Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, Eastern Europe; The Soviet Union, Volume V

811.917 America/12–1949

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Kirk) to the Secretary of State

secret

Moscow, December 19, 1949.

No. 786

The Ambassador has the honor to report that the official Soviet distributing agency which distributes the magazine Amerika refused to accept the latest issue #35 for distribution at the usual time, thereby jeopardising its sales during the month December.

October 31, 1949, Petr Borisovich Ramsin, head of Soyuzpechat, in an interview in his office, told members of USIE’s staff that the irregular appearance of Amerika on the newsstands hindered its sales and that the earlier irregular delivery of the magazine to Soyuzpechat had prevented the magazine in the past from being sold by subscription (Kef. Despatch 669, November 17, 1949 and Despatch 709, October 1, 1948.¹) Since then the magazine has been delivered to Soyuzpechat in the last week of the month and placed on the newsstands by Soyuzpechat on the 16th of the succeeding month. (#33, delivered September 23, 1949; on sale at newsstands on October 16; #34, delivered October 25, 1949, on sale at newsstands on November 16.)

November 17, according to its usual custom, USIE telephoned Soyuzpechat to announce the arrival from New York of the last issue (#35). Soyuzpechat agreed by telephone to accept delivery November 23. On November 22, however, Soyuzpechat phoned to state it could not receive the magazine then. November 28 and November 30, in reply to USIE’s phone calls Soyuzpechat continued to refuse to set a date for delivery of the magazine. December 1, the secretary of Mr. Tarasov, chief of the distribution section of Soyuzpechat informed USIE in the absence of her chief that Soyuzpechat was taking inventory and the magazine could not be received for distribution until the following week. December 6, Mr. Tarasov himself was reached on the phone. He declined to indicate when the magazine could be distributed and asked USIE to call Mr. Bogdanov, chief of Mezhdynarodnaya Kniga.² Mr. Bogdanov told USIE that some copies of issue #34 remained still in Soyuzpechat’s warehouse because of slow sales. He too refused to give a firm date when the next issue could be delivered by USIE to Soyuzpechat.

Phone calls, December 8, 9 and 10 to Mr. Ramsin, head of Soyuzpechat and the only official of that organization with which USIE had enjoyed personal contact invariably failed to find him in his office.

December 12, a telephone call to USIE from Soyuzpechat stated that delivery would be accepted December 13. Delivery was made on this date.

Soyuzpechat normally requires from two to three weeks to distribute the magazine prior to its simultaneous appearance at various newsstands in Moscow and, presumably in other Soviet cities. Hence, there is little likelihood that issue #35 can enjoy much sale during the month of December. In theory issue #36 should appear for sale January 16, which of course will tend to kill sales of the previous issue.

There are two possible explanations of Soyuzpechat’s delay: 1) it is an example of Soviet inefficiency, but to some extent understandable because December is a month for taking inventory. It is also the month of Stalin’s birthday and various popular magazines with large circulation may be issuing special editions for widespread distribution; 2) this may be an effort to prevent Amerika from appearing monthly and to force it to accept distribution for less than 12 issues a year, steadily diminished until the magazine is effectually throttled.³

It is important at this juncture not to rock the boat. There is no clear evidence yet that the December delay in distribution was more than bureaucratic inefficiency. Caution seems to be particularly advisable in view of recent action banning the use of the Soviet Embassy, Washington, publication in certain American public schools. Such action may already have invited Soviet retaliation.

1. Neither printed.
2. All-Union Combine for the Import and Export of Lithographic Products, Office Supplies, etc., the central distributor for Soviet publications.
3. Jack C. McDermott, the Chief of the International Press and Publications Division of the Office of International Information explained in a communication of November 16, 1949: “Under an arrangement with the Soviet Government, fifty thousand copies of each issue of Amerika are received by the Soviet News Agency for distribution in the Soviet Union. All material included in the magazine is censored by the Soviet authorities before being published. So far, not a single article has been rejected and only a few sentences have been deleted. The fact that controversial political subjects are avoided accounts for this; however, the material carries a potent message simply by showing how Americans live and allowing the reader to reach his own conclusions.”