What is 1947 famous for? See what "1947" is in other dictionaries. Steel character and soft soul
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1945-1948 – mass demobilization of the Soviet Army.
1946-1950 – 4th five-year plan, restoration of the national economy of the USSR.
1946-1947 – severe drought and mass famine in many regions of the country.
1946-1949 – a series of ideological campaigns against scientists, writers, and artists.
1947 – abolition of food cards; confiscatory monetary reform.
1947-1949 – the formation of communist regimes in a number of countries in Europe and Asia, the creation of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA), Stalin’s conflict with the Yugoslav leader Tito, the actual division of Germany into the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic.
1948-1949 – “The Leningrad Affair”.
1950-1953 – Korean War.
Beginning 1953 – “The Case of the Doctors.”
March-June - strengthening of the G.M. Malenkov-N.S. Khrushchev group, removal of L.P. Beria.
Sep. – plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, election of N.S. Khrushchev First Secretary, decisions on reforms in agriculture.
1953-1955 – the beginning of the rehabilitation of victims of Stalinist repressions.
1954 – the beginning of the development of virgin lands.
1955 – creation of the Warsaw Pact organization.
1955-1956 - normalization of relations with Austria, Germany and Japan.
1956 – XX Congress of the CPSU, exposure of Stalin’s “cult of personality”; the beginning of the implementation of broad social programs N.S. Khrushchev.
1955-1957 – removal of N.S. Khrushchev's political opponents, strengthening personal power.
1956 - Soviet troops suppressed the anti-communist uprising in Hungary, supported Egypt in repelling the aggression of Western countries.
1957 – rehabilitation and restoration of statehood of repressed peoples; reorganization of economic management, creation of economic councils; successful test of the first Soviet intercontinental rocket, launch of the first artificial Earth satellite.
1959 – XXI Congress of the CPSU, conclusion about the complete and final victory of socialism in the USSR, announcement of the extensive construction of communism.
1961 – XXII Congress of the CPSU, program for building communism by 1980; failure of the Soviet-American summit, construction of the Berlin Wall.
1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis.
1963 – signing in Moscow of an agreement between the USSR, Great Britain and the USA to stop testing nuclear weapons under water, on land and in the air.
Tests for self-control
1. Confiscation monetary reform was carried out:
1) 3rd five-year plan
2) 4th five-year plan
3) 5th Five Year Plan
4) 6th Five Year Plan
5) 7th Five Year Plan
3. In 1950-1953. Soviet military personnel took part in the hostilities:
1) in Korea
2) in Vietnam
3) in Hungary
4) in China
5) in Cuba
4. In 1953-64. The 1st Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee was:
1) G. Malenkov
2) N. Bulganin
3) L. Brezhnev
4) N. Khrushchev
5) N. Podgorny
5. The XX Congress of the CPSU took place in:
6. The socio-political climate in the USSR after the death of I. Stalin was called:
1) warming
2) discharge
3) cleansing
4) perestroika
5) thaw
7. The first space satellite of the Earth was launched in:
8. Man first flew into space in:
9. N. Khrushchev associated hopes for the rise of the agricultural sector with:
1) wheat
3) sugar beets
4) corn
5) buckwheat
10. The “Program for the Construction of Communism” was adopted in:
11. In 1959, at the XXI Congress of the CPSU it was stated:
1) the beginning of the construction of socialism
2) building socialism mainly
3) complete and final victory of socialism in the USSR
4) building communism mainly
5) complete victory of communism in the USSR
12. The Warsaw Pact Organization was created in:
13. The Berlin crisis, associated with the construction of the Berlin Wall, took place in:
14. The Cuban missile crisis took place in:
15.The Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests on Earth, in the Atmosphere and Under Water was signed in.
.
Today we'll look at 1947. This was the second year of peace, the second year of what is now commonly called the “post-war era.” I would say that it was 1947 that opened this era, because in 1946 humanity summed up the results of the last war, came to its senses and decided how it would live in a changed world. And in 1947, global tectonic shifts began across the planet, determining the vectors of development for many decades to come. Firstly, the Cold War began between the West and the USSR (even without the socialist camp). Secondly, the uncontrollable collapse of the world colonial system began with the appearance of dozens of new independent states on the world map.
The most significant was the declaration of Indian independence in 1947. This great event, however, became a personal tragedy for the man who did the most to bring it about - Mahatma Gandhi. He was so shocked by the split of the country into two states (secular and Muslim) and the mass fratricide that began that he went on a hunger strike. His suffering will be ended by the bullets of a fanatic next January.
