European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 25, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Western treasures7 in . By Emil Sveilis United press International Mong common russians and even the not so common everything Western from a plastic shopping bag to an empty pack of cigarettes is a treasure. Russians use the Western connection real or fake to impress their Peers. Having an empty Jar of Western freeze dried instant Coffee in their Kitchen shows that the person has tics with the outside world. One Young russian woman had half her Wall covered with Wrigley s chewing gum wrappers. She said she chewed All that gum supplied by her Western sources in a year but could not Bear to throw away the  said the pop Art wallpaper Drew Many oohs and has from her  Man prominently displayed a 49-cent Ameri can Bicentennial Pencil Eraser set in plastic pressed on cardboard on his living room Wall. He said he would never use it because the packaging was too Nice. And be sides if he opened it his friends would never know he had one. Coffee is next to impossible to buy in the soviet Union. Once i gave a Jar of Western instant Coffee to a russian Friend. He was inordinately grateful but at the same time asked if he could also have an empty Jar i was about to throw away. If the Label is still on it is a very valuable item he explained. I can get up to 5 rubles for  at a motorcycle race i chucked an empty Ameri can cigarette pack a crash proof Box into a waste Basket. Within seconds both children and adults were fighting for it. Why a full pack yes but an empty one my russian hosts explained they take the american packs fill them with russian cigarettes and try to impress other russians that they Are smoking Western cigarettes. Most of those they Are trying to impress can usually Tell because the smell is different. But it is the outside wrapping that counts. Although russians treasure everything Western they1978 criticize the West for its stupidity in politics that is. If one can get a party member into a political discussion which is rare. Everything is not perfect in your country is the Stock argument. You have strikes you have a negro problem and capitalist millionaires who Lake advantage of the working  during one such conversation i asked if people were Al Lowed to strike in the soviet Union whether their minority problem was any less than America s and whether ranking party officials from the smallest Village to the largest City did not exercise equal or greater Power than capitalist  we Don t need to strike in the soviet Union because we make a decent wage was an answer often repeated. And minorities of the georgians. They Are differ ent than we Are. We Don t  what about the jews eight out of 10 soviets cringe at the mention of jews not bothering to hide a deep and centuries old anti semitism. I wish they would Send every one of the jews to Israel one soviet official said. Then we would be rid of them once for All. This is the Only Case in which i blame our government. I say get rid of them. All they do is stir up trouble and none of them want to  on High Patty officials whose chauffeur driven Black volgas seem to try to Knock Down As Many pedestrians As pre revolution czarist carriages did. Soviets Are not As eager to reply. Criticizing a nigh communist party offi Cial is like breaking an Lith commandment. Our officials Are  was the Stock reply with the final word verbally , i would say but Only one name appears on the ballot. A  have a Constitution which gives us Many  yes 1 would say but rights exist Only so k As they fall into the general sphere of communist i logy. I would note that members of a losing party in . Elections Are not shipped to Alaska to work the Oil Fields. Con status Symbol russian cons Ruffion worker wearing american style jeans. Venation usually turn to other subjects then like soviets still cannot understand he Jocanda which forced president Nixon from office More than Lou years ago. You Are too  said one informed russian Inthis country such a thing could never happen. You Are destroying your own country. We Admire the United states very much but you should have More control Over  you Are  said a communist party source things like revelations of Cia misdeeds Only Hurt your system. I m sure the Kab does even worse things " said another source if it is revealed in the soviet press that the Cia did or does certain dirty work people fbeth01 Hal cupid no to realize anal Lac Kab pm while the soviet press waged a fierce camping against the proposed Neutron bomb Only one russian has mentioned the matter to me saying that s for the leaders to decide. To me a bomb Neutron bomb it makes no Dif Ference. It is the same  there is even a currently popular Neutron bomb joke. At an obligatory lesson on the evils of capitalism a group of russians is told the Neutron bomb kills people bul leaves buildings intact. Up jumps one Man from the Audi ence to ask. Does that mean there will be Beer but fewer people standing in line to get it russians rarely argue politics because they know Little about the issues and Are afraid to a some thing against the party line. Outside their own rigidly controlled press flus sians get All their information about the Utise world from Western radio stations from the voice of America to the bbl to Deutsche Welle from West Germany. Foreign newspapers Are sold Only in i tourist hotels which Are off limits to the average russian. Even High ranking party officials religiously listen to foreign news and cultural broadcasts. The radio in on party office with four Middle ranking officials at work was tuned to the voice of America s breakfast show. Although the party line is rarely questioned there appears to be a growing tendency among Middle aged or older men to openly argue that under the late Premier Josef Stalin at least we had discipline. Look at the coun try  this group seems to see the soviet Union As i decline. Even under Stalin we ate better in he later years " remarked one russian. He May have been a despot but he cared More about the people than the current  one High ranking soviet official privy to closed ses Sions punctured the usual Western idea that everything in the soviet Union is rubber stamped by the Kremlin leadership. There Are a hell of a lot of arguments he said. There is lobbying and favor Selling. But once a majority decision is made no disc Nikon is allowed. Then everyone agrees thai it was the right  what if one docs not agree openly if you want to be in the Central committee and in the party you agree this official said. You fight before the decision is taken not after you in the West Wash your dirty laundry for every one to see. You even hang it out for everyone to observe the holes in your socks. We Wash our laundry behind closed doors and later bring out Only the pressed linens and the starched White shirts. No underwear " do the people believe it some  another soviet official said there arc some within la party working for reforms in the system but they Are few. They Don t want to Rock the boat. They Are Sale where they arc and to introduce any change under the current leadership would mean deviating from official protocol. But he said party factions Are trying to introduce Semi private Enterprise on a larger scale As in Eastern Europe where living standards arc much higher. Just like in the czarist limes the soviet leadership is opposed to letting out the Leash even just a  said Adissi Donl. But some party discussions and even official newspaper articles have hinted at greater private Enterprise we Luln the soviet system. A latvian communist newspaper reported approvingly on a hungarian Chicken Farmer who grew baby Chicks in his spare time and sold them to the government unofficial word has been spread in Latvia Hal the gov cram Cal wants to encourage More private animal Husban dry now limited to 1.5 cows per person. But latvian sources say Farmers arc reluctant to expand without offi Cial permission because they remember that under Stalin such expansion was encouraged then later denounced by the government. Those accused then were sent to Siberia. The stars and stripes Page 15