Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-11-10
Moscow
Going
West
By ANTHONY WHITE
Associated Press Staff writer


across Horki street, almost
stopping traffic. She looked
like q million rubles.
In the restaurant Of the
MoSkva Hotel q dance band
pumped out q cool western
style tune and couples shut.
fled around cheek-to-cheek
Down the street In the big
display windows Of the Gum
Department Store q dummy
model with silver hair the
sultry look and arched back
Of q Dior mannequin sported
q new line In teenage girls
frillies.
It could have been Paris,
London or New York. But It
wasn't. It was Moscow.
For Moscow is going west.
And it. Is the young people
the girls in be hives and
short skirts, young men In
pop singer hairstyles and
tight blue jeanSwho are
taking it there.
Soviet leaders, apparently
sensing a growing hunger
among the young for new
and better things, are taking
the hint-giving them more
Of the things they want.
Every day, about their own
streets, Muscovites can
plainly see themselves that
their country lags behind the
west In consumer goods.
They see it In the things
western visitors have-their
clothes are better, have more
style, more variety, more
color. Westerners have more
the worldly things that make
life richer and easier.
Slow Change
But the Russians are con.
fident that some day, maybe
soon, they will have all Of
this in plenty.
They say:
Things are getting better
all the time"
Westerners who have been
here long enough to note the
slow change agree.
New neon signs brighten
the once dark streets. They
may be mostly political slo-
gans, but still they manage
to give q touch Of Times
Square or Piccadilly Circus.
Cautiously, new cocktail bars
appear in once somber no.
tells, now gay with colored
lights and streamers. Teen
ayers crowd into them.
A Russian win often recall:
Ten years ago you could
not do the things you can
now. You could not buy the
same things. There were not
many cars. Now many people
have cars. There are more
and different clothes to buy"
Clothes-conscious young
Russians stop and stare In
admiration ct an American
or English gir-at her
fashionable shoes, her tweed
skirt or gay blouse or sloppy
sweater.
Russians believe Khru-
sshchev when he says that
eventually the Soviet Union
will overtake the west.
But they still ask Ques-
stions.
4 A young woman said: my
mother wants q new refrig.
orator. But she has been told
she must wait four years for
At. I do not understand why
zone should wait four years
for a new refrigerator"
Then she frightened, and
added: There was a time
when you couldn't buy a re-
ffigerator."
It's the same with autos.
Russian cars look mostly
alike and cost plenty-two or
three times the price Of an
equivalent model In the west.
And you may have to wait
five years or more before de-
livery.
Coed Advertising
Westerners In Moscow are
fond Of saying:
THE American or Euro
pean car is one Of the finest
pieces Of western advertising
you could want"
Any foreign auto gets ad-
miring looks from Russians,
especially the young, because
it is different and stylish,
and looks better than the To-
cal product. Park your car in
any street and within min
utes q small crowd Of admir-
ing Russians gather around,
wanting to look In the trunk,
at the engine, or even to try
the seats.
The Russians want such
things. They want cars and
refrigerators and washing
machines and nice clothes
like any other people want
them.
"It viii be Q good thing
when they do get them" one
Moscow-seasoned west Euro
pean diplomat said. "It'll be
q safer world when Russians
can get q new car every two
or three years, buy q refrig-
orator when they want one
and don't have to queue for .
pair Of nylons."
"a. A., ..~l