Outlook, January/February 1986

Herewith, the latest selection from dusted-off published poetry and short fiction, circa 1970s vintage and beyond....

Soviet But Not Russian - The
"Other" Peoples of the Soviet Union
William M. Mandel
University of Alberta Press and Ramparts Press
c.1985, hardback, 375 pps.

William Mandel, noted for his long association with the Soviet Union as researcher, correspondent, translator, ethnicist and historian, has written an erudite but peculiar compendium of fact and statistics, perceptions and observations. This is a strange admixture of data (what can be construed as hard fact) and oral reminiscences (very subjective experience). Strangely enough, it works. There is, however, an aura in this book of manipulation, which can only be attributed to the fact that the author uncritically champions his topic.

This is interesting reading; not evenly so, for it ranges the full spectrum between ploddingly dull (statistics do that to one) to effervescently lively and compelling.

Be that as it may, and with skepticism still intact, the reader must admire the manner in which this book is assembled; orderly and with an eye to teaching the careful reader much about the multifarious geographies and ethnic populations which make up that great consortium, the Soviet Union. there is, indeed, much to reflect upon, and much to admire in their successes.

We are introduced via this book, to the various Republics which exist within the Union of Soviet Republics, as well as the Autonomous Republics, and their population numbers. Place-names as remote and exotic as Karakalpak, Mordovian, Chechen-Ingush, and Daghestan, as well as the more familiar Azerbaijan, Moldavia and Uzbek tease the eye. Each of the above has a place and a history, a story of development and a push toward the very certain future. And each is fascinating.

In his preface, Mr. Mandel explains that within the USSR, Russians comprise fifty percent of the population, the others being of diverse origins, speaking various languages, and honouring a different heritage. He writes that in his ten visits to the Soviet Union he had the privilege of visiting all fifteen republics, sometimes more than once. Although the chapters are complete in themselves, the book is a careful progression that leaves far behind the pictures presented in the popular press and electronic media.

In the Overview chapter of the book Mr. Mandel introduces us to a woman of oriental heritage (Kirghiz), of nomadic stock, who manages to graduate with a doctorate in her chosen field and is now a pillar of her micro culture as well as contributing vastly to the larger society. All this in one generation. By some strange alchemy of leadership and population-supported determination, the USSR has managed to attain the seemingly unattainable; the loyalty of minorities.

Chapter 2, Before the Revolution: Realities and ideas. In this chapter, Tsarist pogroms are alluded to, and compared to the lynching of blacks in the U.S. The language difficulties between groups such as the Ukrainians, the Lithuanians, Armenians and Asian peoples are compared to the problem between Anglos and Francophones in Canada. The outline of Lenin's objectives for dispersed minorities - equality of rights, and his target for oppressed geographic nations - self-determination (up to and including the right of secession) helps us to understand just exactly how and why the USSR has seen very significant success in dealing with minorities. Lenin is quoted: "It is extremely important to create autonomous areas of even the smallest dimensions ... towards which the members of the given nationality scattered in different parts of the country, or even of the world, could 'gravitate'".

In the chapter entitled The Jews, Mr. Mandel's style takes on a slightly altered cast, with Mandel defending Russia's record in shedding itself of historical anti-Semitism toward full acceptance of Jews.

The Large Soviet Encyclopedia, we are informed, contains this definition of Jews: "...the common ethnic name of the peoples taking their historic origins in the ancient Jews. Live in different countries and pursue the same economic, socio-political, and cultural life as the basic population of those countries (herein, in a sense, overtones of Shakespeare's Shylock intoning "Hath not a Jew..."). The definition and description is much longer, of course, taking into account historical origins, dispersion, anti-Semitism, etc., but the general tone is of a responsible, deliberate effort to present to any interested reader a view of Jew as human as anyone else, with similar aspirations, expectations and sympathies. The Encyclopedia goes on to state: "...The socialist system creates the basis for full equality among human beings regardless of racial (?) and national affiliation and, consequently, for the total uprooting of anti-Semitism...".

