Our Notes & References

Soviet Siberia and Far East in the 1960s through the eyes of travelling Anglo-Saxon diplomats: four intelligence reports, “restricted, personal and confidential”, exquisitely written and rather amusing, apparently unpublished and giving great details on the local life and organisation.

Here is our rather long summary of these entertaining texts.

1) “Report on a visit to the Irkutsk area of Eastern Siberia by Her Majesty’s Ambassador in Moscow, July 21-27, 1960”. An anonymous ambassador, probably Patrick Reilly, travelled together with his private secretary “Mr. S. W. Martin”, and spent four nights in Irkutsk and one at the hydro-electric station on the Angara at Bratsk. The diplomats had a few “unexpected but fruitful stops because of the bad weather” that allowed them to observe from the plane “a ground-to-air guided missile site” in Sverdlovsk, and get “an unprecedently close view of fighter aircraft of an advanced type” in Novosibirsk. The Soviet internal air network is reviewed to have lax safety discipline (no seatbelts on some aircrafts), Aeroflot’s fleet being “enormous and very wastefully used” because of the idle aircrafts noticed “everywhere”, with some general improvements of the service, as well as “the looks of the stewardesses”.

The other notes discuss geography of Irkutsk, overall impressions of the city, touted as “going to be one of the world’s great trunk air routes”, building materials, the development of hydroelectric stations (where workers still use abacuses), the lack of population in Siberia despite high salaries, systems of construction for other productions (aluminium, armatures, paper), delays caused by harsh winters and the “plague of small flies” in summers, prices (e.g., helicopters costing only twice as much as a medium-sized Volga car), accessibility of cars (about one car per 450 inhabitants in Irkutsk Oblast), Siberian patriotism, worker morale at different sights, plans for “the world’s largest artificial lake” at the Bratsk hydroelectric station, a visit to two seemingly bogus local homes (that still had no sinks), locals’ comments about Britain, Churchill, and America, and lesser surveillance and fewer unpleasant references to current political differences than in Moscow. The Chairman of the Oblispolkom, Mr. A. V. Gritsenko, provided a warm interview and gift exchange: “the handsome Country Life Book of Britain” was enthusiastically received, while the diplomats were gifted “a book on Irkutsk, two albums of drawings, two packets of postcards, a stuffed grey Siberian squirrel, and a stuffed sable.”

Sir D’Arcy Patrick Reilly (1909–1999) held his first ambassador position in 1957, in the USSR, before becoming ambassador to France and later chairman of the BNP bank; he also served as Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee. He left Russia in 1960 and was replaced by Frank Roberts, probably after summer, meaning that this July trip was indeed his. Reilly was described as “the perfect mandarin” (Pearson, Washington post).

2) “Siberia and the Soviet Far East in mid-winter (Report of a Journey by Members of the United States and Australian Embassies in Moscow, February [12-22] 1962)”. The group stayed at “three of the more important population centres of the Soviet Far East”: Yakutsk, Chita and Khabarovsk, and made brief stops at Omsk (“usually a closed city for foreigners”), Irkutsk, Sverdlovsk and at towns on the Trans-Siberian railway between Khabarovsk and Irkutsk.

The first part of the report includes overall observations, organised into sections covering: general impressions and tentative conclusions, economic potential, living conditions, minority races (focusing on indigenous peoples in Yakutsk and Chita, with multiple accounts of discrimination), de-stalinization, religion, foreign policy (noting locals’ aspirations to improve Soviet-American relations but no interest in Australia), attitudes toward foreigners, relations with China (marked by indifference, a lack of warmth, and no visible Chinese influence), internal politics, surveillance (described as total, crude, and obvious, with ordinary Russians often ordered away from the diplomats), and radio broadcasts (including Voice of America, BBC, Radio Tokyo, Radio Peking and Radio Australia, whose transmission the diplomats had apparently tested during the trip).

The second part details the trip itself and discusses a broader range of topics, including Soviet methods for dealing with cold in cars and piping systems, Chinese supply disruptions, the state of sewage and gasification systems (which “have a long way before being universal”), allusions to a red light district in Yakutsk (as there are “4 men for every woman in Yakutsk”), and Chita residents’ prejudices against ex prisoners (who make up a significant part of the city). The group also visited a local priest (of Polish descent) who shared details about his churchgoers, the number of baptisms and burial services per year, and the disproportionately high taxes imposed on clergymen.

