DEVELOPMENT OF OUTLYING NATIONAL AREAS

DEVELOPMENT NATIONAL OF OUTLYING AREAS

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Prison of Nations Union o~ Equals Common! Cause Emancipation of Women National in Form and Socialist in Content Health Comes First The Future of the Outlying National Areas We want a voluntary union 0/ nations-a union which precludes any coercion 0/ one nation by another­ a union founded on complete. confidence, . on a clear recognition 0/ brotherly unity, on absolutely voluntary consent. (~) COlO3 COBETCKWX COLUfAJU1CTW~ECKWX PECfiY6JJ"K L'UNtON DES REPUBUOUES SOCIALISTES SOVIETIOUES THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS DIE UNION SOZIALISTISCHER SOWJETREPUBLIKEN F or centuries the world's progressive people dreamt of the time when the nations would forget their feuds and join in one great family. This dream first came true in multinational Russia after the victory of the Great -October Socialist Revolution of 1917, which gave power to the working people. Several days after the Revolution the Soviet Government adopted -the Declaration of Rights of the Peoples of Russia, drawn up by Lenin. The Declaration proclaimed new principles of relations_ between nations, of a kind history had never known b~fore, it proclaimed full democra­ tiiZation, the right of peoples to equality, so­ vereignty, free self-determination and did away with all national privileges and restrictions. But before this equality could be translated into reality, it was necessary to overcome the economic and curtural backwardness of -the country's many nations and nationalities and establish all-round cooperation and brotherly mutual aid between them. Such relations could only be achieved through a voluntary union of nations on a democratic basis-on the bilsis of freedom and equality. Lenin had come to the conclusion that the most rational and just form of such a union would be a multinational socialist state based on the principles of autonomj and federation for .- the _ smaller nations-the Union of Soviet So~iali-st R~puplics. This little pamphlet tells how Lenin's ideas concerning the development of the outlying national areas were put into practice. Prison of Nations

Pre-revolutionary Russia was a multinational power inhabited by over a hundred different nations and nationalities. The worjcing people ~f the vast empire were oppressed by the Russian tzar, by his military and civil administration. The small nationalities suffered from twofold oppression: from the Rus­ sian monarchy and their own national exploiters. The laffer enjoyed( the active support of the clergy of many religior:ls and foreign capitalists, notably the French, Belgian, British, German and American capitalists, who controlled many of RtJssia's key industries. Thus, as soon as rich oilfields were dis­ covered in Azerbaijan and lat!,r, near the town of Grozny, the American and European mono'" polies used every pretext, but most often direct economic pressure, to get control of these riches and to extract millions in profits, while the Caucasians who worked the mines eked out a meagre existence. Workers in the outlying national areas put in, as a rule, a 17-18-hour day for which they received a mere piffance. The life of farm la­ bourers in pr~-revolutionary Russia's E~stern out­ lying areas was probably the hardest of all. There men earned 86 roubles a 'year, women­ 56 roubles and adolescents-33 roubles whereas economists estimated that an adult had to spend 98 roubles per .annum on food alone. As a' re­ sult workers were perpetually in debt with the' boss. The peoples of the Eastern outlying areas' were subjected to a most cynical kind of exploi­ tation. Prices for consumer goods and food im­ ported to these areas wer!! exorbitantly high while prices for the exported primary goods were extremely low. Thus sugar and tea cost four times as much there as in Central Russia, 7 a 7-rouble samovar sold for 14 roubles, a 2-rouble iron pot sold for 50 roubles. Tax-col­ lecting and usury were a curse. Foreign, Russian and local industrialists and big landowners seized the be'st land, driving off the indigenous population into desert and mountainous areas. With the permission of the Russian authorities especially 1arge areas of land were handed to foreign concessior1ers by the Emir of Bukhara on the eve of World War I. The lot of the small peoples of Siberia was utterly unbearable. Taking advantage of the backwardness of the local population, enter­ prising businessmen made fabulous fortunes by bartering trinkets, salt and hunting gear for gold, fine furs and precious stones, _On top of economic oppression there was the political diSfranchisement -and cultural back­ wardness of the peoples of the national out'­ lying regions in pre-revolutionary Russia. It was easier for the landowners and capitalists to keep in subjection people who were ignorant. This explains why in pre-revolutionary Tajikistan, for example, only one person in 2,000 people was literate. -Kh. Salibayev, Honoured Teacher of the Tajik SSR, recalls the following episode: "It happened some 50 years ago in my native village. At the height of winter a - villager whose surname I do not remember, - but whose first name was Sharif, received a -letter f~om his brother in Fergana. He had left the village, _in search of a better life, and for a long time nothing was heard from him. Then came the long-awaited letter. The joy of the relatives knew no bounds. But they were illiterate and could not read it. Sharif went from house to house looking for a man who could read. But alasl None of the 300 adult villagers could read. Sharif took the scrap of paper and began to cry. The peasants consoled him and advised him to go to the neighbouring village which was situated beyond a high mountain pass. And that is what he had to do'" Many peoples in the multinational outlying 8 areas had no written language. Tbe Northern peoples. such as Chukchi, Evenki, Nanaitzi, ete., were absolutely illiterate and lived in utter ignorance. The overwhelming. majority of the people in Central Asia and other national. outlying regions, too, were illiterate. Three quarters of the popu­ lation in pre-revolutionary Russia· could neither read nor ·write. Hunger and cold, exhausting labour, poor sanitary·conditions contributed to the outbreaks of .such appalling dfseases as plague, cholera, smallpox, typhus. The. situation was further ag­ gravated by poor health- ~·ervice. Thus, in what is now Uzbekist~n; there was one doctor per 50,000 inhabitaots.. 'MaIJY nationalities in the North did not even know there was such a thing as qualified medical aid. The death rate wa~ higher than in most European countries, in the USA and Japan. In 1913,. it stood at 2.91 per cent. Child mor­ tality was especially high, with nearly two mil­ lion children (a. ·quarter of all babies born) dying before the age of one. To keep the numerous .peoples in subjection the bourgeois and landowners' Government of Russia re.sorted to inciting national hatred. Brutal exploitation, hunger and national op­ pression, disease and ignorance· were the lot of millions in pre-revolutionary -Russia, which was justly called a, prison of the peoples.

