3754 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIF .

,AREA

Mr. MOULDER . All persons in the hearing room heard the announcement by counsel .The Chair repeats that announcement , that all w itnesses who were

subpenaed for attendance here today before the committee are re

quested to appear here in the hearing room for appearance before thecommittee tomorrow afternoon at 1 : 30 p . m .

The committee w ill stand in recess until 9 : 30 a . m . in the morning.

(Whereupon, at 5 : 25 p . m .

,Monday , April 16, 1956, the comm ittee

was recessed,to be reconvened at 9 : 30 a . m.

,Tuesday

,April 17

,1956,

Representatives Moulder,Doyle

,and Scherer being present at the

taking of the recess .)

TESTIMONY OF NlKOLA l KHOKHL OV

THOUGHT CONTROL INSOVIET ART AND L ITERATURE AND THE L IB ERAT IONOF RUSSIA

(INVESTIGATION OF COMMUNIST A CTIVITIES IN THE L OS ANGEL ES ,

CA L IF AREA—PART 8)

HEARINGB EFORE THE

COMMITTEE ONUN-AMERIOANACTIVITIESHOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

EIGHTY-FOURTH CONGRESSSECOND S E SSION

APRIL 1 7 , 1956

Pr inted for the use of the Committee on Un-Anwrican Activities

( Index in Part 10 of This Series )

HARVARDCOLLEGE LIBRARYDEPOSITED BY THE

UNITEDSTATES GOVERNMENT

l l" II 1956

UNITED STATE SGOVERNMENT PRINTING OFF ICE

WASHINGTON 1 956

COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIV ITIE SUNITED STA TES HOU SE OF REPRESENTA TIVESFRANC IS E . WALTER , Pennsylvania , Cha irman

MORGAN M. MOULDER , Missouri HAROLD H. VELDE , I l l inoisCLYDE DOYLE , Ca l ifornia B ERNARD W. KEARNEY, New YorkJAME S B . FRAZ IER , J R Tennessee DONALD L . JACKSON, Cal if orniaE DWIN E . WILLIS , Louis iana GORDON H. SCHERER , Oh io

RICHARD ARENS , Director

C O NT E NT S

il 1 7 , 1956 :ForewardTestimony of Nikola i K hokhlovendix

PUB LIC L AW 601,79TE CONGRESS

The legislation under which the House Committee on Un-AmericanActivities operates is Public Law 601

,79th Congress chapter

753 , 2d session , which providesB e it enacted by the S enate and Hous e of R epresentatives of the United S tates

of America in Congress assembled ,

PART 2—RUL E S OF THE HOUSE OF REPRE SENTATIVESRUL E !

SEC . 1 2 1 . STANDING COMM ITTEESIt t

1 7 . Committee on Un-American Activ ities , to cons ist of nine members .

RUL E ! IPOWERS AND DUTIES OF COMM ITTEES

st a: as a:

( q ) ( 1 ) Committee on Un-Amer ican Activ ities .

(A ) Um-Amer ican Activ ities .

( 2 ) Th e Committee on Un-American Activities , as a whole or by subcommittee, is authorized to make from time to time investigations of ( i ) the extent ,character , and Objects of un-Amer ican propaganda activities in the United States ,( ii ) the diffus ion with in the United States of subvers ive and un-American propaganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and attacksthe principl e Of the form Of government as guaranteed by our Cons titution, and

( iii ) all other questions in relation thereto that would a id Congress in any mecessary remedial legis lation.

The Committee on Um—American Activ ities Shall report to the House ( or to theClerk of the House if the House is not in ses s ion ) the results of any such investigation, together w ith such recommendations as i t deems advisable .For the purpose of any such inves tigation, the Committee on Un-Amer icanActiv ities , or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to s it and act at suchtimes and places w ithin the United States , whether or not the House is S itting,has rec essed , or has adjourned , to hold such hearings , to requ ire the attendanceof such w itnesses and the production of such books , papers , and documents , andto take such tes timony , as it deems necessary . Subpenas may be issued underthe Signature Of the cha irman of the committee or any subcommittee , or by anymember des ignated by any such cha irman, and may be served by any persondesignated by any such cha irman or member .

RULE S ADOPTED B Y THE 84TH CONGRES SHouse Resolution 5 , January 5 , 1955

RUL E !STANDING COMM ITTEES

1 . There shall be elected by the House , at the commencement of each Congress ,the following standing committees :=l= 4: i f t

( q ) Comm ittee on Un-American Activities , to cons ist Of nine members .

RUL E ! IPOWERS A ND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES

=I=

1 7 . Commi ttee on Un-American Activities .

( a Un-American Act iv ities .

( b ) The Commi ttee on Un-American Activ ities , as a whole or by subcomm ittee ,is authorized to make from time to time, inves tigations of ( 1 ) the extent , character , and Obj ects of um-Amer ican propaganda activ ities in the United States ,(2 ) the diffu s ion within the United States of subvers ive and um-Amer ican propaganda that is ins tigated from foreign countr ies or of a domes tic or igin and

attacks the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitution , and ( 3 ) all other ques tions in relation thereto that would a id Congress inany necessa ry remedial legi s lation.

The Committee on Un-American Activ ities Shall report to th e House ( or to theClerk of the House if the House is not in sess ion ) the results of any such investigation , together with such recommendations as i t deems advisable.F or the purpos e Of any such inves tigation , the Committee on Um-Amer icanActivities , or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such timesand places w ithin the United States , whether or not the House is s itting, hasrecessed, or has adjourned , to hold such hearings , to requ ire the attendance ofsuch w itnesses and the production of such books , papers , and documents , and totake such testimony, as it deems necessary . Subpenas may be issued under thes ignature of the cha irman of the committee or any subcommittee , or by anymember des ignated by any such cha irman , and may be served by any persondes ignated by any such chairman or member.

VI

FOREWORDMr. K hokhlov ’

s testimony goes far beyond the important question of

Communist thought control over art and literature. It also dealswith the possibility of an internal revolt of the Russian people againsttheir Soviet Slave masters . Khokhlov shows how the contemporaryKremlin display O f bravado abroad is motivated by well - foundedterror of great trouble at home . It would be an irreparable tragedyif the free world were to permit itself to be deceived by the smiles ,handshakes

,and false promises O f evil men

,driven only by fright

over what may happen within their own country .

Whenever the Soviet leaders are prepared to back up their pretenseof friendship with Sincere deeds

,the free world should stand ready to

respond . In the meantime,it must not become addicted to the drug

Of unsupported promises of peaceful coexistence . It can never aff ordto forget what Khrushchev sa id at the 20th Party Congress (February1956) about the possibility of peaceful coexistence :Comrades , I should like to dwell on some fundamental ques tions concerningpresent-day international development which determine not only the presentcourse of events , but a l so the prospects for the future .These ques tions are the peacefu l coexistence of the tw o sys tems , the poss i

b il ity of preventing wars in the present era , and the forms of trans ition to

socialism in different countries .

L et us examine thes e questions in br ief.The peacefu l coexistence of the two sys tems—Th e Leninis t principle of peaceful coex istence of states with different social sys tems h as always been and re

ma ins th e general l ine of our country ’s foreign policy .

It has been alleged that the Soviet Union advances the principle O f peacefulcoexis tence merely out of tactical cons iderations , cons iderations of expediency .

Y et it is common knowledge that we have always , from the very firs t years of

Soviet power , s tood wi th equal firmness for peacefu l coexistence. Hence , i t isnot a tactica l move , but a fundamental principle of Soviet foreign policy .

t a: a: at a:

Leninism teaches us that the ruling classes w il l not surrender their powervoluntarily. And the greater or lesser degree of intens ity which the strugglemay assume , the use or the nonuse of v iolence in the trans ition to socialism ,depends on the res istance Of the exploiters , on whether the exploi ting class itselfresorts to violence , rather than on the proletariat .In this connection the ques tion arises of whether i t is poss ible to go over to

social ism by using parliamentary means . No such course w as open to the Russ ian Bolsheviks , w ho were the firs t to effect this trans ition . Lenin showed us

another road , tha t of the es tablishment of a republic of Soviets , the only correctroad in those h is tor ical cond itions . Following that course we achieved a vic toryof world-w ide h istorical S ignificance.

0 38 t t

In the countries where capitalism is still strong and has a huge mi li tary and

police apparatus at its disposal , the reactionary forces will of course inev itablyOfier serious res is tance. There the trans ition to socialism w ill be attended by aSharp class , revolutionary s truggle.Whatever the form of trans ition to socialism , the decis ive and indispensablefactor is the po litical leadership of the working class headed by its vanguard.Without this there can be no trans ition to socialism.

I t mus t be s trongly emphas ized that the more favorable conditions for thev ictory of socialism created in other countries are due to the fact that socialismhas w on in the Soviet Union and is winning in the People ’ s Democracies . I ts

victory in our country would have been imposs ible had Lenin and th e Bolshev ikParty not Upheld revolutionary Marx ism in battle aga ins t the reformis ts , whobroke w ith Marxism and took the path of opportunism .

TEST IMONY OF NIKOLAI K HOK HL OV

THOUGHT CONTROL INSOVIET ART AND L ITERATUREAND THE L IBERAT ION OF RUSSIA

( Investigation of Communist Activities in the L OS Angeles,Calif. , Area—Part 8)

TUESDA Y ,A PRI L 1 7 , 19 56

UN ITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATI VE S,

SUB COMMITTEE OF THE

COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVI TI ES ,L os A ngeles , Ca lif .

PU B LIC HEARINGA subcomm ittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities met

at 9 40 a . m .

,ursuant to recess

,in room 518 of the Federal Building

,

L os Angeles,al if .

,Hon . Morgan M . Moulder (chairman o f the sub

committee) presiding .

Committee members present : Representatives Morgan M . Moulder,

Of Missouri (presiding) , Clyde Doyle , of Cal ifornia !Donald L. Jackson

,of Cal ifornia ! and Gordon H . Scherer , O f Ohio .

Staff members present : Frank S . Tavenner,Jr.

,counsel ! Courtney

E . Owens andWilliam A .Wheeler, investigators .

Mr. MOULDER . The committee will be in order.The Chair wishes to announce at this time that the members of thissubcommittee have received instructions to return to TVashington foran important proceeding and a vote to be had in Congress tomorrow .

The subcomml ttee will leave tonight . However , instructions havealso been received directing the subcomm ittee to reconvene in L osAngeles for further inquiry into the matters presently underconsideration .

Therefore,and in accordance with such direction, the subcomm ittee

will reconvene in this hearing room in the city of L os Angeles on

Thursday morning, April 19 9 : 30 a . m .

,and will proceed with the

regular order of business established in the Chair ’s Opening remarks,made yesterday .

Are you ready to proceed , Mr. Counsel ?Mr. TAVENNER . Mr. Chairman , will you be prepared to proceedwith the work today for the entire day ?Mr

.MOULDER . Y es ! the comm ittee will be in session the entire day .

Call your next witness .

7 7 43 6—5 6—pt. 8— 2

3756 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES INTHE LOS ANGELES,CALIF.

,AREA

Mr. TAVENNER . I would like to call,as the first witness this morning

,

Mr. Nikola i Khokhlov.

Mr. MOULDER . Will you hold up your right hand and be sworn ?Do you solemnly swear that the testimony which you are about togive before th i s comm ittee will be the truth , the whole truth , andnothing but the truth, SO help you , God ?Mr . KHOKHLOV. I do .

TESTIMONY OF NIK OL A I KHOKHL OV

Mr. TAVENNER . Wi ll you state your name, please , sir ?Mr . KHOKHLOV. My name is Nikola i Khokhlov .

Mr . TAVENNER . Wi ll you Spell Nikolai,your first name ?

Mr. KHOKHLOV. N-i-k -O -l—a -i . The last name is Khokhlov,

K -h-o -k -h-l -o -v .

Mr. TAVENNER . Will you Spell your last name again,please .

Mr. KHOKHLOV. K -h -O -k-h - l -o -V .

Mr. TAVENNER . Mr . Khokhlov,when did you first arrive in thi s

countryMr . KHOKHLOV. On the 6th day of May , 1954 .

Mr . TAVENNER . Are you a citizen of the U . S . S . R .

Mr. KHOKHLOV. I suppose I still am because the legal steps to deprive me of the Soviet citizenship have not as yet been taken by theSoviet Government .Mr. TAVENNER. SO far as you know, you still occupy the status of acitizenMr. KHOKHLOV. Probably .

Mr. TAVENNER . Were you at one time an or”cial of the Soviet Union ?

Mr . KHOKHLOV. Yes .

UMr. TAVENNER . What type of a position did you hold in the Sovietnion ?Mr. KHOKHLOV . The last position I occupied in the Soviet Unionwas an o

" Icer of Soviet intell igence on the German Austrian desk .

Mr . TAVENNER . By that,do you mean that matters relating to Ger

many passed through your hands ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. This desk was concerned with intelligence operations within the territory of Germany andAustria

,or operations work

ing out of Germany and Austria .

Mr . TAVENNER . I believe you have testified before another congressioual committee

,have you not ?

Mr. KHOKHLOV. Y es,I did .

Mr. TAVENNER . The subject of your testimony before that committeerelated to the method by which you came to the West and the circumstances leading up to your decision to come to the West ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. That Is cori ect.Mr . TAVENNER . I bel ieve In that testimony you narrated In detailthe circumstances under which you were assigned to direct the assassination of Georgi Okolov ich , a leader of the emigre movement

,then

resid ing In West Germany ?Mr. KHOKHLOV . That Is right .Mr TAVENNER . Y ou also testified

,I bel ieve

,before that committee

that you refused to carry out that assignment ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. That is right .

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIF .

,AREA 3757

Mr. TAVENNER . Y ou testified that, instead of carrying out that assignment

, you surrendered to the person who had been marked forassassinationMr . KHOKHLOV. That is correct .Mr . TAVENNER . Now it is not the purpose of this committee to re

hash testimony which you have given before another committee . Y ou

have been subpenaed here because the committee is interested in ob

taining from you any knowledge or information that you may haverelating to certa in incidents which occurred in the Soviet Unionbetween the early l 940 ’s and the present time .We will ask you to confin e your testimony to those matters ratherthan to go into matters which you have already explained in testimonybefore other comm ittees .

I would like to begin my questioning by asking you to tell the committee

,first

,what your educational training was in the Soviet Union

prior to your first employment .Mr . KHOKHLOV. I w as born in the Soviet Union and I entered high

school in Moscow in 1930,from which I graduated in 1940 . Then ,

simultaneously with high school,I took special courses O f theatrical

studies . I gotmy first certificate for directing some short stage playsin the summer of 1941 in a theater in the suburbs o f Moscow .

Next,to prepare myself for a career as a movie director

,I entered

as a student in the motion -p icture department of a college of fine arts.In order to support myself

,I worked in several Soviet movies as

a bit actor . I also served as an apprentice to an assistant movie director .At the same time I took part in Show business

, perform ing in variousstage shows

,travel ing all over the Soviet Union with road shows.

That w as actually my first employment .When the Second World TVar began , my theatrical activities were ,

for the most part,interrupted .

Mr . TAVENNER . During the period which followed,did you still keep

in touch with the theater and the arts generally ?Mr . KHOKHLOV . Y es . I did it in tw o ways : First

,my job in intel l i

gence w as connected with the use O f art for intell igence purposes .Secondly, I maintained many contacts with people in Show business,movie industry , literature and art , because of my own prior work inthis field and also because Of my personal connections .

Mr . TAVENNER . Will you tell the comm ittee, please , from your experience in the theater and in the field which you have described , andfrom your knowledge of it after the beginning of World War II

,what

part the arts played in the Soviet Union in the support of variouspositions that the Soviet Union took in regard to its own welfare ?Mr . KHOKHLOV . Actually , from the experience of my life, art w as

one of the very important methods used by the Sovi et State in orderto survi ve .Y ou see

, the power of communism depends upon a struggle forthought control . The Soviet State has three main means to moldpublic Opinion . One is direct propaganda used in party schools oreven in publ ic schools, combined with some special courses in politicsand social sciences .

The second means is the press . A nd then,Of course

,the arts.

3758 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES , CALIF ., AREA

From the beginning , the Soviet rulers used the first tw o means veryextensively . Through misuse of these means they lOSt much of thei rinfluence . The common people began to be fed up with direct propaganda and began to real ize that the Soviet newspapers were not worthanything because they presented only the narrow propaganda lme of

the state.0

SO , logically enough , the Importance of the arts as an Instrument tomold public Op inion Increased enormously .

The struggle of the Soviet system to survive has always been astruggle for the minds and souls of people . At every step in the development of this totalitarian system ,

the Soviet rulers have pai denormous attention to the arts, and always tr ied to maintain completecontrol of the arts , to use them only for their own purposes .

Mr. TAVENNER . Would you say that the Soviet Government didcompletely control the arts in the Soviet Union ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. Not always . They always tried

,but sometimes

they had to retreat .Mr. TAVENNER. Y ou have stressed the importance of the arts in theability of the Soviet Union to maintain itself. Now can you give thecomm itteemore concrete instances or factual information which wosupport what you have to say regarding your conclusion ?Mr . SCHERER . May I interrupt a minute, Mr. Tavenner ? I , for one,would like to know up to what period of time the witness is testify ing !namely

,when was the date that he came over to theWest ? I think we

Should k now at the outset how recent his testimony is and what periodit covers .Mr. TAVENNER . Yes.I believe you testified that you came to the United States in May of

1954 .

Mr. KHOKHLOV. That is right .Mr. TAVENNER . What was the date of your leaving the SovietUnionMr . KHOK HLOV . January 1954 .

Mr. TAVENNER . January of 1954 ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. That i s right . That w as the last time I was inMoscow.

In reply to the question asked by the member of the committee,I

would like .to say that during the past 2 years I have not lost contactswith events in the Soviet Union . I receive Soviet newspapers

,and

some information through underground channels . Y ou see,I could

not lose this contact,because the fight against communism is my fight

too, to which I have dedicated myse l f.SO I would say that my analysis covers the most recent events inthe Soviet Union .

Mr. SCHERER . Then his testimony,for all practical purposes

,is cur

rent .Mr. TAVENNER . Correct .Mr. SCHERER . That is what I wanted to know. That makes it somuch more valuable.Mr. TAVENNER . I think this witness

,in the course of his testimony ,

w il lo

make it abundantly clear that he is developing the policies of theSovi et Un ion up to the present time .

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES INTHE LOS ANGELES,CALIF .

,AREA 3759

Mr. SCHERER . That is what I wanted to know .

Mr. TAVENNER. But he is basing,as I understand it

,his analysis of

the Situation on his full experience w ithin the Soviet Union , as wellas what is happening at the present moment in the Sov iet Union .

Mr. SCHERER . It is abundantly clear now what he is testifying to .

At least it carries us up to January 1954 , from his own knowledge , and,since that date, from information he has received through underground channels and through his studies of current publ ications .

(Representative Donald L. Jackson left the hearing room at thisoint .pMr.)TAVENNER . I called your attention to your conclusion as to the

importance of the arts to the Soviet Union in maintaining itself.Mr. KHOKHLOV. Yes .If the committee will permit

,I will give a Short description of the

history of the Soviet State and the way it had to handle the problemof the arts.In 1917

,when the Connnunist Party took over

,it knew very well

that the future O f the Soviet State could not be based on older generations .(Representative Donald L. Jackson returned to the hearing room at

this point . )Mr. TAVENNER . Y ou say Older generations ?Mr . KHOKHLOV . That is right !on the older generations . The rulers

knew that the future of the Soviet State could be bas ed only on youngpeople

,born and raised under the Soviet system .

It was their hope that the task of indoctrination would bring themmillions of fanatic supporters of the system

,who in never having had

freedom , wouldn’t know what freedom w as . A nd

,presumably

,they

would blindly follow the Soviet system .

By a coincidence,this bel ief that such a breed of people could be

created w as not a monopoly O f the Soviets . It w as un fortunatelyaccepted by too many people in the West .This w as actually the beginn ing of a system of misconceptions aboutthe Soviet Union . This is how Russ ia became a mystery .

Y ou see, the struggle for the survival o f the Soviet system began

imm ediately after 1917 .

It is very important for us to remember that the people who followedthe Commun ists didn ’t follow them necessarily for the sake of materialgoods or for the raising of the standard of l iving . They knew— themill ions of workers , farmers, the soldiers w ho followed the systemknew that they themselves probably would not get the Opportuni ty tolive well and rich during their lifetime . They believed in the words O fthe Communists , that “ they have to build a better world of tomorrow .

Thus the idea of a headquarters for an international movement w asborn and accepted by millions Of Soviet citizens.

The fraud behind the pretense that the Communists really wouldfulfill their promises w as very quickly understood by the older generati ons . For instance , Navy people , who in their lives and work actually had more freedom and more opportunity to build friendships inthe service and to travel abroad

,real ized that they were being deceived .

So in 1921 occurred the first uprising of Navy peOple '

against' the

Sovi et system . This was a signal for the Government to begin themass extermination of millions of the older generations .

3 760 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIF .

, AREA

A nd later came the directive to convert the farms into collectivefarms

,which gradually became a mass exterm ina tion too .

Mr . SCHERER . May I interrupt ?Could you elaborate on your statement as to the time when there wasan extermination of older groups ?Mr . KHOKHLOV . Y es .

Mr. SCHERER . Could you elaborate on what took place ?Mr. KHOKHLOV . Y es .

The Soviet Government then established a so - called Special committee or an “ extraordinary commission”

,known by the name of

Chekha (Cheka) .

Mr. TAVENNER . Will you Spell it ?Mr. KHOKHLOV . Chekha . I don ’t know exactly how to spell it inEnglish

,but it sounds l ike “Chekha”.

To the uninitiated,the task of this committee w as re resented as

defense of State security . But this w as not true . In the ov ietUnionthen

,it w as not necessary to be an Open enemy of the system, in order

to be exiled . It w as enough merely to be a liberal . By that , I meanan individual inside of the Soviet Union who would not speak openl yagainst the Soviet system or comprom ise himself in any way .

Mr. TAVENNER . I did not understand .

Mr. KHOKHLOV. He would not speak Openly against the system,but

bec ause of his private bel iefs would not support the Soviet system .

Thus,millions of teachers , professors , engineers , doctors , a rtists ,

and other people who had too much intell igence to believe in the Sovietsystem and were smart enough to realize that this w as

-all a fake,were

arr

isted by Chekha agents and, without any trial , just sent to S iberia

or il led.

I could tell you a fact very well known inside of the Soviet Union ,

tha t today you will find in the Soviet Union extremely few familieswhich were not affected by this system of terror. Y ou will not findmany fami lies of which a member w as not at one time exiled or

disappeared or Shot . Some of my own family were persecuted too .