Mahatma Gandhi with his granddaughters in 1947:
That same year, Asia's second great power, China, entered the final act of civil war between the national government of the Kuomintang and the communist forces of Mao Zedong.
Portraits of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek still hang in the city, which will soon replace the faces of the “Great Helmsman”: 
Although communist Beijing will retain its archaic appearance with hutongs and bicycles until the early 1980s, it will never have such a nature: 
And in the USSR in 1947, food cards and the death penalty were abolished. Despite the outbreak of famine and terrible military destruction, life in the country is gradually improving.
Soviet photographers finally began shooting on color film (a factory was moved from Germany), but their work has so far reached us only in the form of reproductions.
Moscow on a color postcard from 1947: 
Moscow 1947 in a color newsreel: 
In these rare photographs of the Soviet capital, nothing reminds of the recently experienced hard times, unlike photographs of Warsaw at the same time.
The Polish capital in some places was simply wiped off the face of the earth: 
But in other neighborhoods, life is quickly reborn among the ruins (photographer Henry Cobb): 
Berlin on 1947 was also in ruins: 
But there were places in Europe that the Second World War completely bypassed. Switzerland, for example. City of Thun in 1947: 
Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten in September 1947, two months before their wedding: 
The United States lost 300 thousand troops in that war, but not a single bomb fell on an American city. In addition to an unprecedented industrial breakthrough, World War II brought America the status of a superpower, which had only one competitor left on Earth.
Despite the flaring up of the Cold War, the mood of the Americans in those years was the most rosy.
Military parade in Washington in 1947: 
The United States concentrated not only military but also intellectual power. Hundreds of world-famous scientists moved or were taken there from Europe, which found itself at the epicenter of historical cataclysms.
Albert Einstein at his home in Princeton, New Jersey (Philippe Halsman), 1947: 
America probably became the first country in the world where color film began to dominate black and white in professional and amateur photography. Unlike the USSR, there are a great many color photographs of the USA from 1947, and in the legendary kodachrom quality.
Therefore, we will give a few sketches of American life in 1947.
A car with a glass observation roof for lovers of railway tourism (photographer Willard Culver), 1947: 
Salt Lake City in 1947: 
A high resolution
Traffic in Chicago 1947: 
Venice Beach in Los Angeles, 1947: 
Louis Armstrong in 1947 colors: 
A high resolution
El Mirage racing car (USA?), 1947: 
Boat crew preparing breakfast on a barge on the Mohawk River, New York, 1947: 
We owe many interesting color shots from 1947 and other distant years to the archives of the American magazine National Geographic, which switched to color illustrations back in the 1920s.
Here are the staff of this magazine during an expedition to Denmark in 1947: 
The legendary event of 1947 was the voyage on the Kon-Tiki raft across the Pacific Ocean under the leadership of the Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl: 
Unfortunately, the pictures of this voyage are only in this quality: 
However, for most people, travel in 1947 was no longer so exotic. The Americans with frantic energy covered the planet with a network of passenger airlines. Their legendary Douglass were everywhere, even in the USSR, in the licensed version of the Li-2.
Bromma Airport near Stockholm, 1947: 
In general, the first post-war years were characterized by an explosion of American military-political, economic and cultural expansion into the outside world. This influence was felt especially strongly in the countries of Latin America, which the States considered their “backyard.” By that time, the “American way of life” had penetrated most strongly into Cuba and especially into its capital, Havana. But here’s what’s interesting: in the paradise of American cars and refrigerators, the Cuban soul could not find peace for itself.
In 1947, an unknown student, Fidel Castro, was already in his second year of law school in Havana.
Law students at the University of Havana, 1947: 
Cuban women make cigars, 1947: 
On February 10, 1947 in Paris, the victorious states in the Second World War: the USSR, Great Britain, Australia, the BSSR, Canada, Czechoslovakia, India, New Zealand, the Ukrainian SSR and the Union of South Africa signed a Peace Treaty with Finland, a former ally of Nazi Germany.
The preamble to the treaty states the end of the state of war.
Territorial regulations (Part I, Art. 1-2) - define the borders of Finland within the limits that existed on January 1, 1941. Finland confirms its return to the Soviet Union of the Petsamo (Pechenga) region, “voluntarily ceded to Finland by the Soviet State under the peace treaties of October 14 1920 and March 12, 1940" (Article 2).
In the political resolutions (Part II, Art. 3-12) it is stated that the validity of the Soviet-Finnish Peace Treaty of March 12, 1940 is restored with the condition that Art. 4, 5 and 6 of this agreement are replaced by Art. 2 and 4 of the Peace Treaty of 1947. The Soviet Union renounced its rights to lease the Hanko Peninsula, granted to it by the treaty of 1940. Finland provided the Soviet Union with a lease for 50 years of territory and water spaces in the Porkkala-Udd region for the creation of a Soviet military -naval base with an annual payment by the Soviet Union of 5 million Finnish marks. In 1955, the USSR gave up its rights to lease Porkkala-Udd ahead of schedule.