9 Before the revo- l\"> lution women in Ceittral Asia had to wear veils over their faces. Tilling the land' in Central Asia in 1910 Kazakh coal mi­ ners, Karagan­ da, 1903.. A fisherman's home on ihe Barents Sea at the beginning of the century. Union of Equals

On the eve of the October Revolution the Communists in Russia faced the formidable task of creating new relations between the nationa­ lities inhabiting the vast country. The difficulty lay in the fact that capitalism had pushed na­ tional mistrust and alienation to the hilt. The Great October Revolution of 1917 gave power to the working people., The Second Con­ gress of So-.:iets which was held in those me­ morable days proclaimed Russia a Republic of the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies. The Declaration of Rights of the Peoples of Russia, 'which renounced the old policy of ex­ ploitation and of setting one nationality against another and proclaimed the policy of "volun­ tary and honest unior, of the peoples of Russia," was, along with the Decree on Peace and Decree on Land, one of the first major documents' of the Soviet Government. The Declaration set down the bed-rock principles of Soviet national policy: equality and sovereignty of the peoples. of Rus­ sia, their right to free self-determination including secession and formation of Independent states. All national and religious privileges, which had over the centuries become prevalent and lega­ lized by Russian tzarism, were now cancelled. All the peoples, large and small, inhabiting. Russia, enjoyed equal rights. A People's Commissariat for Nationalities was formed under the Soviet of People's Commissars (Soviet Government) charged with practical di­ rection of the policy concerning the nationa-' lities. Finland, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Tuva, a small mountain country on the border between Mongolia and China, later availed themselves of the right to self-determination to secede from the young Soviet Republic. 12 In the early months or" the Revolution and in the course of the Civil War the heroic struggle of workers and peasants of the national outlying areas led to the f~rmation of the first Soviet Republics: the Russian, Ukrainian, Byelo­ russian and Transcaucasian, the latter being a fe­ deration of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. The road of the Soviet Republics to state­ hood was a complicated one. However, they all . wanted to unite to fight counter-revolution and foreign intervention. The forming of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922 was telling proof of the suc­ cessful implementation of the Declaration ot Rights of the Peoples of Russia. The need for such a union was quite apparent. From the earlie'st days the Soviet Republics strove for unity. In the early years of Soviet power, when it was necessary to fight against internal and external enemi~s, the Republics concluded a military and political union. After the end of the Civil War and foreign interven­ tion, the Republics began to establish economic links and render each other. economic aid. The diplomatic union of the Soviet Republics took shape in 1921-22. It was the first time that mankind was faced with the problem of setting up a multinational socialist state. Naturally, the principles on which the union was to pe based cam~ in for much heated discussion at the time at mass meetings, in the Communist Party and in the Government. Many different opinions were expressed. Lenin proposed to set up a federal state-the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which WilS to be a voluntary association of equal, sovereign states. Lenin was convinced that each Republic must have the right to free secession from the USSR. The peoples of the Soviet land supported Lenin's proposal. On December 30, 1922, the First All-Union Cong;ess of Soviets, at which all the country's nationalities were represented, so­ lemnly proclaimed the formation of the Soviet Union. At first it was joined by four Republics: 13 A stevedore on, the River Volga, 1913. A metal wotker, a representative of the working class which overthrew the oppressors' under the guidance of the Communist Patty and took power for the first time in mankind~s history. the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, the Bye­ lorussian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Trans­ caucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. The Soviet Union today consists of 15 Union Republics: the Russian Soviet Federative Socia­ list Republic, the Ukrainian, Byelorussian, Uzbek, Kazakh, Georgian, Azerbaijan, Lithuanian, Mol­ davian, Latvian, Kirghiz, Taji'k, Armenian, Turk­ m~f1 and Estonian Soviet Socialist Republics. In 1936, the new Soviet Constitution was adQpted, which clearly defined the relations of t~~ nations in the multinational Soviet socialist state. The experience of almost two decades in building a multinational state proved the need to take into account the national features and interests, both of large and relatively small na­ tionalities which sought autonomous socialist statehood under socialism. In view of the existence of relatively small, but territorially compact ,national groups within the Union Re­ publics, smaller state entities-Autonomous So­ viet Socialist Repub.lics, Autonomous Regions and National Areas were formed. At present there are about fifty national autonomies in the USSR. Autonomous Republics are part of a Union Republic. They enjoy political autonomy, have their own constitution adopted by the local par­ liament (the Supreme Soviet of the Autonomous Republic). The citizens of an Autonomous Re­ public, like the _citizens of all Union Republics, are citizens of the -Soviet Union. The Supreme Soviets and Councils of Mi­ nisters (the Government) of the Autonomous Republics are vested with considerable powers in running the local economy and seeing to cul­ tural needs. The Autonomous Regions and National Areas are formed on the ,same principles. However, their autonomy is administrative O'1ly. They form part of a Union RepubliC and are politically subordinated to it. The national basis of the Soviet State-the 16 fraternal union of equal nations and nationali­ ties-has withstood the test of time and the grim trials of World War II. Contrary to the expecta­ tions of the enemies of socialism, this severe trial did not sunder or weaken the common bonds and mutual aid between the peoples of the Soviet lands, but strengthened them. To facilitate administration and ensure better services, Union Republics which cover a large territory are subdivided into territories and re­ gions which in turn are divided into districts. All these administrative entities have their own local government bodies-the Soviets of Working People's Deputies-which are elected by the entir~ population. The country's many thousand towns, village's and workers' settlements, also have similar local government bodies. The, USSR Constitution of 1936 stipulated that Soviet Socialist Republics are sovereign states. They have their own Constitutions taking into account the specific features of the Union Republics. The Republics have the right to se­ cede from the USSR, their territory cannot be changed without their consent. They have the right to enter into direct relations with foreign states and to condude agreements and exchange diplomatic and consular representatives with them, to have their own Republican military formations. The highest body of state power in the So­ viet Socialist Republic is its Supreme Soviet, elected for a term of four years by all the citi­ zens of the Republic above the age of 18. Elec­ tions are by secret ballot and based on uni­ versal, equal and direc.t suffrage. The legislative power of the Republic is exer­ cised exdusively by its Supreme Soviet, which adopts and amends the Republic's Constitution, approves the Republic's economic plan and budget, exercises the right of 'amnesty and pardon of citizens convicted by judicial bodies of the Republic, decides on representation of the Republic in international relations and de­ termines the ~anner of organizing the Republic's military formations. 17 To direct the day-to-day work the Supreme Soviet of the Republic elects the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from amongst its deputies. It consists of a Chairman, Vice-Chairmen, a Sec­ retary and Presidium members. The Presidium is fully accountable to the Republic's Supreme Soviet and acts in its behalf in the interval bet­ ween sessions. Jurisdiction of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet is determined by the Con­ stitution of the Republic. the Supreme Soviet elects a Chairman and his Deputies to conduct the sessions. The Supreme Soviet of the Republic appoints the Republic's Government-Hie Council of Mi­ nisters, which is the highest executive and ad­ ministrative body of state power in the Republic. The Council of Ministers is responsible and accountable to the Supreme Soviet and, between sessions of the Supreme Soviet, to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic. The Council of Ministers of the Republic consists of the Chairman, Deputy Chairmen, Mi­ nisters, Chairmen of State Committees and va­ rious other age~cies under the Council of Mi­ nisters. The Council of Ministers issues decisions and orders on the basis and in pursuance of the laws operating in the USSR and the Republic and verifies their execution. It directs and coor­ dinates the work of all Republican Ministries and agencies, draws up th"e economic plans and the state budgets of the Republic, directs the work of the Supreme Soviets of the Autonomous Re­ publics (if the Union Republic has Autonomous Republics) and the work of the local Soviets of Working People's Deputies. Justice in the Union Republic is administered by the Supreme Court and the People's ·Courts. The Supreme Court is elected by the Repub­ lic's Supreme Soviet for a term of five years. The people'~ judges of district and town people's courts are elected by the citizens of the district or town on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot for a term of five years. 18 The people's assessors of district or town courts are elected at the general meetings of workers, employees and farmers at their place of work or resid'ence (servicemen in their units) for a term of two years. Judges are independent and subject only to law. The Constitutions of Union Republics guaran­ tee their citizens the right to work, education and leisure, freedom of the press, assembly and processions. Women in the USSR enjoy equal rights with men in all spheres of economic, government, cultural, political and other public activity. All Union Republics have their own flag, coat-of-arms and anthem. The USSR being a federal state, the Union Republics have voluntarily passed over to. the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics the handling of certain matters relating to the general deve­ lopment of the country, the common interests of all nations and nationalities of the USSR (USSR represent~tion in international relations, the questions of war and peace, foreign trade, etc.). The Soviet Constitution scrupulously safe- guards the rights of the peoples in the outlying areas. The highest body of state power in the Soviet Union, the Supreme Soviet, consists ~f two Chambers-the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities. Both are elected for a term of four years. Any citizen of the USSR above the age' of 23 can be elected to the Supreme Soviet; The Soviet of the Union represents the com- mon interests of the USSR citizens, whereas the Soviet of Nationalities represents the special in- t~rests of the citize~s arising from the specific national features. All Union Republics, irrespec- tive of the population, be it Russia, with its population of. nearly 130,000,000 or Turkmenia, with only about one per cent of that figure, send the same number of deputies to the Soviet of' Nationlllities_32. Autonomous Republics send 19.

