East Cleveland leader. [volume] (East Cleveland, Ohio) 1942-1970, 1962-08-23

OCIs tuc1Cs SISs
!: In these types of cases, not
concerned with alleged espion.
age, crimes against the state
ETC., they do have a kind o1
justice.
After spending the day
studying or in court, our eve.
nings were usually devoted tc
further study or some form OF
entertainment or relaxation.
Carol would often meet me
downtown and we would 60 to
the Bolshoi Theater to see a
ballet or opera or to one of the
many other Moscow theaters
and concert halls.
State Controls Culture
The Soviet Union lays great
stress on culture, and all of
the arts are handsomely finan-
ced land, in most cases, strictly
controlled) by the state. This
control sometimes brings un-
desirable political content into
the arts, so rather than watch
ing plays and operas Of the
Soviet period, we preferred to
see the Russian and Western
classics, which are usually per-
formed we'll.
We found that most Soviet
films were not worthwhile, and
we saw only a few Of them.
Other forms of entertain
ment included inviting friends
to our room and going to univ
ersity functions. We played
bridge often with an English
boy and a Russian girl, and we
noted that there was consider
able card playing in the Soviet
Union, even though it is Off
cially frowned upon.
Converse with Russians
Many of our evenings were
take up by conversations with
Russians. They have q passion
to learn foreign languages, es-
pecially English, and we spent
many hours improving our
Russian and helping Russians
with their English. This was
a particularly good way to
make acquaintances and we
met many people through a
mutual interest in languages.
Almost every evening there
were different events-films,
lectures, dances, etc in the
university building. We attend
ed a few Of these.
I remember one memorable
evening when we went to a
panel discussion with audience
participation on the subject,
"Are You Ready to Live Under
Communism"
Poor Turnout
There was a rather poor
turnout for the discussion, the
speakers were boring, the crowd
was restless, and the whole
evening was really kind of a
flop.
Then there was the lecture
just before the Soviet elections
Of last March 18th, when the
lecturer tried to show how
democratic the Soviet elections
are.
There were many foreign
students present, and it was
rather surprising to US that
almost every question put to
the speaker had a critical con-
notation in it and made a tick
lish situation for him.
Attend Holiday Dance
We went to one dance at the
university. This was on Nov
ember 7th, the day Of the Boil
shevik revolution Of 1917 and
additionally the biggest Soviet
holiday.
It is hard to believe that it
was as I am now to describe it,
but l faithfully recorded the
event in my diary as follows:
The dance was held in a large
hall at the university. The hall
was filled to overflowing.
The band, which was made
up of three tubas, four bari
tone horns and two trumpets,
played march music and all one
could do was to stand in one
spot with his partner, mark
time, and bounce!
We endured one dance and
then left, feeling that we pre-
ferred a more subdued type of
atmosphere, which we would
have to return home to find.
But we knew that the twist"
was the latest dancing rage
back home, and reflecting phil
osophically on the evening, we
decided that perhaps the Rus
siasn weren't so bad off on that
score after all.
What we have to say and
write about our sojourn in the
Soviet Union would fill VOL
umes. I hope that the readers
will find interesting this short
piece on some of the high
lights of our stay there. The
shortest capsule Statement /
could make about the whole ex-
perience is that it was always
interesting and professionally
useful, and that I'm very glad
to be home.