The political resolutions provide for: demilitarization of the Åland Islands; ensuring that all persons under Finnish jurisdiction, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, have the opportunity to enjoy human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, press and publication, religion, political opinion and public assembly; preventing the existence and activity on the territory of Finland of fascist-type organizations, as well as other organizations “conducting propaganda hostile to the Soviet Union or any of the other United Nations” and pursuing the goal of depriving the people of their democratic rights; taking all necessary measures to ensure that war criminals are apprehended and extradited for trial.
Military, naval and air force regulations (Part III, Articles 13-22) - allow Finland to have a land army of up to 34,400 people, a navy of 4,500 people. and a total tonnage of 10,000 tons and an air force of 60 aircraft with a personnel strength of 3,000 people. Art. 17-21 define the restrictions imposed on Finland in the field of military technology and military experimentation.
Reparations and restitution are defined in Part IV (Articles 23-24) of the Peace Treaty. Losses caused to the Soviet Union by military actions and the occupation of Soviet territory by Finland are subject to partial compensation in the amount of 300 million US dollars, to be repaid within 8 years in goods supplies. In 1948, the Soviet government, taking into account the development of good neighborly relations between Finland and the USSR, reduced the remaining unpaid amount of reparation payments by 50%.
Finland undertakes to return all valuables and materials exported from the territory of the Soviet Union.
Economic Regulations (Part V, Art. 25-33) - contain Finland’s obligations regarding the rights and interests of the United Nations and their citizens in Finland, the procedure for the restitution of Finnish property, as well as issues of trade and transport links between Finland and the United Nations before the conclusion of trade contracts According to the Peace Treaty, Finland retained rights to its assets located on the territory of the United Nations.
The treaty was ratified by the Soviet Union on August 29, 1947 and after the deposit of the instrument of ratification with the Soviet Union on September 15, 1947, it came into force.
The conclusion of the Peace Treaty with Finland contributed to the final normalization of relations between Finland and the Soviet Union. Peace Treaty with Finland, as noted by the President of the Republic of Finland J. K. Paasikivi
Juho Kusti
PAASIKIVI
(1870 - 1956)
statesman and politician, diplomat of Finland. From March 1946 to March 1956 President of the Republic of Finland.
(See: Biography) in February 1947, does not contain a single point “contradicting state independence and the free development of the national life of Finland.”
Volume 2 - M.: Politizdat, 1971, pp. 301-302
The month of December turned out to be very eventful. Probably because it's the end of the year
And finishing things off.
The most important event that largely determined the life of the country in subsequent years is, of course, monetary reform.
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF THE USSR
CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE CPSU(b)
ABOUT CARRYING OUT CURRENCY REFORM AND CANCELLATION OF CARDS
FOR FOOD AND INDUSTRIAL GOODS
Due to a number of reasons (military expenditures, a decrease in retail trade turnover, an increase in counterfeits, etc.), there was significantly more money in circulation than was needed for the national economy, the purchasing power of money has decreased and now special measures are required to strengthen the Soviet ruble.
All this led to a gap between state and market prices and was used by speculative elements for profit at the expense of the population -
This was stated in the resolution.
Now the next step is the transition to open trade at uniform prices.
Therefore, the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) decided to carry out a monetary reform:
- the exchange of cash in hand for new money will be carried out with a limitation, namely: ten rubles in old money for one ruble in new money;
- cash deposits in savings banks and a state bank up to three thousand rubles will be revalued ruble for ruble;
- previously issued loans, except for the 1947 loan, are combined into a single loan,
the exchange is made three rubles to one;
- wages of workers and employees, as well as the income of peasants will be paid in the same amounts.
The exchange of cash for new ones, due to these restrictions, will affect almost all segments of the population. However, this exchange order will hit primarily the speculative elements who have accumulated large reserves of money and keep them in “boxes”. The losses of the vast majority of workers associated with the exchange of money will be short-term and insignificant.
Simultaneously with the monetary reform, the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks decided to abolish the card system for food and industrial goods and move to selling goods at uniform state prices.
Currency reform:
Old-style money that is not presented for exchange within the prescribed period is canceled and loses its payment power.
bread and flour - 12%;
cereals and pasta - 10%;
meat, fish, fats, sugar, confectionery, salt, potatoes and vegetables save prices;
milk, eggs, tea, fruits - set new prices;
fabrics, shoes, clothing, knitwear, set new prices at a level 3.2 times lower than commercial prices;
maintain prices for tobacco products and matches;
reduce prices for beer by an average of 10%;
maintain current prices for vodka and wine.