2' 11 deputies, Autonomous Regions-five and Na­ tional Areas-one. Both Chambers of the Supreme Soviet have equal rights. A law must be adopted by both Chambers to be valid. Common Cause The outlying national areas in pre-revolu­ tionary Russia were, as a rule, agrarian regions where farming economy and methods were very backward, sometimes. even primitive. The upsurge of the outlying national areas would have been impossible without a radical change in socio-economic relations. It was a question of some nations and nationalities who were at a feudal or even tribal stage, skipping the capitalist stage and beginning. to build so­ cialism. Radical transformations were needed, such as the collectivization of agriculture, which ensured a rise in the farmers' material and cultural stan­ dards. Collectivization involved the transition of small nations from a nomadic to a settled mode of life bringing about great changes in the eco­ nomies of these peoples and ensuring their cul­ tural progress. Thus, former nomadic cattle far­ mers turned to land farming. In the Far North the Chukchi, Nentzi, Evenki, Khanti and other small peoples began to go in tor more ver­ satile economies. In addition to deer raising 'and fishing, they now go in for hunting sea animals and even land farming. The local population set up collective economies, pooling their herds of deer, thus releasing many herdsmen who went to work in other branches of the kolkhoz eco­ nomy. This was the case in the Far East, in the Altai Area and in Western Siberia, where the local p'opulation also engaged in hunting, fishing and nomadic cattle breeding. The process of eliminating the backwardness of the formerly oppressed regions was a difficult one. The overthrown classes, the feudal nobility, the landowners, the reactionary Muslim and 20 Buddhist clergy, put up fierce, often armed, opposition to this process. They kept saying that the peoples of the outlying national regions did not need a change in their economy and mode of life, that their lot was to lead 'a 'nomadic life and preserve the petty individual economies based on most primitive methods. Moreover, they claimed that doing away with the old economic system would sound the death-knell to steppe cattle raising and to cotton growing and would turn the Central Asian Republics into deserts. None of these predictions came true. In the half-century of, Soviet life Uzbekistan alone pro­ duced ten times as much cotton as in the fifty years preceding the Revolution. To put it in the context of world cotton gro~ing, the Republic now produces more cotton than the UAR, Pa­ kistan and Turkey combined. Uzbekistan is also one of the world's top countries in cotton yield per hectare (25.1 metric centners as against 18 in the USA, 13.5 in Turkey, 5.6 in Brasil and a mere 4.2 in India). The chief factors behind these successes of the Central Asian peoples are mechanization and irrigation, advanced farming methods and the use of ,chemicals in agricultural pest control. Civil aviation proved an invaluable help to farmers in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan'. The establishment of Soviet power and of new socio-economic relations in Transcaucasia was also a difficult process. In Azerbaijan, for instance, the local bourgeoisie was quite strong, having, together with foreign 'businessmen, amassed fortunes from working the oilfields. It used some of its vast profits to bribe the upper crust of the wor~ing class and fomented extreme nationalism. "Transcaucasian peoples do not need a union with either Russia, or Ukraine, or Byelorussia, or the' Central Asian peoples," the Azerbaijan, and also the Armenian and Georgian nationalists insisted. Had the peoples of Transcaucasia listened to the nationalists, it is a fair bet that they would now be leading a meagre semi-colonial existence. 21 Women-delegates at a con­ ference of collective far­ mers of south-eastern re- gions.

At a congress of representatives of Eastern peoples in Baku in 1920.

