"MOSCOW AWAITS CHANGES"
NICOLAEVSKY, BORIS I.
"MOSCOW AWAITS CHANGES" By Boris I. Nicolaevsky Author's Note: J received the following letter from "somewhere in Germany," from a man whom 1 know personally as an experienced and...
...In essence, a JewisJi pogrom is in progress throughout the land, directed particularly against the Jewish intelligentsia...
...milk 6 rubles...
...All those under attack invariably turn out to be Jews...
...apples 20 rubles...
...The discontent with general conditions does not abate, but is definitely growing...
...In contrast to the other guests, he-speaks much and willingly...
...Everyone voiced more or less sharp criticism...
...It looks us if there will be shootings as well, or at least deportations to distanct regions...
...But even there news is already relayed in whispers...
...My informant stood there for five minutes: there was not a single comment that was favorable or even neutral...
...What is interesting is that the anti-Semitic notes ring out the more sharply, the simpler the reader to whom a given newspaper is addressed...
...I wrote them down—the refugee simply poured forth a stream of figures - -and when I asked how he remembered them so well, he replied bitterly: "Because I often tried lo figure out how I might buy the things I needed, but that was not always possible...
...My informant explained that this is due to the government's policy of artiflcally keeping prices there on a much lower level, to allay the serious discontent of the population...
...To obtain money for all that, they allegedly accepted bribes...
...a crowd before the windows of the one-time Yeliseev store and stopped to listen...
...The "exposed" culprits are usually immediately arrested, dismissed from all their posts', and expelled from the party...
...According to him, it seemed that Popkov and others Were guilty, on the one hand, of "moral corruption": they were charged with indulging in drunken orgies, luxurious living, dressing their wives in costly clothes, driving expensive cars and so forth...
...Malenkov...
...Kuznetzov teas appointed Chief uj Cadres of the Central Committee about September, 194C, end proceeded to purge Maleukov's follower < (Malenkov lumself was removed from his secretarial post at the same time and transferred to government work...
...On that day, all Moscow spoke about prices...
...THE MOOD OF THE NEW REFUGEE is quite different—and when I asked about it, he replied that there is no contradiction at all, since the old feelings prevail among the occupation army, while reaotions in Moscow ^changed during the winter...
...And its purpose — which emerges quite clearly from my informant's stories — is to divert into this channel the pent-up discontent of the population...
...The text of the letter follows...
...Of all the recent changes, the most significant are the removals of Voznesnsky, Radionov and Kuznetzov, also involving Popkov, Kapustin, Tikhonov, and a number of lesser figures...
...They spoke constantly about the expectation of war, regarding it as inevitable, and placing it, at the latest, in 1950 (it is not clear why everyone names this year—perhaps because it is a "round figure...
...All the papers are full of exposes of the "rootless cosmopolites" who worked in the fields of literature, theatre, and so forth...
...This they were able to do only because they enjoyed the special protection of the three men higher up—Voznescnsky, Radionov and Kuznetzov — and it seems that the charge of a separate economic policy is directed with its sharpest edges primarily against Voznesensky...
...White bread—actually it is gray—* costs 6 rubles per lb., brown bread 2.70 rubles...
...This, according to him, explained^ the open anti-Semitic drive, J the signal for which was given from the Kremlin...
...As u man close to Zhdanov...
...Their typical mood was quite different...
...meat from 20 to 40 rubles...
...To make some of the references clearer to the American reader, I shall merely add a few facts concerning the people mentioned iw the letter...
...The prevailing prices are really very high...
...They relate that everyone drinks very much and many inhale cocaine (the latter is obtainable, although* the Soviet authorities severely prosecute those caught with it...
...The window displayed the "highest edict" of Stalin and Malenkov concerning price reductions...
...It is true that those refugees were all military men—officers and soldiers of the occupation army...
...But that has little effect...
...Kuznetzov, who was in recent years the head of the* Bureau of Cadres of the Central Committee, is accused of maintaining cjose ties with and shielding his guilty subordinates, and of sharing in the results of their criminal, activities, * * • ALL THE ABOVE-NAMED persons have thus far only been dismissed from their posts and removed from work, but they face the threat of arrest and more severe punishment, There are generally many arrests...
...sugar 35 rubles...
...They compared the prices of various commodities with pre-war prices, pointing out that even the new reducer prices were three or four times tiboVe the old...
...MOSCOW AWAITS CHANGES" By Boris I. Nicolaevsky Author's Note: J received the following letter from "somewhere in Germany," from a man whom 1 know personally as an experienced and careful observer...
