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'thursday, april 2, 1981, page 18 I r r

by FRED MURPHY

reprinted from the MUSE by CANADI

While at university a student has to work up to three months every year on a collective farm. In addition the student may spend many of his weekends doing corn: pulsory free labour. part of his 'so-called

“The most fundamental feature of the Soviet system is that it places its citizens in a situation where they are dependent on the state for their basic human needs; freedom, housing; jobs, and in some cases food.”

socialist obligation. organized by the YCL. In the fall every year students are required to help with the harvest. In the Moscow region a student has to work for a month on a potato or wheat farm. while students in southern regions can spend up to three months working in cotton fields. Discipline is very strict at these work camps and refusal to work leads to an automatic dismissal. Weekend tree labour while university is "on otten involves menial labour on a construction srte. 'l he work is usually trivial, unorganized and inefficient. It is designed more or less to waste time than to accomplish anything.

Students are paid for obligatory summer work. This work is called building detachment assignment and is organized by the YCL. Students are not allowed to work independently. but must work in

' groups whose organization is based on the YCL structure. Each group has its own political watch-dog who takes care .of brainwashing activities. makes sure that

students donate to various tunds sucn 'as the _Vietnam and Chile funds. and who volunteers nls group of workers .for free Saturday labour. This summer program is designed so that the state's control "over student's minds and behavior is not slackened during the summer months. There is a great variety of building detachment iobs ranging from agricultural and construction work to iobs as venders or

. porters on trains. The money a student

earns for his two months of summer work varies from 100 to 1500 rubles. Another type of summer work is ‘Communist' building detachment work done by unpaid volun- teers who hope to put good marks on their record which will benefit them in their careers. A good record is of great im- portance to students of law. or foreign relations; in ‘these disciplines the Com. munist party is only interested in students who have shown they are attached to the party/puppet strings. Academic freedom is curtailed as much as personal freedom in Soviet universities. “Soviet psychiatrists must accept without question that anti- Soviet activity is a form of schizophrenia ...”

work ‘

Once a student chooses his profession all his courses are prescribed: there is no choice of courses 0r professors. Every student must take courses in the history of the Communist party. Marxist philosophy. Marxist political economy. and “scientific” communism. Soviet history. as presented in textbooks. is merelv a chain of events chosen from Soviet history to suit current SOVIet poucy. There IS no mention in Sovret

'history of the mass killings carried out

under Lenin‘s and Stalin's rules or of power struggles within the Communist party. The textbooks for history are changed every two to four years. just as in George Orwell's

AN UNryERSITy PRESS

* ""imsit’l Lire In the Soviet union

Oleg Shmelof, a 27 year old engineer, detected from the Soviet Union on June 5. 1980 at. Gander Airport while en route to an‘ assignment in Cuba. 'He attended a technical university in

Moscow from 1971 to 1977.

1984. historical policies.

the Ministry of Truth changes records to- suit its regimes

Since this subiect has no logical structure and ' its content changes. a student has no way of knowing how well he’s doing and bad marks can be given arbitrarily. thus providing the state with a powerful lever to weed out undesirables. That is why the demands of Polish students to abolish compulsory courses in Marxism are so important. Marxism. as presented in Soviet universities. is distorted beyond recognition. The development of Marx as a philosopher is not studied and early Marx is absolutely off limits. Only those parts of Marx which the current regime finds useful for its purposes are studied. Marx's statement that. “A censored press only serves to demoralize. That greatest of vices.

hypocrisyris inseparable'lrom it". would’

never be seen in a textbook on Marx. Students must also take "scientific" communism and are required to pass an oral final examination in this course before

_ aboard of examiners who have before them

the Student’s character report. The student can never be certain he can pass this exam unless he has'shown he has been obedient and contormist.

Free thinking in disciplines such as

history. philosophy. psychology. and law is

on cybernetics was

“A student’s background is one of the most important factors the authorities consider when a student applies to university.”

unheard of.-Students in these disciples undergo a rigorous selection process for many of them will eventually man the Soviet propaganda machine and administration. Applicants to law schools and foreign relations school are often selected on a family basis — a fact well known among Soviet students. At law school many, students are weeoeu out during studies so only those who have proved themselves to be absolute conformists and have good academic standing continue to the end of their studies. For themost part. a Soviet lawyer is told what to think not how to think A Soviet lawvnr must learn to tolerate

Article 77 of the Soviet penal code which

“At one university in'Moscow a group of students were dismissed and sent to the army for mildly protesting about the duality of food in their u-niversitie’s cafeteria.” » X ‘

allows for the prolongation of prison terms and the execution of prisoners without any' legal procedure. He also learns to tolerate show trials and the fabricated charges the state uses to rid itself of dissidents or anyone it disapproves of. Soviet psychiatrists. if they wish to getanywhere. musf accept without questions thatanti- Soviet activity is a term of schizophenia

and that psychology is. as is history. what .

