... 000884 amilj 00884 Nations

.,. We Know from the Older Folks .

.,. . P eace and Freedom ......

.,. A Modern Nation in the Orient . ~ :!' " .~ -"- - --

.,. "A New Nation Is Born - Yakutia

.,. An Ancient Nation R eborn - Armenia

,J .,. Where All Discrimination Ends. . . I .,. One of the Newest Soviet R epublics . .

.,. Constitutional Guarantees

THE SOVIET UN~Q~ T - LABOR

ORIDA ATLANTIO UNIVER~I"fY LI~~ARV. eo l LEGTI 0N : . . . Ten Cents .. .: .> I) f

"A Family 0/ Nations"

THE S O VIET U NION

A publication of the

N ATIONALITIES DIVI SION of the

NATIONAL C OUN CIL OF AMERICAN-S OVIET FRIE ND SHIP, INc.

232 M adison Aven ue,N ew York City

~ 3 0 3 PRINTED I N T IlE U . S. A. THE I N T ER N ATIONAL PRESS, l'\EW YORK INNOVEMBER 1941, the G ermans were trying to en ter Moscow. The Volokolamsk road lay open, de­ fended b y twenty-nine m en. Th ese twenty-n ine men were all Soviet Soldiers, they were all called R ed Army men. B ut in nationality they included Russians, Ukrainians, Kazakhs, an d K irgh izians. They were m en of seueral shades of sk in color, and two rel igions. They were men from Euro pe an d Asia, Chris­ tians an d M ohammedans.

Toward them came three hu ~dred G erman tommy-gunners, with .orders to m arch through the tiny group of Red Army m en. The little Soviet unit waited like a stone wall until the Nazis were almost upon them, then tore them to pieces with well-aimed bursts of machine gun fire. Tlie G ermans tried again-this time with tanks. And again they were forced to retreat. Of the tw enty-nine m en who h ad b een holding the road, now only fift een were left. They em b raced each o ther in Russian style, b efore the battle to the d eath closed in on them. They knew they must hold the road to M oscow, even though it cos t them their lives. The G ermans came back wi th thirty tanks, two to each R ed Army m an. When at last the smoke of b attle cleared, the tanks lay burning on the grou n d, an d the G erman sold iers w ere in flight, not knowing that of the twenty-nine m en they h ad faced, only one su rvived. So the G ermans did n ot en ter M oscow b y the Volokolamsk road. They we re stop ped b y twenty-nine m en wh ose homes were thousands of miles away-men of four of the Sovi et n ations, from two co n tin en ts, who had fought as one to preserve the co u n try where they h ad lived as one. . How did these nationalities become united? Why did they fight as one man for their fatherland? A Family of Nations

In the Sovi et Union, the people of many nationalities live to­ gether in complete equality. Besides th e Russians, there are scores of other nationalities living .in th e Sovi et Union­ Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Pol es, Lithuanians, Jews, Esto­ nians, Armenians, Georgians, Tadzhilts, Tatars, Mongolians, Kasakhs, Uzbeks, and many others.

E FORE TH E REVOL UTION of Russia, on ce the prison-house B1917, all th ese nationalities of nations, has become a union of were oppressed and mistreated. free peoples, wh ere no one na­ They were treated so badly that tion may take advantage of an­ Russia was called 'a prison of other. But before this there were nations.' Today all this has centuries of mi sery and oppres­ changed. SIO n . All citizens of the Soviet Union are equal, without regard to th eir "VVE KNOW FROI\I THE nationality or race. OLDER FOLKS" The Soviet C onsti tu t io n The young people in th e Soviet states: Union do not remember th e Equality of rights of citizens of the times before th e R evolution of Union of Soviet Socia lis t Republics, ir ­ Igl 7, but th ey have he ard stories respective of th eir nat ion ality or race, in all spheres of econo mic, sta te , cult ural. from the ir elde rs. social and political life is an indefeas­ A few years ago, a young work­ ible law. in g-wom an in th e Sovi et Union Any d irect or indirect restriction of the rights of, or conve rsely, a ny esta b­ wrote: lishment of direct or indirect privileges "I am a Tatar by nationality. for , citizens on acco unt of thei r race or I have not personally experi­ na tionality, as well as any advocacy of ra cial or national excl usiveness or ha­ enced the oppression of the tred and contempt, is punish abl e by law. T sars, but I know from the stories THE SOVIET UNION [3

of the older folks how the Tatars whole nationalities remained il­ were oppressed in Tsarist Rus­ literate. Among the Uzbeks it was sia." hard to find five persons in a hun­ What are the stories the older dred who could write their own folks tell? They tell how they names. were enslaved in the time of the The Tsars tried to deprive the Tsars, how they were whipped people of their own culture, such and imprisoned when they pro­ as their language and their folk tested against injustice, how their songs. villages were burned to the In Georgia, people were pun­ ground when they rebelled. ished for singing Georgian folk Whether they are Tatars, Bash­ songs. A Kalmyk boy caught kirs, Armenians, Poles, Jews, or . speaking his own language in Mongolians, the old folks remem­ school or at play had to wear a ber the sufferings, the massacres sign around his neck: "It is for : and pogroms, before the Revolu­ bidden to speak Kalmyk." tion of 1917. Though today there are over 922 newspapers printed in "IT IS EASIER TO RULE AN Ukrainian: and nearly 2000 books I GNORANT PEOPLE" each year, one of the Tsar's min­ The Tsar's governments kept isters solemnly declared: "There the non-Russian nationalities in never was, and never can be, a darkness and ignorance. Under separate . Ukrainian language. Nicholas I, the Chief of Police Ukrainian is only corrupt Rus­ from the Kazan region made this sian." report: Where schools existed, teach­ "Experience of all times proves ers were forbidden to use any that it is easier to rule an igno­ language but Russian. As a result, rant people than a people that there were many nationalities has received even the slightest de­ that had no written literature in gree of education. In accordance their own language, or even an with this idea, the authorities are alphabet for it. doing everything in their power to keep the people of Kazan in " O N LY TH E AIR IS FREE" ignorance." The peoples of the non-Rus­ " The building of schools for the sian nationalities were doomed people, teaching them to read to poverty as well as ignorance. and write was discouraged. Thus They were taxed so severely that

