Editing 78-10-A4 (section)

= Freedom of Speech in Russia =

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=== Transcript ===
Young students from the countries of Western Europe are risking imprisonment in the Soviet Gulag for the cause of human rights.
I'll be right back.

Recently, National Review magazine presented an article by Lennart Frantzell
that revealed how much idealism there is in the world and exposed how much
hypocrisy there is behind the Iron Curtain.

The author gives an accounting of young students and others from France,
Belgium, Norway, Finland and other countries of Western Europe who journey
to Russia as tourists. These particular tourists however aren't interested
in sight seeing. They smuggle in books and leaflets which they then openly
hand to Russians on the streets. These are books the Russians are forbidden
to read such as the writings of Solzhenitsyn. Invariably the book distributing
tourists are arrested. One young Belgian girl handing out lists of political
prisoners names was seized by KGB agents so quickly she could only throw the
leaflets in the air before she was arrested.

Now, the Soviet Constitution guarantees freedom of speech but like the
Helsinki pact the Russian government doesn't feel obliged to observe it.
Nevertheless Soviet officialdom is taking its lumps and is very uncomfortable in
the face of these tourists who argue back with full knowledge of their legal
rights and the terms of the Helsinki pact.

Listen to this exchange between a 22-year-old French girl and the two KGB
officers who arrested her:

--QUOTE--"Are you a member of a political party?"<BR />
"Yes"<BR />
"What does your father do?"<BR />
"He is a politician."<BR />
"Does he have a high position?"<BR />
"High enough"<BR />
"Does your father know of your trip to the U.S.S.R.?"<BR />
"Yes, of course"<BR />
"Well, both you and he know that it is forbidden to bring books into the U.S.S.R."<BR />
"Really? But Why? To our country, for example, one can bring in any books.
In our country people have the right to read anything."<BR />
"Well this isn't Belgium but the U.S.S.R."<BR />
"How does the U.S.S.R. differ from Belgium?"<BR />
"We want our nation to think according to our ideology."<BR />
"You are really naive people! Do you really believe that 250 million people
will think the way you want them to think?"--UNQUOTE--<BR />

The KGB agents didn't have an answer to that one. All they could say was
--QUOTE--"It is forbidden to bring in books! You may get 10 years for it."
--UNQUOTE--. To which she replied--QUOTE--"I know, we already packed some things
in case we would have to go to camp."--UNQUOTE--

The smugglers have the help of the Russian émigré' organization and contacts
in the Soviet Union who help pass the literature along. Leaflets have appeared
in cities and towns far distant from Moscow and books are regularly circulated
among dissident intellectuals in Moscow.

A Mr. Sokolov, a member of the section in charge of the confiscated books, was
arrested a couple of years ago for selling those books to black market dealers. He
hasn't been heard from since. But the smuggling goes on and significantly the
Russian people show a great eagerness to get their hands on the forbidden literature.

This is Ronald Reagan.

Thanks for listening.
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=== Details ===
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<TR><TD WIDTH="150">Batch Number</TD><TD WIDTH="150">{{PAGENAME}}</TD></TR>
<TD>Production Date</TD><TD>07/15/[[Radio1978|1978]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Book/Page</TD><TD>[[Radio_Commentary_Books#Reagan.27s_Path_to_Victory|RPtV-333]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Audio</TD><TD>Yes</TD></TR>
<TD>Youtube?</TD><TD>[[yt:dNDytL-PnmI|Posted by Me]]</TD></TR>
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===Added Notes===

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