Gorlov got us into this
mess. Let's get out of it with honor;
member of the Military Council of the
Come on, Chief of Staff. Write out the
order. First . . .
Enter OcNIEv's Chief of Communi-
cations.
CAPTAIN: Code telegram from the Com-
mander of the Front. (He delivers it.)
OcNIEV 1eads it. The pencil snaps
out of his hand and falls on the table.
0RLIK goes over and reads it in si-
lence. OcNrEv comes out quickly
from behind the table, which is near
the door, and hands it to KoLos, who
reads it and passes it on to the CHIEF
OF STAFF.
OcN1Ev: Well, what have you got to
say?
KoLos is silent.
Answer me! (A pause.) Say some-
thing. (He snatches the telegram out of
the hands of the CHIEF OF STAFF.) What
does it mean?
Kows: The Commander of the Front
suggests an immediate withdrawal to our
initial position. True, he asks whether
you have any objections, but that's only
a matter of fOrm. In one hour this sug-
gestion will become an order.
OcNIEV: I know all about that. I can
read.
KoLos: Well, there we are, orders are
orders, we shall have to fight our way
back.
OcNIEv: That's obvious. But in the
first place, it's not yet an order. It's still
a suggestion. In the second place, it's in-
correct in conception and altogether dis-
astrous. He tells us to fight our way
back. What for? Where's the Tank
Corps? He says it's had rather a battering
and can't help. That's a lie. It's wiped
out. And now it appears that my army is
going to get rather a battering, too.
Kows: We'll be able to fight our way
back.
CHIEF OF STAFF : The Commander
wants to straighten the line and he's de-
cided to withdraw.
OcNIEv : Oh, go to hell! We might
as well consider ourselves scuppered. First
he makes us advance and it doesn't come
off. Now he wants us to withdraw at
any cost. Surely there must be an alterna-
tive? r haven 't .been sacrificing my men
breaking down th e German defenses
me rely to fight my way back again. M y
army's going to live and fight and win!
We can do it and we're bloody well going
to do it.
Enter CAPTAIN.
CAPTAIN: A code tel egram from Gaidar,
front. From Moscow. (He hands it over.)
OcNIEv: (Reads it and his face lights
up.) This is terrific! There's still some
justice in the world after all. Listen-
Moscow gives us a free hand. We're going
to act according to our plan. That means
we attack. Never minJ about the Com-
mander's suggestion.
Kows: Reali y?
OcNIEv: Yes, and here's another
"really" for you. I asked Gaidar to sub-
mit both our plan and Gorlov's to the
proper quarter in Moscow. Now Gaidar
tells me that Moscow approves of our
plan and Gorlo v has been informed ac-
cordingly. 1
Kows (joyfully): That's fin e ! Well,
let's get going right away and burn up
the Germans till we scorch th e Ycry skies.
Oc NIEv: That's the stuff.
-43-
INVASION
"Invasion" is by the novelist Leonid
Leonov, who has often been called - the
Soviet follower of DostoeYsky for his _pre-
occupation with psychological analysis of
individual characters. In this play too,
the reader meets such a character in Fedor,
the black sheep who has not adapted him-
self to Soviet life, and who finally redeems
himself by_ giving his life for the local
guerilla leader. The hero of the play,
however, is the Russian people, the simple,
ordinary inhabitants of a small Soviet
town.
The story revolves around the town's
doctor Talanov and his family who re-
mained with many of the other inhabi-
tants after the Nazis came into the region.
Traitors who knew everyone in the town
come in with the Germans.
At first Fedor Talanov is indifferent to
the invaders as he is toward the partisans
who are fighting the Germans. But his
soul, the soul of a Russian, cannot help
but feel insulted at the sight of the Nazis
looting, raping, and torturing people
whom he has known all his life, people
in his own native town. He kills several
Nazi officers but when caught and ques-
tioned he assumes the name of Kolesnikov,
the leader of the local guerrillas for whom
the Nazis have been searching in vain.
The following scene at the end of the
play shows these ordinary Russian people
as they await death at the hands of their
Nazi captors.
AcT FouR
The cellar of a t11arehouse now used
as a temporary prison. Two semi-cir-
cular t11indo11Js beneath a heavy
vaulted ceiling. One windo1v is com-
pletely blocked off with a wooden
chute do111n 11Jhich goods used to be
sent; the other is bright with a rose-
colored tracery of snow from a recent
storm. Up above it is noon, a tran-
quil noon, rare for December. Patches
of sunlight shimmer on the t11hite
brick wall which bears traces of the
frttering "Lukoianov 1907" and "No
Smoking. Fine, one ruble." Down
below, in semi-darkness beyond the
Ledge of the wall, can be seen a Ger-
man sentry through the grating of
an ecclesiastical-looking door. On a
hook hangs a Russian lantern. This
is one part of the cellar, the other
part, to the right, is joined to it by a
lolll arch and is in darkness.