'. A Fam ily of Nations th ere was a saying in Bukhara: an d vineyards razed and u proot­ " Here only the air is free." U n­ ed . D ir e poverty wi ll be their able to p ay th e heav y taxes, th e punishment." Thus wrote one of p eopl e su ffere d whippings an d th e T sar's generals, after an up­ impri sonment. rising of Georgian peasants. Alth ough they were taxed with­ ou t mercy, th e n on-Russian na­ " D IVIDE A ND R ULE" tionalities were forbidden to help T he rulers of Russian fanne d th emselves. R egarded as colo­ hatred and mis trust among the nials ex isting only to enrich th e diHeren t n a tion a li ti es. T hey T sars and, th e wealthy Russian kn ew, as tyrants h ave always laridown ers, all eco nom ic prog­ kn own , that the surest way to de- ress was closed to them. They ,stroy freedom is to set the people were forbidden to develop th eir fighting am ong themse lves . T hey industries or to cultivate the re­ set Russians agains t J ews, Tatars sou rces of th eir n ational lands. agains t Arme n ia ns, Armen ia ns In themoun ta insof Kazakhstan against Azerbaijans, th e T urk­ were cop per, zinc, coa l, and iron. men ian tribes one against an­ But the Kazakhs were forbidden other. This was done so that the to mine th em. In T u rkes tan, ri ch oppresse d n ationalities m igh t in cotton, th e Tsars wo u ld not turn their wrath against eac h permit textile mills to be built. other, instead of against th ose They feared th atsu ch mills would responsible for the ir suffe rings. offer competition to th e wealthy Today the Armen ia ns and Ta­ Russian mill-owners. tars live together in peace and fri endshi p .T hey work together "DIRE POVERT Y WILL BE on the collective farms. T hey THEiR P UNI SHMENT" wo rk side by side in the factories. T ime and again th e people of But in the past there was bitter th e non-Russian na tionalities strife between th em . For cen tur­ rose in re be llion. Time and again ies the Armenia ns suffered m as­ th ese reb ellions were put down sacres a t the h ands of the Tatars. with brutal savagery, and the In one yea r alo ne, tens of thou ­ people were punished with eve n san ds of Armenians were mas­ worse hardships than they h ad sacre d. In the town of Shusha, suffere d befor e. the Armenian quarter was raz ed, "T he reb el villages were burn­ and th e bodies of women and ed to th e grou nd, the orchards children were th ro wn into th e THE SOVIET UNION [5 wells. J ewish settlements, to plunder Pogroms of the Jews were en ­ and slaughter th e inhabitants. couraged, just as Hitler today Small wonder that th e young tri es to arouse the peoples under people hear with horror th e dark hi s yoke to turn on the J ews. The stories of the past, when th e many J ews lived in fear of the "Black nationalities of Russia lived in Hundreds," anti-Semitic storm poverty and ignorance, ' cruelly troops who swooped down on th e _ op pressed by th eir rulers.

Sm all uionder that no w) wh en H itler's armies threaten to hying back th e horror of th e old days and uiorse, th e people of th e Sovi et Un ion rise as one to defend their [reedom, deter­ mined that th e hideous times of th e past shall never return.

The people of K irov defen d their land 6] A Family of N ations

peace and .i:»:

I n I 9I7 th e T'sarist governm ent was overth rown. Th e R ussian workers and peasants who built the new government that came into being wit h the October R evolution believed in the equal­ ity of all nationalities. One of the first acts of the young Soviet R epublic was to issue th e Declaration of the R ights of the Nations of Russia to Self-Det ermination. I n I 9 I 8) in accord­ ance with th e D eclaration) the Sovi et R epublic recognized th e indep endence of Finland) Estonia) L ithuania) and L atvia.

M ANY YEARS of bl oody civil ed the great value of being u nited. war followed the overthrow A t the end of the Civil "Val', of Tsarist rule. Foreign powers three of the non-Russian nations sen t mon ey and armies into Rus­ - the Ukraine, Byelo-Russia and sia , to hel p those who opposed T ranscaucasia- formed a union th e new governmen t of workers with the Russian Sovie t R epub­ and peasants. In these tragic lic. T h us the Soviet U n io n was years, when the young Russian born. Soviet R epublic was figh ti ng for O ne afte r another, the differ­ its life, the non-Russian peoples ent national i ties of Russia joined aided their Russian bro th ers. th is u nion. Today th e Soviet Fighting bravel y as guerillas, U nio n incl udes 190,000,000 peo ­ they h elped to d efeat the power­ ple. It stretches from the Baltic ful armies of the enemy. Sea to th e Pacific, from the Arc­ Even before the O ctober R evo­ tic to the Caucasus. It covers one­ lution, a revolt of the Central six th of th e earth 's surface . It is Asian peoples in 1916 had helped a vas t sta te m ade u p of fift y dif­ weaken the rule of th e T sar. ferent nationalities, and a hun­ These Asiatic peoples fought dred small national gro u ps, in with th e Russians too, and learn- which all live together in the fu ll- T HE SOV IET UN I ON est equality. In every country the ric h na­ tu ral resources, so long neglected, A new life began for the Soviet were ex plored and developed. peoples. New industri es sprang up, housed Every nationality, whe the r in vast modern factories. Trac­ large or small, was give n eq ual tors an d machiner y improved the opportun ities to mak e progress­ old methods of agricul ture. ' Vith to develop its reso urces, to build the watchword of equal benefits its industries, to improve its agri­ for all, schools were built for cultu re- in short, to grow in to a every national grou p, alo ng with mod ern nation, living its own hospitals and clinics, th eaters, life for th e ben efit of its own and parks of res t and recreation. people.