This brave Azerbaijan girl de­ fied an age-old tradition when she threw off the veil (J928). Today it is clear to everyone that the Azer­ baijan, Armenian and Georgian economy could never have fully developed had they not joined the family of Soviet nations. Take, for instance, Azerbaijan. Before the Re­ volution it was considered one of the most industrially advanced borderlands of the Russian Empire. What was actually going on there was a wanton misuse of the country's oil reserves, which brought wealth to shrewd businessmen and nothing to the working people. Not until after the advent of Soviet power was real in­ dustry built up in Azerbaijan-metallurgy, ma­ chine building, oil refining, chemistry. Oil is now being worked in a rational manner with the use of up-to-date scientific methods and machinery. Work in the oil industry has ceased to be the gruelling, galley-slave labour it used to be before the Revolution. After the establishment of Soviet power people were able to benefit from the progress of science and technology. Labour efficiency increased and living standards rose. The Republic increases its industrial output year by year. Thus, steel output rose from 23,700 tons on the eve of World War II to 831,500 tons in 1967. In the prewar year Azer­ baijan produced a mere 1,800,000 thousand kwh of electric power, while in 1967 this figure rose to 11,200,000 thousand kwh. The transition of the outlying national areas to socialism was only possible on the basis of the industrialization of the whole Soviet country. Socialist distribution of productive forces per­ mitted a full and rational tapping of the natural resources, an upsurge of the economy and cul­ ture of the formerly bAckward areas, the estab­ lishment and development of rational inter-re­ publican economic links and cooperation in the use of productive forces. Socialist distribution of productive forces, based on the principle of simultaneous develop- ment of the economies of all the Republics, en- sures real equality and fraternal unity of the notions of the Soviet Union. In tho socialist 24 community of nations there is no need to create and develop all the heavy industries in every Republic regardless of economic feasibility. This would lead to spreading financial resources too thin and would slow down the rate of economic progress. Local conditions, natural resources, geographical positi?n, transport communications, the level of historical development and the pre­ dominant traditional forms of the economy were taken into account in planning the industrializa­ tion of the national Republics. Thus, in Uzbeki­ stan the interests of socialist economy demanded that priority be given to the development of light industry, for whic~ there was an abundance of raw materials. The industrial areas of the Soviet country provided the Republic with the necessary machines and equipment to build up its light, particularly textile, industry. Light industry in Uzbekistan developed in con­ for!Tlify with the socialist principle regarding the distribution of productive forces in a union country, which consists of planned, rational and maximum use of natural resources ·and estab­ lishing industry as close as possible to the raw material. Gradually, once light industry had been built up, metallurgy and machine building began to develop ,in Uzbekistan. In the mineral-rich Republic of Kazakhstan, on the other hand, the best way was to get down at once to developing the mining industry and creating heavy industry plants. Fraternal mutual aid of the peoples of the USSR was an important factor in the industriali­ zation of the national Republics. The peoples of Central Asia and Kazakhstan 'received extensive aid from the industrially more advanced Repub­ lics: the RSFSR, the Ukraine, Byelorussia, Azer­ baijan. As a result the industry set up in Central Asia and in. Kazakhstan was fully p;ovided, with the most up-to-date equipment. Fraternal assistance enabled th.e Uzbeks, for instance, to build such gigantic industries as the Tashkl!nt textile complex, th~ Tashkent agricul- tural machines plant and the' Chirc;hik eleetro- 15 chemical plant. The Kazakh people are proud .of their Kara­ ganda coal mines, the Balkhash copper works, the Chimkent lead industries, the Aktyubinsk che­ mical plant and other mighty industries which play an important role in the economy of the whole Soviet Union. The entire country regards each big new project as its vital ·concern. Workers from 170 enterprises in Moscow, Leningrad, Sverd­ lovsk, Kiev, Donetsk Region, Minsk, Baku to­ gether with workers from the neighbouring Re­ publics: the Tajiks, Uzbeks and Kirghiz lent a hand in building the Chirchik electro-chemical plant. Before the Revolution Tajikistan had only six factory-type enterprises, which employ~d a little more than 200 workers. In Soviet times 260 large enterprises were built in Tajikistan. Whole new sectors of industry were created from scratch, such as power, machine-building, metal working, mining, ga~ extraction, tools production, agricul­ tural machines, construction materials, retail shop equipment, cotto.n, silk,' knitted goods produc­ tion, butter and fats production,' canning, foot­ wear, wine-making, tobacc.o, etc. Industries built in Tajikistan that are annually upping their capacity, include the' oil industry equipment factory, the tractor parts factory, the "Tajiktekstilmash" textile machine factory, the "Pamir" refrigerator factory, the cable works, the cement and tiles factory with a capacity of one million tons of cement a year, the cOtton­ weaving factory, which produces 105 million metres of cotton fabric a year. The Vakhsh fertilizer plant marked the be­ ginning of the Republic's chemical industry. The first unit of the Tajik aluminium plant, the Yavan­ su electro-chemical plant, the household chemi­ cals plant in Isfar, the Ura-Tube knitted garments factory, the sewing factory in Nurek, the can­ neries in Penjikent and Isfar 'and many other enterprises are nearing complet1on. The Republic's power industry is constantly expanding. Before the October Revolution there 28 was not a single power station in Tajikistan. In Soviet times 42 stations have ,been built in Tajiki­ stan, all of them very large, such as the 126,000-kw Kairak Kum Power Station called the "Friendship of Peoples" Station on the. Syr Darya Rtver and the 210,000-kw "Head" Power Station, the largest in Central Asia, on the Vakhsh River. In terms of per capita power production Tajikistan has far outstripped all foreign count­ . ries of the East. In 1964, per capita power pro­ duction in Tajikistan was 718 kwh of electric energy compared with 34 in Pakistan, 73 in India and 143 in Turkey. In 1961, construction of the Nurek Power Station on the Vakhsh River was started. One of the biggest power stations in the USSR, its ca­ pacity (2,700,000 kw) will exceed that of the largest US power stations. It will produce 12,000,000 thousand kwh, of energy per an­ num. The Nurek Station is a unique project with a 300-metre dam and reservoir containing 10,500,000 thousand cubic metres of water. Con­ struction of another of the series of power sta­ tions on the Vakhsh River, the 3,200,000-kw Nizhne-Ragunsk Station, is to begin shortly. Tajikistan will produce enough electric energy to provide all the Central Asian Republics and Southern Kazakhstan with cheap power and to export power to neighbouring Afghanistan. Today the Soviet Central Asian Republics, which before the Revolution imported paraffin, nails and even cotton fabrics, ship the goods they produce to 'many countries abroad. Uzbe­ kistan, for example, exports' to 91 different countries. Once backward Central Asia and Kazakhstan are now the USSR's major producers of some types of products. Kazakhstan is the biggest pro­ ducer of many non-ferrous metals, the third bigg~st producer of coal and electric power. The Republic's non-ferrous metallurgy, coal and oil mining industry, machine-building play an important part in the economy of the Soviet Union. The Republics of Central Asia account for 29 Moldavian pea- three-fourths of the USSR total production of sants. spinning machines and for almost a hundred per cent of the cotton sowing, harvesting and ·pro­ cessing machines. The achi·evements of ·the Transcaucasian Re­ publics have been no less spectacular. By the mid-60s the gross industrial output of Armenia was 107 times the pre-revolutionary level and there was a 229-fold increase in the output of producer goo~s. Before Soviet times Armenia's economic level was almost on par with that of her neigh­ bours-Turkey and Iran. Now the situation has radically changed as seen from the following example: comparing 1965 statistics one finds Thousands of that Soviet Armenia produced 8.5 times more people gathered power than Turkey and 22 times more than to dig the Fer­ Iran. All of Armenia has electric energy for gana Canal in domestic use whereas it is not available for Uzbekistan 70 p~r cent of the people of Turkey and an (1939). absolute majority of the Iranians. The Turkestan-Siberian railway was completed in 1981. ~ This blast furnace was built by Kom­ somols in the new metallurgical centre of Magnitogorsk in the Urals (1932). The first Soviet tractor (1924).