Of particular note was a conversation with a taxi driver in Khabarovsk, who candidly discussed issues like road flooding and the exorbitant cost of fish (locally abundant) and meat (higher than during WW2). The driver showed the “sites of Japanese prisoners of war” and the house prepared for President Dwight Eisenhower’s planned (but cancelled) 1960 visit. Similarly insightful were discussions during a train ride from Khabarovsk to Chita, which touched on sensitive topics such as “Cuba and the negro problem in the United States”, nuclear tests, East Germany, and America’s Chinese policy. Throughout the journey, the diplomats were frequently congratulated on Colonel John Glenn’s orbital flight on February 20.

3) “Journey to Siberia and the Pacific” by the author — a British (?) diplomat — and his companion Michael Alexander; the journey took place from August 29 to September 9 (circa 1965). The report outlines main stops in Khabarovsk, Nakhodka, and Irkutsk, and brief visits, such as in Birobidzhan, the capital of the infamous Jewish Autonomous Republic. The diplomats conducted 6 interviews: 1) with the administrator of the port in Nakhodka about the town’s development, port equipment, grain trade volumes, a passenger line with Yokohama, and workers and trade unions; 2) with a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Trade in Nakhodka, “a typical Soviet bureaucrat who intended to tell them nothing of interest” about trade with far eastern countries; 3) with a young engineer at the Aluminium Factory in Shelekhovo (near Irkutsk) about the technicalities of his work, salaries, and retirement ages for men and women; 4) with a deputy director of the Yakutsk Filial of the Siberian Academy of Sciences about the staff demographics, institutional faculties, and their main research objectives; 5) with staff at the Permafrost Institute about the focus of their work and communication with counterparts in Canada and Alaska; 6) with the Head of the Bratsk Soviet Cultural Department about the “figures for wage differentials in Siberia”.

The report also highlights informal conversations with ordinary Soviets, some broaching challenging subjects about WW2 and the Soviet role in fighting Japan, and even a dialogue with a nonconformist musician who had spent 3 years in a prison camp. Special attention is given to signs of growing Japan-USSR relations, the appearance of the locals: “we were both struck by the coarse clothing and rough manners of the inhabitants, who were definitely less presentable than people in European Russia”; local foods, and Soviet crude jokes. The cities left mixed impressions, with Yakutsk described as “a cross between a badly organised construction site and a Wild West shanty town.”

4) “A visit to Yakutsk and Verkhoyansk” on 8-12 August (c. 1965-67) by anonymous American or more probably British diplomats. The report provides detailed observations of the infrastructure of Yakutsk, “a rather seedy town”, population growth and turnover, visual impressions of the locals (leading to conclusions about vitamin deficiencies and the lack of fruit or vegetables), and humorous sketches of the author’s interactions with locals at a restaurant. This is followed by a thorough description of the Yakutsk filial of the Permafrost Institute and the Siberian Academy of Sciences, highlighting the objectives of its departments, such as the repopulation of fur-bearing animals affected by their overhunting.

The second part focuses on Verkhoyansk, “the coldest town in the world”, where winter temperatures have been recorded as low as -90°F. The report covers the population, local administration, animal husbandry, fur production, schools, kindergartens, and insights from a conversation with a dissident-minded Soviet. The observations conclude with a humorous sketch about a fishing trip, during which the diplomats met two Yakuti woodcutters: “evident that they felt the atmosphere of international goodwill would be improved by a little alcohol. They therefore drew out two bottles of what appeared to be vodka. It was in fact wood-spirit, 96% alcohol, and the most potent drink I ever hope to meet. Being weak Westerners, we were allowed to pour some water in, but even so the first sip seemed to produce a deafening explosion in the middle of my universe. The world never really seemed to settle down after that […] At least it was effective in promoting international understanding”.

Provenance

Prof. Philip Longworth (1933-2021, historian and writer, esp. on Russian history).