A Ukra inian collect ive farm family

THE SOVIET UNION [9 the modern methods and ma­ cou n tries of the Sovi et Union, ch inery used on the co llec tive th ey now pl ay an equal part with fa rms, Uzbekistan's cotton plant­ men in their n ation's life. ers now get the high est yield in Uzbekistan's vice-president is the world, and th e quality of the a woman, Pasha M akhmudova . co tt on com pares with th e best. She is al so a member of the all­ Other new industries in U z­ union Su preme Sovi et. bekistan in clude co p pe r and su l­ In the Sov ie t that rules U zbek­ phur mining, the ex trac ting of istan itself, ove r one hundred of vege ta ble oils, food industries, the m embers are women. An U z­ petrol eum well s, and n it rate fer­ bek woman holds the important tilizers. Power for th ese indus­ post of Educational Secr etary of tries is su p plie d by th e Chir ch ik th e U zbekistan Communist Party. h ydro-elect ri c sta tio n , one of the M any U zbek women h av e be­ largest in the world. come industrial execu tives, tech­ ni cians, and engine ers. A tiny U z­ Education h as made equal bek girl, Ziba Ganieva, proved strides with industry. After all the herself one of the best shar psh oo t­ cen tu ries of T sari st rule, there ers in the fighting agains t the wer e only 15 universities in U z­ Nazis. By July, 1942, she could be kistan . Soviet U zbekistan now proudly cou nt twenty notch es in has 139 universities. her gun. In th e pre-war yea rs 9 16,000 It wa s an U zbe k woman, too, ch ild re n were a tt endin g the U z­ who ca rried out the order of th e bekistan ele men tary sc hools, Uzbe kis ta n Cabinet, th at all war many more than the number of invalids be provided with jobs school ch ild re n in Swede n , which and housing on one d ay's notice. has a population of eq ual size. This d ifficult task fell to M . Isla­ Today there are more high -sch ool mova, People's Commissar of So­ and college stude n ts in U zbekis­ cia l Mainten ance. tan than in Swede n, though Swe­ den had an eigh ty-yea r s t~ rt in A modern nation in the Orient, compulsory eleme n ta ry ed uca­ Uzbekistan has still preserved it s tion. national cultu re, merging the old and the new in music and the Women in Uzbekistan are no . dance. Today, the Uzbek Opera longer forced to cover th eir faces and ballet ri vals the Russian. An with horse-h air veils. As in a ll the Uz bek com pofer, Ashrafi, wa s 10] A Family of Nations among the Stalin Aw ard prize­ picturesque dances of h er people winners. And an Uzb ek woman, famous throughout th e Soviet T amara Khanum, has made th e Union.

Girl Students

M eeting of th e Board of a Uzb ekistan Collective Farm TH E SOVI ET UNION [ll

YAKUTIA

On his return from th e Soviet Un ion }Wendell Willkie's plane was delayed by weather conditions}and he made a stopover of several days in Yakutsk, capital of Yakutia, the largest £:> the nineteen autonomous Soviet R epublics.

'''fER SPENDING SOME TIME in ing as one of th e new nations A this pioneer country, whi ch created, in a cult ura l as well as a became a nation only under th e political sense, by th e Soviets. Soviet Union and with the direct Formerl y a wande ring, primitive aid of the Soviet Governmen t, people, th e Yakuts lived without \Villkie wrote in hi s book One a written lan gu age. The first step World: of th e Soviet Go vernment was to I found in Yakutsk evidence of one of send its langu age ex perts into the the Soviet Union's grea test achieve­ coun try. These Soviet scien tists ments and one wh ich th e bes t and most lived with th e Yakuts, stud ied progressive Americans must applaud: its handling of the te rrible problem of na­ their speec h, and develop ed an tion al and racial minorities. alpha bet and a scrip t for it, so T his town is still largely pop ulated tha t th e Yakuts mi ght have a by Yakuts, T hey ma de up eig hty-two per cent of th e popula tion of the Re­ written language of th eir own. public. As far as I could see, th ey lived as th e Russian s "li ved ; they held hi gh offices; th ey wrote th eir own poetr y and In T sarist times th e Yakuts had th eir own theatre. were frankly treat ed as sub­ This Soviet republic in th e Arc­ human. Russian trad ers bought tic, which roused Mr. Willkie's furs from them and paid th em in enthusiasm, is especially intere st- vodka, tobacco, or trinkets. Ex- 12] A Fam ily of Nations

cep t for some rmssionary work, ni ck el, copper, lead , coal, oi l, and no a ttem pt was m ade to ed uca te sa lt, besides go ld, which h ad been them. Life was so h ard for the mined before. Yakuts that they were d ying out. In T sari st times, only 35,0 0 0 In the last twenty years under cu bic feet of lumber p er year were tsarism the female population de­ cu t ou t of Yakutia' s forests. To­ creased six tee n per cen t. d ay abo u t 4,000,0 0 0 cu bic feet are The Yakuts li ved in indescrib­ cu t each year. And the reserves able filth. Twenty to thirty per­ are so vas t tha t loggers will be sons, together with th eir ca tt le, able to tak e out 88,0 00,000 cu bic lived inside one small tent. Fam­ fee t before ca tch ing up with the ines and ep idem ics were fr equent. an n ual growth. Hunting and re indeer h erding Fi sh is a nother of Yakutia's were th eir only occ u pations . newly-developed and almost end­ Their land, which is in th e zon e less re sources. R eindeer h erding of greatest cold, appeare d fit for has increased , and th e growing nothing else. The Yakuts, in fact , of crops and modern m ethods of lived th ere on ly because th ey h ad sto ring them for winter fodder been driven fro m more hospit­ h as added milk, ca tt le, and h ogs able homes by stronger trib es. to the coun try's resources. Soviet scien tists h ave made th e L and commu n ica tio ns are th e land more habitable by devising cou n try 's h ardest p roblem. In th e means forgro wing crops. T h ough winter the grou nd is rocklike Yakutia lies in th e zon e of eter­ with frost, in th e su m mer the nal frost, it h as short hot su m­ th aw turns it into a swam p . The m ers, wh en th e su n sh ines for sharp temperature changes make near! y twen ty-four h ours, th aw ­ it difficult to use many structu ral in g th e grou nd for a few feet m aterial s. Yet Soviet scientists down and filling it with m oisture. are mastering th e problem . A II­ For th ese special cond itions, So­ weather motor hi ghways h av e viet scie n tists developed quick­ been laid. R ailroads are being ripening seeds; an d toda y froz en pl anned. Meanwhile, Yakutia is Yakutia gro ws many gra ins and served by th e most modern form vegetables, which yield a good of transport pl anes, al ong with crop ea ch yea r. th e most primitive reindeer sleds . Sovi et ge ologists have pros­ In th e development of Yakutia, pected th e co un try and have al­ th e Sovie ts h ave invested over a ready reveal ed grea t ri ch es; silve r, billion rubles in th e city of Ya- THE SOVIET UN I ON kutsk alone. As a result, this city own langu age, librari es with in the Arctic ranks with th e best books in their own langu age, and of o ther Sovi et cities. T his year, a th eatre of th eir own . And a new its power pl an t, worked by men li terature is being given to the who twenty years ago had been world as you ng Yakut writers looked upon as one rem ove from produce the first books of their th e brutes, won first pl ace in a peopl e. Yakutia itself, in the rela­ nation-wide competitio n of mu­ tio n of it s people, shows clearly ni cipal power plants. how all th e Sovie t nationalities li ve together in peace and equal­ W ith all th ese amazing ad­ it y. vances the Yakuts are in creasin g Formerly th e Russians ruled in number. T he danger th ey once over the Yakuts, and they over faced , of d yin g ou t as a people, is th e Evenki, the people whom over. For merly a timid people as they di splaced in their north­ a resul t of oppression, th ey now ward mi gration . T oday, whether rank with any soldiers of the R ed in th e City of Yakutsk, or on the Ar my. , T h eir skill as hunters coll ecti ve farms, Yakuts, Rus­ mak es th em leading marksme n . sia ns, and Evenki live together, The Yakut people, wh o were enjoying th e pi on eer abund ance without a written language a they all tak e ou t of the virgin gen eration ago, are now almost forest and soil, and th e adva n­ en tirely li ter at e in the new scrip t tages of th e civilization they are devised for th em . T hey have a creating toge the r in wh at was press of th eir own , schools in th eir formerl y a wild waste.