Evenki sisters T ulins are buying perfume at a trading station on the Taimyr Peninsula in Northern Siberia • (1935).

Valentina Kogak, the first Eskimo tea-• cher (Chukchi Peninsula, 1936). T urkmen women learning fo read (1931).

A Chukchi boy "'~~~~\!!.""/A~;~'Rot.

Ships bringing foodstuffs and supplies to Chu­ " kotka.

An alumin'ium plant in Kirova­ bad,. Azerbaijan SSR.

This gigantic. iron and steel plant "Amurstal" was built in Soviet times on the banks of the River Amur in the Far East. Output of Coal, Steel and Rolled Stock in Georgia (thousand tons)

Coal 70 625 2,582

Rolled stock· 1,007 Output of Coal (million tons), Oil, (thousand tons) and Electricity (million kw-hours) in Kazakhstan

Coal 0.1

Oil 118 697 3,103

Electricity 1.3 632 21,484 An ore dressing factory in the . Azerbaijan SSR. At an asbestos quarry in the Tuva Autono­ mous Republic in Central Asia.

...... 'i- ..~.,-~} .. : • or AJ, .. Oil derricks in the Kara-Kum desert in the Turk­ men SSR. In the Chukchi National Dist­ rict. Tractors and planes are useful, but one can't get about without retn- deers. The Minibayev gas and petrol works in Tataria in the middle reaches 0/ the River Volga.

A gas distributing plant in Gazli, the Uzbek SSR.

Azerbaijan mz­ ners.

A market in Sa­ markand.

Cotton is the main source of wealth of Soviet Central Asian Republics. of Uzbe­ kistan.

The Amu-Bu­ khara Canal zn Central Asia. Umar Juraku­ lov, a ceramist from Samar­ kand, Uzbekis­ tan. Electric loaders built at the Ka­ nash plant in the Chuvash Auto­ The main assembly nomous' Republic in the middle line of the Kishinev reaches of the River Volga. tractor works in :\10l- davia. Manufacture of Metal-Cutting Machines in Armenia (pieces)

1966 35 10232 Laying a drai­ An earth{low nage ditch on barrier in the saline soil in the Zailiysky Ala­ Echmiadzin Dis­ Tau mountains in Kazakhstan. trict 1n A rme­ ma.

Tractor driver Asen Murad Mamednurov works on a coi~ lective farm in Turkmenia. Manufacture of Cotton Picking Machines (pieces), C@tton pickin 5 Cotton Yield machines (thousand tons) and Production Cotton yield 1,416 4,083 of Cotton Fabrics . (million metres) Cotton fabrics 229 in Uzbekistan Merjan Bolk­ vadze, a veteran tobacco-grower from the village of Akho in.Aja­ ria, Western Caucasus.

T abylda }umaliev, a colle­ ctive farm shepherd in Ka­ zakhstan.

Fine-fleeced sheep in the moun­ tain pastures of Kirghizia.

Roza Tynene, a well-known ~::;r..!!oIf deerherd in the Kamchatka Re­ gion, is deputy of the Koryak Area Soviet. ~====~

Yakut hunter Nikolai Kolesov is a Hero of Socialist Labour. In the last forty years he has sold to the state over 3,000 pelts of polar fox.

Yakut hunters from the "Elgia­ isky" state farm with their tro-. phies (Central Siberia). Emancipation of Women

Emancipation of women was an important aspect of developing the Soviet nationalities. The Soviet Government's first declarations and legislative acts granted women full equality with men. The Soviet decrees did not stop at pro­ claiming equality of the sexes: they backed it up by granting women equal rights to work with equal pay for equal work, the right to rest, education, use of land, social security. The state also undertook to safeguard the interests of mother and child by granting women full-paid maternity leaves, establishing a network of-ma­ ternity homes, nurseries and kindergartens. Considering the. speci'al comple~ity of the emancipation of women in the East, where the old family morals, the influence of tradition and religion and the patriarchal feudal, relations were still preserved, the Soviet Government supple­ mented its all-Union legislation with special decrees which banned polygamy, bride purchase, forced marriages, and raised the minimum mar­ rying age for women from nine (according to old Muslim laws) to sixteen. Forced marriages and selling of brides were proclaimed a crimi­ nal offence, and property and caHle received as payment for the bride were liable to con­ fiscation. Among the customs that were done away with was also the ancient custom whereby a widow was to marry her husband's next of kin (usually a brother). Violations of the rights of women were con­ sidered a crimina! offence. 'True emancipation of women could only be achieved by enabling them to benefit from cul- tural, scientific and technical progress. One of the first steps in developing a Soviet educational system W05 to overcome age-Qld feudal and 70 tribal traditions and get the young girls of the different nationalities to go to school en masse. Considering the national customs and tra­ ditions of the peoples of the outlying national regions, at the beginning the Soviet Government was prepared to set up special schools for .girls. As an inducement the schools offered classes for girls in needlework, carpet-weaving and tailoring. Subsequently boarding schools for girls from the 8th to 10th grades were set up in all the Republics· of Central Asia and in Kazakhstan. Special effort was made to encourage young­ sters who graduated from these schools to.con­ tinue their studies i(l colleges and universities and in special secondary schools. . Today the Central Asian' ·Republics and Ka­ zakhstan have many colleges for training women teachers: the Pedagogical Institute in Dushanbe, the Chardzho.w Women's Pedagogical School and the Mariysky Women's Pedagogical Institute in Turkmenia, and pedagogical institutes in Ka­ zakhstan and Kirghizia. All this, naturally, helped solve the problem of women's education. Today girls account for 47 per cent of all students in Tajikistan. Education in other national Republics is at an equally high level. In Uzbekistan 70,000 women have a higher education and 84,000 have a specialized secon­ dary education. Women make up nearly half of those gainfully employed in the Republic. These include 17,000 engineers and technicians, 42 Uz­ bek women with a D. Sc. degrees and 1,000 with a M. Sc. degrees and almost 7,000 women scien­ tific personnel. In Azerbaijan in the 1967/68 academic year there were 30,300 young women studying at higher schools and 24,600 at. specialized secon­ dary schools. Georgia and Kirghizia have an equally impressive record with regard to education for women. Women in the outlying national regions take an active part in the political life of their Re­ publics and the whole country. Twenty-two women from Vzbekistan are Deputies of the 71 A Georgian stu­ dent.