...One often encounters moods of almost total hopelessness and doom: the refugees feel that the occupation army will be the first to perish from the atom bomb—and this kind of death is especially dreaded...
...vodka 60 rubles a bottle...
...March, 1946, Radionov was elected to the Orgburo (Organizational Bureau), came to Moscow, and soon became Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the R. S. F. S. R. Voznescnsky...
...Popkov, for example, was accused of selling food cards...
...at the Central Committee Plenum ir...
...in fact, on the lower levels there are fewer repressions than usual...
...The Kuznetzov referred to is the "Leningrad" Kuznetzov who replaced Zhdanov in 1945 as Secretary of the Leningrad Obkom (Regional Committee) of the All-Russian Communist Party (B...
...On the other hand it was said about them that they carried out their own economic policies, undermining those of, the government...
...All - arc terrified at the prospect, and insist that this panic mood is today most characteristic throughout the occupation army...
...This drive against the "cosmopolites" is extended to the provinces as well, where the tone of the newspapers has an even sharper odor...
...pork 35 rubles...
...He explained that, in his opinion, this was due to the fact that Moscow residents felt especially clearly the "split in the moods of the government " "Things are not quite in order in the Kremlin," he said, "they are fighting again among themselves, and news of that spreads quickly in the capital...
...Everyone read it and commented freely on the spot...
...The mood in Latvia and Estonia is almost a fighting one—and the most careful "screenings" are of no avail...
...It must be added that according to my informant, repressions are now directed only towards the highest strata of Soviet society...
...If rhe is to be believed, the mood in Mos. cow has changed greatly in the past few .months...
...member of the Poltt baro and dead of the Caspian, was considered Maleukov's closest collaborator during tlic tuar years: However, as i:e now learn, he went over to the "Zhdanov camp" in September, 1946...
...There even seems to be some kind of demagogic attempt to win, oyer the embittered population...
...Thus, the articles against the "cosmopolites" are much more virulent in the Evening Moscow and Moscow Bolshevik than they are in Pravda...
...The general impression from all I have heard during this conversation, is best conveyed in the words of my informant, whom I asked to summarize in brief the mood in Moscow: "I would say — Moscow awaits changes, and not petty changes, but great ones...
...potatoes 1.50 rubles...
...In his opinipn, the basic char, acteristic of this change is the freedom with which everyone speaks today—in . the streets, in trolley cars, in queus, ¦ theatres and even stores...
...This was especially interesting to me and I tried to question him closely...
...In a certain measure, of course, this aim is achieved, but only in part...
...Zhdanov, Kuznetzov and Popov...
...EVERYWHERE IN THE PROVINCES conditions are far worse—except for the Baltic region, where the food situ - ation is considerably better...
...Here is the essence of what he told me...
...Radionov was secretary of the Nizhni-Novgorod regional committee and belonged to Zhdanov's group (Zhdanov had served as secretary in Nizhni-Gorky from 192J> to 1934...
...To judge by those who come -here, these stories are close to the,truth...
...Malenkov's 'h andwr it i n g" also emerges unmistakably in the whole campaign against the "homeless cosmopolites...
...It is rumored that Afanasiev, head of the maritime commercial fleet, who was allegedly caught maintaining secret connections with England, was arrested and possibly shot...
...In April, 1946, he was transferred to the Central Committee of the All-Russian Communist Parly, after his election as one of its secretaries (the secretariat at the time consisted of Stalin...
...Popov, Chairman of the Leningrad Soviet, was also a close follower of Zhdanov, Thus, there is jio doubt that the entire operation against Voznescn' sky is primarily an act of revenge on the part of Malenkov against the "Zhdanovtsy" (Zhdanov's following...
...I must confess that this story surprised me greatly, since I have had many occasions recently to speak with people Hfrom therq...
...As an example of this my informant .told me how, on March 1, he noticed (Boris Nicolaevsky, well-known RusI *isn writer, is a frequent contributor to The New Leader...
...In 1940, however, a pound of butter could be bought for 24 rubles, and of a much better quality...
...butter 60 rubles...
...And everybody added that earnings had risen on the average less than 50 percent...
...as for Maleukov's antisemitic feelings, they were well known before...
...T HAVE JUST RETURNED from a ' I meeting with another refugee from behind the iron curtain—a brand ' new one, who was still in Moscow on • March 15th...
...and played a leading role in tlie campaign organized by ¦Zhdanov against Varga (the latter was and remains a loyal Malenkov vian...
...Only in offices people still refrain frpm open .expression...
...However, it is not a usual pogrom, from below, but a planned and directed drive from above...
...carried on under instructions from the Kremlin...
Vol. 32 • April 1949 • No. 17