Community Center - Yahi uia A Fam ily of N ations

-.A-n -.A-ncient nation Reborn

ARMENIA.

Armenia was an ancient country long before th e vVest' had developed. But its long history before it joi ned th e Soviet Union was on e of su ffering an d persecution .

NE O FT HE F IRST peoples to hom eland. O become Ch ristia ns, th e Ar­ But Soviet Arme n ia no lon ger menians were cons ta n tly perse­ sees its people moving ou t. In­ cu ted by their Moslem neighbors. stead the Armenians are return­ When th e T sars, as 'pro tectors of in g to th eir native land. Christianity,' took Armen ia Before the p resen t war, Soviet under th eir win g, th ey began to Arme nia helped to bri ng back destroy the cou n try's ancien t cul­ 40,000 Armen ian emigrants from ture. In order to break down Ar­ th e United Sta tes, France, Greece, menian resistance to this, T sari st Bulgaria, and other countries. official s used to in cite th e Mos­ The returning families found a lems to commit pogroms on th e job waiting for each member defenceless Arme n ia n people. who could work, homes, schools, During th e world war of IgLl­ nurseri es - all th e help th ey 18, th e sufferi ngs of th e Arme ­ needed to sta r t another and hap­ ni an people became a byword pi er life in their ow n cou n try . throughout the civilized world. Once dyin g ou t from starva­ Starving, and always in dan ger of tion and massacres, the Arme­ mass acres, thousands of Arme­ ni an s of th e Soviet U n ion h ave nians fled to other lands. T oday increased in population 60 per there are more Armen ians abroad cen t-three times greater th an than have remaine d in their th e population increase in an y THE SOVlET U NlON

European cou n try. ties of the country-two Russian, one Kurd, and one Azerbaijan. In spite of their ancien t cul­ The State Theatre Company per­ tural tradition, only IO per cen t forms in a playhouse which an of the people could read and American drama critic described write in Tsarist times. In Sovi et as the most modern in the world. Armenia th ere is not a single iI­ Although Armenia's popula­ literate person. tion is less than that" of Los An­ T sarist Armenia provided for ge les, th e publishing houses put th e education of 18,000 ch ild re n ou t 500 new books eac h year. in - I 16 sch ools. Sovi et Arme n ia They include th e works of re­ provides for 350,000 child re n, in m arkable new poet s and novel­ 25,000 sch ools. In Tsarist Anne­ ists, n ew editions of Armenian nia there was not a single univer­ cla ssics once forbidden b y T sar­ sity. In Sovi et Armenia th ere are ist officials, and translations of 13 higher education institutes, many classics of world literature and 67 technical schools. - th an ca n now, for the first time, The ancient cultu re of Anne­ be read in the Armen ian lan­ nia is being reborn. Noted for its guage. di stinctive arch itecture, Armenia In science, too, grea t advances has produced a number of out­ h ave been m ade. Among other standing arch itec ts, among them recent achievements, V. Mkrty­ Karo S. Al abyan, who h eads th e chya n invented a hotbed comb ine Soviet Architects' Union, and was which in creases th e yield 80 per co-designer of the Sovi et pavilion cen t and has completely changed a t the N ew York Worlcl's Fair of th e old method of hotbed agri­ 1939· cu ltu re. From its ancient music has been wrought a marvelous n ew Usually wh ere th ere is much modern Armenian music. Ara m cu ltu ra l ac tivity, it is based on a Khatch aturyan IS among th e rise in the econom ic level. This present-day Sovi et com posers is true of Sovi et Armenia. who have won world-wide fame. Between 1917 an d 1937, Anne­ T sarist Armenia had not a nia's industry in creased from 21 single theatre. Today th ere are p CI' cen t to 71.6 p er cent. This seventeen, thirteen giving per­ mean t higher sta ndards of living formances in Armenian and four for all th e people. in languages of other nationali- New industries in Armenia in- ARCTIC OCEAN at