Doctor Aksoltan Ba­ bayeva is Deputy Chairman of the Sup­ reme Soviet Presidi­ um of the Turkmen SSR.

Kazakh artist Nurgaliyeva

Nurtach Annamura­ dova, Minister of Lo­ cal Industry of. the T urkmen SSR (cent­ re), .talking with her fellow:'villagers from Kizyl-Arvat. Katia Zhekshenova is a geologist of a surveying team at the construction site of the T okgul hydropower station. An open air ca­ fe in Alma-Ata, capital of Ka­ zakhstan. Supreme Soviet of the USSR, 141 have been elected to the Supreme Soviet of the Uzbek SSR, and 36,727 women have been elected to local Soviets in Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan has a woman president, Yadgar Nasriddinova. National in Form and Socialist in Content

Right from the first the Soviet Government paid great aHention to the culturaldevel~lJlerit of the small peoples and to the role of na­ tional languages in the people's education. It was necessary to create the press, theatre, lite­ rature, cultural institutions, 'to provide a network of 'general education and professional schools, all in the native, 'I~nguage. The national policy proclaimed by the Great October Socialist Revolution guaranteed each people the ,right to instruct and bring up the young generation in the native language. It was made possible for all the peoples to create their alphabets and to develop and perfect their lan­ guages. Linguistically, Central Asia and 'Kazakhstan speak many tongues, including the various Turkic and Iranian languages, which fall into different dialects and patois, Dungan (a corrupt dialect of, Uigur origin), various Arabic dialects. The majority of these languages had no wriHen form before the October Relrolution, and the lan­ guages which used the Arabic alphabet had a very loosely defined spelling.' As for the ancient wriHen languages (Uzbek, .Tajik), they were based'on medieval dialects that did not reflect the Iivi,:,g spoken language so that the . common people had very liHle understanding of it. Most peoples of Central Asia and Kazt~h- 76 stan were practically denied the opportunity to have a native-language secular schoof. Under such complex circumstances, it was very difficult to choose which cultural policy to pursue. Some people suggested that national languages should b.e given up. Lenin brushed off the proposals for making Russian ·the state language in the national bor­ derlands, obligatory for all, and for all teaching to be conducted in Russian as contradicting the principle of free development of all USSR lan­ guages. However, the historical tradition and the universal desire of the people in the out­ lying national areas to share in the heritage of the Russian language resulted in Russian becom­ ing the second official language shortly after the Revolution: The national minorities received great help in developing their languages. Prominent lin­ guists from Russia and from the national regions took part in elaborating thewrHten -systems for the national languages. A great amount of work

has gone into this undertaking with the 0 result that all the peooples, including such minorities

as the Evenki, Nentzi, Chukcfii, 0 Mansi, have their ow~ alphabets. Following the elaboration of alphabets the press was printed in the· national languages. This did much to promote the new written lan­ guage, in the establishment of national schools. The 'press covered 'the many facets of the life oof the peopll:!S, printe~ translations from Russian and other languages, works of folklore and works by national writers and poets. The tiny Central Asian Autonomous Republic of Tuva, which has a population of only 200,000, now has three magazines, three regional and four district papers with oa total ciorculation of 41,000. The people of Tuva, formerly one hundred per tent illiterate, now read booksoin the native language. Since 1944 the Tuva printing industry has put out about two thousand different titles of books totalling seven million topies in all. Along with treating ~ written language CI 77 far-flung network of schools for illiterate adults was set up in the national Republics and Areas, along with primary schools for childr~h where teaching was conducted in the national tongue. Voluntary wO,rk was widespread: students and townsfol·k went to rural areas to help eradicate illiteracy. Yesterday's pupils began to teach the three R's to illiterate peasants and workers. The nationwide crusade against illiteracy in the early years of Soviet power required a great number of teachers. Before this demand could be met by setting up schools and colleges for teachers, three-, six- and twelve-month crash courses were used as a stopgap. The rapidly growing socialist economy claimed more and more skilled workers, ma­ nagerial pe'rsonnel, agriculture specialists and engineers. Along with the campaign to eradicate illiteracy, a network of general education and specialized secondary schools, advanced training schools and, finally, hi'gher educational institu­ tions was established. Most of the teaching was conducted in the local languages. At present 8-year education is compulsory in all Soviet Republics. lri Uzbekistan, for example, there are' at present 6,800 schools with 2,500,000 pupi Is as well "s two universities, 33 colleges and 130 specialized secondary schools with a student body of 310,000. As to the number of students per unit of the popula­ tion, Uzbekistan has almost twice as many. as France, three times as many as Britain and (taly .and 3.3 times as many as the FRG. In Soviet Georgia the level of public edu­ cation is at least as high as in Uzbekistan. In the mid-60s Georgia had 167 students per 10,000 'population, versus 79 in Japan, 61 in Franc,e, 50 in Brita'in and 45 in Italy. Georgia ranks first in the world in the num­ ber of perso'ns with a higher education per unit of the population and second with respect to the percentage with a 'secondary education. All the Union Republics nOW have their na­ -tional Academies of Sciences~ The one· in Uzbfi!~ kistan was set up in 1943, during the war, with' 78 ten research institutes. Today it has more than 160 scientific centres employing a staff of 20,000. The Republican Academies of Sciences have prod~ced a number of outstanding scientists of Union and world-wide fame. The cel'ebrated astronomer V. Ambartsumyan, President of the Armenian Academy of Sciences, is known all over the world. His pioneering work in the observatory of Buraka'n, where he heads a large research team, has earned him honorary fellow­ ship in academies and scientific ~ocieties in the USA, Britain, France, Canada, Belgium, Austria and other countries. In Uzbekistan much fruitful work has been done by Academician S. Yunu­ sov, a leading specialist in !he chemistry of plants who has been awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labour. He has found 39 different alkaloid-containing plants growing in the Central Asian Republics and made a drug called "barvin hydrochloride" which' is successfully used to treat neuritis, polyneuritis, lumbago and some other ailments. The .scientist hopes to be able to use alkaloids to influence the growth of plants, to increase their resistance to disease, to remove the leaves of cotton plants prior to 'harvesting by machines.' . Saransk is the capital 'of Mordovia, an Autono­ mous Republic in the middle reaches'of the Vo·lga. Before the Revolution it was a god-forsaken small town of 15,000 people. The Mor~ovian p~­ pulation was totally illiterate, poverty-stricken, suffering from innumerable diseases. Today Saransk, an important industrial centre, has, besides its other research and educational establishments, a State University, with a total student body of 6,000. The University has five faculties: history and philology, which trains spe­ cialists in history, Russian language and literature, 'Mordovian .language and literature, foreign lan­ guages (English and German); physics and ma­ thematics; chemistry and biology; agriculture. The Saransk University has 39 chairs, a large number of laboratories, training facilities, a bo­ tanical garden and a library of more than II quarter of a million volumes. 79 ~ General schoois Secondary spe­ Higher .. .of all types . cialized schools schools

