Русские здесь: Фильм, помогающий Андропову - [26]

Of course, Ofra Bikel was not interested in the Russian genius of Kuzminsky —' she was interested in his "punk” that could be found 10 or 20 years ago among sophomores of every American college. She converted that “punk” into her propaganda message: The "Russians” are a bearded vodkaguzzling race of Boris Godunovs and Grigory Rasputins, so totally different from Jessica Savitch and Ofra Bikel.

With the help of poor Kuzminsky’s “punk,” Ofra Bikel managed to bring the TV viewers’ hatred for the “Russians” to the highest pitch. Ofra Bikel ought to^- know that sexual associations originate in American minds quite readily under the influence of sex-charged mass culture. Therefore many viewers interpreted Kuzminsky’s “punk” sexually and mistook his home for a brothel run on welfare: “The Russians have come here to run brothels on welfare!”

At the close of the “documentary,” it is stated that the “Russians” would not have left Russia had they known they would not fit America and America would not fit them. They would go back to Russia if they could, but it is a "one-way ticket,” there is “no going back,” and so the “Russians” are trapped in an alien land and are destined to miss the KGB and all.

Throughout this film, not one “Russian” is shown to have a single spark of talent, intelligence or even humor. There is hardly any youth or beauty in those “Russians,” and not a single emigre expresses his gratitude for what he has achieved, or his hope to achieve more in the future.

All the “Russians” handpicked by Ofra Bikel grumble and grouse, demand they know not what, blabber arrant nonsense in atrocious English, miss the KGB, eat, drink and dance. Selected and transformed by the producer, they create the impression of pale ugly plants grown without light or warmth, poisonous mushrooms, or deep-water fishes thrown out of their native ocean — the Soviet regime — and burst by their own vanity and stupidity.

Just how carefully Ofra Bikel handpicked her “Russians” for her propaganda message is obvious from this fact: She spent hours upon hours filming the art scholar Ifeteryatnikov, the sculptor Neizvestny and yours truly — but all this film was thrown out — down to the last inch, for even one such inch could have relieved the gloom and doom of the “documentary.”

As a sermon in racist or class hatred, “The Russians Are Here” can indeed be ranked with “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” or Pravda’s discourses on “class aliens" after Lenin’s coup. I have to admit that I cannot imagine a more effective piece of propaganda which the KGB could create to halt and reverse the growth of the emigration’s influence, its success and social significance. Tbday, the emigration has been terminated by the Soviet regime. Now the goal is to neutralize those who have emigrated. What could be more effective than this “documentary”?

At this writing, the PBS program has been shown in more than 400 cities of America. In New' York it has been aired at least twice, and it is said to be scheduled to be shown 10 times in all.

And, those in charge of Soviet propaganda can readily show' it in Russia as well. As several emigres noted, “Ihke away some of the food and the mink coats, and Moscow television will never concoct more effective propaganda to reassure its own population: ‘Here is America! And here you are in America. You see how it is? To think that some of you resent our Soviet regime! If you go to America, you’ll miss even the KGB, but it’ll be too late for regrets.’ ”

¥ Center for the Survival

of Western Democracies

Lev Navrozov

LETTERS

PBS-TV airs Big Lie on Russian immigrants

Dear Editor!

On Monday, June 13, my wife and I watched a Channel 13 TV program about 100,000 Russian-JewiSh immigrants, a group to which we belong. Since coming to this country, we have never been more insulted.

One after the otner, we saw several different kinds of people portrayed: two or three successful small businessmen bewildered by competition; a taxi driver, and a relatively young stock market speculator. He made a few bucks and could afford totheorize; “To me, the communism in the United States.is exactly as Karl Marx predicted. lb me, communism is the abundance of food and entertainment.”

Perhaps the worst scene showed a company of drunkards who lay on the floor with dishes of smoked lox on their bellies. They were drinking vodka by the cup, patting their dogs and pretending they were famous writers. Their conversation, sometimes under apparent intoxication, is carefully commented on by the “honest” voice of the newswoman:

“These people do not know what freedom is; they certainly miss the slavery which was good for them, and they miss their Russian friendships which were manifested through vodka, by vodka and for vodka. They are not accustomed to living the honest life.” The final scene of the show was of a Russian restaurant, filled with merry gypsy songs. They were eating, dancing and drinking vodka.

By such a portrayal, we were destroyed.

Where are the people we really came here with? The thousands and thousands of skilled workmen, engineers, doctors, businessmen and writers, people who care about the future? This is our country, too, and we arrived here not by birth/ but by challenging the most terrible terror machine.