Mr. SCHERER . Let me get this clear .DO I understand then that these O lder people who were notmentallyqualified to accept the Soviet system were either exi led or disposed of ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. That is right .Mr . SCHERER . W hether or not there was any active Opposition to the

systemMr . KHOKHLOV . Yes .Mr. SCHERER . Merely because they would not accept it ?Mr . KHOKHLOV. Yes .In the earl years of the Soviet State, some groups which actively

opposed the ov iet system,were treated as such . They were arrested

,

brought to trial,and executed . Y ou will remembe r them as Trot

skyites , Zinov iev ists and B ukharinists , and other so-called deviationists . This was merely a way for Lenin and Stal in to exterminate theirpol itical enemies .Mr. SCHERER . DO you mean execute potential pol itical enemieswhether they were pol itical enemies at the time or not ?Mr. KHOKHLOV . That is right .Mr. SCHERER . They might be potential enemies because they

,as you

goint out

,were not mentally or emotionally qualified to accept the

ov1et system .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3762 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CAME

,AREA

Mr. SCHERER. So that the younger generation could be more easilybrainwashed .

Mr. KHOKHLOV . That is right .It made poss ible the brainwashing of the younger generation .

F or instance , I will call to your attention an event whi ch will provet<

l

)

dyou the importance o f separating the younger generation from the

o er.A Young Pioneer

,which means member of the Communist move

ment for children,by the name of Pavlik Morozov w as a child who

betrayed his own father to the secret police. His father was a kulak ,or a rich farmer

,who did not want to join a collective farm .

The father,together w ith his brother, a peasant also , began to

make propaganda in order to mobilize other farmers against col]ectiv ization. The son overheard their discussion

,went to the secret

police and reported his father . As a consequence,his father and

uncle were brought to trial and shot . Later,most o f their relat ives

were ex iled to S iberia .

Normally the boy ’s conduct would be an example of the lack of lovefor family . But the Government made him a kind of national hero.

And the rincipal means they used to do this w as art . They gave thejob to a oviet poet . His name

,I guess

,was Tschipachov .

Mr . TAVENNER. A Soviet playwright ? D id you say ?Mr . KHOKHLOV. Poet .He was assigned to write a poem which was used in every school ,

and it w as actually a “must”in the repertoire of every concert,and

every holiday evening in the high schools .

Mr. MOUL DER . May I interrupt you to ask one question ? I amsorry to interrupt your line of thought

,but what qualifies a farmer

I mean what wealth,property

,or resources—qual ifies a person to be

referred to as a rich man in Russia ? I am curious to know that. Ido not understand what you mean by rich man in Russia .

Mr. KHOKHLOV. I used the word “kulak,

” a completely artificialdesignation introduced at that time by the Soviet rulers . They divided all the farmers into so-called kulaks

,which meant people who

owned at least a horse or employed other people to work for them.

Next came the serednyaks, the middle farmer, who usually owned ahorse,but never employed farm helpers . Then followed the last cate

gory of farmers who didn ’t have anything . They were called bednyaks ! poor people .A S far as I know

,Pav l ik’s father owned tw o horses and sometimes

employed farmhands .Now to go back to the psychological drive designed to spread fearand artific1al isolation among the masses

,we see that it was immedi

ately combined with an attempt to control the arts,and to use them

to mold public opinion .

I could name two people who actually were instruments of theSoviet Government in taking over control of the arts . They were theSoviet writer Maxim Gorki , and the Soviet poet Vladim irMaiakovsky.

In the early thirties,the Soviet Government called a big congress of

the Union of Soviet Writers , at which , for the first time In Soviet history

,was raised the principle O f so- called Social ist realism.

(Representative Donald L. Jackson left the hearing room at thi spoint. )

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CAME

,AREA 3763

Mr. KHOKHL OV. Maxim Gorki then Openly declared that art mustserve the system and its ideology

,and that there is no such thing as

independent art .Mr. SCHERER . What kind of art ?Mr . KHOKHLOV . Independent art .He pointed out that nobody could write or create just for pleasure

or for art ’s sake . Every p iece of creative work must serve the systemor, as he interpreted it, the bu ilding of a better world .

It is Significant that at this time there was generally adopted an

expression of Stalin,who described writers as “ the engineers of human

souls .” S ince then,this designation has always been used in conn ec

tion with Soviet literature .Mr. DOYL E . When you use the term art”do you include music ?Mr. KHOKHLOV . Positively . I wil l be more Specific about that later .

Mr. MOULDER . Pardon me. I am sorry to interrupt your very interesting and impressive testimony at this point

,but I feel it is proper

to announce that Mr. Laughl in E . Waters , United States DistrictAttorney for the Southern District of California , has honored uswith his presence here in the hearing room to hear your testimony .

Y ou may proceed .

(Representative Donald L . Jackson returned to the hearing roomat this point . )Mr. KHOK HLOV . Now it would be fit to remember that s ince 1917Russia has ceased to exist . By this I mean that the national feelingsof the Russian peoples had to be suppressed .

The Soviet rul ers then said that now is the time to build a newstate in which no citizen would have the right to regard hims elf as anindividual, but must regard himself solely as a citizen of a new kindof state— Soviet State .Thus

,one coul d no longer be a Russian ! or any longer praise the

old Russian classics ! you could no longer imitate Russian folk music,Russian customs, Rus sian habits . And even Russian national holidays were suppressed .

In this w ay, the Sov1et Government tried to create a new breedof man -the Soviet man .

By the way,this is one of the great differences between Nazi Ger

many and the Soviet State . Naz i Germany w as a state,based upon

national feel ings , pushed to the extreme . A nd the Soviet Union wasbuilt on exactly the reverse principle . To be a Soviet citizen you hadto cease to be a Russian .

A nd this principle w as, of course, O f tremendous importance to thearts . Y ou see , all art had to become Soviet art.So one of the main purposes in the 1930 ’s was to create this Sovietart.But it is very di h cult to force a man to renounce his nationality.

It requires much control and much pressure .So, the rulers organized a vast system of control and pressure .Mr. MOULDER . At this point may we take a recess

,if it is agreeable

with the committee ?Mr. SCHERER . May I ask one question before we lose it ?Did I understand you to say, that to be a Soviet citizen, you had tocease to be a Russian ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. That is correct.

7 743 6 -56—p t. 8— 3

3764 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES , CAME ,AREA

Mr. SCHERER . I S that what you said ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. Positively .

Mr . SCHERER . When you say a Soviet citizen is that synonymouswith a Communist ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. NO . He would be any man permanently residingwithin the borders of the Soviet Union . It doesn ’t matter if he isa member of the Communist Party or not.

Mr . DOYLE . If they ceased to be Russians,if that was the propa

ganda and the pressure beginning in 1930 , what did they become ?Citizens O f what nation ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. Citizens of the nonn ational Sov iet State. This is

not a lways understood in the West. Actually , the Soviet State i s nota state like other countries such as England , France, or Russia before1917 . In November 1917 , Russia became a state , established as theheadquarters of an international movement designed as a world con

spiracy to supplant the national sentiments of man .

Therefore,a Commun ist in the United States is as much a citizen

of the U . S . S . R . as a man l iving in the Soviet Union .

Mr. SCHERER . That is the point I w as try ing to make.Therefore

,to be a Communist in the United States , you have to

cease to be an American .

Mr. KHOKHLOV . Positively . The first purpose O f the Soviet Stateis to represent itself as the motherland of the so -called workers ofthe entire world . In other words, the followers O f the Soviet system .

Mr . MOULDER . At this po int the comm ittee will stand in recess fora period of 5 m inutes , and then you may resume your interesting and

impressive testimony .

(Whereupon , a short recess w as taken,Representatives Moulder,

Doyle,Jackson

,and Scherer being present . )

(At the exp iration of the recess , the committee w as reconvened , therebeing present Representatives Moulder

,Doyle

,Jackson

,and Scherer .)

Mr. MOULDER . The committee w ill be in order .Will you proceed, Mr. Tavenner ?Mr . TAVENNER . Y ou were describing to the committee the history ofthe Soviet Union insofar as the arts played a part in the control exercised by the Government over proj ects in which it w as interested .

Will you continue now with your discussion .

Mr . KHOKHLOV . The attack of the Soviet system against the nationalfeel ings of the indiv idual w as only a part of its strategy .

Not less important for them w as the drive to convert every individual into a mere. tool , a mere instrument in the hands of the SovietState. Here we may find the key to understand the strange prob lemof music in the Soviet Union . At first S ight

,it seems impossible to

express social ideas through music .Mr . DOYLE . Mr . Chairman

,may I ask the witness to repeat that

statement,please ?

Mr . KHOKHLOV. Y es .

It seems at the first Sight that it would be impossible,by means O f

music , to propagandize Communist ideas or to oppose them . But theSoviet rulers had their own idea about that .They consider a musici an or composer not only as an artist

,but also

as a public figure , as an individual who has some social influence,some

social connections , and occup ies an important place in the SO -calledSoviet el ite .

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE L os ANGELES,CAME , AREA 3765

A S an individual he had to be put under control .F or instance , all musicians were forced to work within the frame

of the SO -called Union of Soviet Composers .

Mr. DOYLE . Y ou say they were forced to ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. Y es .

Don ’t confuse it with labor unions in the free world . It is a different kind of union which I will describe later . .Well , let us go backto the Soviet doctrine that the only art ex isting within the SovietUnion must be Soviet art .It means that the art was used to mold public op inion and mobilize

it for the service of the Soviet system .

Stalin O ften repeated that art—all branches of art—is an exce

tional means to influence the masses and to mobilize them in the fig tfor social ism .

If the composers in the Soviet Union would be permitted to introduce in their music some American tunes or some j azz motifs

,or would

compose in the modern way used in the Western World,it would affect

the integrity of Soviet art,andmake the Soviet art depend uponWest

ern art . That was what the Soviet leaders feared .

Because of their determination to preserve the integrity of Sovietart

,the composer Dmitri Shostakovitch , for instance, in 1936 was

degraded and punished for his opera entitled “Lady Macbeth O f theMzensk District .”Mr. SCHERER . Y ou say he was punished ?Mr. KHOKHL OV. Y es .

Mr. SCHERER . How was he punished ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. I am going to explain .

In a decision of the Communist Party,Shostakovitch was accused

of adopting a SO - called formal istic approach to music .The opera is actually an important item in the field O f music.Opera not only has music

,but it has characters

,libretto

,action

,and

so on .

Shostakovitch allegedly did not use the new approach to music required from Soviet composers . Thus he became a traitor to Socialistreal ism.

Nothing was said about legal punishment. But Shostakov itch wasimmediately removed from his position which he occup ied on theboard of directors of the Union of Soviet Composers. He was deprived of state allowances and O f some special privileges such as anexclusive Moscow a artment

,access to exclusive shops, and so on .

Moreover, he was su j ected to ostracism , to which an artist is alwaysvery sensitive .Mr. DOYL E . May I interrupt there ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. Yes .Mr. DOYLE . What board or what 0 "

icials thus punished this musicalcomposer ? Who did it ? Who decided it ?Mr. KHOKHLOV . The deta ils were taken care of by the board ofdirectors of the Union of Soviet Composers . This union alone decides,for instance, to whom w ill be given fin ancial allowances

, as well asthe distribution of apartments.Mr. DOYLE . Was this a labor un ion’

,a union of musicians ?

Mr. KHOKHLOV. No . I especially em hasize that it is not a laborunion . It is a kind of apparatus espec ial y created by the Soviet Stateto control the musicians.

3766 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIE

,AREA

Mr. DOYLE . In other words,it i s a Soviet State union .

Mr. KHOKHL OV . That is right .Mr. DOYLE . Formed by the Soviet State music in the Soviet Union ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. That is right . A composer could not publish hiswork or obtain allowances except through the state, because the statepays him . There are no private organizations which would buy yoursong. There are no agents . It is only the state

,always and onl y the

state.This drive to make individuals serve the state above everything else

w as the main reason for a Similar drive directed against authors,the

atrical writers , movie producers , and even painters .

Through this psychological pressure and economic blackmail , sometimes even through exile to S iberia

,the Soviet rulers established a

complete contro l of the arts,in the late l 930 ’s .

Mr. JACKSON . I dislike to break your trend of thought,but what

was Mr . Shostakovitch ’s reaction to the discipl ine and the censure ofthe board ?Mr. KHOKHLOV . At that time he could afford to remain Silent .

Later,in 1948 , he had to confess his m istakes openly .

Mr . JACKSON . Thank you .

Mr. TAVENNER . Can you give the committee any other instancesof the nature of the control that this government-organized groupexercised over persons in the arts ?Mr . KHOKHLOV. Thi s control w as exercised in many ways, but Iwould like to mention only tw o of them . First of al l

,the control of

the personality of the artist himself. I t w as done in many ways .

In order to become an artist,an author

,a songwriter

,or even a

p ianist, one could go not to a private employer— private employees do

not exist there . It is true, you could participate in a SO - cal led amateur

group,but you would never get money for it. In order to become a

professional,you have to be registered in one of the local branches

of the All-Union Organization .

For instance,suppose you would like to write a book or a novel .

Y ou could not go to a pub lisher because there are no private enterpri ses . There are only the state publishing enterprises . Y ou wouldhave to go to the Union of Soviet Writers or one of its branches .They have a Special section called the Education of Young Writers.Mr. TAVENNER . May I interrupt you a moment. When you sayUnion of Soviet Writers

,are you Speaking of unions in the sense of

a labor union ?Mr. KHOKHLOV . No . Thi s union is not a labor union .

Mr. TAVENNER . I think you Shoul d make that clear because our

understanding in this country of a union is different.Mr. KHOKHLOV. Well

,actually there is a labor union

,as such

,in

the Soviet Union,which is called the Labor Union of Artists . It is a

labor union as far as it is actually possible in the Soviet Union . Itgives you a membership book and it takes care of some O f your medicalexpenses

,compensations

,pensions

,and SO on . Usually everybody

who is working in the field of the arts joins this labor union .

Parallel to this labor union,there are the SO -called unions for the

various arts . For instance,the Union of Soviet Composers

,Union

of Soviet Painters, Union of Soviet Writers,whose unique and only

f unction i s to exercise control over the artist .

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CAME , AREA 3767

Mr. SCHERER . A re they really state agencies or bureaus ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. That is right.Mr. SCHERER . A S we would know them in thi s country ?Mr. KHOK HLOV. That is right .But an agent here does not have control over apartments or allowanoes

,and he would not report you to the secret police if you deviated

from the state l ine !or your agent here cannot psychologically oppressyou , which a Soviet-controlled union does . SO it is a kind of tentacleof the state which exercises full control of writers , musicians , andeven painters .

Mr . SCHERE R . Those unions to which you refer are agencies of thestate or part of the state ?Mr . KHOKHLOV. Y es . They are agenc ies of the state

,and they

are part of the state . We could call them “ control unions,

”maybe .Mr. DOYLE . DO I understand that if an artist or a painter createsa beautiful painting he can sell that to some store ?Mr. KHOKHLOV . NO .

Mr. DOYLE . Why not ?Mr . KHOKHLOV. If he painted something o f l ittle artistic value

,he

could sell it for a few rubles in a publ ic market . But that is not theway to promote himself as a painter . If he would l ike to becomeknown as a painter he has to organize an exhibition of 2 or 3 of hisbetter works

,or have them included in an exhibition . Expositions

or exhibitions are held only by the Union of Painters,that is

,the

state union ,not the labor union . They promote some pa inters and

exhibit their '

pictures .

But you cannot , as an individual , ask the director of exhibitions toaccept your work . If he will take a look a t your work he w ill nevertell you whether or not he l ikes it. He will call your painting to thez

f

i ttention of the Union of Soviet Pa inters,and they w ill decide its

uture .

Not only your painting will be considered,but your entire back

ground will be checked .

Mr. DOYLE . May I interrupt ? I s that board of directors a stateagency ?Mr . KHOKHLOV . Posit ively . The board is largely composed Ofparty members .Mr. DOYLE . Then the only market

,as I understand it

,for a creative

painting or a work of art is the state .Mr. KHOKHLOV . Y es

,the only one .

Mr. DOYL E . The Soviet State .

Mr. KHOKHLOV . Right . Y ou cannot get money from any individnals . Well

, you could get money from individuals for some old

painting of already - recognized masters,but not in order to promote

yourself .Mr. DOYLE . If I asked you the same question about a musical composition or an opera , would your answer be the same ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. In the musical field

,the state control is more com

plete than in paintings . A kind of private transactions with paintingsis practiced

,very seldom

,but yet it is done .

In music, that possibility does not exist . I w il l Speak more detailedabout music later . Now let us return to the control exercised over theindividuals by these “control unions .

” It is exercised from the very

3768 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIE

,AREA

beginning of the artist ’s career . At the beginning, a young author istaken under the w ing of some O lder, more experienced writer whotheoretically should guide h im ,

but actually is controlling him . Intime

,they give some reports about him to the control union . The

party organization checks him . If he i s finally consi dered as talentedand reliable , the state union could approve some financial help forhim in order to give h im free time to continue his work . Then, as aresult of the author ’s record , or even the po l itical expediency of hiswork

,the state will decide to publish it , selecting a publishing house

for him .

Mr. SCHERER . Y ou are subsidized by the state.Mr . KHOKHLOV . That is right .But should he try to be independent or contradict in any way theCommunist Party line, it is easy for the control union to cut his allowance

,and cease to promote his work . They just won’t publish it and

he is finished . It is a sort of econom ic blackmail and a very effectiveone .

A s to the composers it works the same way . The composer is underthe control of the union of composers and is treated the same as thewriters . This way of control concerns primarily the individualhimself.But there is another way of control which deals with the work of

art,itself .Books andmusic works , even popular songs , have to be approved bya Special state committee

,the main task of which constitutes the

approval of all works of art . The committee puts its stamp of

approval which has to be on your copy of the work. Without thisstamp of approval

,your work is worthless .

F or instance, suppose you wrote a song, “Oh,My Baby .

” It has atuneful melody and catching words, but no performer can sing it inpublic . Even if She l ikes it, she cannot yet use it.Y ou have first to go to the committee for approval . Y ou file threecop ies of your song with the special committee . And it will firstcheck to see that it was not stolen .

Mr . SCHER ER . If it is what ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. Stolen. That is what they say, but in real ity thecommittee does not care much whether it is stolen . Many songs andma

l

ny tunes of the best composers in the Soviet Union are sometimessto en .

What they are checking is to see whether it conforms w ith the partyl ine. And they also check on the man who wrote it : I s he on a goodlist or on a bad list ?If everything is all right

,they give it a stamp O f approval . Only

then you are permitted to use this song. Then you can sell it to variousstate agencies .

Besides the Union of Soviet Composers which can pay money for it,there are some SO - called philharmonics . These philharmon ics exist inabout all the b ig cities

,and control the orchestras

,musicians

,and

artists . They put them into groups and arrange concerts for them.

An artist cannot perform without the approval of the local philharmonic . Therefore , he is merely an employee o f a philharmonicwhich is completely controlled by the party committee . I t has its

board of directors , which establ ishes a quota— the number of per

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3770 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES INTHE LOS ANGELES,CAME

,AREA

By the way,this procedure by which a writer is commissioned by

the state or party to produce a book or a novel , has , in Soviet language,a Special term “ Socialist order .” Even an opera or an anthem andeven a popular song could be ordered by the state . The artist whofulfills such a “ Social ist order”is usually very well paid for it . Onlytrusted people are assigned to fulfill such orders .In this way

,many works of so - called art were created w ith the sole

purpose of supporting a specific pol itical drive . Thus,millions of

cop ies of Tilled Virgm Land were printed and distributed to everyl ibrary

,school

,and reading room . The bo ok described the alleged

enthusiasm w ith which the Soviet peasants accepted the idea of collectiv ization . In this way

,the people in the cities were partly con

fused about the true situation in the country .

This campaign of indoctrination might have gone on successfullyfor a lon t ime i f something very important had not happened in thehistory 0 the Soviet Union—World War II .

I suppose that future historians will consider the beginning of

IVorldWar II as the beginning of the end of the Sov iet system .

Th e outbreak of the war brought a great awakening of the Sovietpeople . F or the first time in their lives

,the Soviet rulers were con

fronted w ith a S ituation in which they could no longer create h is tory.

Thereafter they had to follow events .

Mr. SCHERER . I did not hear what you said . They had alreadywhat ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. They had to follow events

,to meet them

,to defend

themselves against this turn of events . Y ou see,when m illions o f

people w ere brought together at the front , psychological isolation , distrust

,and fear were broken .

The people began to speak openly and began to trust one another .Very quickly they discovered that the Soviet system w as a fake

,that

the Soviet ideology w as a fake,and that Soviet art w as also a fake .

The people felt that the so - called Socialist real ism,acclaimed by

Gorki—the writer I quoted— w as not realistic at all because it did notreflect reality in the country .

Then a very unusual thing occurred . The Russians at the frontbegan to defect in mill ions to the Nazis . A S soon as the people be anto analyze the reasons behind this mass defection

,they understood t at

the masses d id not l ike the Soviet system,and didn’t want to defend

the Soviet Sta te . The Sp iritual contact between the older generationand the younger generation w as reestabl ished . When the massesunderstood that the Soviet system w as not worth defending

,the Nazi

armies entered the Soviet Un ion as a knife enters butter,quick and

easy .

The Soviet rulers had only one way to save themselves— allow na~tional feelings to be revived again .

Mr. TAVENNER . Which had been the thing they had been attemptingto destroy ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. That is right .That w as their first general retreat

,and one of the most dangerous .

Here again they used propaganda,the press

, and, of course, the arts .

They now told the Russians to regard themselves as Russians again.

Suddenly some old Russian classics reappeared,the Russian religious

holdidays were a llowed again , religion could be pro fessed openly.

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CAME

,AREA 377 1

Old Russian military dress , even the traditional Cossack costumeswere restored ! the Russian national heroes were brought out of thedust and even some high decorations of the Soviet State began to bearthe images of some old czarist generals and admirals . A nd

,of course,

there was a switch in the policy toward the arts .

For instance , Shostakovitch came back in favor . Now he couldwrite a symphony with all his modernistic and formalistic techniques.Mr . SCHERER . Mr. Chairman , it is di “

i cult to follow this , and ifsome of the people in the hearing room do not want to listen to thistestimony— and I can see the reason they don ’t want to listen to it— Ithink we should have that disturbance stopped , because I can hearthe overtones .Mr. MOULDER . The doors will be closed.

Mr. JACKSON . I ask the hall be cleared .

Mr. SCHERER . Let ’s clear the hall .Mr. JACKSON . I do not see why we should not have air in the roombecause of the convenience of people who do not want to come in .

It may be a l ittle painful for some of them to listen,but it might be

a good idea for them to get some information .

Mr. MOULDER . May I ask how long have you been speaking English ?Mr . KHOKHLOV . One year and a half . When I tes tified in the sum

mer of 1954 , I could not speak Engl ish at all , and spoke through aninterprete r.Mr . MOUL DER . Y ou certainly have acquired it in an amazingly shorttime

,and very fluently . I think this statement is in order to explain

sometimes your search for words and your hesitancy in finding theproper word .

