511.6121/3–2150: Telegram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Barbour) to the Secretary of State
901. Deptel 209, March 14.1 I delivered note, copies of which are being transmitted by airmail, to Gromyko this afternoon. In so doing I orally strongly represented position that situation arises from failure to provide adequate distribution Amerika magazine, stressing fact [Page 1128] that no indication prior December 31, 1949 that full 50,000 copies2 not being sold and indicating that all available information confirms great interest magazine among Soviet readers.
Gromyko at first suggested he was only generally informed matter Amerika and similar situation British publication but it rapidly became clear he well aware of details. He repeated Soyuzpechat allegations magazine distributed 70 cities Soviet Union and took issue my statement it has not been seen any number Kiosks Moscow. Mentioning that figures showed the magazine had not been selling for past year he remarked “figures are figures”.
I reminded him that official Soviet publication circulated freely in the US. It is a question, he replied, of demand and there is wide demand for Soviet publications in US. I reiterated that our information and the record clearly manifest existence of demand for Amerika magazine in the USSR much in excess of 50,000 copies. Gromyko concluded that he will study note and reply.
General impression conversation was that there is little likelihood Soviet Government will alter position taken and in all probability we will receive reply in general terms along line his allegations diminishing demand despite wide efforts distribution.
- Not printed. Some slight modifications in wording of the points made in telegram 182 from the Department on March 4 were mentioned. (511.6121/3–1450) After encountering some delay in obtaining an appointment, the Chargé delivered the note No. 32 to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Audrey Andreyevich Gromyko on March 2.1. The note plainly expressed all the points contained in telegram 182 and requested the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrey Yanuaryevich Vyshinsky, to whom the note was addressed, to “be good enough to intervene with the appropriate Soviet authorities with a view to their taking necessary remedial action.” The text of note No. 32 as delivered was enclosed in despatch 370 from Moscow on March 25; not printed. (511.6121/3–2550)↩
- In regard to the letter dated April 23, 1946, from Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Solomon Abramovich Lozovsky to Ambassador Walter Bedell Smith whereby it was stated that Soyuzpechat would undertake the distribution of 50,000 copies of the magazine Amerika throughout the Soviet Union beginning on June 1, at the price of 10 rubles, see Foreign Relations, 1946, vol. vi, p. 748.↩