Lying on plank beds made from
wooden crates of varying sizes are
men and women, fated to live out
 their last days here. There is an old
man in a leather jacket, and pressed
against his shoulder, dreaming, a boy
wearing bast shoes; th ere is the rnddy
EGoRov, big and restless, walking
back and for th as if he still hoped to
find som e way out of th is communal
pit. TATAROV stands on a box against
the wall, his fingers tvrapped in rags.
From time to time he shakes them
angrily. OLGA, in a fu r jacket, heat-
edly, but apparently in vain, tries to
convince an old woman who siis shiv-
ering in a man's coat about something.
An idiot with fro zen ears crouches in
the corner wearing a hat he has
crushed into the. shape of a forage
cap. Other figu1es lie motionless on
the plank beds. From above comes
an intermittent ringing. Th e idiot
monotonously repeats the almost mu-
sically clear note. Merging with these
two sounds is the voice of the sentry
at the door chanting an old song: -
Steh ich in finstrer Mitternacht
So einsam suf der stillen Wacht
So de nk' ich an mein teures Lieb
Ob Sie mir treu and hold verblieb.
TATAROV ( sighing. Raising both hands,
palms up to the patches of sunlight over-
head) : How the sunbeams tingle! They
go right through you. You know I'm sure
if I could only hold my fingers up to the
sun for a w hole year, day and night,
they'd get well. ... What do you think?
OLGA: Try not to think about them,
Tatarov. Then they won't hurt so much.
Come on, you'd better finish your story.
T ATAROV (his fingers burning with
ceaseless pain): Well, after that he let
loose all his German oaths at me. "So
it's you," he yelled, "T atarov , you bas-
tard . It was you, together with that swine
Kokoryshkin , M erited Artist Vladimir
LebedeY.
Kolesnikov, who let the column in." I
might have done, I told him, but I didn't
ha ve the time. You ca n't chase three bugs
at once! And w ho's this swine Kojesni-
kov? I as ked. "Well ," they laug hed, " i~
a minute, we'll show yo u his double.
Bring him in ," they snapped to a couple
of g uards, a nd then buried their noses in
a pile of pape r. (Pause.) And all of a
sudden they we re extra polite.
EGoROv: O h, yes. They're such a cul- time to have a bowl of cabbage soup
tured nation. They forb id you to drop afterwa rds.
your c igarette ash on the floor : if you do
they fine you.
TATARov: That's ri ght. "Put your hand
on the table," they said. "Spread out your what's up outside too. (EGoRov raises
fingers,'' they sa id . But by that time I
was past feeling an y more pain. So
they've lassooed you at last, Andrei old
chap, I thought. . . . A nd the.y hadn't
reached my third fin ger when I heard
the guards leading him in. Out of the
corner of m y eye I saw two feet which
could hardly step one in front of the he's the lightest.
other. I didn't da re raise my eyes . . . . I
was too scared stiff, my guts turned to to sleep.
water. A nd then when I forced myself to
look up, my hea rt jumped . ...
EGoRov (hopefully): It wasn't him?
TATARov's attention is distracted by
th e idiot who has suddenly stopped
his tvhimpering and stvaying back-
wards and for ward. They all stare
at him; he resumes his swaying and
whimpering even more violently.
OLGA: That's not an interesting sight,
T atarov. Really it's not.
EGoRov : But I think it's ve ry inter-
esting, Olga Ivanovna.
Silence.
T ATAROV (staring at his bandaged fin-
gers): Oh, yes, they were clever chaps.
Fayunin, M erited Artist Semyen Mezh insky.
-44-
They could mend boots, bridle a horse,
play you a dance tune on the accordion.
They could even shoot, too. (Dreamily.)
I'd like to meet one of those rats beside a
deep ditch on a pitch black night when
all the little daisies are asleep. I wouldn't
need a thing, not even a knife.
EGonov ( smacking his lips): Mm-mmm.
What else would you like?
TATAROV (guiltily): I'd like for the last
EGoRov: Come on, don't be bashful.
' That's not all, what else?
f ATARov: I'd like to be free to see
him to window .)
EGoRov: Why not ? We'll find out
what's new in the world.
l-Ie places some boxes against the
wall, one on top of the other.