The prices established by this Resolution do not apply to the collective farm market and to cooperative trade in goods of their own purchases.
Following the announcement of monetary reform and the abolition of the card system, Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 3867 of December 14, 1947 “On standards for the sale of food and industrial goods into one hand” was issued.
In accordance with it, the following, for example, maximum norms for the release of goods to one hand were established: baked bread - 2 kg; cereals, pasta - 1 kg; meat and meat products - 1 kg; sausages and smoked meats - 0.5 kg; sour cream - 0.5 kg; milk - 1 l; sugar - 0.5 kg; cotton fabrics -6 m; thread on spools - 1 spool;
stockings and socks - 2 pairs; leather, textile, rubber shoes - 1 pair of each; laundry soap - 1 piece; toilet soap - 1 piece; matches - 2 boxes; kerosene - 2 liters, etc.
Most of the established post-war standards were in effect for a decade and were canceled only by order of the USSR Ministry of Trade No. 306 of August 13, 1958.
But for some products - bread and bakery products, meat and sausages, sugar, animal oil and eggs, the norms remained until 1963, although they were revised upward.
December 14 was Sunday, and citizens who learned about the reform could no longer do anything with their savings.
The stores, at least those in Moscow, were stocked with a large quantity of products by December 14th.
Instead of supplying by cards, it was planned to introduce uniform prices, which were lower than prices in free or commercial trade and significantly higher than the state prices that existed before December 14.
The decrease in the money supply increased the purchasing power of the ruble by approximately 2.5 times, and prices for food products decreased by 47 percent over the next seven years. The main long-term result of the reform was that, in fact, for 15 years it was possible to maintain commodity-money balance and generally ensure price stability.
“With a feeling of great satisfaction, the Soviet people greeted the resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) “On carrying out monetary reform and the abolition of cards for food and industrial goods,” aimed at eliminating the consequences of the war, at further improving the national economy of our country, at improving material workers' welfare
The working people of our country warmly thank the Bolshevik Party, the Soviet government, the great leader and teacher, dear Stalin, for their fatherly concern for the needs of the people, for the welfare and happiness of the people. In response to this concern, a new wave of labor enthusiasm, inexhaustible creative activity, of the Soviet people is growing."
Population:
At first glance, it seems that absolutely everyone suffered, because everyone had some money in their pockets on December 15, and it overnight became 10 times cheaper. But an ordinary worker who lives on his salary, and who by the middle of the month does not have much left of it, suffered only nominally. He wasn’t even left without money, because already on the 16th they began to issue wages in new money for the first half of the month, which is usually not done: in the USSR, wages were issued monthly after the end of the month.
Based on the entire adult population, the average deposit in savings books could not be more than 200 rubles. Therefore, the exchange of 3,000 rubles for a 1:1 deposit satisfied, presumably, 95% of the population, since taking into account the decreased prices (as discussed below) it was very profitable. Of course, along with the speculators, those who earned their money honestly and kept it in the savings bank somehow suffered: Stakhanovites, inventors, Stalin Prize laureates, etc. But given the decline in prices, they may not have gained much, but they did not really suffer.
Of course, those who kept a lot of money not in the savings bank, but in stockings, were very unhappy. During the reform, approximately a third of the money supply was not presented for exchange. It seems that a significant part of the population was simply afraid to declare their money savings. And, given the short time frame for the reform and the state of the infrastructure, some people physically did not have time to present money for exchange...
No one remembers about Stalin’s monetary reform, when within a few days out of 57.4 billion rubles (6 billion of money was lost or was in the hands of the former enemy) 43.4 billion (76%!) were confiscated from the population. malice. This is a financial feat!
Without denomination of the ruble, i.e. without officially increasing its value, removing 76% of the money supply from circulation - you have to be able to even conceive of this!
But we need to understand why this was possible. The fact is that the monetary reform ensured another reform - the abolition of the card system and a reduction in prices.
The reform achieved the task of cleaning out the excess money supply. By and large, having solved the problems of financial stabilization of the country.
In this case, economists around the world were struck by the fact that just two years after the war and after the crop failure of 1946, basic food prices were kept at the level of rations and even reduced, i.e. Almost absolutely all food was available to everyone!