Mr. KHOKHLOV. I am very sorry .

Mr . MOULDER . But you Speak very effectively .

Mr . KHOKHLOV. Thank you.

Mr. TAVENNER . What lan uages do you speak ?Mr . KHOKHLOV. I speak erman

,French

,Rum anian

,and Russian

,

of course .

Mr . SCHERER . A nd Engl ish,very well .

Mr. KHOKHLOV . Thank you .

Mr. TAVENNER . I intended a little later to ask your age,but I will

do that while we are wa iting for the people to be seated .

Mr. KHOKHLOV. I shall be 34 in June of this year.Mr . TAVENNER . Now if you wil l resume, please .Mr. KHOKHLOV . Shostakovitch wrote his symphony about Leningrad , wh ich w as surrounded by the Nazi armies

,but which did not

surrender.This symphony dealt w ith hunger

,starvation

,sufferings and death

,

and the unbreakable will to exist . He used,in full

,all the modern

means of compos ition .

At that time even lyric poetry reappeared .

Y ou see, it is a very interesting thing that in order to make the

individual regard himself only as a Soviet c itizen,that is, as a soldi er

of the world movement , Soviet rulers for many years tried to eradicate all tender

,human feel ing.

Thus , lyric poety above love , moonlight, serenade, and flowers was

banned for many years . It was considered decadent and rotten . In7 7 43 6—56—pt. 8— 4

3772 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CAME

,AREA

its place were put the lyrics of Maiakov sky. One of his most knownpoems w as a hymn of praise sung by a worker who w as moved fromhis former flat to a new apartment in a state house . The workerdescribes the apartment , floors and bathroom ,

cold and hot water ,and draws the conclusion that “All this is given to me by the SovietState . This is my system . This is my state . This is my bathroomand my luxury which is now allowed to me . I am a worke r and.

therefore,I am entitled to enjoy all this.

”

In other poems,Maiakovsky sang the praises of the Soviet State

,

the Communist Party and,of course

,Lenin . One of his most known

sentences pub l icized in every corner of the Soviet State , w as “ I ampra ising the Communist Party and Soviet State, my party , and mystate .

”

These were the only kind of lyrics that could be published . Ofcourse in high school and college , one studied the lyrics of AlexanderBlock

,Vera Inber

,and Anna A kmatova . But because their works

were regarded as decadent and overpessimistic,they were kept out

of publ ic circulation . Other poets learned how to sacrifice their integrity and to comb ine tender lyric sentiments w ith crude praise ofthe Soviet State. For instance

,one o f the greatest Russ ian lyric poets

,

Sergei E ssen in,had to follow this path . Essenin is generally loved

and admired by the Russian people for his so- called peasant lyrics .

But in order to get these peasant lyrics published , he had to includein his verses some praise of the Soviet State . The finished workwould look l ike a painting by Raphael with a party slogan printedacross the face .

In my op inion,the confl ict between the sentiments of his genuinely

poetic soul , and the hideous duty to insert the party l ine in his verses ,eventually led him to su icide . By the way

,Maiakov sky comm itted

su icide because of his disillusionment with the system which he hadonce SO ardently praised . Y ou see

,it w as almost impossible to write

lyric poetry before World War II .

But suddenly , w ith the beginning of TVorldWar II , there emergedthe poet Constantin S imonov . He emerged not by chance . I assumehe got a blessing from the Communist Party . His poems dealt withthe feelings of the soldiers at the front . populari ty of these frontlyrics w as tremendous . One of his poems entitled “F ox Hole”w as

later adapted to music . E verybody sang it . Th is poem did not contain anything about the Soviet system or the Communist Party . Itw as a very normal

,sad story of a soldier sitting in a fox hole thinking

about his w ife,his family

,his beloved .

“Between you ,”he says to

his wife,

“and me

,there are a thousand miles . Between me and death

there are only four steps .

”

Thus,the human beings were again allowed to be human .

What w as more,a Russian w as again allowed to be a Russi an . This

had its eff ect . A S soon as the people understood they now had todefend their native land

,their own soil

,their own folk traditions

,

they began to fight to the death . Besides,they hoped that this mel

lowing of the system would not be something temporary,but would

develop further .At this time

,the Naz is committed one of their biggest mistakes .

They began to direct their war not aga inst the Soviet system,not

against the Communists , but against the Russians . Naz i propag anda

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE L os ANGELES,CALIE , AREA 3773

said that the Russians are a barbarian , prim itive people , w ho l ike tobe tortured and are used to dictatorship .

Hence,they must be converted to Slaves of the great Naz i emp i re .

Because O f this , there were no more defections , and the Naz1 Armywas destined to be destroyed .

During World War II,the Russians learned tw o great lessons .

First,that the Soviet system w as not the best system of all . The mam

means O f indoctrinating people l ike me—because I w as Indoctrinated,

too— was to keep us in ignorance about reali ties abroad . Because of

Soviet paintings , I v isualized New York to be a ci ty where streetswere narrow

,d i rty

,and without light—whi ch they really are . I also

visual ized the streets filled with poor, jobless, starving people. But Idid not know about prosperity in the United States . Instead I wastold how horrible fat cap ital ists throw m ill ions of pounds of coffeeand rice into the sea in order to keep prices from dropp ing .

I thought,

“Well,our system i s not very good now

,but it is still the

best of a ll because it is the most just .” This illusion w as widespread,

especially among the young people .Then the Soviet armies went abroad , and millions of soldiers sawwith their own eyes what living is like in the SO - called cap ital isticcountries . I remember I w as told about an incident when a soldier

,a

young man— probably a son of a farmer— entered a home in Germanynear the border . He saw that this w as a house of a worker. He sawsome overalls and some tools there . A nd then he saw a living roomand a porcelain set, unthinkable even forMr . SCHERER . What was that ? I did not get that .Mr. KHOKHLOV. A porcelain set

,a set of porcelain . The Germans

like this kind of th ing .

Then this Soviet soldier took h is rifle and destroyed this set withsadness . He didn ’t real ize himself that in this very moment he destroyed the meaning , the illusion planted in his mind by Soviet rulersthat life under the Soviet system is the best and most justified of all .In a Sim ilar way m ill ions of us understood that l ife abroad has

many things we never dreamed of . I do not mean necessarilyWesternmaterial w eath . Y ou see

, the system in the Soviet Union is not primarily based on the lack of material goods . It is based rather on thelack of freedom, lack o f the right to be an individual

,to maintain

your personal decency and mora lity o f a human being .

Russian soldiers,in talking with Germans

,Poles

,Czechoslovaki ans

,

Rumanians , and Austrians , real ized that an individual in the WesternWorld is much more a human being

,more free to preserve his per

sonal decency than inside the Soviet Union.

But that w as only the beginning. We got our second lesson in thesatellite countries .

Mr. TAVENNER . The satel lites ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. The satell ite countries—Bulgaria

,Ruman ia

,Hun

gary,and others .

There we saw w ith our own eyes how countries,only yesterday

capitalistic, were sovietized in a few months . A nd w e saw with as

tonished eyes how some former Fascists,common crim inals

,some

cheap bums— people without any human values—hurried to join theparty . They were after power and they got it.

3774 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CAME

,AREA

I w as myself in Rumania then and saw all this .

There then,for the first time in my life , I thought that if this is the

kind of people the Communist Party needs,I cannot be associated with

such an institution .

A nd I decided to pos tpone as far as possible my own entrance intothe party.

By the way,I joined the party only in 1953

,when I cons idered it too

dangerous to stay out any longer. Right there , in Rumania , I understood that the Sov iet system brings too much wrong to other countries and I decided I Should not serve it any more .But mill ions of people felt the same way . At the same time the

meaning of our fam ilies,parents

,relatives

,and friends increased in

our hearts during the war because we missed them and they m issed us,

and we understood what each meant to the other. So when w e camehome as veterans from the front , we told what we had seen

,and we

were listened to,and trusted .

Thus,our realization that the Soviet system 18 a fake w as spread

across the whole country through the best means of commun icationrumors .

Mr. SCHERER . Through what ?Mr . KHOKHLOV . Rumors .

Af ter the war the majority of people already knew that the Sovietsystem w as positively and definitely wrong and it ought to be doneaway with . But we d id not know what to do ! besides, we hoped thatthe government would have to retreat even more . We thought thatthings could not return to the way they were before the war.This w as our Opinion .

But it w as not the op inion of Stal in and the Commun ist Party .

They wanted us to be come again Soviet citizens , and to cease to beRussians .

Mr. TAVENNER . Y ou are Speaking now as of the conclusion ofWorldWar II ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. Y es . AfterWorld War II

,we wanted to continue

to be Russians,as we had been allowed during the war temporarily .

We wanted to enlarge this freedom and to bring it to a normal wayof life . A nd we expected the government to recognize this way . Wedid not real ize then that it would be impossible for the Soviet systemto treat us as Russians and as individuals

,be cause the Soviet system

can exist only through complete control over individuals,through

terror,fear

,distrust

,and oppression .

Immedi ately after the end of the war,Stalin and company began to

organ ize their campaign to bring us— the millions of Russians— backto their obedience .Mr. TAVENNER . What means were used by the Soviet Governmentafter World War II to restore the di scipline and control that the Government had formerly exercised over the people ?Mr. KHOKHL OV . One of the first means they used were the arts.They began to restore complete control again over the books

,poetry,

movies,paintings

,and music . In the fall of 1947 , there began a series

o f so—called governmental decisions wh ich actually were decisions of

the Communist Party concerning the arts . They began with the dec ision about writers and literary magaz ines . The phantom of So

c ial ist realism w as revived . Again the writers were told that the only

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES INTHE L OS ANGELES,CAME

,AREA 3775

way to create is to create in the Soviet way , to serve the Soviet system ,

and to follow the doctrines.By means of the arts

,they wanted to bring the people back to obedi

ence .The next move w as the decision of the Central Committe of theCommunist Party about the movie industry

,then about the theater

and stage , and, finally , on the l 0th of February 1948,they publ ished a

decision concerning music .Mr . TAVENNER . Who published that decision ?Mr. KHOKHLOV . It w as Signed by the Central Committee of theartp

TAVENNER . O f the Communist Party ?Mr . KHOKHLOV. Y es . It w as not even Signed by the Union of SovietComposers . It w as not even signed by the department of propagandaand arts of the central committee . It w as S igned by the central committee itself

,which left no doubt who w as boss of the arts in the Soviet

Union.

To some people, it seemed very strange how music can be connectedwith ideas . But I would like to repeat once again that the struggleby which the Communists tried to control the free world and its own

people,is a struggle for the minds and souls . Access to the mind and

the soul of a human being is mainly through art . In the decision of

February 1948,the party condemned the composer Muradel i

,and his

Opera Great Friendship . But it w as not against him alone . Manyother composers were also named . Again the same poor Shostakovitch and Prokofiev and Khachaturian .

Mr. IZ

I’

A VENNER . What was the accusation made by the central committee .

Mr. KHOKHLOV . The accusation w as a very old one— formalism . In

other words,some composers tried to regard their work as the inde

pendent work of an artist . They had the wrong idea that they werefree in their creation

,that they could use even the lVestern w ay of

composing. They forgot their Soviet status .SO the party indirectly rem inded the composers that they wouldhave to be primarily and exclusively Soviet citizens and Soviet artists .

Mr. TAVENNER . May I interrupt you a moment ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. Y es .

Mr. TAVENNER . When you spoke o f the decision condemning Murad

fil i,

g

w ere you Speaking in connection with the opera Great Friends 1p .

Mr . KHOKHLOV . I can explain it very briefly . This Opera dealtwith events which happ ened in south Russ ia in the last days of theczarist rule , and w as adapted in November o f 1947 at the Bolsho iTheater in Moscow

,in connection with commemorative holidays of the

Bolshevik Revolution .

This theater is the biggest Showplace in the Soviet Union .

Perhaps , because of the publ icity thatMuradel i’s opera received , the

party especially attacked it in order to prove that even great composers and great personalities had to follow this l ine of SO - calledSoviet art .Mr. TAVENNER . I bel ieve this would be a good place to recess .

Mr. MOULDER . The comm ittee will stand in recess until 1 45 p . m .

(Whereupon , at 12 noon, the committee w as recessed

,to be recon

vened at p . m .

,the same day . Present at the reces s were Repre

sentatives Moulder,Doyle

,Jackson

,and Scherer .)

3776 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGEL ES,CAME

,AREA

AFTERNOON SESSION, TUESDA Y , APRIL 17, 1956

(The subcommittee reconvened at 1 :55 p . m . Present : Representatives Moulder (presiding) , Doyle, and Jackson . )Mr . MOULDER . The committee w ill be in order .Proceed with the examination of the w itnes

,Mr . Tavenner.

TESTIMONY OF NIK OL A I KHOKHL OV—Resumed

Mr . TAVENNER . The morning session w as ended w ith your descrip~

tion of certain decisions that were made in 1947 by an agency of theSoviet Government relative to the arts . Would you p ick it up fromthere and proceed ?Mr . KHOKHLOV . The decision in February of 1948 concerning themusic did not Specifically m ention popular music

,j azz

,or folk songs .

But one of the most known j azz conductors of the Soviet Union,

Leonid Utiosov , who w as perm itted during World War II to performeven American songs

,suddenly disappeared from the stage . Many

songs were again prohibited . For instance, this song which I men

tioned—F ox Hole— w as completely forbidden . It disappeared fromthe stands

,from music libraries

,and w as taken out O f the repertoire

of Show people .But evidently the drive against independence in the arts didn’tsucceed quite as well as the Soviet rulers expected . Really

,the Rus

si an people had learned too much to be easily driven back to the prewar obedience .

Therefore,the Soviet rulers decided to take more drastic steps .

In 1949,the SO - called Leningrad trial w as staged

,a trial about which

much was written in the West . But unfortunately,the true meaning

of this trial has not yet been emphasized .

Some party officials actually in between the government and themasses were brought to trial on the charge of so—called great Russianchauvinism .

This is an express ion of extreme national feelings . In other words,

these people were accused of regarding themselves as Russians,not

primarily as Soviet citizens,of calling the Soviet Union “Russia”

and of trying to promote Russian customs,habits

,and traditions .

Y ou see,it is not difficult for Westerners to call the Soviet Union

Russia”and the Soviet citizens “Russians,

”but,in the Soviet Union

such terminology would border on a crime against the state .SO , some very high top -party officials had to be sacrificed in order

to reestabl ish the pri ority of the Soviet State and Soviet citizenshipover the Russian national feel ings . E arly in 1949 they were con

demned in Leningrad,exiled

,and many of them d ied in concentration

camps .

Even that evidently w as not enough . The eople still did not wantto return to the stra itj acket of the prewar oviet pressure . Not bychance

,the people most sensitive to those attempts to exterminate the

national feel ings were Jews . The Jews in the Soviet Union alwaysoccupied a speci a l position . Most of them considered Russia as

their home , but they never forgot Israel , the land O f their origin .

This w as one of the things wh ich the Soviet system could not accept .In view of the drive against national istic feelings in 1949

,i t w as

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3778 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES , CAME ,AREA

otten out by the Russian anti-Communist under round inside theSoviet Un ion . This organization operated throng many cells

,but

had its headquarters in West Germany . I w as astonished when Ilearned about the response of the Russian people to this idea— theidea of getting rid of the Soviet system by our own forces , realizingthat this is actually the only way to end the unsupportable situation inour country .

But I repeat,the inertia and fear were too great .

Then Stal in ’s death in March 1953 changed the p icture . The Sovietrulers knew how bad the internal Situation was even while Stalin wasalive.But after he died they became really scared— scared of their ownpeople, and realized that they must immediately make some kind ofretreat . SO they proclaimed a new program ,

the so -called Malenkov ’sprogram. Malenkov ’s government claimed that from then on

,the

people will receive more material goods and personal freedom . Anew period began in Soviet art which can be called by the title of avery well -known novel published at the time

,The Thaw

,by Ilya

Ehrenberg. A nd it w as really a kind of “ thaw”because suddenly thewriters and artists received permission to act freely . The lyrics

,

modern music,and relatively free expressions reappeared in novels

and books,and it helped verymuch .

The Soviet rulers did not m iss the mark this time . This programhad its effect on the people

,yet the lure of material goods alone would

not have had such an effect .The conflict between the people and government

,once again , I

repeat, was not merely on the basis of material goods, but upon thedepreciation of human freedoms .

ff

Thus the granting of some kind O f freedom to the arts had itse ect .Even my wife and I began to hope that perhaps the Soviet systemcan still change itself. We still didn ’t yet realize that the Sovietsystem is entirely a Communist system

,which could not give us the

changes we hoped for.

One of the things supporting our hope w as the uprising of the EastGermany workers on the 7th of June, 1953 .

This uprising was not emphasized enough in the West but it hada tremendous influence over the Russian people .It is not well known

,but the Soviet Army o f Occupation in East

Germany refused to Shoot at rebell ious German workers . The totalnumber of German victims arrested by Soviet authorities in EastBerlin amounted to about 10 .

But in Magdeburg alone, a town in East Germany , some 18 Russ ian soldiers and Officers were Shot for their refusal to suppress theGerman uprising. I w as on the German desk then and knew that atthe same time about Russians were arrested in E ast Germanybecause of their refusal to serve the Soviet rulers in suppressing theuprising. Themil itary j ails

,as I remember

,were overcrowded .

The E ast German authorities had to turn over some of their civilj ails to the Soviet authorities for the temporary confinement of thearrested Soviet soldiers .

Mr. JACKSON . May I ask a question ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. Yes .

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES , CALIE , AREA 3779

Mr.JACKSON . W'ere you at this time , during this period in Germany ,

a member of the Soviet Inte lligence ?Mr

.KHOKHLOV . I w as at that time an officer in the Soviet Intel

l igence , with a position on the German desk , w ith headquarters InBerl in . I kept travel ing back and forth between Moscow and Berl in ,and one of my temporary assignments w as

“

to collect information on

the background of the June 7 German upri smg .

Mr. JACKSON . Did you prepare such reports and submit them ?Mr

.KHOKHL OV. That is right . I received reports from some mem

bers of the Central Comm ittee of the Communist Party O f E ast Germany . I learned the reaction of the East German Communists , howthe uprising w as brought about , how it went , and Its probable resultsif the West would react in the proper way . But the West didn ’t .And so the first opportunity to destroy the Soviet system by means

of the enslaved people themselves d ied .

But it had a very great influence upon the Russian people , who wereshocked . I remember I met one of my friends at the univers ity , aformer Air Force officer. He told me

,with a voice of distress, “Who

are we if we Shoot the workers who are uprising for just reasons ?”I got the same reac tion from people on trade missions—even in Intelli ence .gThe Soviet rulers got the idea that the refusal o f the Sov iet Occupation Army to Obey them was a result of the Russian anti -Communistunderground . They were right, because thousands of soldiers and

o"

icers were influenced by the leaflets and propaganda material ofthis underground .

Through the rotation system,hu ndreds of thousands of soldiers of

occupation went back to the Soviet Un ion,and the truth about the

uprising was told by eyewitnesses .

In the summer of 1953,came uprisings in Soviet concentration

camps . When I w as still in the Soviet Union I learned from somepersonal acquaintances in GULAG that the number of inmates inconcentration camps in the summer of 1953 w as about 13 mill iontwice as many as the membership of the Communist Party .

Mr. TAVENNER . Did you say 13 or 30 ?

Mr. KHOKHLOV. Thirteen .

In 1953 there were about 7 mi llion official Communist Party members . In this way

,for every Oflicial member of the party who w as

not necessarily a Supporter of the system, you had tw o offic1al ly recog

nized enemies of the Soviet system—Russians—imprisoned in con

centration camps .But even although these eople in concentration camps knew theywould be killed

,they revo ted and went against the machineguns .

Indeedmany of them died .

(Representative Gordon H . Scherer entered the hearing room atthis point. )Mr. KHOKHLOV. What is very Significant in the concentration campuprisings is that the inmates did not primarily ask for a better diet,better clothes

,or an extra. p iece of bread . No . They wanted to be

treated as human beings . This reflected in the general feel ing of

the Sov iet '

peOple in 1953 . We wanted to be treated at last with theright to personal

‘

freedom and the right to maintain one ’s personaldecency.

7 7 436—56—pt 8—5

3780 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIE

,AREA

So Under this pressure from below ,the Soviet rulers had to denounce

even the secret pol ice . In the West there w as much speculation aboutthe downfall of Beria. I w as very often asked who got whom : DidMalenkov get Beria or did Bulganin get Beria ? A nd what wasKhrushchev ’s role ?If it were only a matter of personal revenges

,B eria ’s rivals could

have liqu idated him in secrecy— by poisoning , or automobile accident,

as they O ften did to others . Or Beria could very easily have died frominfluenza in one of the best hosp itals of th e Soviet Union . But hed id not. Instead , they Openly and publ icly dethroned one of the godsin the Soviet hierarchy .

It is an interesting fact that denunciation o f Beria was connectedw ith the denunciation of Stal in .

Mr. TAVENNER . That is generally not known ?Mr. KHOKHLOV . NO

,it is not. But the first time Stalin w as de

nounced in very sharp terms was actually in July of 19 53 . Then Iwas already a member of the Communist Party . At that time I hadto join it .Mr. JACKSON . In 1953 ?

Mr . KHOKHLOV . 1953 . I had to join it inMarch of 1953 .

Mr . JACKSON . Y ou haven ’t much seniority in the Communist Partyaround L OS Angeles .Mr . KHOKHLOV. I am not informed about that . But I know thatthousands

,hundreds of thousands

,even maybe mill ions of people

like me,tried hard for many years to stay out of the Commun ist

Party because they already knew th at to be associated with the Communist Party is not a decent thing .

Mr . SCHERER . Not what ?Mr . KHOKHLOV. A decent thing .

F or instance,in a factory

, an engineer could be popular among theworkers as long as he would not become a member o f the party . Butas

'

soon as he becomes a member of the Communist Party the workersusually cease to trust him . He loses much of his popularity and influence

,because the workers do know who is their principal enemy .

I mean the party .

Mr . TAVENNER . Let me interrupt you a moment . The CommunistParty in this country boasts of its contention that it is the v anguard ofthe working people .

Mr. KHOKHLOV. That is because the Communists here never workedin a Soviet factory and they were never forced to take a job they didnot want . But at every step the ordinary man in the Soviet Union istreated as a Slave .Let me give an example : Y ou are a worker in a plant, you don ’tlike your job , but you cannot qu it . If you try to leave, the directorOr I should say the boss assigned by the party , can always stop youev

lgn arrest you— because you do not have the legal right to leave your

0J Or,if you come 20 minutes late on your job , automatically you et a

25 -percent cut in your Salary for 6 months . Th is is a part 0 thelabor discipline decree published in 1940 and still maintained in force .If you came 20 minute s late a second time , you should be brought totrial

,carry ing a penalty up to 1 year in j ail . This usually doesn’t

happen because the director of the plant or factory is interested In

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIF .,

AREA 378 1

keeping you on the job , and, therefore , he just overlooks it . But hecontinues to take the 25 percent of your salary for another 6 months .