OLD MAN: Put this little shrimp on top,
EGoRov: Don't wake him, it's sweet
OLD MAN: That's nothing. H e's used
to thin gs . (Nudges the boy.) Prokofy,
Prokofy, wake up, you've been on the ice
long enough. Loqk at him, his nose is
frozen! Wake up, Prokofy . (The boy
rubs his eyes.) Well sonny, climb up and
tell us the news. They all want to know
what's going on.
The wall prevents the sentry from
seeing the boy climbing up to the
window. The old man steadies the
shak y structure of boxes.
P1wKoFY: Gosh! There's snow every-
where.
EGoRov: Never mind the snow. Get
down to business. Are the posts up?
PnoKOFY: I can't see any. There's one
of those donke ys trying to keep his feet
warm.
Through the window ttvo shivering
German.feet can be seen in military
leggings stamping silently up and
down beside th e butt of a rifle.
PnoKOFY: Come on, you, ji g it up,
jig it up, we'll wait. (H e even sings him
a song.) "Oh, they tore the sleeves out of
hi s vest, Ra-ta-ta. They tore the sleeves
out of hi s vest." (To everybody's amuse-
ment, the stam ping of the sentry's feet
synchronizes with th e boy's song.)
OLD MAN: , Stop playing the fool, b y.
H e'll hear you. (The feet move off.)
PROKOFY (with amazement): I can see
some rnings that look like swings,
Grandpa!
T ATAnov (in a lo~v voice) : You're look-
ing in the wrong place. Look up at the
sky. Is that droning our 'planes or theirs.
P1mKOFY: What a sill y question! As if
they'd be shooting at their own 'planes.
That's all there is, Grandpa. Only huge
flocks of sparrows.
OLD MAN: Get down now, or they'll
shoot at yo u.
The boy climbs down just in time.
Th ere are footsteps on the stairs and
th e jangle of keys.
T ATA l\OV (in a whisper) : That's the
style. Pri son keys always jangle. I read
that in a book.
Everyone except the idiot moves
toward the door. OLGA looks fixedly
at the staircase.
OLGA: Keep calm, comrades, keep calm.
I think they're bringing Kolesnikov down
from questioning.
Grinding sound of th e bolt beiflg
drawn. The guards bring in FEDOR.
A part from a torn sleeve, he does not
show any outward signs of what he
has been going through . His leather
jacket is slung across his shoulders and
he holds his head to one side. A fter
propping him against the wall and
making sure that he stands firm, the
guards go out.
Comrades, lend a hand, one of you,
and help me get him onto a bunk.
(No one looks at FEDOR. OLGA
walks over to him alone.)
EGoRov (whispering): Is it him? (To
TATAROV.)
TATARov: It is. Andrei Petrovich has
changed completely. He's unrecognizable.
OLGA (shaking FEDOR 1 s arm gently as
if she were tva~ing a sleeping man): An-
drei, Andrei . . : look at me. It's me,
Olga. What's happened up there? We
feel as if you've been away a year.
FEDOR ( staring at his sister): That was
a long talk we had.
OLGA (unable to meet his eyes): Come,
you must lie down.
. OLGA silently leads him over to her
bunk against the wall. Sh e helps him
onto the bunk, stretches out his legs
and sits down beside him. Meanwhile
the whole room is secretly watching
them.
You must rest. I'll mend the tears in
your coat.
FEDOR : That's a superfluous luxury now,
Olga.
OLGA: Kolesnikov must always be neat,
even now, in here. (Lowers her voice.)
No one must see how hard it is ... to be
Kolesnikov. Give me your coat. (She
takes off her own coat and covers his
chest.) That's ri ght. Lie down.
EGoRov (to TATARov): Hey, wake up,
look what she's done.
- TATAROV quickly pulls off his great-
coat, under which he is only wearing
a stoker's singlet.
T ATARov (throwing his greatcoat onto
0LGA's lap): Here, Olga~ put this over
him. He'll catch cold.
OLGA: Thanks, Tatarov, but what
about you?
TATARov: I'm so hot you could light a
cigar off my chest. (Walks over to bed.)
H allo! Comrade Kolesnikov, don't you
recognize your old pal? Many's the time
we faced death together.
OLGA: Don't worry him now, Tatarov.
He'll talk ' later. (Covering him with the
greatcoat.) Are you thirsty? We can get
you some snow.
FEDOR: No, I'm 0. K. I've even stopped
coughing. (Smiling.) Maybe I'll even
get well ! Cover m y head.
OLGA (surprised): Why? What for?
FEDOR (imitates her): Why? What fo r ?
Because I as k you to. (She obeys his
request.)
OLGA (to the woman in the man's coat):
H ere, you've got a needle. Give it to me.
(The tvoman, muttering, hands it to her.)
What luck! It's even threaded.