PAC/Flu OCEAN~

AUTO NO MOU S REPU BLICS IN THE UN ION RE P UB Ll C S _ --,c- ~ iai; ~ - - - - · - Kalmyk - . ~ Yakut" Bashkir Komi Nakh ichevan Dagheslan Mariisk Abkhazian Buryal- Mongolian Mo rdvian Ajarian Chechen-Ingush North Ossetian Kara-Kalpak Chuvash • C • Kabardino-Balkarian Udmurl nmean 18] A Family of Nalions elude textiles, ferrous me ta llurgy, th e same time h ydro-electrical chemica ls, cemen t, can neries, power; totalling 144,000 kil o­ copper ex traction and synthetic watts. ru bber. T he syn thetic r ubber plant at Yerevan is the largest of Such figu res can tell much . But its ki nd in the worl d. the human side of Armenia's Yerevan, th e capital of Anne­ story was drama ticall y stated at a ni a, and one of the most ancien t meet ing of Armenian-America ns cities in the world, has grown in Boston , late in 1939. At this fro m a city of 29, 000 in 19 1Ll , to meeting Professor Dad ourian an­ 15° ,000. nounced th at Soviet Armen ia no In agriculture, the cultiva ted longer need ed th e help of the area ex pande d from 203,000 acres Arme n ia n R ed Cross and the in 1919 , to 1,079,000 in 1937. T h is Co mmi ttee to Aid Arme n ia . was mad e possible, as in all th e T heir work belon gs to th e past, other Soviet R epublics, by collec­ whe n th e Armen ia ns were a per­ ti ve farms and the use of mo de rn secu ted and starving people. machinery. Irrigation has adde d But th e fu ture of Armen ia is nearly 20,000 acres, and a great one of in creasin g progress, an construc tio n p roject begun be­ ancien t and mod ern natio n in fore the war was to ad d 247,000 the Soviet U n ion . acres more, wh ile produc ing at

T wo Armenian Schoolgirls THE SOVIET UN I ON

Where ..A-!!2Ji6criwtinafion GnJ6

In I9I8) by a Sovi et decree signe d by L enin) an ti-Sem it ism was made a criminal offence.

E WS HAVE FULL E QUA LI T Y with moneylenders and middlem en . Jall th e other nationalities of When in 1917 -private trading the Soviet Union. They have was abolished, and the se liveli­ been freed from all th e restric­ hoods were no lon ger possibl e, tions th at in the past mad e the th e Sovie t gove rn men t gave spe­ life of th e J ewish people one of cial a tte n tio n to the problems poverty, isolation, and persecu­ and needs of th e J ews. tion. No longer do th ey live in fear of th e Black Hundred s, th e Many J ews were anx io us to Nazilike gangs ters of th e Tsars, have a national homeland of who slaughtered them without th eir own, and were ready to up­ .mercy, only because th ey were root th ems elves and tak e on the Jews. hardships of pioneering in virgin . Under th e T sars, J ews could cou n try, to establish it. . live only in certain restricted O th ers wishe d to ha ve a na­ ar eas. They were barred from tion al existence, to th e ex ten t mo st professions, and only a few that this wou ld be possibl e, could obtain higher ed ucation, where th ey wer e. because th e universities strictly And th ere were still ot her J ews limited the number of J ews who wh o preferred th e sta tus of na­ were admitted . tionals of th e coun try in which As a resu lt, th e J ews had to they lived ; that is, of Russians in find ways of making a living that the Russian Soviet R epublic, were permitted to th em. Many Ukrainia ns in th e Ukra inian were petty traders, small brokers, Sovie t R epublic, and so on . This 2 0 ] A Family of Nations was permitted . J ews in the Soviet countries in the world, including Un ion may be listed as national s Pol and, which before th e war had of the coun try in which they live. almost the same number of J ews, For those who wa nt to build and th e Uni ted Sta tes, whose and live in a n ation al h omeland J ewish popula tion is even larger. of the ir own, a fertile territory, In 1938 it reached 1,357,000 ri ch in resources, h as been allot­ copies, which included new titles, ted to th em in Birobidj an, in the new edi tions of J ewish classics, Soviet Far East. For those who an d transla tio ns from Russian p refer to carryon their J ewish and other literatures. n ational cu lture and tradit ions Books by J ewish authors have wh ere they are, all faci lit ies are been translated into Russian, pro vided. Ukrainian, and other Soviet lan­ guages. The circu la tion of books There are many cen ters of by th e classic J ewish writer, Jewish Natio nal Culture in the Sh olem Al eikh em, numbers mil-

Soviet Union. One is in Moscow I lion s through out the Soviet itself, whe re the J ewish Sta te Art U n ion. T heater ranks among the great­ est in the Soviet capital, and The J ewish Autonomous R e­ whe re a J ewish n ewspaper of na­ gion in Birob idjan, formerly a tion al circulation is published. Nationa l Area, and now advanc­ Kiev, Odessa, Minsk, Vilno, and in g on its way to the rank of an L vov are othe r outsta nd ing cen­ Autono mous R epublic, is situ­ ters, while sma ller cen tel'S ex ist ated along th e Rivers Bira and wh erever there are commun it ies Bidjan, tributa ries of the Amur large eno ug h to maintain schools Ri ver. It is a rich region of fertile and other cultural insti tutions. plain s, for ests, and fisheri es.. It W hen the war began th ere con ta ins lime and marbl e quar­ were three J ewish national areas ries, and iron and gold are m ine d. in th e Ukraine, and two in the J ewish collective farms pro­ Crimea, whe re J ewi sh indus tri es duce wheat, oats, soy beans, pota­ and .Jewish collec tive farms were toes an d vegetables; they herd flourishing. ca ttle and operate an ex pa nding The production of book s in dai ry industry. Yiddish in th e Soviet Un ion is The tow n of Birobidj an , th e grea ter th an th e total production capital, in whose development of J ewish books in all the other the American organizat ion Am-