This situation for the West was both unexpected and offensive; let me remind you that England, destroyed and suffered immeasurably less in the war than the USSR, receiving assistance from the United States, was unable to abolish the distribution system in the 40s, and in the early 50s This, admittedly already former, “mistress of the seas and oceans” distributed not only meat and bread, but even stinking cod on cards. At this time, there were demonstrations of miners in England demanding that they be provided with a standard of living similar to that of Soviet miners. Her Majesty's Government foolishly nationalized the coal and metallurgical industries.
Rumors about the upcoming reform have been circulating for a long time. They especially intensified in the late autumn of 1947, when information leaks began from the environment of responsible party and financial workers. And since it was not possible to keep the government’s plans secret from the population, queues began to form at the savings banks to deposit money into the savings book.
On the eve of the reform, the country is gripped by the usual panic in such cases.
Buy furniture, musical instruments, hunting rifles, motorcycles, bicycles, gold, jewelry, chandeliers, carpets, watches, and other industrial goods. For example, if the turnover of the capital's Central Department Store on ordinary days was about 4 million rubles, then on November 28, 1947 it reached 10.8 million rubles. Long-lasting food products (chocolate, candy, tea, sugar, canned food, grained and pressed caviar, balyki, smoked sausages, cheeses, butter, etc.), as well as vodka and other alcoholic drinks, were also swept off the shelves. There was a noticeable increase in turnover in restaurants in large cities, where the wealthiest crowd was in full swing.
Trade and public catering workers showed particular resourcefulness and assertiveness in saving their savings. Without any agreement, they carried out a massive purchase of goods available at the outlet everywhere.
Abuse:
: “In a number of cases, senior officials of republican, regional, city and district Soviet, party and financial bodies, as well as banking institutions and savings banks, participated in the abuses. 1,124 speculators were prosecuted for bribing trade and financial authorities in order to preserve the significant sums they had by investing them in the proceeds of trading enterprises and illegal deposits in savings banks and state bank branches.”
19,551 people were prosecuted for all crimes. Among those recruited were 4,401 members and candidates for membership of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.
Financial transactions for the same days in banking institutions, savings banks and other organizations were also subjected to a thorough check. As a result of these measures, during the period from December 16, 1947 to May 1, 1948, the Ministry of Internal Affairs identified hidden and stolen goods worth 61,715,187 rubles and identified illegal deposits in savings banks and State Bank branches worth 101,288,500 rubles.
AGAIN RESETTLEMENT OF PEOPLES
After the war, a decision was made to resettle people of Armenian nationality from all over the world to Armenia. The Armenian diaspora abroad contributed in every possible way to this process. It was planned that about 300,000 Armenians from various countries, in particular from Turkey, Lebanon, America, etc., should move to Armenia. At first the flow really started. Victory in the war initially created an aura around the USSR that attracted many. Stalin probably assumed that this company would be able to obtain part of the Turkish lands.
But this did not find support either in Turkey or among the allies. And I had to say goodbye to this dream. And the great migration of Armenians did not go entirely smoothly. Somewhere around 80,000 thousand agreed to come, and even then many of them,
Having seen life in the USSR in reality, they left.
But under this company it was decided to begin another resettlement of peoples
in the USSR, resettle 150,000 thousand Azerbaijanis to the Kura-Araks lowland of Azerbaijan. The abandoned houses of Azerbaijanis in Armenia were supposed to be transferred to newly arrived Armenians from abroad.
People who had lived in one place for centuries were torn away from the graves of their ancestors and moved to a barren valley to develop the land with a new cotton crop that was unfamiliar to them.
The Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted Resolution No. 4083
"On the resettlement of collective farmers and other Azerbaijani population from the Armenian SSR to the Kura-Araks lowland of the Azerbaijan SSR":
Of course, “on a voluntary basis”;
Organize an explanation of conditions and benefits among collective farmers and other Azerbaijani population;
Ensure full settlement of collective farms with displaced collective farmers
according to the workdays worked out by him in the amounts provided for by the production plans of the collective farms;
Ensure the transportation to displaced persons of all their personal property.
And of course the benefits:
Provide those resettled at state expense with free travel, transportation of livestock and property in the amount of 2 tons per family;
Issue non-refundable cash benefits to migrant families upon departure in the amount of 1,000 rubles for the head of the family and 300 rubles for each family member;
Sell food grain to families in the amount of 1.5 quintals per family head and 0.5 quintals for each family member for cash in settlement areas;
Allow the Azerbaijani population to hand over agricultural products (grain, potatoes), as well as livestock prohibited for export under quarantine conditions, to procurement organizations at the points of entry against exchange receipts, with the right to receive the same amount of products and livestock at the points of entry;
Provide needy migrants with a loan for the construction of residential houses up to 20 thousand rubles per household with repayment of the loan within 10 years, starting from the third year after receiving the loan (not a house to replace a lost one, but a loan);
Issue long-term loans to needy migrants for the purchase of livestock in the amount of 3 thousand rubles per family, for a period of 5 years, with repayment starting from the third year after receiving the loan;
Ensure transportation of the Azerbaijani population to the Azerbaijan SSR by specially formed trains in equipped and disinfected carriages;
Oblige the USSR Ministry of Health to provide medical examination of all displaced persons at exit points;
To allow the Council of Ministers of the Armenian SSR to use buildings and residential buildings vacated by the Azerbaijani population in connection with their resettlement to the Kura-Araks lowland of the Azerbaijan SSR for the resettlement of foreign Armenians arriving in the Armenian SSR.