1914-1915 1967-l968 1914-1915 1967-1968 11914-1915 1967-1968

Kir~hizia 7 689 38.2 40.5

II

Tajikistan 0.4 660 29.8 37.9

Uzbekistan 18 2791 0.1 138.4 204.7

Number of pupils and students (at the beginning of the acqdemic year, thousands) Number of Public Libraries and Their Stocks of Books (books in millions) A A game of chess in an Uzbek vil­ lage.

In a lecture hall of Dagestan University in Makhach-Kala (Northern Cau­ casus).

An exhibition of the works of Georgian artists. in Tbilisi. A ballet class in the House of Pione­ ers in AI- ma-Ata, capital of .Kazakh­ stan.

T urkmt!n folk musicians.

Azerbaijan students. The town of N avoi zn Uzbeki­ stan.

7 ashkent, capital of Uzbekistan. --~'''''''''-'~-'''']''-'

The Polytechnical Institute in Baku, Azerbaijan.

In the streets of Fergana, . Uzbe­ kistan.

Hotel "Ka- zakhstan" in Alma-Ata.

At "Ferga1J,a" Cafe in evening (Uzbekistan).

A street in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. A view of AI­ ma-Ata, capi­ tal 01 Kazakh­ stan. Models of the Tashkent H0­ use of Fashi­ ons.

In a laborato­ ry of Samar­ kand Univer­ sity. Oraz Gul K(ymayeva and Ak­ murad Davletov are research workers at the Physico-T echni­ cal Institute of the T urkmen Academy of Sciences~ The control room of a nuclear reactor and the reactor itself at the Nuclear Physics In­ stitute of the Kazakh Academy of Sciences.

Academi­ cian I. Ba­ ratoshvili, the pro­ minent The Kazakh Georgian Academy of physicist.. Sciences.

At the solar

I energy laborato­ ry of the Physi­ co-Technical In­ stitute in T ash­ kent, V zbekis­ tan. Number of Cinema Projectors A Georgian dancer.

Woodcarver Ka­ dyrkhan Khai­ darov is a Peo­ ple's Artist of the V zbek SSR.

Deer breeders of Chukotka.

Health Comes First

Growing welfare" and cu.ltural standards, the progress of science and technology, the estab­ lishment of a wide and ever-improving system of free medical service have contributed to the health of the Soviet people. As a result many diseases (plague, cholera, mass dysentery, typhus) which before the Revolution took a toll of tens of thousands of ,lives every year, -have now disappeared. Moldavia, a small Union Republic in the south-west of the USSR, is a case in point. Before the Revolution the health service here was on a very low level, and for the man-in-the­ street virtually non-existent. In the Soviet period great changes have taken place in the organization of the health service. in 1913, Moldavia had 68 hospitals. Today it has over two thousand hospitals, poly­ ,l:linics, dispensaries, maternity homes. In 1967, Moldavia had 19 doctors and 70 specialists with a secondary ~edical educa­ tion per ten thousand inhabitants.- After the Revolution a number of medical research centres sprang up in Moldavia: insti­ tutes of oncology, tuberculosis, hygiene and epi­ demiology. Rising living standards, improvement of sa­ nitary conditions in the towns and villages, health protection and -treatment have resulted _in a sharp drop in infectious disease. The inci­ dence of tuberculosis has been reduced by half. In recent years not a single case was registered in Moldavia of malaria, tularemia, brucellosis, typhoid fever. But the most dramatic progress in health service during the Soviet years has been achieved in the Central Asian Republics. Whereas on the eve of World War I even tiny Moldavia, which was considered the most god- 106 forsaken spot in Europe, had 68 medical centres, Tajikistan, which was twice the size, had only one hospital with 40 beds and 11 out-patient clinics with an overall staff of 13 doctors. But even tliese medical institutions catered only to the troops stationed in the area and to the· administrative officials. The Tajiks, who were practically denied medical service, had to resort to the services of quack-doctors. No wonder such diseases as smallpox, typhoid, tra­ choma, malaria were widespread among the Tajik population. There were periodic epi­ demics of plague and cholera which carried away thousands of lives..Many women and in­ fants died during childbirth because of poor sanitary conditions. Today there are 1,500 medi­ cal centres in Tajikista;', including 250 large hospitals with facilities for 25 thousand patients. In the ratio of doctors per unit of the popu­ lation Tajikistan has surpassed many advanced countries. Smallpox and malaria have been rooted out, trachoma is no longer a mass di­ sease, . and the incidence of other infectious diseases,has dropped sharply. Colossal difficulties wen~ involved in orga­ nizing a medical service in the national border­ lands. On~ had to contend with religious prejudice, the propaganda of the local natio­ nalists, the vast territories with scattered popu­ lation. For example, the Yakutsk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the basin of the Lena River 'occupies a territory of three million square kilo­ metres, enough to accommodate five countries the size of France. But its population is .a scant 700,000. The same is true of Chukotka, Tuva and some mountain areas of Central Asia and ·the Cau­ casus. . Besides creating a network of medical centres there was the problem of providing the health service ,with modern transport, particularly avia- tion. Today th~ people in these areas take it for granted that if a person falls· seriously ill, 101 a first-aid plane will bring a doctor, or even a professor to attend to the patient. And all this is free of charge. Efforts to itnpro'fe people's health are not limited to providing adequate care and treatment and to conducting regular medical check-ups and vaccinations. It also means an all-out drive to promote physical culture and sports. In solving this problem the Soviet authorities in the outlying national.areas ran into a number of difficulties. Sport must have a mass character, keep abreast of the developments in physiology, remain national in form and be available to all: to children, teenagers, adults and even to ·the aged, and, most important of all, to women as well. as men. But how could one speak about a mass sports movement in the outlying national areas if the Muslim religion forbade the woman to bare, not just her body, but even her face? It took ·many years of patient persuasion, of training national coaches and physical culture instructors before sports in Central Asia and in other outlying national areas. could play the role it does in the central areas of the Soviet Union. In . Uzbekistah today, along· with the national kinds of sport, mostly games, horsemanship and wrestling, 30 other types of sport are prevalent, including footbclll, basketball, skiing, swimming, fencing and gymnastics. The Republic has 50 stadiums, 66 swimming pools, 600 sports grounds, more than 800 gymnasiums. Twenty per cent of the inhabitants go in for sports. . Recently Uzbek athletes obtained another sports centre, the "Eshlik" (Youth) centre, with facilities for 200 athletes to have workouts in 18 different sports. It has five volleyball and two basketball pitches, a platform for gymnastics and weight-lifting, a 200-metre circular cinder track. The Tashkent State Institute of Physical Cul­ ture graduates specialists with a higher edu­ cation. 110 The Future of the Outlying National Areas