But all this,I think

,is Wi dely known .

I would like to stress another point which maybe is not SO widelyknown . All citizens in the Soviet Union have to have a passport .In other words

,an identification booklet , which you may need at any

time . If you cross the ma in street anywhere not permitted by tra ficlaw ,

the first thing the police w ill ask for is your passport . In th isbooklet, besides your personal identifications , your civic status , relationto military service

,have also to be recorded , all your movements

throughout the country .

Y ou cannot even move from one house to another without an entrybe ing made in the book, and you cannot stay in a town other thanyour ow n,

longer than 24 hours without getting your book stamped .

Everybody in the Soviet Union except the peasants,must. have identi

fication books . But mi llions of peasants do not have any identificationa ers .pMr. TAVENNER . Does that mean that the Russian peasant does nothave the right to travel as others ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. Y es . He cannot move from his farm . If he leaves

,

for instance , to sel l potatoes in a nearby city , he usually gets a temporary leave s igned by the head o f the collective farm

,which allows

him to stay 2 or 3 days in the city without molestation,but then he

has to go back . For a easant to obtain permanent registration in acity is almost unthinka le .

There are various other things which bother the Soviet people . Ican recall while lecturing at Yale University tha t I w as asked a trickyquestion by one of the professors , who apparently w as a liberal . Heprobably never had been in the Soviet Union and asked me in a rathersarcastic tone : “Well , Mr . Khokhlov, is it not true that a college student in the Soviet Union gets a job immedi ately after graduation ?”I replied : “Oh

, yes , this is true , he gets a job all rightMr. SCHERER . Pardon me

,where did the pro fessor ask you this ?

Mr. KHOKHLOV . At Yale , in New Haven .

Mr. SCHERER . I can understand that .Mr. KHOKHLOV . Then I asked him ,

“All right,he gets it ! but aren ’t.

you interested in knowing what happens to the student if he doesn ttake the job ?

”

He w as not interested .

But I can tell you what happens to such a student .Legally he must be brought to trial . His fami ly problems

,and the

fact whether or not this job is acceptable to him ,are disregarded .

For example,one O f my friends , a doctor , w ho graduated from a med

ical school,w as sent to a very remote district . His w ife

,a teacher of

the French language in a Moscow school,had just had a baby . A o

tual ly, his whole family plans were threatened w ith ruin . For manymonths he tried hard to get this decis ion postponed or even canceled

,

because he had a place to stay in Moscow, and connections to find a

job there . But despite all his efforts,he had to leave in the summer

of 1953 , and I know it w as a great trag edy .

Mr. SCHERER . Y ou mean that Yale professor w as not interestedin this explanation of what happens to a student who refuses a job ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. NO ! he wasn

’t . He told me,

“I don’t want to hearpropaganda .”

3782 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES ‘

IN'

THE LOS ANGELES , CAME ,AREA

I guess he didn ’t want to hear the truth .

Mr . SCHERER . He didn ’t want propagganda ?(Representative Morgan M . Moulder left the hearing room at this

oint .pMr .)KHOKHLOV . He said “ I already know it is bad there .

Mr. DOYLE (presiding) . May I interrupt ? Who Offered that jobto the student ?

‘

Mr. KHOKHLOV . Nobody offered it to him .

Mr. DOYLE . Who directs him to take the job ?Mr . KHOKHLOV . The Department of Labor Reserves sends the university board a quota Of desired personnel—where they are needed

,

how they are needed,and what kind of professi ons are needed there .

The students are aI b itraI ily assigned to d ifferent places by a panelcomposed of university people

,party and Komsomol ofli cials . It’s like

a subpena . A student must go before the factory board which willtell himwhere to work and where to stay .

Of course you can sometimes choose between being sent toKazakhstan— about miles from Moscow

,or to Turkestan—about

1,500 miles from Moscow . Sometimes the ti ii iversity asks you where

you prefer to go .

Mr . DOYLE . Why couldn ’t that graduating student get a job of hisown cho

ice ? He has gi aduated from school . Why couldn ’t he go and

get a o

Mr .]

.KHOKHLOV This regulation originated at the time that studentsdidn ’t have to pay tu iti on. They were educated at state expense .So they had to go w lI eI e the state sent them . But

,in 1940 a directive

w as introduced requiring all students to pay their own tu ition . Afterthe war this tuition became pretty high

,but still not SO high as in the

West . In the West,however

,a student can earn real money . But

in the Soviet Union he must work very hard to feed himself,to buy

his clothes . He has a very hai d time getting by even with the helpof a supplementary job . A few of the best students get state grantsStalin grant

,or honor student gI ants . The basis for these grants is

not only the student ’s marks,but especially h is pol itical correctness .

It is true that the university authOI itieS help you to get a part-timejob . A S soon as you are registered at a univeI Sity, you can contact aspecial assignment man who gets you theY ou see

,it i s a very interesting thing that for many years the ex

pressi on “to buy”has not been used in the Russ ian language . We

use instead the word “to get

,

”because even if you have money youcannot always buy what you need . E ither you have to go to the blackmarket and pay exorbitant prices , or to keep hunting in the statestores and trusting to luck .

To give you a p icture of how people l ive In the Soviet Union . One

of myb

w ife’S friends w as a seni or engineer . My wife , incidentally, isa construction engineer . It i s one

b

of the accomplishments of theSov iet system that women not only have the I ight to be housewivesand motlI eI S , but also the I ight to WO I k hard away from home . Theyhave the right to do the same kind of heavy WO I k a s men

,ev en min

ing , dock Work , roadbuilding , and SO on .

Getting back to my wife’St”friend—the senior engineer. Sometimes

when I Visited him to p ick up some blueprints,I found him Sitting

only in paj ama Slacks because the Slacks of his only one suit were

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIE

,AREA 3783

washed by his w ife . He couldn ’t get another suit because the moneyhe earned had to be Spent primarily for food

,and getting a new suit

requires too much time and too much luck .

I II order to be impartial , I should say that not all the people inthe Soviet Un ion have such a bad l ife . Members of the elite sometimes enjoy a very good living . I could take as an example the livingconditions of the O

M

CCI‘

S who were in the same service with me inMoscow . For instance

,people who worked in services l ike my own

the Officers of Secret Service—couldn’t complain that the State treatedthem badly . ! uite the contrary . L et me use myself as an example .

I had a very good salary,a nice apartment

,an Ofli cial car

,television

and li i-fi sets,and so on . Very often I went abroad and could bring

back freely many things,including Paris dresses for my wife . A S

far as material things were concerned , we couldn ’t. wish for more .The other Officers , high party officials and Army generals

,and some

of the writers and artists had the same standard O f living . But themasses

,the mill ions O f them

,were in extremely bad Shape . A nd I

wi ll later quote the words of Mr . Khrushchev himself to prove this .

But I would l ike to stress once again that the confl ict between theSoviet people and the Sov iet Government is not primarily basedupon the standard of l iving . The conflict w as and is basedthe lack of personal freedom.

Let me now go back to what I sa id a l ittle w hile ago about the firsttime Stal in w as denounced

,in July 1953 . At that t ime

,they sacri

ficed Beria . They denounced h im publicly and what is more,they de

p ounced him as Stal in'

s associ ate .

I II the summer of 1953,I got my hands on a smal l red booklet en

titled,

“The Decision of the Central Committee o f the CommunistParty in the Case o f Beria .

” I II denouncing Beria this decision alsodenounced Stal in

,w ho w as described as a man w ho used w rong meth

Ods— the methods o f a one -man dictatorship .

This booklet which w as distributed only to a relatively sma ll numbero f party official s

,indicated the last reso rt they could use in dealing

with the popular discontent . III other w ords,when i t w as necessary

they could even blame Sta l in . A nd this already in July 1953—butonly by party activists .

At the same time thousands of members of the secret police werethrown out o f office to Show the people tha t even secret pol i ce prestigecan be sacri ficed to please the people . This new campaign had itse ffectMr . TAVENNER . May I interrupt you there a moment ?Mr . KHOKHLOV. Y es .

Mr . TAVENNER . TVhy w as it that those in authority felt at that timethat it w as necessarv to resort to such means ? That is

,openly to eriti

cize Stalin and to

Mr. K i I OK I—i L ov . Because they real ized that the popular discontent went too deep to be counteracted only by Malenkov ’

s promises toprovide material goods . The Government wanted to Show the peoplethat for the sake of individual rights, it would sacrifice even the secretpolice itself . But this w as not true .

Only we,the members of the Soviet secret apparatus , knew that the

only people who were sacrificed were the ones w ho were actually not toonecessary for the secret pol ice .

3784 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIE

,AREA

One of my generals told me this when I wanted to use this Situationin order to resign .

Mr. TAVENNER . IVere those concessions made to the people becauseof a fear on the part of the leadersh ip that some drastic results mightoccur ?Mr. KHOKHLOV . Y es . In the summer o f 1953

,the Russian anti

Communist underground wa s declared with in the Soviet Secret Service in a Special instruction , signed by the Minister of State Security , tobe enemy NO . 1 of the Sov iet State . Enemy NO . 1 is an American expression

,but whenever we wrote a document about the Russian

anti-Communist underground , we had to mark it in a special wayw ith 5 letters

,T . S . : N. T . S .

—that is,

, extraordinary report : Russiananti -Communist underground .

Thus the Russian anti—Communist underground w as regarded as

enemy No . 1 of the Soviet system . But the attempt to deceive the people and to tell them that the Soviet rulers are ready to sacrifice thesecret pol ice

,the rulers overplayed the ir hand

, and even made themselves look foolish .

For instance,in the summer of 1953

,I w as in my apartment in

Moscow which was 0 11 the basement floor . My w indow Opened onto aninside yard

,where I heard some young workers—boys and girls

playing the gu itar and harmonica . One of the Russian popular songsis Dark Eyes . A nd one of the refrains goes like thisK iss me , and then I ’ l l kiss you , and then you ’ l l kiss me aga in ! then we ’ ll kisseach other .The Russ ian words “kiss me

” rhyme with “ arres t me .

” So theychanged the song to sound l ike this :

“Arrest me,and then I ’ll arrest you , then you

’ll arrest me aga in,and

then we ’ll both be arrested .

”

Everybody got a big laugh out of that . They even cheered , becauseit w as at this time that the Soviet rulers arrested Beria on the pretextthat Beria wanted to arrest them .

Y ou see,the people immediately understood the phoniness of the

Beria story .

Anyhow ,the policy of the Soviet Government in 1953 and 1954 was

a pol icy of apparent softening of the l ine,a policy of promising mate

rial goods to the people,and some individual freedom .

(Representative Morgan M . Moulder returned to the hearing roomat this po int) .

Mr. KHOKHLOV . I II the background,Mr . Khrushchev and his as

sociates worked secretly . Mr. Khrushchev is a very good student ofcommunism

,who knows that communism cannot permit itsel f the

luxury o f becoming l iberal .Mr. SCHERER . Luxury of what ?Mr. KHOKHLOV . Of becoming l iberal . People like Khrushchev

know that with all the alleged good will o f Mr. Malenkov , the Sov1etsystem would never be able to raise the standard o f living. They alsoknow that to give freedom to the arts and to the indIV Idual would beto undermine the basis of the Soviet system itself.So Khrushchev knew that the promises o f Ma lenkov could not be

fulfilled . Already at that time he began to prepare a fieldMr . TAVENNER . Prepare wha t ?

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3 786 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE L OS ANGELES,CALIE

,AREA

the priority of heavy industry over light industry,a favorite thesis

w ith Stalin . In other words,the Soviet citizen must once more sac

rifice his clothes and the butter on his bread , in order to help to builda state powerful enough to conquer the world

,or at least to support

the international movement for the so - called better world of tomorrow .

A nd so Malenkov had to go .

In February of 1955 , Khrushchev conceived o f himself as a potential dictator, a man capable of reviving Old Stal in policies .

But in the spring o f 1955 the Western World w as not the sameas it w as when Stal in was al ive. By this time the free world hadcome to understand many things . It had decided to defend itselfagainst the dangers of subversion and infiltration carried out byCommunist parties abroad , outside the Soviet Union .

Mr. SCHERER . Who did you say began to understand that ?Mr. KHOK HLOV . The Western World .

Mr. SCHERER . F inally .

Mr. KHOKHLOV. Finally. Still not enough,but at least it began to

understand something.

Mr . SCHERER . That is what this committee has been trying to tellthem for many years .

Mr . KHOKHLOV . Well,I wouldn ’t k now .

Mr . SCHERER . It is just a comment .Mr . K I IOK HL OV . It seems that Khrushchev decided to be a Sta lininside the Soviet Union and a Malenkov abroad .

I am sure he w as proud of this invention when he created theGeneva sp irit and the policy o f coexistence which required shakingthe hand of Mr . E isenhower .But one thing Mr . Khrushchev and company underestimated : theyunderestimated the Russ ian people who were no longer the same .The Russ ian people had already outgrown the Soviet system

,and

understood in full that in order for them to be moral,decent human

beings,the immoral Soviet Government had to go .

Once aga in,the Soviet rulers tried to mobilize the young generation

to follow their ideas . Thus w as born the big plan of Mr. Khrushchev,

a plan called development of unexplored land . This plan called formobil ization of hundreds of thousands of young people

,who would

go out into virgin territory and work hard for nothing, even sacrificethemselves

,just to fulfill the desig ns O f the Soviet rulers .

Besides,Mr . Khrushchev had the idea that the pressure put upon

the peasants would make them produce .A nd at the same time the revival of Stal in ’

s ideologica l approachwould mobilize the young workers and intellectuals to work moreactively .

Mr . Khrushchev f a iled . t y d id he fa il ?Actua lly

,the only success wh ich the Khrushchev strategy had ao~

complished w as his big victory over the “Test . The Western Worldbel ieved— at least its leaders bel ieved— that the Soviet system is capable of changing itsel f , and that there are oa tw o ways to meet cominunism— atomic war or coexistence .

lVe a l l know,and I guess we all agree , that a w ar

, especially an

atomic wa r, would be an inhuman thing. And to take the smallestrisk o f involving humanity in such a tragedy would be a crime .But one thing wh ich the people here in the United States don’t

o ften rea l ize

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CAME , AREA 3787

Mr . SCHERER . I did not get that . One thing what ?Mr . KHOKHLOV . Wh ich thepeople here in the United States , in thefree world , do not realize is that there is a third way to reso lve theconflict

,and this is the w ay of destroying the Soviet system by the

forces of the enslaved peoples themselves .

Mr. SCHERER . TVithin Russia ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. With in Russia, the Russian people themselves.Mr. SCHERER . That is what Eugene Lyons says in his recent bookMr . KHOKHLOV . I see .

Mr . SCHERER . Our Secret All ies—The People of Russia . He comesto the same conclusion that you have here today .

Mr . KHOKHLOV . Y es ! but in one respect he may be wrong . TheGovernm ent of the United State s and the Russian peopl e are notequally allied . Actua lly the Russian people are more strongly alliedto the United States than the United States is to them .

Mr . SCHERER . That is what he meant.“Our Secret Al lies” is the title of his book— the people of Russ ia

are our secret all ies .

Mr . KHOKHLOV . Unfortunately I haven t yet had the opportunityto read his bo ok .

Mr . SCHERER . He says in h is book substant ially w hat you have saidhere today .

Mr . KHOK HLOV . That is very good . That means that I am not saying anything very new .

Mr . SCHERER . I did not mean tha t in any way . Y ou are telling usw hat he surmised

,because he w a sn ’t there . It is h is conclus ion .

Mr. KHOKHLOV. All right . I II 1955,the Soviet rulers realized what

too few people here rea lize , that it is impossible to indoctrinate mi llionsOf y

cpung people by means o f simp le repetition for 38 years that evil is

gooLet ’s take a look at a. few facts and figures to appreciate what mayhave happened in 1955

,to astonish the Sov iet rulers .

It is true that at the 20th Party Congress Khrushchev declared theplan for developing unexplored lands w as fulfilled .

Mr . TAVENNER . lVil l you explain in a l ittle more deta il what youmean by unexplored land ?Mr. KHOKHLOV . There are large areas o f virgin land previously used

only for grazing,such as Kazakhstan

,parts of S iberia and the Trans

Ural . They are very fa r away from transportation l ines,have a bad

climate and are difficult to develop .

b

l

l

\4r. TA VENNER . “Te would refer to them here as v acant lands prob

a v .

Mr . JACKSON . Undeveloped.

Mr . KHOKHLOV. All right,ini developed lands .

I don ’t know whatKhrushchev really wantedmore,to get some grain

f rom this land or to find a means of making the youth aga in serve th es

ylst

glmg

in a. fanat ical way . “Tell , how did the young people react toa t isL et ’s take a look at some figures which the Soviet rulers themselvesquoted at the 20th Party Congress .

One of the Communist Party ’s IOp officials , the Secretary Generalof the Komsomol ,— Shelepin, told to his distress,that in 1955 ,young people were sent out to do forestry work. A nd do you knowhow many of them deserted ?

3788 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES D : THE LOS ANGELES , CALIF ., AREA

In other words , just about all of them . To give another example ,the Communistmovement planned to use young people to bui ldplants for making cement . But the local party cells were able toassemble only

0

Perhaps the best way to understand why all thi s happened Is to takea look at a stage play written in 1955 by Nikol ai Pogodin .

Wrongly as suming that the youth this time could be told the truth ,he wrote a stage play which he entitled “

l -Ve Three “rent Out to theUndeveloped Lands .

”

This play w as allowed to appear on the best stage In Moscow in

November of 1955,but lasted only about 2 weeks . The reason for its

being canceled w as that Mr . Pogodin had made the mistake of be ingtoo impartial .None of the characters in his play were of the type who cared aboutthe plans of the Soviet rulers .Some of them left Moscow because of unh appy love aff airs . Otherswere the kind who had stolen some money and wanted a cha nce to starta new l ife . Pogodin

’s play revealed how the young people went far

away not to fulfill Khrushchev ’s plan , but for personal reasons . Thushis play exposed the principal failure of the Soviet system in 1955

itis inability to make the youth accept the new enforcement of Sovieti eo logy.

SO the young generation in 1955 gave Mr . Khrushchev proof thatthe young generation would no longer serve the Soviet system

,but even

Oppose it . A s we all know,it is very difficult to mobilize young people

only through promises o f materi a l goods . They need somethingmore—spiritua l incentives .

One of the reasons why the rulers began to think of a so - calledrevival of Leninism w as their attempt to bring the youth back intotheir camp . Thus the idea of the fi nal public denunciation of Stal in

,

a kind of second death for him,w as born there and then .

At the same time the situation in agriculture continued to bedesperate .

Some liberals,or even some del iberately unintelligent people in the

West,often say that the peasant in the Soviet Union may not have it

so good today,but at least he is much better off than be fore .

In Mr. Khrushchev ’s own words at the 90th Party Congress,the

total area planted in 1953 w as exactly the same as it w as in 1913 whenthe population w as much smaller and when Russia. didn'

t have to support so many international operations and movements .

For instance,if we use the figures quoted by Khrushchev himself

as to production of meat and other things in 1955,and d ivide them by

the number of people in the Soviet Union,we w ill see that the average

person got only 2 pounds o f meat a month,a little more than 2 ounds

o f fish amonth,and only a yard of wool stu ff a year . Besides

,hrush

Chev hardly understated his case .

But keep in mind that not everybody gets 2 pounds of meat a month .

Thousands o f people eat as much as 30 pounds of meat a month . Theseare the few favored ones .

This gives you some idea of how desperate is the condition of therest of the population.

Mr. SCHERER . May I interrupt ?Mr . KHOKHLOV. Yes .

COMMUNIST. ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIF .

,AREA 3789

Mr. SCHERER . From what you say then,it would be impossible for

Russia at this time to fulfill the Obligations that She is now committingherself to in Offering techn ical assistance to some neutral countries .

Mr . KHOKHLOV . I wouldn ’t agree with that . Some of them couldbe fulfilled . The Soviet citizen is robbed in such an inhuman waythat the rulers can sometimes scrape together enough exports to prom

mote their propaganda program .

Mr . SCHERER . They would not be able to do so without inflictingserious harm upon the Soviet people.Mr . K HOKHLOV. That is right .Mr. SCHERER. Actually they are not able to fulfil l their obligations .

Mr. KHOKHLOV. Well,right now it would be twice as hard as it w as

before for them to make these exports for propaganda purposes . Letme show you what Sov iet statistics really mean .

F or example,Mr . Khrushchev said that the total area of cult ivated

land w as much greater in 1955 than in 1954 .

A local newspaper in the Soviet Union described this kind of thingin

‘ the Kalinin district,which is one of the largest districts in the

middle o f the Russian Republic—RSF SR . The local newspaperstated that in 1955

,7 hectares more were cultiv ated than in the

previous year . Then the newspaper went into deta il .Of this hectares didn ’t produce anything

,but the

paper didn ’t explain why no crops came up . The other hectaresproduced about tons of unripe crops which had to be convertedinto ensilage ! that is , cattle feed .

In the same d istrict there were fewer head of cattle than in1954 . In addition

,the newspaper declared there w as a decrease of

pigs and sheep . I think that the people probablyslaughtered them for their ow n needs .

The newspaper w as much alarmed because there were not evenenough seeds for Spring planting . This will show you why the Sovietrulers have reason to be worried . The people would not cooperate .This may have caused the party secretaries to ru sh around thecountry throughout the summer and fa ll of 1955 in a desperate attemptto stop this passive resistance on the part of the people .When they did not succeed they realized that something drastic had

to be undertaken,a kind of big retreat in order to save themselves .

So the Soviet rulers decided to adopt a new policy,that of aban

doning Sta l in ’s programs and returning to Lenin ’

s . They hoped thatthe young generation would not remember that the principles of Stalinand Lenin were practica lly the same . In other words

,they wanted

to put a new look upon the old Obj ectives . This plan included a publicdenunciation o f Stalin as a one -man d ictatorship . They could not

attack Stal in’s ideology because that is exactly what they wanted to

preserve . SO they attacked his methods .

At the opening o f the 20th Congress,they probably wanted to make

this denunciation in a soft way ! that is, so as not to blame themselves.They hoped to combine the denunciation of Stalin with various measures of pleasing some strata of society . For instance , they informedstudents that they would no longer have to pay their own tuition.

At the same time Khrushchev presented his own plan for specialschools to be sponsored by the state . These schools were designed forthe e ducation of a new breed of Soviet youth fanatically devoted to

3790 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES , CALIF .,AREA

the system . Thus he hoped to show the delegates to the Party Congress how a new generation would be trained to back them up .