On December 26, 1947, a plenum of the Central Committee was convened
KP(b)U, which considered the organizational issue and in connection with the transition
Kaganovich to work as Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, relieved him of the post of First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine. This post was again occupied by N.S. Khrushchev, and the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR was headed by D.S. Korotchenko
Lazar Kaganovich
The history of this movement of Khrushchev and Kaganovich, as well as the history of their relationship in general during the latter’s stay in Ukraine, has been little studied.
Nikita Khrushchev
But one thing can definitely be said right now: thanks to this move and thanks to Khrushchev’s position, many tragic mistakes were avoided that could have resulted from Kaganovich looking out for all kinds of “dangers” in Ukraine. Subsequently, N.S. Khrushchev would note that these actions could “lead to grave consequences and not only for literature”
A devastating article appears in the newspaper “Culture and Life” with the eloquent headline “Contrary to the truth of life.” It criticizes the just published story “Smoke of the Fatherland” by Konstantin Simonov.
Konstantin Simonov
The matter is not limited to criticism of Simonov. The General Secretary of the Union of Soviet Writers, Alexander Fadeev, is also under attack. In the same issue of the newspaper and on the same page, another devastating article was published, directed against Fadeev’s famous novel “The Young Guard”, which has already been awarded the Stalin Prize.
Alexander Fadeev
Both articles were published on the orders of Stalin, who was angry that the leaders of the Union themselves were not trying to fulfill the leader’s instructions as quickly as possible and were in no hurry to lead the masses of writers entrusted to their care by personal example to “the fight against sycophancy before foreign countries.”
But we need to hurry: an ideological campaign has begun in the country to fight a new enemy - rootless cosmopolitans.
The campaign proclaims the obligatory nature of Soviet patriotism, emphasizes national roots and the rejection of everything foreign, and the need to combat sycophancy before the West. A little later, when it becomes clear that the newborn Israel is not our comrade, the campaign will naturally develop into a fight against Zionism and just Jews.
1947 “A year of new elections, a year of new victories” - with this headline the regional newspaper came out to the reader on January 1.
This year, the working people of the country are actively preparing to participate in the campaign for elections to the regional, regional, district,
district, rural, township Soviets of Workers' Deputies of the RSFSR on December 21, 1947.
On the other side of the border
=====================
In December, according to tradition, something happens that our country doesn’t care about. Our scientists and writers receive their Stalin Prizes. And in Stockholm and Oslo, Nobel Prizes are awarded. Of this year's laureates, perhaps only the figure of the laureate in literature is noteworthy. This is the French writer Andre Gide. The same one who, as a person, was invited to write something good in the USSR in the 30s, and he wrote something like this...
Andre Gide
For more than half a century, the works of Andre Gide were under the strictest ban in the USSR, which the writer himself contributed to with the book “Return from the USSR”: they expected him to make an apology for the regime, but he, a bad person, composed a poisonous and straightforward account of how everything really is.
Until 1936, almost all of Gide's works were immediately translated into Russian. Then came a period of complete oblivion, replaced by brief abusive references in encyclopedic dictionaries; then, already in the 90s, an attempt at literary rehabilitation.
Andre Pol Gijom Gide
(November 20, 1869 - February 19, 1951)
In encyclopedias and dictionaries published in the Soviet Union after the book’s publication, Andre Gide was presented as a writer whose “anti-bourgeoisism ... turned out to be superficial, asocial individualism always prevailed in him,” and in his works “the depiction of the decline of bourgeois society develops into an apology for immorality.” “Return from the USSR” was referred to as an “anti-Soviet pamphlet”; the works were not published until the 90s.
In the Yugoslav resort town of Bled, the leaders of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, Josip Broz Tito and Georgi Dimitrov, meet and sign a truly Bled Treaty on the unification of their countries and the creation of a great South Slavic power.
Georgi Dimitrov - Bulgarian Lenin
Stalin had already begun to notice that the war hero Tito did not listen to him very much. Next year the unification will be thwarted, and Tito will become an enemy.