\•. THE SOVIET UN IO T [21 bij an pl ayed a considerable part, the J ews, in prop ortion to thei r is growing rapidly. It already h as numbers, ha ve received the larg­ an electric power sta tion, a cloth­ est number of military decora­ ing factory, a furniture factor y, a tions for bravery. The J ewish pl ywood factory, a mechan ized heroes include a guerrilla fighter municipal baker y, bri ck kilns, ce­ who was for merly a rabbi.And ment works and other industries. heroes too are th e Jewish grand­ Among its educa tiona l Insti­ mothers who run a cooperative tutions are a School of Music and factor y, ma king war materials for Ball et, a State T heater, librari es, the R ed Army. Before the war and other cultural institu tions. the women had met in the parks There is a saying th at a nation where they took care of th eir may be judged by its trea tme nt gra ndchildren. 'When the war of its Jews. By such a test th e came th ey petition ed to be al­ judgment upon the Soviet Union lowed to run a cooperative work­ mu st be hi gh indeed. And thi s is sho p. In thi s way th ey, too, are reflected in th e contribution .So­ defending their Soviet coun try viet J ews have made in the war. where all discrimination ha s Among th e heroic Soviet peoples ended . . Jewish Collective Farmer 2 2 ] A Family of Nation s

One ofthe n::Soviet JeputAco

ESTONIA

A mong the many nationalities that make up the unconquer­ able Soviet Army)are soldiers from th e Baltic States-Estonia) th e Karelo-Finnish R epublic) Latvia) and L ithuania. Th ey are fighting not merely to drive out the enslaving Ger­ mans. Th ey are fighting for the liberties and opportunities that came to them as partner peoples of the Soviet Union. .

A FTERT HE REVOLU TION OF 1917, they were invaded by German £l. the Sovie t G overnment troops, and forcibly torn fro m gra n ted indep enden ce to th e Bal­ th e Soviet Union. tic States. For two cen turies be­ After this, fascist govern me n ts fore th e R evol ution , th ese sta tes came into power. Only their ter­ had been part of the Russian Em­ rorist rule was able to keep the pi re. T hey were closely tied to Baltic States in forced separa tion Russia both eco nomically and from th e Sovie t Union. hi stori call y. Russians fou nded D urin g the peri od of separa­ the first cities along the Baltic tion, the Baltic States sank in to Sea nearly a th ousand years ago. deep povert y, because their in­ As soo n as th ey had rece ived dustries, built to use Russian raw th eir indep enden ce, th e Ba lti c materi als, were cu t off fro m their States esta blishe d th em selv es as source of supply and also from Soviet R epublics, and th en joined their marke ts. T heir great ports ' the Soviet U nio n ; but in 1917-18 and railroads fell into disuse.

, I.. T HE S OV IET UN I ON

Under fascist rule, the so-called its occ u patio n b y Germany.When 'independenc e' of th ese states th e Es tonian d ictatorship sabo­ proved costly as well as op pres­ taged this treaty, the people re­ sive. fu sed to support their govern­ M any times the p eople of th e m en t any longer an d forced it to Baltic States revolted an d tried res ign . to re-establish th eir Soviet gov ­ The n ewl y-elected government ern men ts. at once established itself as a A t the outb reak of the p resent Soviet Government, and then ap­ war, the Es to n ian peop le were pl ied for admissio n to the Sov iet successfu l in throwing off the Union . fascis t yoke . T ime lost h ad to be m ade u p L ik e th e other Baltic sta tes, for. T he German invasion occ u r­ Estonia h ad suffered eco nom i­ red eleven months later, and th e ca ll y as we ll as politically under , new Eston ia n R epublic had on ly fascist r u le. T he industri al p opu­ eleven month s of peace. Yet in lation h ad d ecreased from 48,0 0 0 this bri ef p eriod tremen dous in 19 14 to 23,000 in 19 3 9 , a d rop ch a nges took place. of m ore than h alf. I ts form er I n a single year employment la rge sh ip build ing in dust ry de­ rose in Eston ia 70 per cent. T he clined almost to the va n ish ing idle sh ipyards we re recondition­ point. Such industr y as re mained, ed. T he D vi R ailway Car 'W orks, an d 60 per cent of all wholesale shut for so many years, were trade, was in G er man h ands. brought back into p roduction. Under fascism , Eston ia h ad been T he Eston ia n shale oil ind ustry red uced to an agricu ltural cou n ­ was one of the beneficiaries of an try, growing grain an d b reeding allotment of 11 2 ,3 0 0,0 0 0 ru b les ca tt le to feed the industri alized budgeted b y the Sov iet Govern­ cou n tries to the west. m ent fo r the develo pment of Es­ When the war ca me, Estonia, to n ia n industr y. lik e the other Baltic States, lay Bi g estates were con fiscated, ope n to invasion by the Nazis. some of the land bein g reserved T he Sov iet Union made a trea ty for use as p arks an d sanatoriums, of mutual assista nce wi th th e Es­ an d the res t di vided among land­ to n ia n go vernment, by wh ich less farmers. Mortgages an d other Red Army units wou ld b e allow­ loans were abolished, removing ed to enter the cou n try to oppose a h ea vy d ebt Irom the farms, A Fam ily of N atio 1/s

while farm machinery was in tro ­ lies, the people of th e BalticSta tes duced . resis ted all efforts on the part of School enroll me n t rose by 1 1 ,­ the Germans to en tice or compel 000. A h undred and forty thou­ them to fight on their side. Fierce sand new book s were donated by guerr illa res istance wrought Sov iet libraries to Estonia n li­ h avoc in the German lines, while braries. An Estonian film com­ Latvian, Li thuani a n and Esto­ pany was organized, a nd n ew ni an army units formed in Mos­ th eatres were opened . cow to join th e R ed Army. Like Estonia, La tvia and L ith ­ Partner peoples in th e Sov iet uania h ad also overthrown their Uni on, these Baltic a rmy units Fascist d ictators and formed So­ fi ght side by side with th e other viet R epublics, which joined th e nationalities of the R ed Army . Sovie t U n ion. When th e Ger­ T hey fight until th e day when mans invaded th eir cou n tries, th e th ey and th eir governments m ay govern men ts of th ese Sovie t R e­ return to th eir coun tries, to free publics con tin ue d in Moscow. th e Baltic Sov iet R epublics from Loyal to th eir Sov iet R epub- the German in vad er s.