She sets to work. EGoRov comes
over.
EGoRov (staring at her nimble fingers):
Looks as if you're trying to pull a fas t one
on us, otga Ivanna. I've known Kolesni-
kov ever since he was a kid . .. . I knew
his mother and his grandfather, see?
OLGA (lowering her voice): Hush! This
man will be the first to die today.
T ATAROV (haughtily): So w hat ? Isn't
it a great honor to die as Kolesnikov?
OLGA: Go into the corner and collect
the others. I'll come over in a minute.
THE WOMAN: You go now, Olga. I'll
finish that. One must do something . ..
something.
OLGA hands her the coat. A ll the
others gather in the corner under the
window. The idiot shows signs of
ait~tion. Once again the sentry starts
smgzng:
Als ich zur Fahne' fortgemusst
Hat sie noch einmal nich gekiisst
Mit Blumen m!!inen Hut geschmiickt
Und liebend nich aus Herz ged riickt.
PRoKOFY open.s his eyes.
-45-
PROKOFY (without turning his head):
Grandpa, grandpa . . .
OLD MAN: Go to sleep, my shrimp.
PRoKOFY: Grandpa ... will it hurt ?
OLD M AN: It won't take long, little
man (with austere tenderness). And for
that, do you know with what famous men
you'll be compared ? Come over here.
Did the y teach you at school about Kuzma
Minin and Susanin? ( PRoKOFY narrows his
eyes and stares mto space.) Those were
great bearded men like migh ty oaks. What
storms raged over them, but they stood fast
to the end. Here you are, only a lad, stand-
ing on a level with them. Yes, Prokofy,
you too defended our Russian soil. Here
you sit in this gloomy hole. They've taken
away your skates and your head's full of
bad dreams. But Stalin knows about you
already, though he can't tell you he knows.
His duties are heavy. Foreign Ambassa-
dors lining up to see him; the army and
the Generals waiting for their orde1s. He
hasn't even time to blink an eyelash. But
inside him there's just one thought: that
here in this cell ar, a thirteen-year-old Rus-
sian soldier, Statnov Prokofy, is awaiting
death at the hand of a German hangman.
PROKOFY: Grandpa ... do they let him
know by telephone or by radio? Perhaps
radio wauld be quicker.
OLD MAN: No, my son, there's a more
direct way-from heart tq heart. They
let him kt.ow by that.
The meeting is now over.. The boy
dozes off again.
EGoRov (walking past the old man):
Yo~r grandson?
OLD MAN: Closer than that. A human
being. He was my grandson even before
this.
EGoRov: Sure, we're all brothe rs in war.
Why'd they take the youngster?
OLD MAN (winking at the idiot who
has again stopped his swaying and chant-
ing) : It was because of a mistake we
made. Our dog was starving, poor beast.
So we went to the river to see if we could
find something for her to eat. We looked
down and there was an ear sticking out
of a snowdri ft . And attached to the ear
was a complete citizen, a mangy sort of
chap, regul ar bit of carrion.
EGoRov: Pity you couldn 't give the .ear
to the dog.
Immediately the Io10 T starts moan-
ing and swaying once more with all
his might. EGoRov goes over and sits
beside FEDOR, who talks to him with-
out uncovering his face.
Are you in pain, comrade?
 FEDOR: Feel better now. Warmed up.
EGoRov: Nothing to be ashamed of. It
hurts like the devil when they beat you.
Ask anybody. They've beaten us all. Did
they beat you, Tatarov?
TATARov: Not on the body. They just
gave me a manicure.
EGoROv: You hear that. And they
didn't even have pity on Katerina Pe-
trovna, although she was pregnant. She
isn't the only one. It will be Olga lvanna's
turn next. (His glance, travelling around
the room, comes to rest on the idiot.)
They beat that poor devil out of his wits.
Look at him rocking to and fro. Hey
there, duffer. Did they beat you?
IDIOT (tearfully) : They d-i-i-d.
EGoROV (winking at his comrades):
Did they lam into you good and hard- ' at the i11oman who has gone mad. The
or only tickle you up? . scraping of boots is heard from behind countless Aniskas from sea to sea.
(EGoRov is already regretting his
mistake in asking. He puts a bunch
of straw behind his ear to imitate the
IDIOT, who has a feather stuck in his
hat, and squats down beside him .)
What sort of madman are you? The and twisting her fingers. Silente falls.
harmless kind or a killer like me? (Se-
verely.) Have you been cracked for long?
loIOT (in a tearful voice): It will be
two whole months this Tuesday.