Josip Broz Tito.
Norwegian traveler, ethnographer and archaeologist Thor Heyerdahl and a group of friends cross the Pacific Ocean on the Kon-Tiki raft. This journey brings him worldwide fame. In this way, he wanted to prove that the settlement of Polynesia came from South America. Somewhat later, other scientists proved in other ways that settlement followed a different path. Which did not in the least diminish Heyerdahl's fame as the nicest guy of the 20th century.
The memoirs of a young German officer Gerhard Boldt from Adolf Hitler's inner circle immediately before the surrender of Germany are published in six issues of the Pravda newspaper from December 27, 1947 to January 1, 1948.
The Leningrad Kirov Theater is celebrating the 129th anniversary of Marius Petipa, and three outstanding ballerinas are dancing the legendary performance “The Sleeping Beauty”: Dudinskaya, Ulanova and Semenova.
Marius Petipa.
1947.12.30 Under pressure from the communists, King Mihai of Romania abdicates the throne - Elimination of the monarchy and proclamation of the Romanian People's Republic.
King Michael I
Nikolai Konstantinovich passed away on December 13, 1947. At the site of his cremation in India in the Kullu Valley, a large stone was erected with the inscription in Hindustani: “At this place, on December 15, 1947, the body of Maha Rishi Nicholas Roerich, a great friend of India, entered the sphere of fire. - Om. - Ram.”
Having started his journey in Russia, passing through Europe and America, he ended it in Asia. The whole world was a field of activity for him.
As an artist, Nikolai Konstantinovich was recognized throughout the world; his paintings, drawings, sketches of theatrical scenery and theatrical costumes were distributed to museums and private collections in various countries.
In Russia, Europe, America, and India, he created organizations to promote the idea of Beauty and Culture. In 1935, the Peace Pact for the Protection of Cultural Property was signed in America. "Culture is reverence for Light. Culture is love for man... Culture is salvation... Culture is Heart."
He was an unsurpassed singer of the mountains, a master who managed to convey the very innermost spirit of the Himalayan peaks.
His last painting remained unfinished. The artist’s heart stopped beating as work continued on a new version of the painting “Teacher’s Testament.”
"The teacher, in a state of self-absorption, gives an order to a flying white eagle. The motive of this composition is a reworking of a small painting written by Nikolai Konstantinovich in the thirties. But in the latter, the entire interpretation is much stronger and broader. It will take a long time before a full assessment of the entire work of Nikolai Konstantinovich. Truly he was a great man,” wrote the artist’s son Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Roerich.
Nicholas Roerich was declared the spiritual leader of humanity, the Antichrist, a Soviet spy, the leader of world Freemasonry, and even the reincarnation of one of the Indian deities...
And he always remained a patriot of Russia and its citizen, having with him only one Russian passport. The thought of returning to his homeland never left him. Immediately after the end of the war, the artist requested a visa to enter the Soviet Union, but on December 13, 1947, he passed away without knowing that his visa was denied.
American physicists demonstrated the first transistor
American physicists William Shockley, Walter Brattain and John Bardeen (pictured)
demonstrated the first transistor at Bell Labs, which was extremely primitive, but functioned quite reliably.
It is an electronic device made of semiconductor material, usually with three terminals, that allows an input signal to control current in an electrical circuit.
In 1956, all three Americans were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Moreover, John Bardeen became the only one in the century-long “Nobel history” to win twice in the same category: the second prize was awarded to him in 1972 for creating the theory of superconductivity.
On December 23, 1947, Order No. 19064ss of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was issued on the repatriation of sick and incapacitated interned Germans47. Repatriation was supposed to begin in March 1948, 17,514 people were subject to it, including 14,116 people. Romanian citizens of German nationality. However, at the insistence of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (March 6), their repatriation was delayed until special instructions, which were not forthcoming over the next three months.
New Year
On December 23, the government gives the people a New Year's gift by declaring January 1, 1948 a non-working day. Finally!..
Russia began to celebrate the New Year in the European style by the will of Peter I.
On December 19, 1699 (then still 7208), the royal decree ordered the counting of years not from the creation of the world, as before, but from the Nativity of Christ, and the new year was to be counted not from September 1, but from January 1.
J. M. Nattier. Portrait of Peter the Great. 1717.
A day later, another state act was promulgated - “On the celebration of the New Year.” In the first half of the 19th century, the custom of decorating the Christmas tree came from Germany to Russia. Celebrating the New Year becomes more fabulous and cozy. It was a bright, cheerful home holiday with family and friends. It seemed like it would always be like this.
However...