Evidently,the youth of today is not supporting them .

Next the workers were told that wages will be raised and the workingday shortened .

They also told the army that pensIOns will be granted on a fa i rerbasis .

The stratum of Soviet society which they evidently regarded as

hopeless was the peasants . NO concessions were made to them .

On the contrary,after the 20th Congress , the Government issued a

special directive which authorized the local managers to expel thepeasants from the collective farms and deprive them of thei r Individual p ieces of land and their individual cattle .

If you w ill remember that a peasant cannot leave the country andwork in a city you will understand what this meant to him—starvation.

In other words,the Government introduced a kind of legal economic

blackmail .SO that is what made the Soviet rulers denounce Stalin ! it was thefear of an explosion which made the Sov iet rulers denounce Stalin.

They were afraid that the entire Soviet economy woul d d isintegrateand that the youth would Openly rebel . At the outset the Soviet rulersprobably didn ’t intend to go very far in denouncing Stalin .

When Khrushchev Opened the 20th Congress he made only a fewderogatory remarks about Stalin .

Anastas Mikoyan , another top party leader , used much strongerlanguage with regard to Stal in . He also did something else . Perhapshe got the idea that now is a good time to get Khrushchev out of theway. Thus

,he brought up the matter of some old Bolsheviks who

were liquidated at the time of the purges in the Uk ra ine for whichKhrushchev w as responsible . In this way he implicitly assoc iatedKhrushchev w ith Stalin .

Apparently , Khrushchev became afraid that if the people now associated his name w ith Stalin his power would be destroyed . In myop inion, that is why Khrushchev had to prepare a hasty speech inwhich he blamed Stalin much more than the Communist Party intended at the outset. In other words

,things had gotten out of control .

What does thismean for us ?It means that a revolution has begun inside the Soviet Union. Y ou

see, a revolution need not always be an uprising or a shooting .

In Lenin ’s own words a revolution begins when the masses of people no longer want to l ive as before . On th e other hand

,the Govern

ment is not able to change its way of rul ing .

That is what is gomg on now in the Soviet Union .

The Sov Iet rulers had to retreat,because the will of the people in

the Soviet Union today is stronger than the Government itself . Butthe Government cannot make the changes which the people want without abol ishing the system itsel f.Mr. TAVENNER . Mr . Khokhlov , what will be the effect of all thisupon the danger o f war ?Mr . KHOK HLOV. I think there is less danger O f an atomic war now .

The peopl e wouldn ’t follow the Soviet,rul

'

ers who started such a war.

Y ou see , it is not enOu h to dro a few atomic bombs to win a war.A lot of people are nee ed to ma e a War machine effective . Today it

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIF .

,AREA 3791

would be very di Icu lt for the Soviet rulers to get the necessary cooperation from millions of officers andmen.

Mr. MOULDER . May I interrupt you to inquire, do you believe thatas a result of the danger of the leaders losing their power that theywould

,in desperation, probably unleash and make an abrup t attack

of war and use atomic bombs in order to retain their position by creating such an emergency ?Mr . KHOKHLOV. NO ! I wouldn

’t think so,and I will tell you why :

The Soviet rulers now see that their own house is on fire . If theystarted such an adventurous war tomorrow they would only acceleratethe process of their own down fall .However

,they might be able to take such a risk if the policy of the

United States would help the Soviet rulers confuse the Russian peopleand make the people believe that the United States wants to destroythe Russian people

,rather than the Sovi et system . But I th ink there

is very l ittle chance that such a lie would be accepted by the Russianeo ls .pMIT. MOULDER . I do not know whether I make myself clear. They

could create a situation, a condition whereby they would bring aboutwar themselves and accuse the United States of being the aggressor,as they have in other instances .Mr. KHOKH LOV . That is right .Mr. MOULDER . Thereby retaining the following and loyalty of theirpeople to wage a war against us .Mr. JACKSON . And recreate again the same sp irit of nationalismwhich ex isted before Leningrad .

Mr. KHOKHLOV . That is right .But right now the Russian people are so thoroughly confirmed intheir belief that the Soviet system i s wrong that the Soviet rulerswould not dare to risk a conflict between the Soviet Union and theUn ited States . On the other hand

,it makes them all the more

anxious to stir up trouble between the Un ited States and some countries in Asia and the Near East

,as they had done in Korea . In

this way they hope to lessen the prestige of the United States . Butif the United States were to reduce its military potential

,then the

Soviet rulers might take a chance upon the prospects of an easyvictory . But, of course , prediction is an easy th ing .

Mr. JACKSON . May I ask a question on this particular point ?Why is there the Obvious reluctance to approach some genuineunderstanding on the matter of armaments ?I s it a sincere fear on the part of the Soviet Union that the United

ISJ

tates!

is prepared to or has the intention of attacking the Sovietni on

Mr. KHOKHLOV . If the United States should agree to disarm,it

would , of course, re nire adequate inspection and control in othercountries . But the oviet rulers cannot allow any kind of controlor any kind of inspection in their own country . If they did youwould learn the whole truth

,not only about their m ilitary poten

tial,

t

but also about their internal troubles . And this is what they fearmosNotice how Mr . Khrushchev opened the 20th Party Congress. A c

cording to him , there are only tw o possibi lities for the human raceatomi c war or coexistence. “There is no third way

,

”he said . But

3792 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIF .

,AREA

in his heart he w as worried because there is a third way , and heknew very wel l what it is— the eventual overthrow O f the Sovietsystem by the force of the Russian people themselves . A nd K hrush

chev is af raid that the WesternWorld will understand the significanceof this third way , which is the real Achi lles heel of the Soviet system . Consequently

,he can never permit adequate arms inspection .

Mr. JACKSON. To what extent do these groups in the exchange-ofpersons programs

,farmers

,cultural artists and so forth

,have an

opportunity, if any , to m ingle w ith the Russian people ? I distinguish now between Russian people and Soviets .

Mr. KHOKHLOV. Very l ittle . First of all , they are not allowedto have real contacts w ith the Russian people . Secondly

,the Rus

sian people themselves would not dare to tell them much . Thirdly,

only those that are checked and approved by the Soviet State Department are allowed to visit the U . S . S . R .

Let me say by way o f conclusion to my analysis of the recentevents in the Soviet Union

,the situation is no less dangerous for

the West . On the contrary . Y ou see,the Communists never really

relied upon armed conflict as the way to conquer the world .

Their unique weapon,which the West doesn’t possess

,has always

been infiltration and subversion . Today their only hope for survival ,for keep ing the Soviet system alive is through disintegrating the

West , through the promotion of softness and d isunity in the West .After they have created enough softness and disunity in the West

,

the Soviet rulers can tell the Russian people that the West wil l notbe able to support any popular opposition to the Soviet sy stem .

For instance,Malenkov

,Bulganin

,and Khrushchev were invited to

England . But they d id not accept the invitation in order to promoteworld peace . What they had in mind w as what they could say to thepeople back in Russia . F or example

,

“Look . See how the PrimeMinister of England shook hands w ith us . He did not tell us we areimmora l . He cons idered us as a legal

,normal

,decent government .

The President o f the United States,the fortress O f freedom and jus

tice , also shook hands with us . Then who are you to criticize us ? W ho

are you to protest and to oppose us ?” This propaganda line couldhave its eff ect .What I want to emphasize is that the Soviet rulers understand howimportant it is for them now to have at their disposa l every member ofthe Communist parties around the world . Today this is the only armyupon which they can rely . They cannot rely any longer on the Russ ian soldier . But they can rely onMr. SCHERER . Y ou mean on their espionage agents and col lab

orators ?Mr . KHOKHLOV . Not only upon that . It is important for them to

get all the information they can . But it is much more important forthem to shape publ ic opinion in the West .Mr . SCHERER . A nd how do they shape publ ic opinion ?

0

Mr . KHOKHLOV. I w i ll expl ain . But before I go into that , the mostImportant weapon w as not and is not the atomic bomb or the H-bomb ,but the misconception existing in the free world that the overthrow of

the Soviet system by means of ensl aved people themselves is not

poss ible .

In order to make people in the IVest bel ieve such nonsense,that is

,a

popular revolution inside the Soviet Union is an impossibil ity,the

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3794 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES INTHE LOS ANGELES , CALIF ., AREA

nomic competition provides millions of people with another p i ece ofbread

,it would be a good thing .

Mr.MOUL DER . DO you beli eve that the Sovi et economy could stand

substantial assistance to other countri es ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. I don ’t think so .

Mr . MOULDER . Mr . Jackson ?Mr

.TAVENNER . May I ask a question in that connecti on ?

Mr. MOUL DER . Yes.Mr

.JACKSON . I don ’t want to leave this point without clarificati on.

For instance, on the construction of the h igh Aswan Dam In Egyptwhich will

,when completed , cost in the Vi cini ty of $200 ml l l ion or

$300 million , the United States and Great Bri tai n are undertaking tounderwrite a considerable portion of the initi al phas e of the cost tothe extent of some $75 million , w ith a comm itment, an Impliedcommitment which will extend beyond that amount . The Sov1etUnion has made an Offer which is , in essence , an Offer to constructthe dam for nothing .

It occurs to many of us that it might be a good Idea to say to theSoviet Union , “Very well , your profession is to raise the standards ofl iving of underprivileged people. That is ours also , and not onlyour profession but our national record Over the course of the years .

GO ahead and build the high Aswan Dam .

”

Mr . KHOKHLOV . That is right .Mr. JACKSON . But would that seem to you to be a logical approach ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. Y es .

First of all , you would put them to the test . Secondly , if they reallydo construct the dam

,why not let the people have it ? But remember

the Soviet rulers would not construct the dam in order to help humanity . If they really loved humanity so much

,they could begin

by constructing more dams for their own people .They could treat their own people as human beings . Why shouldthey show preference for foreigners except for propaganda purposes ?Mr . JACKSON . That is a question that some of our own people asksome of the Members of Congress . That is a very touchy sub jectevery time the foreign aid bill comes up .

I am interested to have your V iewpoint with respect to this andother O ffers made elsewhere throughout the world ! for instance economic assistance in Latin Americ a to the extent of a billion dollars .

In matters of this kind it seems to me that the time has come for usto say,

“Very well,we certainly won ’

t stand in the way of anythingyou want to do to lift the oppressed peoples . If you can l ift your ownoppressed peoples at the same time that is so much to the good .

”

Let them spend their money and let the Russian taxpayers write tothe Politburo or the Supreme Soviet, if they dare do so .

Mr. TAVENNER . I have a ques tion on that line of Mr . Jackson ’s .Mr. MOULDER . Proceed

,Mr. Tavenner .

Mr . TAVENNER . I would like to know whether or not it has been thepractice of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to give financialaid to the Communist part ies abroad , such as the Communist Party inYugoslavia

,the Communist Party in the United States .

Mr. KHOKHLOV. Yes .I wouldn’t say that any money passed through my own hands to theCommunist parties abroad . I did not see any records . But I knewfrom my contacts with the France and American desks , and from my

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIF .

,AREA 3795

private contacts w ith people on the staff Of the Central Comm ittee,

that very large amounts are actually sent abroad for this purpose .Mr. SCHERER . Y ou mean to the Communist Party in the Uni tedStates ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. Positl vely.

They are probably sent under various camouflages . But the Russian people felt the heavy burden of the expensive subvers ion workabroad .

Mr. SCHERER . That is to support the Commun ist Pa rty and its activ ities in the United States ?Mr. KHOKHL OV. Yes , more than that. In order to assure their own

survival,the Soviet rulers must support the Commun ist parties

abroad .

Mr . MOULDER . Mr . Doyle ?Mr . DOYLE . I just want to ask a couple of questions

,not disregard

ing the international aspect of this discussion brought to us so ably,

but here we are a committee of Con ress studying ways and means tomeet the Soviet Communist Party t reat in our own Nation .

Briefly,let me make this statement before I ask you the question .

When I was in Europe and Asia as a member of the Armed ServicesCommittee

,I interviewed certain high intelligence officials

,some

American and some foreign,and they all told me tha t the Commun ist

Party ’s subvers ive activities in the United States,with which this

committee is concerned,w as part and parcel of the international

Soviet conspiracy .

Do you believe that is true ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. Positively

,because the Soviet rulers have always

regarded their state as the headquarters of an international consp iracy,

the final purpose of which is to establish a Communist society all overthe world . They don ’t even conceal this fact . Mr . Khrushchev

,only

a few months ago, emphatically stressed it. In effect he told theWest,

“Please don ’t fool yourselves . We will never renounce our obj ectives .Our final purpose is to establish a worldwide Communist society byany means at our disposal . TO expect us to give up communism isl ike expecting a Shrimp to whistle .

”

Mr . SCHERER. Pardon me for interrupting.

When you say ,“any means ,

”does that include force and violence ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. Well , his latest version is that violence is not alwaysabsolutely necessary . That does not mean that he is altogether abandoning violence .But he did say that the course of history will in this century lead

to the final Victory of communism .

Mr. DOYLE . May I ask this :If the pronouncement is as you have related , that the Soviets sayit is not necessary to emphasize the use of force and violence

,what

your opinion as to whether or not they are postponing that propagandaor that pol icy of advocating force and violence

,but anticipating its

use, and they emphasize more or less the practice of subversion,of

infiltration , say in the United States Commun ist Party, of propagandaactivities ?Mr . KHOKHLOV . Y es ! I thought I mentioned that the must nowresort to subversion and infiltration as their only chance or survival

,

as the only way to pos tpone their end.

3796 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIF .

,AREA

Mr. DOYLE . One more question . I have never asked you this quest ion

,and I have never discussed it with you . I don ’t know what your

answer will be . But whatever it may be, wil l you give us the benefitof your considered opinion as to whether or not the United StatesCongress should and must continue, or should discontinue a functionof this sort of a comm ittee in the United States ? I s this sort of acommittee necessary ? I s it a wise expenditure of the taxpayers ’money ? Are we accompl ishing a result that is necessary to be done

,

or what ?Mr. KHOKHLOV . My own knowledge about the activities of yourcommittee is very limited . W hen I got the subpena a few days a O

,I

didn’t exactly know what the work of your comm ittee is . Bes i es,I

wouldn ’t permit myself to comment on internal American affairs .

But I would like to say one thing : In my own life I had to strugglevery hard to get away from the spoi ling influence O f communism ! Ihad to sacrifice all that I had . I had to give up , at least tem

porarily

,

my country and my fam ily . All that I did I did for the sa e of mypeople . I know that it is impossible today to be a decent person and

a Communist at the same time .Mr . SCHERER . I didn’t understand that last sentence .

Mr. KHOKHLOV . Today it is impossible to be a Communist and adecent man at the same time . I know it from my experience in theSoviet Union .

Therefore I w as amazed and surprised that so many Americans whocould have known about all the tragedy and crimes the Communistshave committed consider it possible to defend or even help communism .

This is something which I simply cannot understand . In your country you have freedom ,

and yet there are here some people who endangertheir own f reedom by associating with Communists .

Mr . MOULDER . The committee will stand in recess for a period of 5minutes in order to give the reporter a brief rest .(Whereupon , a brief recess was taken , there being present Repre

sentatives Moulder,Doyle

,Jackson

,and Scherer. )

(The committee was reconvened at the expiration of the recess,there

being present Representatives Moulder,Doyle

,and Jackson .

Mr. MOULDER . Let ’s proceed,Mr. Tavenner .

I understood you had some statement to make .

Does that conclude your general statement,Mr. Khokhlov ?

Mr. KHOKHLOV. Y es,that concludes my statement .

Mr . MOULDER . Mr. Doyle, do you have any uestions ?

Mr . DOYLE . I have just one more question . know this will interestall the American women if you are ab le to answer it .What is the status of the Russian woman under the system O f Sovietcommunism ?(Representative Gordon H . Scherer returned to the hearing room at

this point) .

Mr. KHOKHLOV. Well , I could say one thing . When communism isfina lly destroyed and humanity is no longer in danger

,a monument

should be raised to the women of Russia . The Russian woman todaycarries all the burden o f responsibil ity for the Russian family . Shenot only has to work in the same way that her husband does

,she has

full responsibility for the children,for their education

, how they willgrow, what they will believe, what they will think. In addition

,she

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIE

,AREA 3 797

has the responsibility for their breakfast,dinner

,clothes

,and house

furniture .And

,I repeat once again

,every item of it is a big problem . Only by

means of the extremely rich soul of the Russi an woman couldythe

Russian spiritual treasury and devotion to high moral principles havebeen transmitted to the new generation . Only In this way w as Sovietindoctrination Opposed and finally compelled to retreat .At the same time they want to be ladylike ! to dress and take careof their appearance as American women do . This Is not easy in theSoviet Union . Ev en the most ordinary items of makeup and dress

accessories are often not available .

Don ’t forget that she must carry out a heavy job , and to be a frontline soldier In the fight against the poisonous infl i i ence of the Soviets stem .yME SCHERER . It IS very di Icult, then,

for us to understand how someof these American women who have appeared before this comm ittee aswitnesses can be such dedicated Communists .

Mr . DOYLE . I have no further questions .

Mr . MOULDER . Mr. Jackson ?Mr. JACKSON . Mr . Khokhlov , there Is one question bearin on yourtestimony which I should l ike to ask you to extend very brie y .

From the testimony you have given I gather that In your Officialcapacity as a member of the Soviet Intelligence you were in a positionof relative luxury ,

let us say, in the way of living accommodations andother perquisites which were y .ours It might have been an easymatter for you to have continued indefinitely with promotions and so

forth had you seen fit to do so .

Would you care to state— and I know that there are personal conSiderations involved in any answer which you might give which Idon ’t want to press

,and

,that Is to say , I have some knowledge of a

tremendous personal sacrifice which has been involved in your leavingthe Soviet Union—but would you care to tell the comm ittee, for therecord

,the fundamental things wh ich brought about the decision on

your part ?Mr . KHOKHLOV . Actually I had no choice .

Paradoxically,the same reasons which once made me join the Soviet

Intelligence,later led me to join the free world . Before the war I

planned to liecome a mov i e director,but w hen war broke out I joined

Soviet Intelligence . Because the Soviet Intelligence a lways had muchuse for show people as instruments of infiltration and penetration intothe enemy system

,I w as assigned a place on a special Show team

,which

would be left behind for guerilla Operations in case Moscow had to besurrendered .

That happened in the late f a ll O f 1941 . I was then 19 years Old and

firmly convinced that the Soviet State and Russia were one and thesame thing. In accepting this assignment with Soviet Intelligence,I w as convinced that I was fighting for my motherland . I knew itwould not be child ’s play , but I put my country ’s interest above myown .

Later on I w as assigned to go behind the enemy lines . I had tolearn enough Germ an to be able to pass as a German . I got a Naziofficer ’s uniform from Soviet Intelligence

,and I spent a year in guer

rilla territory passing myself off as a German . I w as actually proudto do that .

3798 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES INTHE LOS ANGELES,CALIE

,AREA

In 1953,I w as ordered to become part of an assassination team . At

this time this was for me nothing but a calculated murder.Y ou see , during the war I was assigned to assist in the killing ofWilhelm Kube who w as a Naz i general and gauleite r O f Byelorussia .

He was the deadly enemy of my people, and responsible for the kill ingof many thousands of my compatriots. I considered it an honor totake part in his assassination .

Mr . TAVENNER . DO you mean that you were assigned to the part ofdirecting that it be done

,or that you participated in it ?

Mr. KHOKHLOV. I personally made contact w ith a servant whoworked where Kube l ived . Because this servant was kept under constant Gestapo surveillance, she could not be approached by a personwho looked too much like a Russian . Dressed in the uniform and prov ided with the papers of a Naz i o icer , I was able to penetrate into therestricted area , to contact the servant and persuade her to place abomb under the gauleiter ’s bed . SO he was blown up . It w as just awartime assignment .But in 1953 it w as qu ite a different story . First

,I met my w ife in

1949 . And it was she who taught me the true nature O f commun ism .

Mr. SCHERER . She taught you what ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. The true nature of commun ism . Secondly

,

through her I learned to u nderstand the Russian people . For thefirst time in my l ife I began to feel how my people think.

I saw that the majority of my people were Opposed to the Sovietsystem . Therefore

,in 1953 for me to serve my country required that

I should help the Russian anti -Communist underground and not theSoviet system .

When I first heard about th is anti -Commun ist underground in 1952,

I w as afraid to Cooperate w ith it because we already had a son .

Wh en , in 1953 , the Soviet Government realized that this Russiananti-Communist underground was enemy NO . 1 of their system

,they

planned to assass inate one of its leaders who l ived in Frankfurt inWest Germany .

Tw o East German Communists were assigned to get out of the partyand pass themselves O ff as Austrian merchants . Next they had to go

{hr

gugh Switzerland to West Germany on an assignment to ki ll this

ea er .Because I worked at the Austrian and German desk

,I was also

assigned to take part in this operation . My task was to plan theirroute

,to provide them with papers .

After that I had to go to Switzerland to supervise this operation,

and to serve as the liaison O cer between the assassins and Moscow.

But , as I said before, my sympath ies were already with the Russiananti -Communist rmderground. I simply couldn’t help Soviet Intel l igence kill this man . However

,at first

,I was afraid to do something

active .If it were not for my w ife, I would merely have stood aside and nottaken an active part in the affair. After all

,I had to explain the situ

ation to her , because if I fa iled in my plan not to take part in theassassination she and our child would have to pay the consequences .

I could not regard defection to the West as a way out because I couldnever forget my country .

There never will be any country in the world , even one as beautifulas the United States , that can be for me a second home .

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE L os ANGELES,CALIE

,AREA 3799

So I asked my w ife whether she would Obj ect to my letting theassassins do the job by themselves . I ex lained to her that I couldnot rej ect the job outright

,but I wouldn ’t elp the assassins . I could

not prevent all the pol itical murders in this world . Then she told me

something which gave me no cho ice . She said , “Of course I knowwhat you are worried about . Y ou are worri ed that if you try

.

to

prevent this murder , our son and I can be sent to a‘

concentrati on

camp . But if I go to a concentration camp we wil l sti ll be husbandand wife, and the sp iritual love and understanding between us willstill be there . But what w ill happen if you take part in this murder ?Perhaps we will stay free , but I will no longer be able to be your wife .

We w ill lose each other forever and l ive the rest of our l ives in theconcentration camp of our own conscience.I knew that she w as right .We had no other choice but to stop this murder.SO I decided to go and see the intended victim in order to warn h im

to join the anti—Communist underground , w ithout contacting anyWestern authorities , and to return to Moscow and eventually work forthe revolution . This I already considered to be my duty to my own

eO le .pSidI left my family behind in Moscow . I couldn ’t take them w ith

me . I arrived in West Germany,contacted and warned the intended

victim and asked him to help me obstruct the plot in such a way thatSoviet Intelligence would be deceived .

