The Press: Smile on the Bear

When the bosses of the Soviet Union change their tune, their wholly controlled press is never far behind. Even if a foreign-policy change is only smile-deep, Communist newspapers fall in line as fast as they are told where to fall. The new smile on the face of the Russian bear has already started to show through Communist journalism.

During the Geneva Conference, Pravda and Izvestia ran pictures of the Big Four, along with factual accounts of what Western leaders had said at the conference, including such strong language as President Eisenhower’s remark that “international Communism . . . seeks … to subvert lawful governments.” Eisenhower’s proposal for aerial inspection of defense installations, as well as his report to the U.S. people after he returned from Geneva, was printed in full in Russian papers.

Although there is still much criticism of the West in Russian newspapers, it has been toned down, e.g., “certain circles” instead of “Wall Streeters” are engaged in “capitalist warmongering.” Communist newsmen have also shown a new geniality, have taken to lunching and socializing with reporters from the West.

Last week the Russians also permitted CBS Radio’s correspondent Bill Worthy to begin broadcasting directly to the U.S., the first regular short-wave news broadcasts from Moscow since 1947.* From the official Russian news agency, Tass, have come stories about the possibilities of increased cultural and sports exchanges with the West. Tass also has carried glowing accounts of the touring Russian agricultural delegation in the U.S. (TIME, August 1), but has not published dollars and cents figures on the income and wages of U.S. farmers and farmhands. In an article on the tour, Pravda said: “There is need to further strengthen the friendship, cooperation and mutual understanding in all fields [between] the two great countries.” Russian papers have also been printing daily stories about the U.S. farm delegation touring Russia. The reports include statements from the Americans (which the Communist press does not.try to refute) that U.S. farm mechanization is far ahead of Russia’s and that U.S. farmers have a higher standard of living than Soviet peasants.

But the old, deep frown is visible not far behind the smile. Although many Western newsmen have been granted temporary visas to Moscow in the last two months (TIME, July 4), at least half a dozen recent requests for visas have not been acted upon. Last week Pravda slipped into its familiar theme song that the “common people” of the West want peace, but their wishes are often frustrated by the “ruling circles.” And London’s Communist Daily Worker made a shocking revelation: “Children on farms in the U.S. customarily work very hard, and some boys and girls of 12 and 13 get up at 4 a.m. to do the milking before going to school.”

Obviously the Soviet press could jump back to the old line it has been following for years a split second after the Kremlin snapped the whip.

* But the idiosyncracies of Russian censorship still prevail. Last month Veteran Chicago Tribune Paris Correspondent Hank Wales tried to file a bit of history from Moscow. He recalled covering a big political rally at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater in 1927. As the members of the Presidium and Politburo filed onto the stage, all eyes were on Trotsky, then believed to be Lenin’s heir. Wales noticed another Soviet bigwig with a patch on his pants and a walrus mustache, was told it was “a fellow named Stalin.” Last month, when Wales mentioned the “;big patch on the seat of Stalin’s pants” in a story, the Russian censor promptly blue-penciled the line out of his copy. “Don’t you see,” protested Correspondent Wales, “it shows the simplicity of Stalin. Why, it makes him seem like our own Abraham Lincoln.” Replied the nervous Communist censor stiffly: “Please, sir, we do not welcome the comparison. After all, Lincoln was assassinated.”