Russia switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, adopted in most Western countries. The difference between the old and new styles “moved” the New Year holiday to the height of the Orthodox Nativity fast. This played into the hands of the Bolshevik atheists.
Christmas tree in a dugout. New Year 1917.
Soon, one of the slogans of the formation of socialist culture became the cry: “Everyone to fight the religious dope!” The New Year holiday comes under the hammer of anti-Christmas propaganda. Here is one of the poetic propaganda of those years:
It'll be Christmas soon -
Ugly bourgeois holiday,
Connected from time immemorial
It's an ugly custom with him:
A capitalist will come to the forest,
Inert, true to prejudice,
He will cut down the Christmas tree with an axe,
Letting go of a cruel joke.
The war against the holiday tree continues. The reason for another outburst of indignation was an announcement posted in Pravda by the University Post about sending out sets of Christmas tree decorations. The editorial offices of workers' and peasants' newspapers began to receive letters from indignant readers:
“As an atheist who conducts anti-religious propaganda among students and workers, I am surprised why the Pravda newspaper, in its advertisements throughout the USSR, publishes that the Univerpost offers Christmas tree decorations... I propose that the Univerpost be recognized for promoting the old way of life , sending out all sorts of tinsel and various rubbish to decorate the Christmas trees.”
In the mid-30s, ideologists changed tactics and began to interpret the tree as an attribute not of the Christmas holiday, but of the New Year holiday. The finest hour of the green guest was 1935, when, for the first time during Bolshevik rule, on the initiative of Pavel Postyshev, a member of the Presidium of the USSR Central Executive Committee, a children's New Year's party was organized in Kharkov.
The tree again became an attribute of the holiday - not the Nativity of Christ, but the New Year, but still... The children for whom the tree began to be arranged were delighted. Not only the Christmas tree was revived - Santa Claus returned from oblivion with gifts!
After 11 months, the secretariat of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions made a decision: “Since the celebration of the New Year has become and is a national holiday and is celebrated by the working people, this holiday needs to be legalized.”
The New Year is celebrated widely and pompously. In Moscow, in the Gorky Central Park of Culture and Culture and on Manezhnaya Square, the two largest Christmas trees are installed. On January 1, a ball-carnival for excellent students took place at the House of Unions. From this time on, the tradition began of specially decorating children's New Year's parties in the premises of the former Assembly of the Nobility.
1937. Santa Claus holds in his hand the “Course on the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).” Pupils of the 5th grade of school No. 15 of the Oktyabrsky district of Moscow rejoice at the holiday
The leader did not like the idea of dividing the trees into main and non-main ones. When in October 1937 Kaganovich asked Stalin: “Where will we put the main tree?”, he replied: “We have all the main trees.” These words were taken literally and regarded as an order.
From among the paratroopers of the propaganda squadrons, detachments of Santa Clauses urgently began to be formed in order to drop New Year's gifts into the most inaccessible corners of the country. This action, according to its organizers, clearly promoted the capabilities of Soviet aviation and paratroopers.
On the eve of 1938, propaganda trains, propaganda cars and snow sleds left for populated areas, airplanes took off, skiers and even special couriers on reindeer sleds set off.
But the Christmas tree in the House of Unions was beyond competition. Miracles were expected from the first step. At the top of the stairs, decorated in the shape of a fairy-tale mountain, there was a red star plane. Then the whole people followed the conquest of the Arctic, and the names of the polar pilots were known to every Soviet child.
Column Hall of the House of Unions
The Arctic Hall, specially equipped in the House of Unions for the Christmas tree performances, was constantly crowded. The most attractive exhibit was a huge model of an icebreaker under construction. However, the children were not bored in other halls either: in one they looked at strange animals brought from the zoo, in another they met heroes of folk tales and popular Soviet children's books, in the third they were treated to attractions for every taste. But the center of the holiday was the beautiful Christmas tree, on which ten thousand Christmas tree decorations with worker-peasant and communist symbols sparkled in the rays of the spotlights.
The New Year holiday in 1945 turned out to be joyful and bright for those times. In the center of the Hall of Columns there was a 26-meter high tree. Santa Claus was the then popular Mosestrad artist S. Preobrazhensky. He performed this role continuously for many years. On the main staircase, the young guests were greeted by mummers playing musical instruments. The children especially liked the hare orchestra. The "hares" played carrots instead of trumpets.
There were amusement rides in the lobby: swings, a Ferris wheel, and a carousel. Puppet jazz played in front of the “magic room” under the direction of conductor Gutalin Gutalinovich...
On December 23, 1947, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, January 1 was declared a “holiday and a non-working day.” Since that time, the phrase “The main Christmas tree of the country” has acquired official status.