Unfortunately,we thought it necessary to contact American and

British Intelligence because he expla ined that in the brief time at ourdisposal

,the Russian anti -Communist underground wouldn ’t be able

to carry out this deception by itself . This w as very unfortunate forall of us because the American Officials didn’t believe either him or me .

The fact that I did not ask for pol itica l asylum made the AmericanOfficials susp icious O f me . They couldn ’t bel iev e that a Soviet Intell igence oflicer would risk h i s l ife to help a Russian emigre Theycouldn ’t bel ieve that all I wanted w as to prevent this murder and

to joinmy own anti -Communist underground .

They told me that what I said ran counter to what they had learnedfrom Russian research centers in the United States . According tothese centers most Russians were supposed to support the Comm unistsystem . So they regardedmy entire story as phony .

They arrested me and checked on me for 2 months . Thus valuabletime w as lost

,and there w as no hope for me to return home. When

they understood that I w as sincere and that every word I said w as

true , they tried to save my family. The plan called for my making astatement over the radio of the Voice of America . I w as to explainmy wife ’s part in my decision . This statement was to be used as apretext to get her to a safe place in Moscow . The Americans assuredme that the plan would be carried out. So I went along with it because it seemed the only possible way to save her . I did my part ,but, unfortunately , the American officials did not do theirs .

Mr. SCHERER . Did not do what ?Mr . KHOKHLOV. Did not do their part . Because nobody went topick up my wife, and she w as automatically taken into custody bythe Soviet secret pol ice .After this I had to remain in the West . I agreed to come to theUnited States in order to testify before the Federal Government, be

3800 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIE

,AREA

cause the task which I am obliged to do for my wife and child is nowto help destroy the Soviet system . This is the reason why I came here

,

why I am here,why I am fighting communism

,and why I agree to give

my testimony to your com mittee .Mr. JACKSON . Mr. Khokhlov

,it is almost impossible for me to ex

press my appreciation for your testimony . I have been on the committee something over 6 years . We have had effective, coherentwitnesses on many occasions, but I do not k now O f any w itness whosepersonal experiences and personal knowledge of the situation as itex ists in the Soviet Union has been as complete or as well presentedas your testimony today .

I would hope,Mr . Cha irman

,that upon the return of the subcom

mittee to Washington,follow ing the conclusion of these hearings at

the end of this week,that a special resolution could be presented to

the House,requesting publ icat ion of this testimony in documents

,

printed greatly in excess of what we generally ask for, and that ifit is cons idered des irable by the House

,that the testimony be trans

lated into German,into Russian

,or whatever the decision may be,

and that it be given the w idest possible circulation in the WesternZone of Germany .

This is a great message , and it is unfortunate that we lost about halfof our audience here a wh ile ago . The air has been a. l ittle better

,but it

is unfortunate,whether they left by direction or left on their own vol i

tion,that they had perhaps not the courage nor the stomach to l isten

to what you had to say.

I think it is unfortunate,Mr . Chairman

,that the testimony o f this

witness w as not on television,in order that every citizen of this com

munity and every citizen of southern California could have heard thedevastatin damn ing testimony

,which I think will do as much to de

stroy the ackbone o f the Communist effort in this community as

anything that has ever taken place in this city .

A s an American citizen,I want to thank you very sincerely . And I

know that I express the gratitude o f the House of Representatives andthe Congress O f the United States .

Mr . MOUL DER . Mr. Scherer,do you have any questions or statement

you want to make ?Mr . SCHERER . I concur in everything that my colleague , Don Jack

son,has said . I am just wondering whether we could Offer a resolution

in the United States House of Representatives commenting on thisman ’s testimony and saying in that resolution some o f the things yousaid here so ablyMr. JA CKSON . Y es ! and I would enclose a copy of the resolution inevery copy of the translation which is sent

,in order that it might ex

press to the Russian people , as distinguished from the Soviet rulers ,some O f the things which v ou have so forcibly put forth , Mr . Khokhlov .

Mr . SCHERER . Frankly,I intend to explore—and I think the com

mittee should explore— the poss ibil ities of a proper resolution passedby the Congress of the Uni ted States w ith res ect to this man and

the devastating blow that he has given to the Cgimmu nist conspiracyin this country .

May I ask one further question. W hat percentage O f the Russianpeople are dedicated Communists ?

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3802 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE L OS ANGELES,CALIE

,AREA

Mr. KHOKHLOV. Thank you .

Mr. MOULDER . Mr . Tavenner ?Mr . TAVENNER . Mr . Chairman , I feel that I should ask this witness

one other question .

Y ou have gi ven the comm ittee your conclusion that the real hope ofthe Russian people 1S in the revolution

,wh ich you say has started .

In what way , would you suggest,could this country be of assistance to

the people of Russia in the situation confronting them ?Mr . KHOKHLOV. I suppose first of all that American people shouldcome to understand that communism is an immoral system

,a system

which deprives you of your decency , of your right to be an individual ,and which w ill exploit you drasti cally in order to achieve its own ends.

Bes ides, you must believe and understand that the Russian people

don ’t want communism ,that the Russian people are moral and very

religious desp ite of all the oppression of the Soviet system ,and that

they are the fii st victims of communi sm . A s soon as you understandthis

, you wi ll realize why the Russian people cannot support the Sovietsystem

,but must fight i t. And all they need from you in this fight i s

your confidence and your spiritual support .Y ou are in a uni que position . Y ou have at your disposal extremelypowerful techni cal means for broadcasting and printing. Y ou haveother technical means . If you could bring your faith and trust in theRussian people directly to them

,it would help tremendously . I am

not sure whether thi s next point fits in here,but perhaps it does . The

early Christians did not follow Ch i ist because He presented them withf acts and figures that He would emerge Victor ious . They followedHim because they believed it to be their duty . Today it would be difficult to present facts and figures to prove that the Soviet regime cansoon be overthrown by the force of the Russian peoples themselves .

But we know that it i s our duty to try .

Y ou see,nobody w ill be able to destroy humanity if all the peoples

of the world wi ll help one another sp iritually . This i s why you shouldbelieve in the possibility of a third way of meeting communi smoverthrow of the Soviet system by the enslaved peoples themselves .

Mr . TAVENNER . Are you acquainted w ith what is known as the

gai noff plan

,which was discussed w ith and submitted to the Presi

ent ?Mr. KHOKHLOV . I remember Sarnoff ’s memorandum . I exchangedletters with him . His plan calls for the 0 1 ganization of a subversivenetwork in the Soviet Union by means of some Am erican authoritieswho would hire and use defectors from the other side . I repl ied thatin my Op inion

,this plan could never be accepted by the Uni ted States

Government or by the Russian people .Because of international law

,the United States Government could

never support a subversion program .

Mr. JACKSON . Not support what ?Mr. KHOKHLOV . A subversion progi am .

Mr . JACKSON . Could not support subversion ?Mr. KHOKHLOV. A subversion task

,a subversion p i o o ram

Mr . JACKSON . Under intei nat i onal law the Soviet Union labors under no such handicap .

Mr. KHOKHLOV. Y es, they do , but you don

’t obj ect . If you wouldobj ect, they still w ouldii ’t stop .

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE L OS ANGELES , CALIE , AREA 3803

To get back to my second point, why wouldn ’t the Russ ian peopleaccept it ? Let ’s not discuss the question O f whether the Un ited Stateswould be able to support it or not. I don ’t know about that

,but I do

know that the task of reestabl ishing freedom inside the Soviet Unioncan be done and wil l be done mainly by the Russian people themselves .

But you can help us in many ways . Mr . E isenhower,the President

Of the United States , may not be able directly to help the Russianpeople get rid of communism because the United States has diplomaticrelations w ith the Soviet Union .

But Mr. Dwight D . E isenhower , as an individual,could state that

he doesn ’t trust the immoral Soviet Government ! that he doesn ’t thinkthis Government could be improved and that this Government has aright to exist . In this way , Mr . Dwight D . E isenhower as an individual would be sympathiz ing with the Russian ant i -Communistunderground

,would bel ieve in the Russian people , and would hope

that they w ill succeed in their task . Actually,thi s is all we need

,and

we don ’t ask for more .We want also that you ,

who are American officials , w ill ask yourselves what you really want from us

,the Russian people

,and tell us

frankly .

Mr . MOULDER . DO you have any more questions,Mr . Jackson ?

Mr. JACKSON . Y es ! I just have one brief observation ,and I trust

that you will not be offended by what I am going to say . This comm ittee constantly comes under attack for the u se o f , quote

“paid informers .

” A nd in order that the record on this may be absolutely clear ,I should l ike to have it understood that the present w itness

,when

contacted in New York relative to these hearings,volunteered to come

to L os Angeles at his ow n expense,in order to tell his story before

this committee . Unfortunately,the rules o f the comm ittee are such

that we cannot accept that o ff er and the w itness w ill be paid his travelexpenses and expenses incurred whi le he is here . But any charge inthe Daily Worker or any charge from any other quarter that thiswitness is in any manner paid , is an absolute falsehood .

Mr . TAVENNER . Mr . Cha irman,this w itness w ill receive the same

compensation which the witnesses w ho rel ied upon the fifth amendment received .

kMr. DOYLE . How much is that

,Mr . Tavenner , so the people will

now .

Mr . TAVENNER . It is a per diem of $9 a day .

Mr . MOULDER . Do you have any more questions,Mr. Scherer

, or anymore statements ?Mr . SCHERER . No .

Mr. MOULDER . I s th at all,Mr . Tavenner ?

Mr. TAVENNER . That is all .Mr . MOULDER . I wish to say the suggest ions or recommendations

made by Mr. Jackson and Mr . Scherer in connection with a resolutionwhich they are going to off er will be duly cons idered by the subcommittee

,and in my op inion wi ll be adopted by the full committee .

Mr. Khokhlov, I as subcommittee chairman,wish to express my

appreciation for your cooperation . This committee and our professional staff deeply appreciate your '

clear,convincing

,interesting

,

and important information concerning communism,its functions

in the Soviet Union ,and its application to our country . Your im

pressive and valuable contribution to this committee and the people

3804 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIF.

,AREA

of America will be recorded as a permanent monument to you , yoursacrifices

,and the courage which you exhib ited , in support O f all the

liberties of the free world . And I consider it also as a commendation

,as a monument to our purpose and the continuous work of this

comm ittee in connection with our legislative duty,and exposing

,

warning,and alerting the people of America to the dangers of com

muni sm . Your sincerity and impressive testimony is of greater importance because of your extensi ve knowledge and recent experi enceas an intelligence Officer of the Soviet Union . Your analysis o f theevents in the Soviet Union will serve as an important addition to thesympos ium now being prepared for publ ication by th is comm ittee,setting forth the V iew o f approximately 40 speci a lists in this field .

We adm ire your courage and s incerity,Mr. Khokhlov

,and we are

deeply grateful for your cooperation .

The committee will recess until 9 : 30 Thursday morning.

(Whereupon , at 5 p . m .

,the committee recessed

,there being present

Representatives Moulder,Doyle , Jackson , and Scherer .

(At p . m . the commi ttee was reconvened and the followingproceedings were had

,there being present Representatives Moulder

,

Doyle,Jackson

,and Scherer .

Mr . MOULDER . We w ill be in session .

Mr. Khokhlov,the committee

,by unanimous decision has directed

me to inform you that we extend in full force and effect your subpena.In other words

,it i s still In full force and effect and you are not re

leased or excused as a w itness .

(Wh ereupon ,at 5 : 03 p . m .

,Tuesday , April 17 , 1956 , the committee

w as recessed,to be reconvened at 9 : 30 a . m .”Thursday April 19

1956,there being present Representatives Moulder

,Doyle

,Jackson

and Scherer .

APPENDI! AWhen the second U . S . S . R . Writers Congress w as held in theclosing days of 1954

,the CPSU naturally told the delegates what to

think . Art for art’s sake w as,of course

,declared to be nothing but a

false and hypocritical bourgeois deviation . Ideologically correctwriters must master the profound realities of Marx ism-Leninism

,

become true social ist real ists,and extol the achievements O f the Soviet

economy,especially those of heavy industry and the proposed devel

opment of marginal lands .

In the following ‘‘greetings”which were reprinted in Masses and

Mainstream for March 1955,pages 16—21

,no mention is made of

Stalinism .

MES SAGE To SOVIET WRITERSThis tes t of greetings sent by the Communist Party of the

U. S . S . R . to the Writers Congress prov ides background materia l forthe l iterary discussion reported by Jack L indsay in the preceding

article .

Th e Communis t Party sets a h igh value on the role of Soviet literature in theupbringing o f the new man ,in the consol idation of the moral and political unity

o f Soviet society , in the efforts to build communism.

In the years that have passed s ince the Firs t Wr iters ’ Congress Soviet l iteratureh as made cons iderable progress .

Literary works have been created that truthfully reflect the enthus iasm of

building socialism, the unprecedented exploits of Soviet pati iots in the d ifficultyears Of the G reat Patriotic War , the labor heroism of our people in restoring

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIE ,

AREA 3805the economy after the war . A nd never before h as any literature had such abroad circle of sympathetic and respons ive readers as our Soviet literature .The rapid economic , poli tical and cultural development of the Sov iet republics

has led to the flour ish ing of the li teratures of th e peoples of the U . S . S . R . The

development and mutual enrichment of the national literatures are taking placewith clos e co-operation of the writers of all the fraternal republics . A multinational li terature Of h is tor ic s ignificance, embodying the progress ive ideas Of ourtimes , has been created in the Sov iet Union.

During these years the international pres tige of Sov iet literature h as grownand the number of its readers beyond the frontiers of the U. S . S . R . h as immeas

urab l y increased , particularly in the people ’s democracies . Sov iet literature h aswon recognition among millions of foreign readers because it always comes out

in defense Of the working people ’s interes ts , counters the man-hating imperialis tideology w ith the ideas of humanism and the s truggle f or peace and friendshipamong the peoples , and is permeated w ith an optimis tic fa ith in the bright futureof mankind .

In their creative activity Soviet writers are insp ired by the great ideas of the

struggle f or communism ,for the genuine freedom and happiness of the masses

of the people , aga ins t every kind Of oppress ion and exploitation Of man by man .

To the false and hypocritical bourgeois s logan of the “ independence” of literature from society , and the false concept of “ art f or art ’s sake” our writers proudlyoppose their lofty ideological s tand of serving the interes ts of the working people ,the interes ts of the nation.

Th e Second Wr iters ’ Congress is call ed upon to d iscuss the mos timportant problems of creative work and to map out ways for the further advanceof our literature to new heights .

Our country and the entire Sov iet people are at present faced wi th magnificenttasks . On the ba s is of the successes achieved in socialis t industry and agriculture important measures are being carried out, a imed at the further developmentof all aspects of the social is t economy and culture , which is essential for thestrengthening of the social is t society and f or the gradual trans ition from socialism to communism . The competition between social ism and capitalism , whoseaggress ive and reactionary circles are ready to use force in order to hinder thegrowth of the forces Of socialism and the a spirations of the peoples for emaneipation from the capitalis t yoke and colonial oppress ion, is unfold ing and goingover to a new and s till higher stage on an ever-increasing scale in the internationa l arena . In these conditions the role of Soviet l iterature in trans formingsociety and its active educational role are increas ing immeasurably .

Literature like all other forms of art is called upon to inspire the Sov iet peoplein thei r crea tive labor and in overcoming all difli cul ties and shortcomings on thisroad , in the great cause of bui lding communism .

The Sov iet people expec t their writers to create truthful and v ivid p icturesof our glorious contemporar ies w ho are carrying out the colossal tasks involvedin the constant development of our heavy indus try , wh ich is the bas is for thefurther progres s of the entire national economy and a guarantee of the impregnab il ity O f our frontiers ! our contemporaries w h o are bu ilding gigantic powersta tions , perfecting the methods of cons truction , bringing m illions of acres of

virgin land under the plough , working for the advance of our entire agr icultureand still greater satisfaction of the grow ing requ irements of the people as regardsfoodstufis and consumer goods .

Th e Central Committee of the urges writers to make a profound s tudyof real ity on the bas is of creative mastery of Marx ism-L eninism , wh ich teachesus how to see the genu ine truth of life , in all its complex ity and fullness , as itarises in present-day international conditions when the s truggle is unfoldingbetween the camp of imperialism and the camp of socialism and democracy , tounderstand the processes O f development that are taking place in our countryand which are directed by the Communist Party, to understand the laws and

prospects of the development of our society , and to reveal the contradictionsand conflicts of life.In their writers the Soviet people want to see ardent fighters w ho activelyintervene in life and help the people to bu ild a new society in which all the resources O f the social wealth w i ll give Of themselves to the full , in which a newman w ill grow up whose psychology w ill be free from the surv ivals of capitalism .

Our writers are called upon to educate the Sov iet people in the spirit of communi sm and communis t morality , to further the all-s ided and harmonious development Of the individual , the full blossoming of all the creative inclinationsand talents of the working people.

3806 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE L os ANGELES,CALIE

,AREA

Th e duty Of Soviet writers is to create a truthful art, an art of great thoughtsand feelings , profoundly revealing the rich inner world Of the Soviet people ! toembody in the portra its of their heroes all the many-s ided character of theirwork and social and personal life in their intr ins ic unity. Our literature iscalled upon,

not Only to reflect the new , but also to facilitate its v ictory in everyway .

A n important and honorable task of our literature is the upbringing of the

youth , the young workers , collective farmers , members of the intelligents ia ands erv icemen Of the Sov iet Army in the spirit Of love for labor , cheerfulness , fearlessness , confidence in the victory of our cause , and in the sp irit of selfless loyaltyto the socialist motherland and constant readiness to deal a crush ing b low to

imperialis t aggressors if they attempt to interfere w ith the peaceful labo r of ourpeoples . A t a time when the aggress ive imperialist Circles are once aga in rallyingand rev iv ing the forces of defeated German fascism, Sov iet l iterature cannotrema in aloof from the struggle aga inst the reactionary forces of the O ld world .

Sov iet literature is called upon to fos ter w ith all its revolutionary ardor , andto s trengthen the patriotic sentiments of the Soviet people ! to fortify the fr iendship among the peoples ! to promote the further cohes ion of the mighty camp ofpeace

,democracy and socialism ! to foster the sentiments Of proletarian interna

tiona l ism and fraternal solidarity of the working people. The duty of Sovietwriters is to ra ise s till h igher the banner of s truggle f or the unity of all peaceloving forces in the interests of the security of the nations , and to expose andbrand the criminal plans of the imperialists w ho are threatening to unleash anew world war .Continu ing the finest traditions of the classical literature Of Russ ia and theworld , Soviet writers are creatively develop ing the method of socialist realismwhich w as founded by the great proletarian wr iter Max im Gorky , and are follow ing the traditions of the m i litant poetry of Vladimir Mayakovsky. Socialistrealism demands of the wr iter a truthful, h istorically concrete picture Of lifein its revolutionary development .To be able fully to live up to the tasks of socialist real ism means to po ssessa profound knowledge of the real life Of the people , their sentiments and thoughts ,to d isplay genu ine sens itiveness to their feelings and an ab ility to dep ict all thisin an interesting and comprehens ible artis tic form , worthy of the true s tandardsof realis t literature—presenting all th is with proper understanding of the greats truggle that is being waged by the working class and all the Sov iet people forthe further consolidation Of the socialis t society whi ch has been created in our

country , and f or the v ictory of communism. Under present-day conditions themethod Of socialist realism demands Of the wr iter an understanding of the tasksinvolved in the completion of the bu ilding of socialism in our country and in our

country ’ s gradual trans ition from socialism to communism . Socialist realismg ives vas t Opporunities f or the manifes tation of creative ini tiative and thechoice of different forms and styles in accordance with the individual inclinationsand tas tes Of the wri ter .Deviations from the pr inciples of social is t realism are detrimental to the

development of Soviet literature. In many respects our l iterature still lagsbehind life , which is rapidly developing , behind the requ irements of the reader ,w ho has grown politically and culturally. Some wr iters do not Show the exactingattitude to their work wh ich is necessary , and release for pub lication mediocreand weak productions which make Soviet reality look ins ipid .

There have been few s triking and artistically impress ive portra its createdrecently which could serve as an inspir ing example for mill ions of readers .

There are as yet no monumental literary works about the heroism Of the Russianproletar iat and the party of Lenin in the first Russ ian revolution and in theG reat October Socialis t Revolution , and we have few books about our SovietArmy—the reliable sentinel of the peaceful labor of the Sov iet people. Literarycr i ticism and the h istory of literature , which should develop the rich her itageof our class ics , draw general conclus ions from the experience of Sov iet l iterature,and promote the ideological and artis tic progress of our l iterature , are stilllagging beh ind .

The tendency in a number of works to embellish our reality and to pass overin s ilence the contradictions Of development and the difficulties of growth hashad an unfavorable effect on the development of our literature . The survivalsOf cap italism in the minds of the people do not find ample reflection in our

literature . On the other hand , certa in writers w ho have become divorced fromlife, in looking for far-fetched confl icts have written pot-boilers giving a distorted

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES INTHE LOS ANGELES,CALIE

,AREA 3807

and at times libellous picture Of Sov iet society , blaming the Soviet people w ithoutany reason.

Actively supporting everything new and progress ive wh ich is promoting theadvance of our society , Soviet writers , with all their energy and ardor , mus tcas tigate surv ivals in people ’s minds of the O ld world of proprietors

,castigate

those w ho are ind iff erent and inert , help to uproot from our life all that is antisocial and decrepit and hampers the rapid growth of the socialis t economy andculture .The Party calls on wr iters to engage in bold creative endeavors , to enr ich andfurther develop all forms and genres of l iterature , to ra ise the level of theirartistic ski ll in order fully to satisfy the ever-growing intellectual requirements

Of the Sov iet reader .Soviet writers have most favorable conditions f or creative work .

They have millions of fr iendly readers— friends of whom the writers of thepas t could only dream—e xacting , conscious and mature readers w ho love theirliterature .Sov iet literature, which is an insp iring example f or foreign wr iters and a

source of experience in the s truggle f or a new , advanced and progress ive art,at the same time become s enr iched by uti lizing the bes t ach ievements of progres

sive foreign writers in the course of developing and perfecting itself . Ourwr iters can and must continue to ut ilize to a s till greater extent th e valuableexperience of our foreign fri ends in the endeavor to achieve h igh standards of

artis tic mas tery .

