SECRETARIAT. Draft letter to Party organizations throughout the USSR about distribution in the Soviet Union of “Amerika“, a Russian-language magazine produced by the US State Department [R: 15 August 1956, St 19/2]. 6 pp.
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19/2, 15 August 1956
19/2, 10 August 1956
Draft Letter to Party Organizations
Dissemination of the magazine “Amerika” in the USSR
Adopt overall the submitted draft of the letter.
Instruct the CPSU Central Committee Department of Propaganda & Agitation of the Union Republics, to edit the draft letter taking into account the comments expressed during the meeting of the Secretariat.
Central Committee Secretary
Sent to: Comrade Konstantinov
[Handwritten abbreviated words: “See draft of Article 20, point II, 21 August 1956”]
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[page two]
[Square stamp in top right corner contains words and numbers: “CC CPSU, 27409,” a line of indecipherable numbers, except for the year “1956, Subject to return to the _ Department of the CPSU”]
[Said square slightly overlaid on left side by a rectangle stating: “SUBMITTED TO THE 2nd SECTOR”]
To the CPSU Central Committee
In accordance with the instruction, we are submitting the draft of the CPSU Central Committee’s letter “On the Dissemination of the Journal ‘Amerika’ in the USSR.”
Deputy head, Department of Propaganda & Agitation,
CPSU Central Committee for Union Republics
(signature)
(F. Konstantinov)
30 July 1956
[three illegible handwritten words here]
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Top Secret
TO THE CENTRAL COMMITTEES OF THE UNION REPUBLIC COMMUNIST PARTIES AND CPSU REGIONAL COMMITTEES
On the Dissemination of the Magazine “Amerika” in the USSR
The CPSU Central Committee notifies Party organizations that in the nearest future the journal “Amerika”, published by the US Department of State in the Russian language, will be distributed in the large cities of our country. At the same time, distribution of the Soviet English-language magazine “USSR” will begin in the United States of America. The proposal for the exchange of magazines came from the US government.
The reciprocal publication of the American magazine in the Soviet Union and our magazine in the USA is a diplomatic measure corresponding to the principles of the policy of the Communist Party and the Soviet government, aimed at easing international tensions [1].
The distribution of 50,000 copies of the Soviet illustrated monthly magazine in the US (the same number of copies of the magazine “Amerika” will be distributed in the USSR) will give us the opportunity of additional means to provide a certain part of the US population with a truthful familiarization with the nature of the Soviet social order, the economic and cultural achievements of the USSR and individual Union republics, to display the way of life of the Soviet people, their labour and recreation. In this lies the positive importance of a mutual exchange of magazines between the USSR and the USA.
Yet there is another, negative, aspect of this matter.
It is crucial to keep in mind that the US authorities will adopt all measures to use the magazine “Amerika” for the propaganda of the so-called /…
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2.
‘American way’ of life, for the unrestrained extolling of the ‘achievements’ of the US in economics and culture, and in the production of mass consumer goods, especially, in the organization of everyday life, etc. Clearly this magazine will not shed light on all the ills and contradictions of the capitalist method of production in the United States (unemployment, discrimination against Negroes, the ruination of farmers, the rise in crime, decay of culture, etc.). The publishers of the magazine “Amerika” will by all means seek to show that ordinary people in the USA, including workers, live better than Soviet people. The selection of facts and articles in this magazine will be tendentious, one-sided, and suit the ruling circles of the USA.
Believing it crucial to warn Party organizations, the Central Committee wishes them to note that distribution of the magazine “Amerika” by no means suggests that its contents are endorsed. This is merely a diplomatic act that shows our striving to establish contacts with Western states.
Dissemination of the magazine, therefore, should be restricted in every way. The magazine should not fall into the hands of politically immature people who are incapable of understanding the tendentiousness of its contents. Articles in the magazine “Amerika” should not be used in propaganda and agitation work, in print or on the radio.
In keeping with the mutual agreement with the American side, 5,000 copies of the magazine “Amerika” will be distributed by subscription in approximately 40 of the largest cities of the country; the remaining 45,000 copies will be sold in more than eighty cities via Soyuzpechat [2] kiosks.
The CPSU Central Committee suggests that the Central Committees of the Union Republic Communist Parties, Regional Party Committees [3], and municipal committees of the Party offer all manner of assistance to the agencies of communication /…
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3.
in the correct organization of work on the dissemination of the magazine “Amerika”. Subscription to the magazine should also be implemented in such a way that its subscribers are politically literate, ideologically sound people. It is recommended that the subscription to the magazine be carried out not in postal divisions but by public distributors of the print press at enterprises and institutions.
In organizing retail sales of the magazine it is crucial to ensure that it not be sold in kiosks located in places where there are usually large concentrations of people (bazaars, parks, railway stations), but in kiosks at enterprises, institutions, in theatres, on central streets, and only in limited quantities. There is no need to aim to sell all issues of the magazine. In agreement with the American side, the Soviet agencies of communication have the right to return up to half the edition to the magazine’s publishers if it cannot be sold. Party organizations should take care that an unhealthy interest in purchasing the “Amerika” magazine is not created around its distribution.
Naturally, some copies of the magazine will also fall into the hands of inexperienced, politically irresolute readers; undesirable conversations may arise concerning the articles tendentiously selected and published there. In order to neutralize the influence of the magazine “Amerika”, Party organizations should ably place counter-propaganda and ensure that articles exposing the ‘American way of life’ and ‘American democracy’ are more frequently inserted in the press, on the radio, in reports, lectures and discussions, so that, without reference to “Amerika”, the figures and facts it mentions will be ably refuted. Our propaganda should show that the so-called ‘American way of life’ is far from the pictures the magazine “Amerika” attempts to depict.
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4.
The CPSU Central Committee cautions the Central Committees of the Union-Republic Communist Parties, Regional Party Committees, and municipal Party committees that work to restrict dissemination of the magazine “Amerika” and refute the materials it publishes should be conducted ably and thoughtfully; the task should be assigned to politically vetted workers.
All manner of carelessness in this respect is unacceptable because it will be exploited by the American side for anti-Soviet propaganda and to restrict the distribution of the Soviet magazine “USSR” in the United States.
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NOTES
- “Easing international tensions” was a phrase adopted officially in the mid-1970s when détente was declared (see Chapter Seven, Judgement in Moscow, 2016).
↩︎ - Soyuzpechat = Central Distribution Agency for newspapers, magazines. Operated through kiosks in all population centres.
↩︎ - In Russian the reference is to TWO major levels of administration in the USSR, and in post-Soviet Russia. The Oblast or Region, e.g., Kaluga (Central Russia), and the larger and more heterogeneous Krai or ‘Territory’, e.g., Krasnoyarsk (central Siberia).
In translation on this website the two are interchangeably described as Regions — not least because ‘Territory’ in American usage refers to a LESS extensive or developed form than the fully-fledged State, e.g., the ‘Indian Territory’ which came into being in 1834 and was only raised in 1907 to the level of a State (Oklahoma).
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GENERAL
Translator’s notes are bracketed, handwritten text is italic.
Translation by Marta D. Olynyk, December 2010;
verified and annotated, John Crowfoot
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