EGOROV (imitating his drawl): That's
ever such a lo-ong time. You've beaten
my record . I'm still only a beginner, so to
speak . Aha! but you should see. me when
my blood's up, when I'm inspired. I could
bash a certain scoundrel between the eyes
with such a mighty blow that it'd leave a
very deep impression on him for the rest
of his life. (Brings his first up to the
Io10T's eyes.) See what a pretty thing
this is. (Getting up. In a changed voice.)
We're going to hold a meeting here. Shove
over to the door and squeal a bit l<,uder
to keep the sentry amused. Come on,
everyone.
In a flash the IDIOT nips over to the
place indicated.
Sing yourself to sleep with one of your
dirges and pray to God to bring you hap
piness. (To everybody present.) Shall
we begin the meeting, comrades?
OLGA (uncovering FEDOR's face): Fedor!
You haven 't gone to sleep, have you?
Your pals want to talk to you. It's all
right, you can stay where you are.
FEDOR : No, I want to get up. Help me.
He puts his legs down on the floor.
OLGA helps him and puts his oum
leather coat on him . TATAROV takes
his gre~tcoat off the bunk and puts it
on agam.
EGoRov: We won't bother to elect a on the rope instead of ou . . . . We've no OLGA (in ringing tones): Keep in step of sno11 1 blow.< through 111 t11s 7ace. Sound ing. The young fellow stares all around
presidium, will we? Let the presidium use for that kind of thing. and 1ook gay and ca refree. Remember of anti-aircraft g1111s again.) Grandpa, is the cellar.
consist of all those who in the darkest OLGA: Fedya, you must tell them the th at th ose \\'ho will take our place tonight Stalin very tall? OLD MAN: Have you lost something,
days gave up their lives for this-for the real reason why you took on Andrei's will be watching us. We must look hand- Tlie old man does not answer. He son ?
most precious thing on earth . . . . tom- name. some, comrades, handsome. . . . (To is listening to something outside. YouNc FELLOW: Well, not exactly. But
rades, there's a new man who wants to FEDOR: (He smiles boyishly, looking FEDOR.) Get up, Fedor. It's time. (FEDOR OLGA: Where did you see Stalin? last month when we were retreating I saw
joins the rest. Men's face s appear at the
join us. Olga lvanna has told you about for a fleeting instant rather like the Fedya OLD MAN: Oh, we got together on an old man I felt sorry for. I ran over to
him. in the broken portrait.) It seemed to me
grating.) agric ultural affai rs.r had raised some him and gave him a hug to cheer him up
Suddenly the drone of a low-flying it would give them a still worse fright if TATARov: I thought they used to beat rare plant. (Speaking as if he were seeing a bit. "Don't worry," I said. "Don't
drums on these occasions. I read about it. it all ov_er again.) There were a thousand worry, Grandpa, the Russia ns will come
'plane and the rattle of machine gun Kolesnikov, whom they'd already killed,
Somehow I don't hear any .. .. of u~ in a huge hall. It was so rt of empty- back. The Russians always come back."
fire is heard. A deep sigh comes from suddenly popped up again and caught
looking at first. Then just one man And when he wasn't looking, I slipped my
the woman in the man's coat, followed them napping. (Coughing.) I bet he's PROKOFY searches anxiously for his
walked in and suddenly it felt as if every- last hunk of bread into his pocket.
by a loud sob. She pulls off the ker- up to something this minute. Trust him! cap. looking on and under the plank
bed. body was crowded close together and all OLGA (finishing the bandage) : That'll
chief which covers her head, begins EcoRov: I understand. (Turns to the
on fire. do for the time being. Only take care
tearing it to shreds and raving. others.) Any more questions? (FEDOR is OLD MAN: You won't need your cap,
The boy turns away from the win- not to lean on that elbow.
WoMAN (screaming) : Avenge us . . . rncked by coughing.) And if Aniska Prokofy. We haven't far to go.
dow. Everything has suddenly become YouNc FELLOW: Can you beat it? I
Kill the killers! Kill the killers! All hadn't been the cause of this sudden The door opens. Enter a German
still. From the square a voice rings kept on dreaming ab6ut that old fellow
move from their places except PROKOFY, change in you, Fedor J:alanov, where officer, soldiers, SHPURRE and Mo-
who looks from under lowered eyelids would you be now? SALSKY. The officer has a camera out: "Stalin, Stalin , Sta-". The voice for a whole month. I'd walk up to him
slung over his shoulder. dies out on a half-word'. and say, "Hang on, Grandpa, we'll come
OLGA: Aniska is not alone. There are OLD MAN (anti-aircraft gunfire sounds back soon, when we've got properly
T.nARov: See that? They're goi ng to
the door and the sentry's face appears at nearer and louder): What are th:::y up to, worked up. You know how a Russian
FEDOR: I've nothing to give the people take pretty pictures of us to send home to
giving us a salute instead of drums? always gets angry when he's hungry."
the grating. OLGA rnshes over to the -no bags of gold-no learning ... I have their mamas.