O f great importance f or the accompl ishment of the honorable and respons ibletasks facing Soviet l iterature is the work of the Union of Soviet Wr iters ,which during the last tw o decades has grown into a mighty publ ic organization bu ilt on the principles of collective leadership and uniting a ll the creative forces of the wr iters , both those w ho are members of the Party and

those w ho are not.Sov iet literature and Sov iet writers have grown ideologically and have been

steeled in battles aga ins t various al ien influences , aga ins t manifestations of

bourgeois ideology and surv ivals of capitalism . In the future , as in th e past,the Union of Soviet Writers must concentrate its main attention on th e ideological direction Of Sov iet literature , on ideological education and enhancement of the wri ters ’ artistic Sk ill i t must fight resolutely agains t departuresfrom the principles of socialis t realism , against attempts to d ivert our l iteraturefrom the life of the Sov iet people , from the urgent problems of the policypursued by the Communis t Party and the Sovie t government , and fight agains trelapses into nationalism, cosmopolitanism and other manifestations of bourgeois ideology , aga ins t attempts to push our l iterature into the swamp Of

philis tinism, art w ithout a message , and decadence . Soviet literature i s

called upon to serve the cause Of the working people as the mos t advancedliterature of the world , and to be at the summit of world artis tic endeavors .

The Union should cons tantly see to it that wr iters l ive the life of the people ,understand the ir interests and asp irations , are active participants in the bui lding of communist society , know our contemporar ies , the rea l heroes—bu ildersof communism .

One of the ma in tasks of the Union of Soviet Wr iters is to give constantaid to young wr iters in their creative development, and to secure the enrichment of Sov iet literature by young talent .The greater ideological unity of all the active forces of the wr iters , thebold unfolding among the writers of criticism and self-criticism based on pr in

ciple , and comradely discuss ion of creative problems w ill be a guarantee of

fresh successes in Sov iet literature .Th e Central Committee of the Communis t Party w ishes the Second Congress

of Soviet Wr iters success and expresses firm confidence that our writers willgive all their energies to selfless serv ice of the Soviet people and w ill createworks worthy of the great epoch of the bui lding of communism.

APPENDI! B

Mao Tse - tung’s lectures on literature. and art have been very widelydistributed by the CPUSA . From the following excerpts it is clearthat Communists cannot produce art

,l iterature

,and music for their

own sake,but only for “pol itical reasons”—that is

,for the good of the

3808 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE L os ANGELES,CALIE

,AREA

Communist movement . In Mao ’s own words those writers,artists

,

and musicians who persist in expressing l iberal and individualisticsentiments “

should be extirpated to make room for the new .

”

Mao Tse -tung,Problems of Art and Literature, New York , Inter

national Publ ishers,1950

,pages 5

, 7 , 8—30

,32—34

,35 —4 5 .

EDITOR ’ S NOTEA conference on the Prob lems of A rt and L iterature as re la ted to the s truggle

for li bera tion in Ch ina w as h e ld from May 2 to May 23 , 1 942 , in Y enan , then the

capi ta l of the L ib era tion Movement. Writers and artists from a l l parts ofCh ina came to participate in th e Y ena!n Conference—from Jap anese-occupiedS hanghai and Nanking , from K uomi!ntang Chunking , as w e l l as from the liberated

prov inces .

The conference s eems to have been conducted in a leisurely manner ! on ly three

forma l p lenary sessions w ere he ld, the res t Of the time being devoted to individual

study and group discussions .

Mao Tse-tung , Communis t and L ibera tion leader, opened the conference on

May 2 w i th a short introduction presenting the fundamenta l questions of theL i beration struggle and the role of writers and artis ts in this struggle ( see pages7 He spoke again , on May 23 , and th is time extensively , at the c losings ession 0 f th e conference , ana lyzing the w ork Of th e conference and giving detai ledansw ers to the moot questions w hich w ere raised during th e three w eeks

’

debates

and discus sions ( see pages 1 5I t is w orth noting tha t this wri ters

’and artis ts

’ mobi lization in May , 1 942, w ash eld five month s af ter P ear l Harbor. The organiza tion of a na tion-w ide con

ference on l iterature and art during that v ery cri tica l period for China—themi litary and poli tica l s truggle agains t th e J apanese invaders and for Ch ineseuni ty

— a ttes ts to the confidence of the L i bera tion Mov ement and the unders tand

ing of the need and mann er of mobi lizing a l l the popu lar forces , inc ludin g the

cu ltura l , in the w aging of a w ar of na tiona l libera tion.

a: a: a: as

INTRODUCTIONComrades : Y ou have been inv ited to th is meeting so that we may discusscorrect relationsh ip between li terature and art, on the one hand , and revolut

ary work in general , on the other , w ith a V iew to properly develop ing ourlutionary literature and art , and making themother revolutionary act iv ities . By th is meansnational enemies and fulfill our task of national liberation.

Our s truggle for the liberation of the Chinese nation is being waged onber of fronts , and on the cultural as well as on the military front. Whi leover our enemies depends pr imarily upon sold iers w ith guns in their handsthe less troops alone are not enough . We mus t also have a cultural army ito accomplish our task of uniting the nation and defeating the enemy .

3k 3k

We have called th is meeting f or the express purpose of making literatureand art part O f our revolutionary mach inery , so that they may become a powerfulweapon w ith wh ich to unite and educate our people , to attack and des troy theenemy , and to help our people fight the enemy unitedly . What ques tions mustbe solved in order to achieve this Objective ? Th e ques tions Of our pos ition,

our attitude , our public , our work and our s tudy .

lack a clear and correct unders tand ing of our po s itiour comrades Often s lip into an incorrect pos ition.

The question of our a ttitude : After the ques tion of our pos ition comes theques tion of our attitude toward concrete matters . Take,f or instance , theques tion of whether to pra ise or to expose ? I t is a matter of attitude . Whatattitude should we adopt ? I say that we should adopt e ither one or both ,depend ing upon the subject under cons ideration. There are three kinds ofpeople : our enemies , our allies , and ourselves—the proletariat and its vanguard .We should have a different attitude toward each of these three categories .

5101

file

as, l‘

1115

idin

st01

nr11

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

3810 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES na THE LOS ANGELES,CALIF .

,AREA

Writers and artists should , of course, pursue their creative activities , but theirfirst and foremos t duty is to get to know the people and to unders tand their ways .

What have our writers and artis ts been doing in this respect ? I do not thinkthat they have learned to know or unders tand the people. Not know ing thepeople , they are like heroes w ithout a battlefield . Writers and artis ts are notonly unfami liar w ith the subjects they describe and w ith their read ing public ,but

,in some cases , are even completely es tranged from them . Our wri ters and

artists do not know the workers , peasants , and soldiers , or the cadres emergingfrom among them . What do they not unders tand ? The language. They speakthe language of the intellectuals , not the language of the masses .

I have said before that many of our comrades like to talk about popularization,

” but just what does popularization”mean ? I t means that our writers and

artists mus t weld their ideas and emotions wi th those of the workers , peasants ,and soldiers . In order to br ing about th is unity , we must start by learning thelanguage Of the masses . If we do not even unders tand the language of the masses,how can we poss ibly talk about creating literature and art .When I spoke of heroes w ithout a battlefield , I meant that the masses are notable to appreciate theories if they are abs tract. The more you try to Show Off ,the more you strut and preen as a great talent or a great hero , the harder youtry to put yourself over , th e more emphatically w ill the people reject your work .

I f you want the masses to unders tand you , if you want to fuse yourself w ith themasses , you mus t be determined to undergo a long and sometimes even painfultempering process .

L et me tell you of my own experience ! let me tell you h ow my feelings towardthe people changed . I w as once a student and in school I acqu ired s tudent habitsand manners . For ins tance , I w as embarrassed when I had to carry my luggageon a bamboo pole in the presence Of my fellow s tudents . They were so refinedthat they could not s tand hav ing any weight press upon their shoulders and disda ined the very thought of carrying anyth ing in their hands ! A t that time I w asconv inced that only intellectuals were clean, that workers , peasants , and soldierswere unclean. I would , therefore , readily borrow clothes from an intellectualbut never from a worker , or a peasant , or a soldier becaus e I thought that theirclothes would be unclean .

During the revolution I began to l ive among workers , peasants , and soldiers .

Gradually I began to know them , and they also began to know me . Then, and

then only , did th e bourgeois and petty-bourgeois sentiments inculcated in me bythe bourgeois schools change fundamentally ! Ever s ince then , whenever I compare unreformed intellectuals wi th workers , peasants , and soldiers , I realize thatnot only were the minds of those intellectuals unclean but that their bodies werealso unclean . Th e cleanes t people in the world are the workers and peasants .

E ven though their hands may be soiled and their feet smeared with cow dung,nevertheless they are cleaner than the bourgeois ie and the petty bourgeois ie .That is what I mean by a trans formation of sentiments— a changing over fromone Class to another .I f our wr iters and artists w ho come from the intelligents ia want the masses towelcome their work , they must br ing about such a transformation in their thinking and their sentiments . O therwise they cannot do an effective job ! f or theirwork w ill never be spread among the people.The ques tion Of learning : This is a question of studying the principles of

Marx ism-Leninism and soc iety . Anyone w ho cons iders himself a Marxis t-L eninist revolutionary w r iter , especially a wr iter who belongs to the CommunistParty , must have a general knowledge of Marx ism -Leninism. A t present , however , many Of our comrades fa i l to understand even the most fundamentalconcepts of Marx ism-Leninism. I t is , f or example , a fundamental concept thatObjective condi tions determine the subj ective , tha t th e Object ive conditions of

class s truggle and national s truggle determine our th ink ing and our sentiments .

In fact , these comrades reverse this principle. They say that everything beginsw i th “ love .” Spe aking of love , there can be only love of a class , or class-love,in a class society . Y et these comrades seek a love that s tands above all classdis tinctions ! they seek abstract love , abstract freedom , abstract truth , abstracthuman nature, etc , and th ereby prove how deeply they have been influenced bythe bourgeois ie . We must uproot this influence and bring an open mind to thestudy of Marxism-Leninism .

I t is true that writers and artists mus t learn more about the methods of

creative work but Marxism-Leninism is a sc ience Wh ich every revolutionary musts tudy, and wr iters and artis ts are no exception. Writers and artis ts mus t alsos tudy our soc iety—they must study the various classes compos ing society , their

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIE ,

AREA 38 11relation to each other, their conditions , attitudes , and psychology . Only whenthey have thoroughly understood all these factors can they give our l iteratureand art a r ich content and a correct orientat ion.

t t t 0

Our writers and artists are working primarily for the masses and not merelyfor the cadres . Thus , Max im Gorky edited h istor ies of factor ies , gu ided corpsof v illage newspaper reporters , and taught the youth . L u Hsun devoted muchtime to corresponding with young s tudents .

Our literary experts mus t give their attention to the wall newspapers of the

masses and to news reporting in the army and in the rural areas . Our dramaexpe rts must give their attention to the small repertory theatr ical groups inthe army and the rural areas ! our mus ic exp erts to mass s ingi ng ! and our artexperts to popular art . A l l these experts mus t maintain close contac t w iththe comrades propagandizing literature and art Of the lower levels amongthe masses .

alt 1! ! 0 t

S ince we realize that our literature and art must serve th e masses , then wecan go a s tep further and discuss ( 1 ) th e inner-party problem Of the relationbetween the literature and art work Of the party and party work as a whole !and (2 ) the problem of our relations with those outs ide the party, i . e . , therelation between party wr iters and artists and non-party writers and artists !in other words , the problem Of a united front in literature and art.L et us cons ider the firs t problem . A l l culture or all present-day literature

and art belong to a certain class,to a certain party or to a certain political

line. There is no such thing as art f or art ’s sake , or literature and art that lieabove class d istinctions or above partisan interes ts . There is no such thing asliterature and art running parallel to politics or being independent of politics .

They are in reality non-ex is tent .In a soc iety with class and party dis tinctions , literature and art belong to aclass or party , which means that they respond to the political demands of aclass or party as well as to the revolutionary task of a given revolutionaryper iod . When li terature and art dev iate from this principle , they d ivorce themselves from the bas ic needs Of the people .The literature and art of the proleta r iat are part Of the revolutionary program

of the proletariat . A S Lenin pointed out, they are “ a screw in the machine .”Thus the role of the party ’s work in literature and art is determined by theover-al l revolutionary program of the party . Deviation from this principleinevitably leads to dualism and pluralism , and eventually to such v iews as

Trotsky advocated : Marx is t politics but bourgeois art .We are not in favor of overemphas izing the importance of literature and art

but neither mus t be underes timate it. A lthough literature and art are sub

ordinate to politics , they in turn exert a tremendous influence upon politics .

Revolutionary literature and art are part of a revolutionary program. They arelike the aforementioned screws . They may be of greater or lesser importance,of pr imary or secondary value when compared w ith other parts of the mach ine,but they are nevertheless indispensable to the machine ! they are indispensableparts of the entire revolutionary movement. I f we had no literature and art,even of the most general kind , we should not be able to carry on the revolutionor to achieve v ictory . It would be a mistake not to recognize thi s fact.Furthermore , when we say that literature and art are subordinate to politics ,we mean class politics and mass politics , not the SO-called politics of a fewpoliticians . Politics , whether revolutionary or counter-revolutionary , representthe s truggle between two oppos ing classes , not the behavior of isolated individual s . Th e war of an ideology and the war of literature and art , especiallythe war of a revolutionary ideology and the war Of revolutionary literature andart , must be subordinate to the pol itical war because the needs of a class and of

the masses can be expressed in concentrated form only through politics .

it i O

Literary and art criticism constitutes a major weapon which must be developedto carry on a struggle in literary and art circles . A S many comrades haverightly pointed out, our pas t work ha s been inadequate in this respect .Criticism of literature and art presents a compl icated problem requiring specialstudy. Here I shall discuss only the problem of bas ic standards of cr iticism.

I shall also comment on var ious prob lems ra ised by comrades and the incorrectviews expressed by some.

3812 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES iN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIE

,AREA

There are tw o standards f or literary and art criticism. One is the politicals tandard and the other , the artistic standard .

By the political s tandard , artistic production is good , or comparatively good ,if it serves the interests of our war of res istance and un ity , if it encourages .

sol idar ity among the masses , and if it opposes retrogress ion and promotesprogress . Conversely , artistic production is bad , or comparatively bad , if itencourages d issens ion and div is ion among the masses , if it impedes progressand holds the people back .

Shall we dist inguish between the good and bad on the bas is of the motives( subjective intention ) or the eif ects ( actual practice in soc iety ) ? Idea listss tress the mot ives and deny the eff ects !mechanical mater ial ists s tress th e efl ectsand deny the motives . We are opposed to both approaches .

We are dialectical mater ial ists ! we ins ist upon a synthes is of motive and

effect . The motive of working f or the ma sses cannot be separated from theeff ect wh ich is welcomed by the ma sses . Th e motive and the effect must dovetai l . A motive engendered by ind iv idual self-interest or narrow group-interestis not good . On the other hand , a good intention Of worki ng f or the massesis of no value if it does not produce an efiect which is welcomed by the massesand benefits them.

In examining the subjective intent of a writer , that is to say, in determiningwhether h is motive is correct or good , we cannot depend upon h is own declaration of intent ! we mus t analyze the effect which h is behavior ( h is creativeproduct ) has on society and the masses . The standard f or examin ing a sub

jective intent is social practice ! and the s tandard f or examining a motive isthe effect it produces .

Our crit icism of l iterature and art must not be sectarian . Bearing in mindthe general pr inciples of the war of res is tance and national unity , we musttolerate all works of literature and art express ing every kind and shade of

political attitude . A t the same time , we must be firm in pr inciple and in our

pos ition when we criticize. Th is means that we mus t criticize severely all literaryand artistic works which present vi ewpoints that are opposed to national , scientific , mass , and Communist interests because both the mot ives and the effectsof th is so-called literature and art j eopardize our war of res istance and wreckour national un ity.

From the point Of v iew of artistic s tandards , all works of higher artisticquality are good , or comparatively good wh ile those of infer ior artistic quali tyare bad , or comparatively bad . But th is criter ion also depends upon the eff ecta given work Of art h as on society . There are few writers and artists w h o donot cons ider their own works excellent.

- A lso , we mus t allow free competition of various types and shadings of artisticwork . A t the same t ime , we mus t criticize the work correctly , by scientificand artistic standards , in order gradually to ra ise art Of a lower level to ah igher level , and to change art which does not meet the requirements of thepeople ’s struggle ( even when it is on a very h igh level ) to art which does .

We know now tha t there is a political s tandard and an artistic s tandard .

What then is the prope r relation between them ? Politics is not at the same t imeart . Th e world outlook in genera l is not at the same time the methods of

artistic creation. Not only do we reject abs tract and r igid poli t ical s tandardsbut we also reject abstract and rigid artistic s tandards . Di fferent class societieshave diff erent poli tical and artis tic s tandards a s do the various classes within agiven class society. But in any class society or in any class within tha t society ,political s tandards come firs t and artistic s tandards come second .

Th e bourgeois class rejects the literature and art Of the proletariat , no matterh ow high their artistic quality . Th e proletariat mus t likew ise reject thereactionary political essence of bourgeois l iterature and a rt , and extract theirartistic qual ity very judiciously . I t is pos s ible f or outright reactionary literature and art, the creative work of Fa scis ts . to have a certa in measure of artisticquality . Since reactionary productions of h igh artistic quality , however , may dovery grea t harm to the people , they must definitely be rejected . A l l literature andart of the exploi ting classes in their decadent period have one characteristic incommon—a contradiction between th eir reactionary political content and theirartis tic form.

We demand unity between pol itics and art ! we demand harmony betweencontent and form—the perfect blend ing of revolutionary political content withthe h ighes t possible level of artistic form. Works o f art and li tera ture w ithoutartistic quality are ineffectual no matter how progressive they are politically.

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES INTHE LOS ANGELES,CALIE ,

AREA 38 13Thus we condemn not only works of art w ith a harmful reactionary contentbut also works done in the “ poster-and-slogan s tyle ,”which stresses content to theexclus ion of form. I t is on these tw o fronts that we mus t fight in the sphere Ofliterature and art .Many of our comrades suff er from both defects . Some tend to neglect artis ticquality when they ought to be devoting much more attention to advancing artis ticquality . But even more important at present is their lack Of po litical quality .

Many comrades lack fundamental political common sense , w ith the result thatthey entertain all sorts of confused notions . L et me give you a few examples of

the notions enterta ined in Y enan.

1 . Th e theory of human nature —is there such a th ing as human nature ?Y es , certa inly , but only concrete human nature . In a class society human naturetakes on class characteris tics ! there is no abstract human nature w hich s tandsabove class distinctions .

We s tand f or the human nature Of the proletariat , wh ile the bourgeois ie andthe petty-bourgeois ie advocate the human nature of their respective classes .

And while they may not express i t in so many words , they cons ider that theirsis the only kind of human nature . In their eyes , therefore , the human nature ofthe proletariat is contrary to human nature . There are in Y enan some w hothink along s imilar l ines ! they advocate the so -called theory Of human natureas the bas is for the ir theory of l iterature and art . This is absolutely wrong.

2 .

“The origin of all l iterature and art is love , love of mankind . Love may bea starting point , but there is s ti ll another even more bas ic s ta rting point . Loveis a concept w h ich is the product of objective experience . Fundamentally w e

cannot s tart from an idea ! w e mus t s tart from Objective experience .The love that we writers and artis ts w ith our intellectual background bear

for the proletariat stems from the fact that society h a s forced upon us the samedestiny a s it h as forced upon the proletariat and that our l ives have been integrated w ith the life of the proletariat . O ur hatred of Japanese imperialism ,

on the other hand , is the result of our Oppress ion by Japanes e imperialis ts .

Nowhere in the world does love exis t w ithout reason nor does hatred existwithout reason .

A s f or love of mank ind , there h a s been no such all-embracing love s ince thehuman race w as d iv ided into classes . Th e ruling clas ses have prea ched un iversallove . Confucius advoca ted it , a s did Tols toy . But no one has ever been able topractice i t because i t cannot be atta ined in a cla ss society .

A true love of mank ind is atta inable , but only in th e future when cla ss d is tinctions w ill have been elim inated throughout the world . Clas ses serve to div idesociety ! when cla sses are eliminated , society will be united aga in . A t that time ,the love of mankind wi ll flourish but i t cannot flourish now . Today we cannotlove the fascists nor can we love our enemies . We cannot love all that is evi land ugly in society . I t is our Objective to eliminate all these ev ils . Th e peopleknow that . Cannot our writers and artis ts unders tand it ?3 .

“ Literature and art have always presented impartially and with equalemphas is the bright and dark s ides , always as much O f one a s of the other .”Th is remark reflects a series of muddled ideas . Literature and art do notalways present the bright and dark impartially . Many petty-bourgeois w ritershave never d iscovered the bright s ide ! they depict only the dark s ide and calltheir work “

expose literature .” They even produce works which are devo tedentirely to spreading pess imism and defeatism .

Dur ing the period of socialis t recons truction the literature of the Soviet Unionprimarily descr ibed the bright S ide . A lthough shortcomings were adm itted,they were presented a s shadings agains t a background of over-all brightness .

There w as no equal emphas is of the bright and the dark .

During per iods of react ion bourgeois w riters and artists have characterizedthe revolutionary masses as bandits and gangsters but referred to themselves a s

god-like . Thus have they d istorted the bright and the dark s ides .

Only truly revolutionary writers and artis ts can correctly solve the problem ofbalance between pra ise and expose. Every dark force wh ich endangers themasses mus t be exposed while every revolut ionary s truggle of the mas ses mustbe praised . This is the fundamental task of revolutionary writers and artis ts .

4 .

"

Th e function of literature and art h a s always been to exp ose .” This k indOf talk , jus t like the prev ious remark , shows a lack of understanding Of thescience of history and his tor ical materialism .

A s I have pointed out, to expose what is bad is not the only function ofliterature and art . Revolutionary writers and artists should limit the subjectmatter O f their exposure to the aggressors

,exploiters , and oppressors . The

3814 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE L os ANGELES,CALIE , AREA

people , naturally enough , also have shortcomings , but their defects are producedin large measure by the rule Of the aggressors , exploiters , and oppressors . Our

revolutionary writers and artis ts mus t lay the blame f or thes e shortcomingsupon the cr imes committed by the aggressors , exploiters , and oppressors , notexpose the people themselves . A s f or the people , our only problem is how to

educate them and ra ise their level .t

8 . Learning Marx ism-Leninism is a mechanical repetition Of dialectical materia l ism,

which will stifle the creative Spirit.”Learning Marxism-Leninism means only Observing and s tudying the world,

society , literature , and art from the point of View of dialectical and historicalmaterialism. I t does not mean tha t one must include an outline Of philosophyin a work of literature or art.Marx ism-Leninism embraces but does not replace realism in creative literature

and art, jus t as Marx ism-Leninism can only embrace but not replace the theor iesof atoms and electrons in phys ics . Empty , dry dogmas truly s tifle the creativeSpiri t ! furthermore

,they des troy Marxism -L emnism . Dogmatic Marxism-L enin

ism is notMarx ism-Leninism ! i t is contrary to Marxism-Leninism.