What is the outlook for the political, social, economic and cultural development of the for­ merly backward outlying national areas of the Soviet Union? A c1e~r answer to this is contained in the Programme of the Communist Party of the USSR. Under socialism, it says, the. nations flourish and their sovereignty is ,strengthened. The deve­ lopment of the nations proceeds along the lines of strengthening bonds of fraternal mutual aid and friendship. The emergence of new industrial centres, the discovery and exploitation of the natural resources, the cultivating of virgin lands' and the development of all types of transport­ all make for greater mobility of the population and extend the communications between the peoples of the Soviet Union. Living and working together ;n the Soviet Republics are people of many nationalities. The borders between the Union Republics within the USSR are losing their former significance because all nations have equal rights, their life is based on the common principles Qf socialism, the material and spiritual demands of each people are equally satisfied, and they are all united by their vital interests in one family as they move towards their common goal of communism. With the victory of communism the nations will be brought still closer together, there will be greater spiritual and economic affinity, the common traits of new communist morality will be' discernible. However, it takes much longer to eliminate national distinctions, especially lan­ guage distinctions, than to eliminate class distinctions. The USSR will continue its policy of all-round development of the economy of fraternal Repub- 111 In a lecture hall of the Alma-Ata Medi­ cal Institute, Kazakh- stan.

Doctor .Khudaiberdy Annabayev visiting shepherd Akys Mere­ zov (7urkmenia). lics, of rational distribution of production and of plaQned exploitation of the natural resources, perfecting socialist division of labour between the Republics, coordinating their labour effort, striking the right balance between the interests of the federal state and those of individual Re­ publics. To tackle .the problems of communist con­ struction and to improve coordination of econo­ mic activity, inter-republican economic ,bodies may be set up in certain are.as (especially for such matters as irrigation, joint power grids, transport, etc.). As before, the policy will be to provide real equality of the nations and nationalities with due regard for their special interests, paying special attention to those areas where develop­ ment must be accelerated. ·The growing material wealth will be equitably distributed among all nations and national minorities. Another major task of the Soviet Union is to ensure a further upsurge of ·culture, national in form and socialist in content. The experience of the socialist nations shows that national forms do not become set, but grow and change, acquiring more common features and discarding things that are obsolete and do not fit in with the new conditions. An international culture, common to all the Soviet nations, is emerging. The cultural treasury of each nation is constantly being enriched by contributions that are increasingly international in character. The Communist Party of the USSR considers development of the socialist content of the cul­ lures of the USSR peoples to be of. the utmost ·importance and it wi·1I promote their mutual enrichment and rapprochement, their international basis, thus contributing to the common. universal culture of com~unist society. By supporting the progressive traditions of each people. and making them available to all Soviet people, Soviet socialist society will do its utmost to fos- ter new revolutionary· trllditions of the builders 114 of communism, traditions common to all the nations, The Soviet Union will continue to provide conditions for free development of the national languages, giving full freedom to each citizen to speak, raise and teach his children in any language, tolerating no privileges, limitations or coercion in the use of any language. In the conditions of fraternal friendship and mutual trust the national languages develop on the basis of equalitl( and mutual enrichment. The current process of voluntary study of Russian along with the native language is a po­ sitive one, inasmuch as it facilitates exchange of experience and enables each nation to share in the common cultural achievement~ of all other USSR nations and in the world cultural heritage. Russian has in fact become the language of in­ ternational intercourse and cooperation among the USSR peoples. .The Soviet Union will continue to consistently implement the prin.ciples of internationalism in the sphere of national relations, to strengthen the friendship among peoples as one· of the major gains of socialism. The Soviet society will vigorously. oppose any manifestations or survi­ vals of nationalism and chauvinism, tendencies of national narrow-mindedness and exclusiveness, idealization of .the past and glossing over social contradictions in the history of peoples, customs and mores· which hinder the progress of commu­ 'nist constrlJ~tion. The growing scope of .commu­ nist construction calls for constant exchange of personnel among nations. Any signs of national discrimination in. the training and employment of personnel of different nationalities in the So­ viet Republics should not be tolerated. Elimi­ nation of all manifestations of nationalism is in the interest of all the nations and nationalities of the USSR. Each Soviet Republic can continue to prosper only in the grea~ family of fraternal socialist nations of the USSR.

115 A gymrtaswm in a workers' Palace of Cul- Siberia).

"Kyz-kuu" ("catch the girl") is a popular national game ~::a... in Central Asia.

A swimming poor-for ~hild­ ren in Alma­ Ala. The central stadium "in Al­ ma-Ata. Deputies of the USSR Supreme Soviet represen­ ting Soviet national republics in the Kremlin.