The journal. (Caldwell, Ohio) 1934-1961, 1958-05-22


balcony left: arts, music, sculp-
ture, (3) Upper balcony right;
folklore and national products
cloth. glass, etc, (4) Main floor
left; youth, athletics, instruction,
(5) Main floor right; agriculture.
Left front is the restaurant and
next to it in another building,
the cinema.
At the back of the building,
towering over all within, is a
40-foot statue of Lenia, the
father of the Socialist state (and,
shall we say, grandfather of the
Sputnik). About halfway down
the main aisle is by the far the
most popular display of the
Soviet pavilion-chrome plated
models of Sputniks | and II in
Guiding duplicates of the har-
ness, apparatus, and insulated
box used for Laika, the space
bound dog placed in Sputnik
H. Sputnik l is dramatically sus-
pcllNtGQ dDONC lilc ilGdlS VI tllC
jostllng crowd.
Moving past the lines of heavy
machinery toward the Lenin
statue we see something which
especially draws Americans, the
Russian automobiles. There are
four of them, ranging in size
from VolksWagon to Buick.
Standing there for a few mo-
ments we noticed that most of
the Americans stopped down and
carefully inspected as much as
they could see under the front
bumper (the hoods would only
be unlocked by special guides),
as one told me, ''to see if its
made of wood under there" !
believe that, even yet, the aver
age American tends TO under
estimate the Russians in their
industrial ability The cars GER
tainly weren't made of wood in
any particular, in fact, they
seemed very creditably put to-
gethcr with smooth die-Work
and good paint. However, the
performances posted were not
particularly impressive with
regard TO either speed or gas
consumption. Apparently the
Soviets have slight preference
for Chrysler products because
the larger car seemed to reflect
the Chrysler lines of 1856 and
had a push button drive.
AS we go up to our left we
come into the area which is
both interesting and revealing
music, art, and sculpture The
Soviets are obviously proud of
their accomplishments in these
areas-iu music particularly the
ballet The painting of the war
years is forceful but some of the
more recent is lacking in depth
and intensity. The sculpture
speaks most strongly, and most
often Of raw strength We were
impressed by statue of three
maclated figures standing togeth-
er over the title Stronger than
Death.H Perhaps another facet of
AAA1 AppNINl JCl oJIlcliiN II ltlICCl-
ed here is part of a series of
etchingS on exhibit; the series,
a grim echo of the German in
vasion of Russia in the 1905, is
called we will not forget and
we will not forgive.
As we conclude this article we
can see we have only touched
some Of what have seemed to us
To be the more characteristic
points in the Soviet exhibit. We
feel like emphasizing again the
r Il S sian n preoccupation with
heavy machinery The overall
impression it has left with us is
that it represents a people who
are working desperately hard to
forget national inferiority COM
pleX. There is something frigh-
tening about a nation with this
kind of obsession, without the
restraints or guidance of any
religion except nationalism, and
possessed of such power as is
represented here. At close hand.
as an American, we must say we
have found grimly determined
rival.