Will notMarxism-Leninism then destroy the creative spirit ? Oh yes , it wi ll . I t

w ill destroy the feudal , bourgeois , and petty-bourgeois creative spir it ! the creativespirit that is roo ted in liberalism , indiv idualism, abstractionism ! the creativeSpir it that stands f or art-for-art ’s sake and is aris tocratic , defeatist, and pessimis tic. I t w i ll destroy any brand of creative spirit which is not of the masses andof the proletar iat. A nd is it not right that these brands of creative sp irit shouldbe destroyed as far as proletarian writers and artists are concerned ? I th ink so.

They should be extirpated to make room for the new .

APPENDI! C

Just two months previous to Mr. K hokhlov ’s testimony before this

comm ittee,Nikita Khrushchev expressed his “views”on the role that

l iterature and art must play in Communist life . Let no true Communist artist get the si lly idea that Khrushchev ’s earlier remarks aboutpeaceful coexi stence were to be taken too l iterally . A s long as thereremain “ survivals of cap italism ,

” Party vigilance must never berelaxed .

The following paragraphs are reprinted from New Times , February16

,1956

,pages 68—69

,7 1 .

It is incumbent on Party organizations to heighten their v igilance in ideological work , s tr ictly safeguard the purity of Marx is t theory , wage a resolutestruggle aga inst all throwbacks to bourgeois ideology , intens ify the dr ive againstthe survivals of capitalism in the m inds of men and expose their carriers .

In this connection, we cannot pass by the fact that some people are tryingto apply the a bsolutely correct thes is of the poss ibi lity Of peaceful cO -exis tenceof countr ies w ith d iff erent social and political systems to the ideological sphere.This is a harmful mistake . I t does not at all follow from the fact that we s tandf or peaceful CO-existence and econom ic competition w ith capital ism, that thestruggle agains t bourgeois ideology , against the survivals of capitalism in theminds of men , can be relaxed . Our task is tireless ly to expose bourgeois ideology ,revea l how inimical i t is to the people , Show up its reactionary nature.In the battle wh ich our Party is waging agains t the moribund ideas and

conceptions of the O ld world , for the dissemination and affirmation of communist ideology , a major role belongs to the press , literature , and art. Whilenoting the cons iderable achievements registered in this field , i t must neverthelessbe said that our literature and art s till lag behind life , behind Sov iet reality , forthese are immeasurably r icher than their reflection in art and l iterature . I t is

legitimate to ask : have not some of our writers and art workers been los ingcontact with life ?A rt and literature in our country can and should take first place in the world

not only f or wealth of content , but also f or artis tic power and execution. Wecannot reconci le ourselves to pallid works bear ing the stamp Of haste, as somecomrades in art organizations , editorial offices , and publishing houses are doing.

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES INTHE LOS ANGELES,CALIE ,

AREA 38 15

Mediocrity and ins incer ity are Often not given a sufficient rebufi , and this i sdetr imental to the development of art and the artistic education of the people .We can note some progress in the cinema . More films are now being producedthan before . Y et, in their dr ive f or quantity , cinema workers O ften are less discriminating as regards the ideological and artis tic quality of p ictures and turnout feeble , superficial productions dealing w ith petty and ins ignificant pheh omena . This practice must be ended , remember ing that the cinema is a powerful ins trument of communis t education of the working people .Th e Party ha s combated and w ill continue to combat untruthful depiction of

Sovi et reality , both attempts to varnish i t and attempts to scoff at and d iscredi twhat h as been w on by the Soviet people . Creative work in l iterature and artmust be permeated w ith the spir it of struggle for communism, i t must instillbuoyancy and firm conviction in people ’s hearts and minds , cultivate a socialistmentali ty and a comradely sense of duty . Particular attention mus t be devotedto enhancing further the part played by the press in all aspects of ideological ,political , and organizational work .

!

Our party is full of creat ive s trength , mi ghty energy , and inflexible resolveto achieve the great a im—the bui lding of communism . In all human his torythere h as not been , nor can there be , a l oftier and nobler aim . Communismwill bring about the fulles t development of all the productive forces Of society !it w ill be a social sys tem where al l the fountains of social wealth w ill fl owfreely , where every indiv idual will work w ith enthusiasm according to h is

ab ilities and be compensated for h is labour according to h is needs . On th isbas is the prerequi s ites will be created for the all-round development of theindividual , of every member O f the communis t society . (Pro longed app lause. )That is why the ideas Of communism poss es s a tremendous magnetic power

and attra ct ever new supporters . There is noth ing more absurd than th e

fiction that people are forced to take the path of communism under p ressurefrom Wi thout. We are confident tha t the idea s Of commim ism will triumphand no

“ iron curta ins” or barr iers erected by the bourgeois reactionar ies can

halt their spread to more and more mi l lions . ( L oud applause . )A t the s ame time we firmly s tand f or pe aceful cO—existence , f or economiccompeti tion between socialism and capitalism ! we follow a consistent policy

of peace and friendship among nations .

Our Party h as many enemies and ill-wishers , but i t has a great many moretried and tested friends and loyal allies .

Our cause is invincible . I t is invincible because , together w ith the greatSoviet people , many hundreds of mi llions in fraternal People ’ s Ch ina and in allthe other People ’s Democracies are carrying i t forward . ( L oud app lause . ) I t

is invincible because i t enjoys the ardent suppor t and sympathy Of peoples and

countries wh ich broke out of national and colonial oppress ion . I t is inv inciblebecause it i s supported by the working people of the w ho l e world . NO one can

intimidate us , compel us to wi thdraw from the pos itions w e occupy , to renouncethe defence of peace , democracy , and socialism . ( L oud app la us e . )Th e future is wi th us , f or we are confidently marching forwar d along the onlycorrect path

,the path charted f or i1s by our teacher , the great Lenin . ( L oud

and prolonged app lause . ) Hundreds of millions of men and women ,inspired

by the ideas of a just social sys tem ,the ideas of democ racy and socialism , arerallying around us and our friends .

Under the banner of Marxism-Leninism , which is transforming the world , theCommunis t Party of the Sov iet Union w i l l lead the Sov iet people to the completetriumph o f communism. ( L oud and prolonged app lause and cheers . A l l rise . )

APPENDI! D

Perhaps by the time th is appendix i s print ,ed lVil l iam Z . Foster may

no longer be chairman of the CPUSA . His sii ccessor of course,will

hold the same ideas about art and cultune .

Foster s advice to “ friendly”artists is very interesting : Be sure topick up your cap ital ist pay check while trying your best to subvertthe cap ital ist system .

The following excerpts are reprinted f i om New Masses , April 23 ,1946

,pages 6

, 8 , and 9 :

38 16 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES, CALIE , AREA

E L EMENTS or A PEOPL E’

S CU L TURA L POL ICYThe chairman of the Communis t Party discusses art as a w eapon ! foresees a

resu rgence of progressive sp iri t in a l l cu ltura l fields(By Wi ll iam Z . Foster )

A s a start on a people ’s cultural program, there mus t be a clear understandingthat “ art is a weapon” in the class s truggle. Not only is art a weapon, but a verypotent one as well .a: t

Th e new ,elementary people ’s culture is develop ing along tw o general avenues .

F or one th ing, progress ive artis ts are rais ing their voices independently in l iterature,in the theater , and in var ious other artis tic fields . A t the same time they

are also exerting cons tructive pres sures upon the organized , cap italized culturalforms the radio , the press , the motion pictures , etc.Communis t and othe r democratic artis ts should cultivate both of these streams

of the new people ’ s art. A S the very bas is of their activity , they should furtherthe growth of every fo rm of democratic cultural act ivities outs ide d irect capita list control , including the work of independent artis ts in every field , the publication of good books and the production of progressive plays , the promotion of

artistic and general cultural work by trade unions , Negro groups , farmers ’

organiza tions and other people ’s groupings , the development of democ ratic art projectsby the local

, s tate and national governments , the s trengthening of publicationfaci lities by the Left , and the es tablishment of organized artists ’ movements .

It w as one of the worst features of Browder ’s revis ionism in the cultural fieldthat , with its policy of tai ling after the bourgeoisie , i t tended to liqu idate theseindependent artis tic endeavors .

Progress ive artists should also s tr ive to make their cons tructive influence feltw ith in the scope of the great commerc ialized organiza tions of the bourgeois iemotion p ictures , rad io , literature, theater , etc . A rtis ts mus t eat , l ike otherpeople. Many artis ts , therefore , are necessarily constra ined to w ork under d irect capi talis t controls , on employers ’ payrolls , pretty much as workers are.I t is also a political and artis tic necess ity to penetrate the commerc ialized artmedium. I t would be a s foolish f or artists to refuse to work for bourgeoiscultural organizations as it would be f or workers to declare a permanent s trikeaga ins t the capitalis ts ’ indus tr ies . But th is does not mean that artists SO

employed Should become serv ile tools or prost itutes f or these explo iters , as

unfortunately many do . On the contrary , the progress ive artists have a doublerespons ib ility . Not only should they actively cultivate every form of independent artis tic activity , but they should also fight , a s workers do in cap italis tindus try , to make their democratic influence felt in the commercial ized culturalorganizations .

The Special task of the Communists in the development of the new demo

cratic trends in our national culture is to enrich culture w ith Marx ian un

derstanding and to carry it to the people . The Commun is ts mus t , above allothers , be the ones to unders tand the true s ignificance of a rt as a weaponin the class s truggle and to know h ow to combat all reactionary cap italist ideological h indrances to the development of the new people ’ s democratic art.They mus t real istically develop a penetrating Marx is t cr iticism. They mus ts tr ive f or the utmos t excellence in their own artistic crea tive work . Theymus t take the lead in educating and mob ilizing the grea t masses to supporta l l independent a rt projects of the people , the fight aga ins t reactionary trendsin the capital is tically organized l iterature , theater , rad io , motion p ictures ,etc . , and to ins is t upon democratic artis tic expressions through these powerful mediums . They mus t ceaselessly teach artis ts the elements of Ma rx ismand inspire the who le body of artis tic and cultural workers w ith the perspectiveof the grea t cul tural rena issance tha t socialism brings w ith i t.The Communis ts , to be e ffective in all th is work , mus t be alert to fightaga ins t the Left and R ight dangers . Left sectarian trends are prominent inthe new people ’ s democratic art . They have done great harm in the pa s t andare s til l not w ithout cons iderable negative efl’

ects . Among such leftist trendsmay be noted tendencies to sweep a side all bourgeois a rt , pas t and present , asuseless and dangerous , to have contempt for all art tha t is not immedi ately

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

38 18 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIE

,AREA

APPENDI! E

As cultural commissar of the CPUSA , V. J . Jerome would be in aposition to expla in how cul ture can be used as a weapon . The following paragraphs taken from his Grasp the Weapon of Culture

,lay

stress upon certain aspects of the united front In arti stic and scieritificCircles .

V. J . Jerome,Grasp the Weapon of Culture

,New York

,New Cen

tury Publ ishers 1951,pages 20—21 .

The intellectual s work in the peace movement , however , h as tended to b e

l imited to the d irect poli tical plane , to participation only as“ citizens .

” Suchactivity

, in the form of rallies , petitions , statements to th e press , etc . , is mos tvaluable and needs to be greatly expanded through united-front efforts in manyd irections . Y et the ful l value Of the contr ibutions of men and women of thearts and sciences in such progress ive coalition actions demands for its realizationthat they partic ipate consciously as artis ts and a s scientis ts in the great struggles of our times . Such integrated cultural endeavor is v ital to the developmentof the peace movement and of an independent people ’s culture . A novel is t w hofights w ith h is voice but not w ith h is pen ,

an artis t who gives h is name to thefight but not h is brush , a scientis t w ho fights agains t the destruction of h is

civil r ights but not of h is science , fights w ith one hand , and w ith the other ohjective l y a ids the enemy .

Reactionary content in culture cannot be fought in the economic and pol iticalSphere sol ely ! it mus t be challenged and fought with the counter- ideology of

progress ive and working-class culture , which the Communis ts must lead in develop ing . Th e

“ practicalism ,

” rationa lized by the pressures of the work f orpeace , that cannot paus e f or concern w ith the content of the artis t ’s or sc ien

l is t ’s work , is opportuni sm, analogous to economism” in the trade unions .

Nor can we effec t ively wage the broad battle of ideas , unless we battle f or theadvanced,Marx is t-Leninis t ideas in culture . F or example , to combat the general

run of anti-Soviet discussi ons Of the sciences , literature , and the arts , is to leavethese v ital cultural fields to the enemy and to weaken the struggle against antiSovietism as a whole .However , it would manifes tly be wrong to demand of everyone wh o participates on a political-cultural bas is in a united-front peace activ ity or organization that he neces sar ily give full express ion to the proletarian class ideology .

Wha t should be expected of h im is that he express himself as citizen and a s

artis t on the level Of h is own unders tanding . O f course , it is the task of Communists to he lp the non -Communists in the united front to understand that thecultural forces w ith their pursuits and talents can ,

in alliance wi th the workingclass , labor and s truggle to hasten the end of a sys tem wh ich , h istor ically doomed ,ens laves and humiliates them .

APPENDI! F

From personal experience,Sidney Finkelstein could appreciate the

problems confronting ‘‘independent Communist writers and composers . In 1950

,his own work

,A i t and Society

,had been discovered

to contain dangerous bourgeois sentiments which,of course , Finkel

stein quickly 0 0 1b

‘

.1 ected

S idney Finkelstein,How Music Expresses Ideas

,New York

,Inter

nationalyPubl ishers,1952

,pages 101 105 .

In the Soviet Union , criticism is a S ign of the h igh regard the people have formus ic and its creators . Th is wil l seem especially s trange to composers in theUnited States , w ho regard critics a s arch-enemies except when they themselvesbecome critics . Y et the proof of the rega rd lies in the high posi tion Shos takov ichha s always held in Soviet mus ica l li fe . in the fact tha t h is melodies are hummedby mi llions ,

in the fact tha t h is suc < ess ful symphonic works are known by mus iclove 1 s a s thm ougli ly a s they know the meat clas s ics . The Sov iet cr iticisms arepa 1 t of the tlou 1 ish i 11g mus ica l life of the count 1 y , of the give and take betweena rtis t and peopl e . They a re part of the process through which the composer ismade aware O f the progres s of the people themselves , and the need to catch up

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES INTHE L OS ANGEL ES,CAL IE

,AREA 38 19

with them and at the same time give them a consciousness of their being throughh is work that they could not atta in by themselves . Through these criticisms

Shostakovich h as grown,as few other composers in these diflicul t t imes . His

deeply moving express ions of pa in and tragedy , h is joyfulness and impish humorhave become a world cultural possess ion . Th is growth is true of other Sov ietcomposers ! and in general , Sov iet mus ic as a whole, in spite of red -ba iting, h asbecome the mos t popu lar body of contemporary mus ic . I t is popular in the realsense of the term ,

not the commercial bes t-seller sense , wh ich creates works tobe consumed and des troyed so that they may make room f or others . I t is turnedto again and again. Not every work is a masterpiece , but every work is human ,

and the l isteners feel in the mus ic a deep regard f or themselves .

One of the effects of the Sov iet criticisms has been to puncture the carefullynurtured myths about “modernism in mus ic , myths so well publicized that thelisteners w ho felt only boredom , distaste , or confus ion at this mus ic began tofeel that the fault w as in their own lack of

“ finer sens itiv ities .

” Th e Sov ietUnion has raised ques tions of mus ic , asking that it po ssess not only “ talent ,” or

cleverness , or experimental novelty , but s er iousness and depth . This , too, h asbeen well expressed by Shostakov ich , on h is v is it to the United States in 1949

as a delegate to the Cu ltural and Scientific Conference f or World Peace .“ Bringing into being a work which mus t be permeated with great ideas and greatpass ions , which mus t convey w ith its sounds tragic suspense as well as deepoptimism , and mus t reaffirm the beauty and digni ty of man—this is the difli cul tand complicated task wh ich realism demands .

” A nd the great power of realismis that it enables the compo ser himself to be a powerful factor f or peace agains twar . And so Shostakov ich asks , “How can we mus icians serve the cause of

peace , democracy and progress with our art ? ”Th e criticisms and discuss ions of 1948 were aga in derided throughout thecap italis t world by composers and critics , especially in the United States , alongwi th a fury of Soviet-baiting and d ire predictions of the imminent collapse ofSoviet mus ic. A nd wh ile wr iting these attacks in the name of “ freedom” of thecomposer to compose mus ic , these same composers were worrying about whenthey could find some spare time to compose , how they could make some moneyout of their compos ition , and why nobody seemed either to like their mus ic or

even to be interes ted in their ex istence . Needless to say , these cr itics and“ author ities” have made no attempt to prove or disprove their predictions byexamining the new works of Soviet mus ic , such as Shostakov ich S “ Song of theFores t ,” a cantata f or chorus and orchestra on a grand scale , w ith a r ich andfresh melodic qua l ity , celebrating in words and mus ic pe aceful life and construc

tion . I t is one of the few really “new

” works of the postwar years , for it dealswith the v istas opening up before humanity after the defeat of fascism. A nd

the mus ic fits the subject , hav ing a lyr ic sweetness and a joyousness surpass ingeverything in h is previous work.

Th e criticism of 1948 , wh ich inaugurated widespread di scuss ions by c omposers

,mus icians , cr itics , and the public w as a imed at accelerating the de

velopment of Soviet mus ic by making the composers aware of the vas t changesthat had taken place among the people , the new avenues of musical compos itionthat were Opening up , the new needs of the people . I t la id the bas is for a newlevel of socialist realism, breaking down all prev ious oppos ition that had existed be tween concert hall and opera , between music f or profess ional and musicf or amateur , between instrumental mus ic and vocal , between mus ic of the mostserious “ class ical” princ iples and mus ic f or popular use . I t pointed out th atSoviet mus ic had developed one-Sidedly , in i ts attention to the concert hall !th at the tens of thousands Of amateur choral and ins trumental groups offeredSoviet composers great opportunities f or reaching audiences far beyond theconcert hall , prov iding the people with mus ic Of the bes t quality , and rais ingtheir level ! and that this effort would in turn ,

enable the composer to developnew resources of human imagery in mus ic . I t called f or a serious and fardeeper approach to the problems of Opera than had been made hi therto , pointing out that Soviet composers had suffered from the failing to wr ite f or thehuman vo ice and the neglect Of vocal musi c and song, characteristic of thedecline of bourgeo is mus ic in general . One of the profound remarks made byAn drei A . Zhdanov ( 1 896—1948 ) in his speech at a conference of Soviet mus icians w as as follows : “

I Shall now pass on to the danger of losing protessiona l mastery . I f formalistic dis tortions make music poorer , they also entai lanother danger : the loss of profess ional mastery. In this connec tion i t wouldbe well to cons ider s till another w idespread misconception : the cla im that

3820 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES,CALIE

,AREA

class ical mus ic is supposedly s impler , and modern music more complex , and

the complex ity of modern mus ic represents a forwa rd step .

” This is true of agreat number of contemporary composers , w ho speak in mysterious shop-talkterms of their “ advanced” techniques , when they have actually lost basic sk ills ,such as those Of constructing a large-scale dramatic work , wr iting an Operathat presents cred ible human character izations on the stage , or even w ritinga genu inely emotional and s ingable melody.

Opera happens to be one of the riches t h istoric mus ical forms , capable of boththe greatest mus ic and the greatest popular ity , educating people in the meaning Of all mus ic by associating mus ic w ith dramatic events and experiences .

Like all forms of theatre , it has been feared and censored by reactionary governments , and it is s ignificant that the Soviet criticisms call f or even moreintens ive work on Opera , and a devotion to the most real and contemporarythemes . The criticism attacks narrowness and calls f or more breadth , f or“works of high quality and h igh ideals in all genres—in th e field of operaticand symphonic mus ic , in the creation of songs , in choral and dance mus ic .”The criticism touches on other points that could well be examined in the

United States : the charge , f or example , that mus ic criticism “has made itself

a trumpet f or indiv idual composers . Some mus ic cr itics have taken to fawningupon one or another of the leading musicians , pra is ing their works , in everyway, f or reasons Of friendship , rather than criticising them on the bas is of

objective principles .

”The cliquishness dominating the circles in wh ich con

temporary mus ic is discussed in th e United States , is obv ious to anyone w ho hascontact wi th them.

Zhdanov called for more creative di scuss ion , saying : “When there is no

creative d iscuss ion ,no cr i tic ism and self-critic ism, there can b e no progress

e ither . When cri ticism and creative discuss ion are lacking, the wellSprings of growth run dry, and a hothouse atmosphere of stuffiness and stagnation is crea ted . Self-criticism is nothing new in mus ical h istory . Everygreat artis t has gone through periods of deep self-examination ,

harshly criticizing h is prev ious work and trying to discover new pathways to growth . Thenew aspec t of Sov iet critic ism i s that it is more open

, social , and collective,more consc ious of the h is torical forces tha t in fact have always forwa rded theprogress of music . Aga in Zhdanov sa id : Not everything that is comprehens ible is a work of genius , but every genuine work of genius is comprehens ible ,and i t is all the more a work of genius , the more comprehens ible it is to the broadmasses of people.” This is a res tatement of nothing more than what the h istory Of mus ic displays , f or Bach , Mozart , Beethoven,

Verdi,Tcha ikovsky were

comprehended in their time , w ithin the limits of the audiences they couldreach . I t does not say that all gr eat music is immediately comprehended byall listeners . I t says that great art can be expla ined and taught, and to claimthat today ’s art wi ll be unders tood only by the “ future” is to hide its poverty

s tricken content .Again Zhdanov declared : Internationalism arises from the very flowering of

national art. To forget this truth is to los e s ight of the guiding line , to los eone ’s own face , to become a homeless cosmopolitan . Only the nation which hasits own h ighly developed mus ical culture can appreciate the mus ic of otherpeoples . One cannot be an internationalis t in mus ic

,or in any other realm

,w ithout being at the same time a genuine patriot Of one ’s own country. I f internationalism is founded on respect f or other peoples , one cannot be an internationalis t w ithout respecting and loving one ’s own people.” This too is worthyof s tudy by many composers in the United States , w ho produce a mus ic accordingto an atonal or polytonal set Of formulas that is exactly like the mus ic producedby the same formulas in Paris , V ienna , London ,

and Rome , and which is profoundly boring to audiences both abroad and at home . Internationalism is themutual help and interchange of ideas , experiences and knowledge among peoples .Cosmopolitanism is the attempted d ictatorsh ip of a dominant imperial is t cultureover peoples through the ins is tence on mus ical sys tems that preclude realism orhuman Imagery , and wh ich des troy national cultures wherever their influence isfelt. Today the cosmopolitan d ictatorsh ip of atonality and po lytonality , and ofthe manufactured mus ic of Tinpan A lley , go hand in hand , and their des tructiveinfluence is easy to see , both in Europe and in the United States itself.