Fountlr» Jl'orkers Sigl1il1 g V i ) for Vol u n tccr For ce (Al oscow ) THE SOV IET UN I ON

NEGROES

Wh en Hitler's ruthless soldiers marched. into th e Caucasus, am ong th e tTOOPSwho droue th em back uiere N egm es, figh ting side by side with th e many nations of th e Caucasus-i-Geor­ gians, Russians, Greeks, Jews, A rrnenians, and SCOTes of others.

ftLT HESE P EOPLE S, bound in nationalities in Russia. th eir common lo ve for th e This d eclaration meant what Sovie t fa therland, united as one it said . It made no exceptions in to preser ve th eir fr eedom. To­ gran ting eq uality. It included gether they drove out th e invad­ Negroes along with all other na­ ing armies, and sav ed th e Cau­ tional minorities in the Soviet casus fro m Nazi domination. Un io n. These Negroes had fought for That is why Negroes rallied to their Soviet fa therla nd . Once be­ defend the new Soviet govern ­ fore th ey had h elped to defend it. ment. In fighting for the Sovie t During the Russian Ci vil W ar, Republic, they were fighting for when the new-born Sovi et R e­ their own freedom as well. public wa s invaded by powerful ene m ies, Negro gue rrillas of the Negroes wer e brought to the Cauc asus fought fiercel y in ravine Ca ucasus abou t three hundred and forest, to h elp drive ou t those years ago . The Caucasus was th en who wish ed to d estroy th e new under Turkish rule, and th e N e­ Sovie t R epublic. groes were brought in to work as At this time Joseph Stalin had sla ves on th e tobacco plantations. j ust drawn up hi s Decl aration of When T sarist Russia seized th e Rights of the Peoples of Russia, Cauc asus, N egroes, together with -vhich called for Equality of all the other ensla ved nationalities, A Fam ily of N ati on s became the enslaved su bjects of groes Iive in th e Autonomous R e­ T sardom. public of Abkh azia in the Cau­ They fo u nd that li fe u nder the casus-a region like the best of Tsars was even worse than the Flo rida or California. Oth ers live slavery they h ad known under in the Soviet R epublic of Geor­ the T urkish Sultans. H undreds gia . In these Sovie t repu blics of Negroes fled. wh ich they have helped to de­ The Soviet U nion, where all fend and p reserve, Negroes h ave nationalities li ve as equals, freed won di stinction in governmen t, the N egroes and gave them com­ in industry and in agricultu re , as pl ete eq uality. Not on ly are the well as in the arts. N egro es n o longer slaves, b u t M r. Paul R obeson who h as like eve ry other national minor­ visited the Sovie t Union m any ity in the Soviet Union, they have times said-"There I found the eq ual opportunities - politi cal , real solu tio n of the minority and socia l and econom ic. Ther e are racial problems, a very simple no ] im Crow restrictions. solu tion-com ple te equality for Most of the Sovi et U n ion 's Ne- all m en of all races."

Vlc c -Chuirman of Collectiv e Farm , A bkhazian A /ItO /IOII!O/lS R epublic T HE SOV IET UN I ON

Condtilutionaf guaranteed in lhe SovieI Union

Th e people of a national ity are free when they have a right to make th e laws under whic h they live. This basic right is guaranteed to th e peopl e of every nation­ ality in the Soviet Union. It is the unbreakable thread that binds together the fam ily of Soviet nations in complete equality.

ACCORDING TO THE CONSTITU­ Uzbek for the Uzbe ks, an Anne­ fi TION, every nationality m us t ni an for the Armen ia ns, and so be re presen ted in the Supre me on. From th e Kazakhs of Cen tral Sovie t, th e lawmaking bod y for Asia, to the Ukrain ians III the the whole Sovie t U n io n . 'West, from the Yak u ts in the For this purpose, it is di vided Arctic to the Georgians in the in to two chambers-the Soviet of Ca ucasus, all the peopl es of the Nationalit ies, and th e Soviet of Soviet Unio n are re presen ted in the U nion . Every nationality th is Soviet L eagu e of Natio ns. elects delegates to the Soviet of , Nationalities, wh ich has equal It was Stalin, Premier of the power with the other chamber in Soviet U nio n, who advocated making laws. making the Soviet of Natio nali­ ties a par t of the lawmak ing body. T he p roblem s and need s of A Georgia n himself,Stalin under­ each nationality, and the welfare stood th e problems of the m inor of all together, are cons idered in nat ionalities. His earliest wr it­ th e Sovie t of Nationalities. No ings on the subject wo n the ad­ nationality is withou t its vo ice. m iration of Lenin, who had not A Jew speaks for the J ews, an yet met him. 28] A Family of Nations

In the first Soviet government, of the Sovi et Constitution, as a Stalin was Commissar of Nation­ guarantee that every nationality alities. The principles h e be­ in the Soviet Union shall h ave lieved in have been made a part absolute political eq uality.

I94I El ection s for th e Su-preme Soviet of th e U.S.S.R . in a rural district of th e Latuian S.S.R. T HE SOVIET UNION

f:Jucation of Corner6tone o/:JreeJom

T he first thing th e Nazis do in the countries they conquer is to deprive the people of their schools. They believe that wi thout education the pe ople will become m ore obedient slaves. The T sars had the same ideas. They deliberately kept the peoples of R ussia in ignorance) so that they might be m ore easily enslaved and oppressed.

N T H E SOVIET UNION ed ucation peoples to develop the ir ind ustry I is considered the cornerstone and agriculture and to build a of freedom and progress. T he new life of free dom and eq uality. first th ing that the Soviet Govern­ men t did after the R evolu tion of To wea ken national spir it, the 19' 7 was to teach the people to Tsars forbade manyof the peopl es read and write. they ruled to have nation al In twenty years mo re schools schools. T h is was true of the were built in the Soviet Union Ukrainians, th e Georgians, th e tha n h ad been built in Tsarist Byeloru ssians, and the Arme­ R ussia over a peri od of 200 years. m ans. In twe nty years, 40,000,000 ad ults T he Soviet law sta tes. "Whe r­ were ta ugh t to read and writeo ever th ere are eno ugh ch ildre n Univers ities, too, were built, of any nationality, schools must where thousands of spec ialisis be established for th em ." were trained- scientists, techni­ T he Western Ukraine had in cians, agricultura l ex pe rts, engi­ 1941 over 1..' 386 nationa l schools, neers. It was th ese trained spec ial­ and hundred s of oth er schools for ists who helped th e non-Russian J ews, Pol es, and Germ an s. T he A Family of Nations