PROKO FY (grabbing hold of grating): You see, when I've given my word, I don't
woman and leads her to the other side of nothing, (bitterly) nothing to give except SttPl'RRE (pointing towards exit and
Grandpa! Parachutes, parachutes! The go back on it.
the cellar. She goes with her whimpering a little life and boundless hatred. You uhistling) : Welcome!
sky's full of parachutes! FAIUNIN, wearing a short, fur-lined
quietly, and sits down in a corner staring can have those free of charge. They al! move for ward simultane-
He jumps up and down and the coat, comes out of the neighboring
EGoRov: Don't be angry, comrade. A ously. The officer holds out his hand accumulated emotions of the day are cellar, walking in front of the guer-
The boy wearily closes his eyes. warningly, shotVing three fingers.
guerrilla has the right to ask any ques- resolved in shameless childish tears. rillas.
TATARov: Order, comrades, order! EGoRov: He means by threes. (He
tions. (He tums to a man who is lying Stalin, Stalin has come! !ST GuERRILLA (to YouNG FELLow):
very still under some sacking.) And you, looks from one to the other.) Well, I
EGoRov (quietly) : Twice this man has Running feet are seen at the win- Queer kind of eel, this. Looks more like
asked to be enrolled in Andrei's brother- Pasha, have you anything to say? (Pause.) shall go. (To FEDOR.) You, of course, dotV. Then someone shouts: a pike to me. And you a fisherman!
hood of partisans. Andrei showed the Well, since even our conscience is silent I and . .. "Take that, you bastard!" The board- The YouNG FELLOW looks into
caution which is so necessary for all of us. hope everything's c I ea r. Whoever's TATARov: . . . And I. Come on, let's FAJU NIN's face, confused.
ed-up window is beaten in with rifle-
However, on his own initiative, this man against accepting this man into our divi- get going. ril show 'em, the bastards. butts and followed by several men, This isn't the old man you've been
conducted himself well. He killed the sion of death, please raise your hand. I'll show 'em how Russians die. (To both Guerrillas and Red Army men, looking for , by any chance?
murderers who have wrecked our homes, FEDOR.) You lean on my shoulder, An- roaring and shouting, come tumbling
OLD MAN: People don 't ask to join the YouNG FELLOW (to FAIU NIN}: You've
and when Andrei had to leave the ranks drei . lts still sound. down the chute into the gloom of the
ranks of heroes. . . . They join of their gone up in the world since I gave you
he took on his nam~. own free will. FrnoR (quietly): It's aH right. I can cellar. that hunk of bread.
walk by myself. (To OLGA.) If you see
OLGA: And didn't drop it. EGoROv: And you, Pasha? ) ST GUERRILLA (looking around): No FAIUNIN is silent.
mother, explain to her. ( Pau;es.) Tell strangers here. (To the other men.) Go
EGoRov: . . . and didn't drop it. Let's Silence. EGoRov pulls the sacking Ko LESN IKOV comes down from
keep it short. We may be interrupted at off his face. PASHA is lying ,igid with her I wasn't drunk that night. I hadn't and fish around over there. (Pointing to
slept for two nights. There wasn't any-
above with ANNA N1KOLAEVNA.
any moment. Who wants to ask the com- his eyes wide open. the adjoining cellar.) Maybe you'll catch ANNA: Olga! (They embrace.)
where to sleep.
rade a question? Pasha, Pavel, what's the matter? Can't an eel. (Two of the men go off into the
OLGA nods. Soldiers surround the YouNG FFLLow (to FAJUNIN, clapping
you hear me, Pasha? (Silence.) EcoROV next cellar.) Is everybody whole? No
TATARov: I do ." (To FEDOR.) Olga three men and lead them out. him on the back): Come on, Grandpa,
reverently covers up the dead man's face. bones broken?
I vanna told ine the night you left your OLGA: Listen, officer. (To MosALSKY.) we're in the way here. (And beneath his
A fter a pause he turns to FEDOR. OLD MAN: They've taken three of us
father's house, that chap with the feather Does the officer speak Russian? There are gentleness there is a hint of steel.) We'll
Well, so it's unanimous. Let me em- outside. You'll never catch up with them
in his hat was standing at the door and pregnant women here. go outside and into the fresh air and do
brace you-, our new Kolesnikov. now. They've gone on the longest
apparently you, after thinking things over, MosALSKY: The rope will hold them our embracing there.
jo\,lrney.
decided to give And rei time to escape. T ATA ROV (angrily and stubbomly): On up, Mademoiselle. -They go out.