As in most countries where Jews have had citizenship, their social, political, cultural and economic role has traditionally been greater than their numbers would indicate. As an example, the highest academic degree in the Soviet Union is the post-Ph.D. "Doktor", and more Jews have the post Ph.D. degree of Doctorate than any other nationality. Although today ten thousand Jews live in Birobidjan, it did not prove to be popular as the majority of Jews tended to gravitate to urban areas. We're informed that there has been an unprecedented flowering of Jewish culture, with Yiddish language books, newspapers and magazines proliferating. Also, the presentation by Russian-Soviet writers of Jewish prototypes in creative writing which were mostly sympathetic rather than negative. There are no ghettoes, and no housing discrimination. Intermarriage is common today not only in urban but in rural communities.

During the Second world War there were 313 Jewish Soviet Generals, and a full half-million Jews fought under the Soviet colours, with two hundred thousand dying in combat. Stalin doubted the loyalty of Jews and treated them harshly, yet it was under Stalin that hundreds of thousands of Jews were said to have been saved from extermination by the Soviet evacuation of Jews from the threatened areas of invasion.

Anti-Semitism does exist, in isolated pockets and psyches resistant to change, but Mr. Mandel denies the existence of any form of official anti-Semitism (a charge popular, as we know, in North American anti-Soviet circles today). Mr. Mandel contends that most Jews wishing to emigrate from the Soviet Union are from areas (Poland, Romania, and the Baltic states) which came under Soviet rule in 1939 when Soviet Russia was an Axis ally. These Jews were still largely commerce-focused rather than having the focus of socialist collectivity of most Soviet Jews (labeled by the writer "old" Jews, in the sense that they were Soviet citizens of long standing, and shared the transition during the Revolution of a new direction and orientation). Most of the "new" Jews, we read, were religious, and many were ardent Zionists. But Mandel insists that the impetus for their emigration is economic gain, not political or religious asylum. There is certainly support for this argument in the fact that for most emigrating Russian Jews their first choice was the United States rather than Israel. In fact, it's a dreadful embarrassment to Israel that about 100,000 of the 260,000 emigrating Russian Jews live in the U.S. And the continuing outflow from Israel to the U.S. further compounds the problem.

Because Soviet education is free, a large dollar investment is made by the State in each graduate and the State anticipates that this will be repaid through a related work-oriented contribution. Obviously, when a publicly-educated Soviet citizen chooses to emigrate, the Soviet Union considers itself short-changed. This argument is advanced to explain the reluctance of the Soviet Union with regard to emigration. There must, however, surely be more to it than that; rather, a dreadful insecurity aligned with a compelling chauvinism would seem more likely to create the well-celebrated status of "refusnik".

This is, obviously, in a very real sense, a personal book for Mr. Mandel. It represents a kind of evangelical attempt at education, at acceptance of the author's perceptions of the Soviet way.

In the sense that the writer is a true believer in what he presents, in the thesis that he expounds through the use of personal experience, the presentation of data and statistics and the most compelling use of oral and very personal testimony extolling both the success and the virtue of The System, this is a manipulative book.

Yet, gentle reader, the writer also does honour to the reader's intelligence. This book presents yet another opportunity to read, digest, ruminate upon, discuss if possible, and finally, draw one's own conclusions. Above all, regardless of the conclusions, the book is designed to broaden one's possibly sketchy, possibly less well-rounded-than-one-thought knowledge about the disparate portions of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

And certainly not least of the effective results of reading this book is the certain knowledge that their aspirations match ours, and certainly their desire for peace, prosperity, and the opportunity to enrich their personal experience and the opportunity to support and bring honour to their country matches ours.

The meticulous notations, references and quotations enlarge upon the quality of the information presented in this book. The photographs help to bring another dimension of the personal and the comfort of meeting 'just folks' working like the devil to pull themselves up by their educational-technological bootstraps to help to create a beacon of progress in every sense of the word, in every sphere of human endeavour.

This book cannot help but enlarge the circle of open-minded and persons-at-large within North America who truly desire a more open dialogue and the fulfillment of a mutually beneficial relationship between Western countries and those of the Soviet bloc countries. We cannot but all of us gain by this, and we owe it to ourselves, to the others, and to the security of the world.

c. 1986 Rita Rosenfeld
published in Outlook, Vol.24, No.1-2