the statesays it is. The study of Marxist and other philosophies. has gotten many Soviet philosophers into trouble and into

prison. At the technical university 0. Sh- '

melyof was attending. a philosophy professor who taught critical thinking in- stead of passive acceptance was firedin 1974 after several warnings from the

university's administration. During previous 1

regimes state interference in academic

affairs reached even higher levels of ab

strrdity Under Stalin's rnlqn a famous biologist. Vavilov. was murdered for holding views on biology that Stalin disagreed with. The study of cybernetics during Stalins time was disapproved of and scientists conducting research on it was dismissed and even imprisoned. At the same time the Americans were using cybernetics during the Korean war to computerize bomb sights. Shortly after Stalin's reign the ban

prisoned scientists were not released. At present. hoWever. research in the sciences is not interlerred with directly, yet all- research scientists know they have to participate in brainwashing sessions join the Communist party and partake in its activities. and do compulsory agricultural work to be' able to continue with their research work. ' After graduating a student has to work

for three years at a iob the state appoints‘

him to below he is allowed to apply for work elsewhere. Moscow citizens are ap~ pointed to iobs in Moscow and graduates from outside Moscow can be sent anywhere unless they have obtained a Moscow residence permit. Before July 1978. an

' outsider had tobe married for six months to

a Moscowcitizen to obtain a residence permit. but because of the‘influx of out- siders who had arranged marriages of convenience this‘period was increased to three years. Soviet citizens are anxious to live in Moscow. Leningrad. or'Kiev because the standard of living in these cities is far better than anywhere else in the Soviet

‘ Union. These cuties are artiticral paradises.

by Sovret standards? not western stan- dards. which are created as showpieces for foreigners and havens for the ad» ministrative hierarchy. After a graduate's three year appointment ls’finished he can. In theory. move where he wishes. When he attempts to move. however. he has to contend with a vicious circle of conditions for moving. He cannot obtain a residence permit it he has no‘iob in the city he wishes

to move to. it he has no residence permit. he ‘

cannot obtain housing and he cannot

obtain housing unless he has 'a job. A '

person cannot break out of this circle on his own. he has to‘induce the local ad- ministration to intervene on his behalf. Whether or not the local administration will

help the applicant depends on local labour

lifted but the im-‘

authorities when he applies for graduate ‘ school. His references from the Communist Party and the YCL._whjch he is a member of until age 28. cantip the scale either way.

in the Soviet Union there is no open market'in housing: the factory or institution a graduate is assigned to work at allocates housing. A person can live‘up lo'tWenty‘ years in a dormitory ’while waiting to get an apartment. References from the Com- munist Party. the YCL. and the trade union one belongs to have to be re-submitted when applying for an apartment. One‘s protessronal pertormance and social ac- tivity'can speed up the application process considerably. People living in dormitories are given only temporary residence permits and are dependent on the good graces of the state to have that permit renewed. If the

permit isn't renewed the person has no

right to medical service and canbe arrested for not having a residence permit.

. The system of privileges Soviet students became acquainted with through the YCL dttring their time at university. plays an, impertant role in their later life. Those who

“...a Soviety lawyer is told what tothink, not how to think. (He) must learn to tolerate Article 77’ of the Soviet penal Code which allows for the prolongation of , prison terms and the execution of prisoners without any legal procedure.” . ‘ .

are most' active professionally with the I Communist Party or with their Trade Union. find that the services of the state are more available to them than others. For instance. they find it easier to place their children in

a» daycare centres and they get trips to r

resorts for themselves and their children at greatly reduced prices. in the provinces . where food stores only contain basic items such as bread. cereals. and milk. the distribution of fish, meat. eggs. butter and. sausages is done through food cards given out at work. When demand exceeds supply the social activists are given preference. ' Upper level Communist party members in the Soviet Union enjoy the. most prlvlllges. They have access to. the best food the Soviety Union and the West 01?.er all year

“Perhaps the most important lesson a Soviet university student learns is that he must please the state to get ahead and to avoid trouble.”

needs and how well the applicant has,-

behaved and shown his devotion to the state. The states grip on a‘ graduate is not relinquished at graduation! ‘

'The state 'controls the distribution of housing. income. privileges higher education and promotions. Needless to say.ri_f a graduate wishes to further his education his academic performance is not the. only factor taken into account by the

“White at university, a student has to work for up to three months " every year on a collective farm.”

around as well as access .to Westeut products which they" can buy at special stores that only they can shop at!

The most fundamental Feature of“ the Soviet system is that it places its citizens in a situation where they'sre dependent on the state for their basic human needs. freedom. housing. jobs. and insome cases food. This state of affairs is able to tansform a per- son’s psychological make-up and eftace their humanity in ’a way analogous to Patricia' Hearst's tranfoimation when her kldnappers controlled her basic human needs. At least 20 million people were killed by Stalin's regime - murders Were not in- ' vtted from the outside. The system existing in the Soviet Union today is not so ob- viously brutal - it no longer kills people. it kills what makes them ‘human. A Soviet citizen has to learn to suppress hi3 con- science ' and mind and Submit to the blueprint thestatehasdrawn tor'htm. ’ “