Is that true? Voice heard from adjoining cellar:
the lips, on the lips. OLGA (in a sinking voice): . . . and "Give us a light, Trofim Petrovich. OLGA (to KoLEsN1Kov): Did she see
EGoROv: Will you answer? EGoRov embraces FEDOR. From the the children? I've got hold of an eel and he's licking (Glances at window.) . . . there? (He
FEDOR: No, that's not strictly true . . . . upper part of the staircas~ comes the MosALSKY: You are detaining me, my hand ." nods his head.) OLGA looks into her
As a matter of fact, after I'd seen Aniska sound of shouting, and the command, Mademoiselle. (Turning to PROKOFY.) l sT Gt.:ERRILLA: Coming over. ( l:::x1t.) mother's face. ) Mother, your eyes are dry.
something inside me snapped. I sort of "Ganzer Zug, halt! Links um! Richt How old a re you , Statnov? That's bad. You must cry for him,
OLGA walks over to a young fellow
lost myself. Thats all. euch!" The IDIOT throws off his dis- PRoKOF Y (defiantly): Seventeen. in a greatcoat who has rolled up his Mother darling. He left us, but he's come
guise and drawing himself up to his MosA LSKY, bowing ironically, goes sleeve and is clutching his elbow with back to us now. He's standing right be-
TATARov: Then it wasn't from a feeling
f ult height presses himself against out. PRoKoFY climbs up to the win- the palm of his hand. side you. He's your son again, Mother,
of outrage that you called yourself Kolesn i-
the wall in terror. dow on the boxes. your own son.
kov? If you won't take me on alive- OLD MAN: You're bleeding, comrade.
you'll damn well have to take me on All except FEDOR gather in a group What a lot of people they've driven out YouNG FELLOW: Oh, it's nothing. I ANNA: He's come back. He's mine.
in the right foreground. there! (He pulls out a rag which has been He's with us.
dead, sort of thing, ' eh? Look out of hadn't noticed it in the scrap. OLGA tears
Daddy's window and see me swinging EGoRov: Get ready, comrades. stuffed in a hole in the windotV. A flurry up a handkerchief for a temporary dress- CURTAIN
-46- -47-
 With this third issue of Soviet Culture in Wartime the
American Russian Institute enters its thirteenth year of activity
in San Francisco. During this entire period it has been the
constant aim and function of the Institute to furnish facts
rather than opinions about the Soviet Union, and to contribute
in numerous different ways to the growth of mutual interest
and understanding between the American and Soviet people.
Through VOKS, the Society for Cultural Relations with
Foreign Countries in Moscow, the Institute receives exhibitions
and publications which help to bring Soviet thinking and living
to large numbers of Americans. The Institute also sends to
VOKS material from this cou ntry which is of interest in fur-
thering cultural relations.
As an information center, the American Russian Institute
supplies students, researchers, newspapers and magazines with
facts about the Soviet Unidn. Our library consists of over 6,000
volumes in both English and Russian. During the war, a sig-
nificant part of the Institute's work is supplying educational
material and pictorial exhibits to Army Orientation Centers
throughout the United States. Our Speakers Bureau sends
speakers to USO's as well as to schools, trade unions and- other
organizations in the Bay Area.
Radio programs, in the form of drama or Round Table dis-
cussions are one of the Institute's important activities. It is our
hope to present another series of Round Tables in 1945, as we
did in 1944, which will answer questions on the Soviet Union
and bring factual information to radio audiences.
One of the most interesting new projects undertaken by the
Institute is the work with the State Department of Education
and the public schools in the preparation of material on the
Soviet Union for elementary school use. The response of the
schools throughout California to the project has been enor-
mously encouraging, and in prospect, at the present time, are
educational Conferences in Northern and Southern California
which will afford an opportunity for discussion with teachers
and parents of the possibilities for effective presentation of
information on the Soviet Union to elementary school children.
During November and December the Institute conducted a
series of forum discussions on the Soviet Far East. These
seminars, which took place over a period of five weeks, were
led by outstanding authorities in their various fields and at-
tracted an audience of businessmeo, government officials and
army and navy personnel.
Our progress report indudes our participation in a most suc-
cessful Aid to Russian Artists Ball, initiated by a committee of
artists for the purpose of sending much needed art materials to
the Soviet Union. The 'Institute is also collecting funds for
micro-film equipment which will make possible the photo-
recording of rare and scientific books in the Lenin Memorial
Library to replace those destroyed in other libraries of the
Soviet Union.