Byelorussian national schools th eir native lan gu age. T hey are number over 4,286. proud to study Russian as a sec­ The Karelo-Finnish R epublic ond language-the langu age of has GI l schools, and 207 scho ols th e great peopl e that hel ped them for the Finns who live the re. achieve full equality. In Azerb aij an there are over No nation ali ty is dep rived of 3,500 elementary schoo ls. For­ its langu age. For th e peopl es in merl y the Tatars had only 35 the remote step pes, forests, and schools; today, this number has mountain s, whose lan guage h ad jumped to 3,694. never before been written down, Soviet scho lars have devised al­ In Tsarist times schools were phabets. Grammars, di ction ari es, usuall y hou sed in old buildings and primers have been printed on th e ou tskirts of th e village and for them . children came from five and six Every nation ality has its own miles around. Poorl y clad and printing presses. In the Soviet half-starved, they had to tramp Union as a who le, books, maga­ over muddy roads in th e autumn, zines, and newspapers are pub­ through bli zzards and frost in lished in 11 2 differen t lan guages. th e winter. And th e ch ildren who Thou sands of libraries satisfy could do this were considered the the peopl e's eagerness to learn. lucky ones. There are libraries not only in Today in the Soviet U nion the big cities, but in th e villages (here is a school for every child, as well, in th e factories and on and every ch ild is in school. Edu­ th e collec tive farms. T rave lling cat ion for all is compulsory. Even libraries carry books to th e far­ in the far No rt h, sledge schools thest corner of th e cou ntry. This foll ow chi ldren whe n the people wide spread . of educa tio n h as drive th eir herds of reindeer over mad e the Soviet peopl e am on g th e snow fields. In Central Asia, the best educa ted in the world. school buildings mad e of light staves, and packed on the backs Before the R evolution of 191 7 , of camels, ,accompany th e Uzbeks hi gher education was only for the whe n th ey move to new camps on few, who went to th e universit ies the steppes. at th e cost of great sacrifice and privation. Man y nati on alities, In th e schools of th e Soviet such as th e Kazakhs, th e Kirghi s Union children are taught in nat ion , and th e Ar menians did T HE SOVIET UN I ON

not have a single university. The 14 Universities of the Tatar Re­ number of Jews who might at­ pu blic. tend the universities was limit ed by law. In the grea t universities of Today Kazakhstan has 19 uni­ Moscow, students from every part versities, Kirghi zia 4, Armenia 8. of the Soviet Union study side by In T sari st times Byelorussia side-Mongolia ns from the step­ had onl y one university. Now it pes of Asia, Armenians from the has 22. Caucasus, J ews, Ukrainians. T he T he Georgian s who had on ly Institu te of the. Northern Peo­ one, today have 18 , with 2 1,000 ples brings education to far students. Siberia. T he Soviet Government T he number of universities in helps the stude nts of all nation­ Uzbekistan has jumped from 15 alities, through scho larships and in Tsarist tim es, to 139 under stipends, and govern ment-sup­ the Soviet Government. -T here ported dormi tories where they are 30 universities in Uzbekistan, may live. 13 in Azerbaijan, 5 in Turkestan. No one is excluded from the In 115years of Tsarist rul e only un iversities because of race. or na- 6 Tatars were educa ted in the tionality, and no one is barred University of Kazan. Now over from any career or profess ion be­ I 1,000 T atars are studying in th e cause of the color of his skin.

Soviet scientists of tomorrow A Fam ily of Nations

The Soviet nat ions are like th e m embers of a gre at fam ily) all loyally united ) yet each preserving its own in dividuality .

RLF ORMS of national culture chestra: and the more p owerfu l the are encouraged , a ll the orchestra the richer can be the sym­ phony. things that the people of a nation love -their own folk songs, Frequently there are great fes­ dances, legends, arts, and h andi­ tivals of n ationalities in M oscow . crafts. F ree to d evelop thei r ow n Fro m all over the Soviet Union cu ltu re, the different nationali­ people come, proud to wear their ties have p roduced m any poets, colorfu l n ational costumes. Na­ novelists, musicians, and p ain t­ tional groups vie with each other el's. All are eq ually honored in in sports, sing their native songs, the Soviet Union no matter what and dance the vivid age-old nationality they belong to. As dances. T hey are joyous pageants, Luis Quintanilla said : by wh ich the Soviet peopl es show thei r pride of n ationality, thei r Cu lture is like a sym p hony: th e m ore instruments t he m ore pow erful the 01'- resp ect for the cu lt ure of all.

That is why all the peoples of th e Sov iet Union stand united ) fighting as on e nation to crush forever the ruthless Nazi power. Together th ey have bu ilt th e Soviet Un ion. Together they live in th e Soviet Union) each nationality equal wi th all the others) each nationality free and in dependent within its borders. N othing can break the united strength of the m any nation­ alities that form the R ed Army) noth ing can break their bonds of [ri endsh.ip, forged in freedom and equality. BIBLIOGRAPHY

"THE R USSIANS" A lbert Rhys Williams

" T HE SOVIE T POWER " . H ewl ett Joh nson) Dean of Canterbury

" ' IVOMEN IN THE SOVIET EAST" . Fannina H alle

"THE NATIONAL Q UESTION IN THE SOVIE T UNION" . M . Chekalin

" LAND OF THE SOVIETS". Nicho las M ikhailov All photos from Sovfoto

A mong th e publi cations of th e N ational Coun cil are:

" ORGANIZEDL ABOR I NT HE SOVIET U NION" Edwin S. Smith

"CONST ITUTION OFT HE U .S.S.R."

"SOVIET R USSIA AN D T HE P OST-'tVAR' VORLP " Corliss Lam ont

NATIONAL C OUNCIL OF AMERICAN-SOVIET FRIE NDSHIP, I NC.

232 Madison Avenue Ne w York 16, N. Y.

Purpose

T o promote better understanding and streng the n friendly relations between the United States and th e Soviet U nion as essential to the winning of th e war, and the establishmen t of world-wide democracy and enduring peace. F -.