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The Answer of Nina Khrushchev The Editor of McCall’s M aga zine prepared a series of ques tions which it was hoped Mrs. N ikita Khrushchev would an swer. These he turned over to Helen Thomas, then president of the Women’s National Press Club. Eventually Mrs. K hrush chev’s letter arrived, routed via official Moscow and the Russian Em bassy in W ashington. McCall published it in the next issue, listing also ten of the 30 ques tions as the m ost typical. A reading of the reply of USSR’s F irst Lady, though com posed in well chosen term s and style, reveals scanty reference to the questions mentioned. Mrs. Nina Khrushchev brushed them away by saying: “Many of the questions are personal and should not be the subject of a press interview. It is not our cus tom here in the Soviet Union, to make our intim ate and person al affairs public,” she wrote. The same fate m et questions about American-Soviet relations. Even the impression of her visit in the United States, she said, could be interpreted as an_ a t tem pt to express an “official opinion.” She refers to “the points of view of leading Soviet statesm en on these m atters, who speak for all Soviet people, my self included.” Nevertheless three questions tem pted her to voice her own opinion. The first refers to children. “Every Soviet woman wants her children to have a happy, joy ous childhood,” she states. “The happiness of Soviet children in cludes their showing concern for the good of others. Soviet mo th ers are not worried about the futu re of their children, to whom all paths are open.” In comparing this statem ent with the true life in USSR — w hat about the “voluntary” re cruitm ent of youth to the virgin lands in A sia? Joseph Novak, in his book “The F uture is Ours, Comrade” reports it as a con stan t fear, creeping through youth circles. The Soviet press continually reports youth flights from working places in Kazakh stan. Is youth happy to sacrifice its best years in this fruitless en deavor ? And why does this duty refer first to Ukrainian, L ithu anian, Estonian and L ettian youth, which is m ostly recruit ed? The second question deals with possible conflicts between the in terests of the Soviet fam ily and those of the State. This sounds strange to a Soviet woman, al leges Mrs. Khrushchev. State po licy is shaped for our benefit, and this has been tested and proved for every individual in our country by life itself. Our State has no other purpose but th a t of serving the interests of the people, she states. Could there be a greater dis crepancy between this statem ent and the real life? You don’t need to ask a woman bricklayer, a woman loader, a woman m iner in the USSR about her life condi tion because she couldn’t tell you the tru th . But it suffices to look at her prem aturely old face, a t hard working hands, at her bent stature, and you guess it. This rigorous toil exceeds her strength and finally crushes her health. In addition, on returning home after this hard task, she has no housekeeping gadgets and commodities. She m ust share a kitchen w ith other families, wash her own, and th e fam ily clothes, by hand. And she has to shop in endless lines which steals her precious tim e and fu r th er drains her already depleted energy. Is this “State policy” really “the embodiment of our desires and aspirations” as Mrs. K hru shchev states? The hard-work ing, low-payed woman of poor health, cleaning the streets of the great Soviet cities? Her third answer referred to the travel of foreign tourists in USSR. “The more they see of our way of life w ith their own eyes, the less m istrust and prejudice, and the more m utual understand ing will be in our relations,” she said. One could agree w ith it, in part, if the traveling was not directed. W hen you could visit an average family, could see a distant village, could speak freely w ith people everywhere. But w hat could you learn from a planned tour? You meet w ith high-ranking personalities, you visit collective farm s, see first class hospitals and schools. And when you do m eet common people, they are afraid to speak w ith you. Only from their ques tions about life in America can you guess they would like to compare it w ith theirs. This is our com m entary on the three m eager and evasive replies of Nina Khrushchev. Every Mc Call’s reader should rem ember it, if he w ants . to see life in USSR as it really is. OUR LIFE Edited by Editorial Board Published by the Ukra i nian National Women’s League of America, Inc. 909 N. Franklin St. Philadelphia 23, Pa. НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ — ЧЕРВЕНЬ, 1961 15
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