During the past year hundreds of pictorial exhibits have been
sent to organizations all over the country. Latest exhibits
-48-
rec~ived from the Soviet Union include a series of Victory
Posters (Tass Windows) showing the Soviet liberation of their
LANGUAGE IS AWEAPON!
land from the Nazis. and photographic exhibits entitled Hitler's
New Order, Soviet Health Protection in Wartime, The Urals-
Learn Another Language
Arsenal of the Red Army, The Defense of Sevastopol, Soviet
Cameramen at the Front, Leningrad and Stalingtad-A Tale of
Two Cities. Two of these exhibits have been on display at the
Quickly and Easily With
San Francisco Board of Health, and at the San Francisco
Museum of Art. The exhibit Urals-Arsenal of the Red Army
Ll-NGUAPHONE
is scheduled for early showing under the sponsorship of the
Board of Trade and the Marine Exchange of the San Francisco
Chamber of Commerce.
New reading material in English and Russian is being re-
ceived by the Institute from the Soviet Union. Jn English there
are scores of vol umes of short stories and articles on the war
as well as the VOKS Bulletins which deal with current affairs FOR WARTIME COOPERATION WITH OUR ALLIES
in the world of art, literature, science and music and with
aspects of the war. The Institute also receives the magazine
International Lite1ature and the VOKS Chronicles which are
In the armed forces and in- civilian services, Americans will be called to every quarter of
original mimeographed articles dealing with Pedagogics, the globe. They will serve at the side of citizens of many nations. Those who can speak
Theater, Literature, Architecture, Films, Fine Arts, Medicine, the language of the country in which they serve will be able to understand their allies
Science, Music and Chess. The magazine Academy of Sciences
of the U.S.S.R. and the newspaper Moscow News arrive regu- better, to cooperate more closely.
larly at the Institute. Those who know the l.a nguage of the Axis nations will be leaders in the work of combatting
A few of the Russian titles recently arrived are : the historical and countering their propaganda. f
novels Dimitrii Donskoi by S. Borodin, Ghengis Khan and
Batyi by V. Ian, Soldier and General (Suvorov) by K. Pigarev
and a number of biographies and novels as well as poetry, FOR NEW OPPORTUNITIES WHEN PEACE COMES
short stories, Science Reports, Reports on Graphic Arts, and
translations of short stories by American authors which include
Edgar Allen Poe, Hawthorne, Mark Twain, Jack Lon'don, An<l when Victory will have been achieved Americans again will he called upon to serve
Hemingway, Caldwell, Irwin Shaw and John Steinbeck. the entire world - the enormous task of reconstruction will engage the talents of thousands.
Russian language newspapers at the Institute include Pravda, The leadership in this great task will be awarded to those who can communicate with people
Izvestia, Trud, Teachers' Gazette and Literatu1e and Art. of other lands in their own native tongues.
Among the magazines in Russian are the Historical Journal,
the Pedagogical Journal, Surgery, Medicine, War and the
W01-king Class, the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate and the
Bolshevik.
LEARN WITH LINGUAPHONE
As a non-profit, non-political organization the American
WORLD-FAMOUS LANGUAGE METHOD
Russian Institute has become the meeting ground for those
Linguaphone-the "eye-ear" method teaches you in your own
who want to know what is happening in the Soviet Union.
home and in your spare time. Over 1,000,000 men and women
We depend on old friends and urgently call on new ones to
in all walks of life have benefited from Linguaphone courses.
make possible the tnuch needed expansion of our work by
contributing financially and by joining the Institute as mem- These courses were created by expert teachers from the greatest
bers. All contributions are income tax exempt. Membership universities in the world. Start training for leadership now.
fees are $2.00 for students, $5.00 for regular members and Find out how Linguaphone can teach you any foreign language
from $10.00 to $100.00 for sustaining members. Members you want to learn.
receive Institute publications free of charge and may participate
Linguaphone Institute
in seminars and other Institute events at reduced rates.
55 Rockefeller Center, N. Y. 20, N. Y.
Gentlemen:
SEND FOR FREE BOOK
The times demand new things of us all. In contributing to
the extension of American Soviet friendship we count on the Please se nd me, al.ou lute ly free, your
illuslraled book Lellinl? all about Lingua You can have a free, illustrated book, describing completely how
support of those who are working for a stable and prosperous phone. Linguaphone works-who created it, what famous people have
world. Name ... .... . . . . . . . used it. It's yours for the asking. Simply send the coupon today.
Address .. .. .
City and State .. . .
Distri ct Zone :i . -.... . . . . . ... ... .. . . . . . ..
La nguage Interested . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... .. .
CLIP' THIS COUPON~-