“Travel Abroad Authorized…”: The Activities of the Commission for Travel Abroad, 1949–1962

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Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The only study that devotes some attention to the Commission’s work is Orlov, I.B., and A.D. Popov. Skvoz’ “zheleznyi zanaves.” Russo turisto: sovetskii vyezdnoi turizm, 1955–1991. Moscow, 2016.

2. “Postanovlenie politbiuro TsK VKP(b) po voprosam vyezda za granitsu i v”ezda v SSSR. 25 iiunia 1947 g. (kommentarii).” In Stalin i kosmopolitizm. Available at http://www.alexanderyakovlev.org/fond/issues-doc/69337 (accessed August 7, 2015).

3. Ibid.

4. Concurrently, from September 1946 to September 1949, P.V. Fedotov was the head of Soviet foreign intelligence (Antonov, V.S. Sluzhba vneshnei razvedki: Istoriia, liudi, fakty. Moscow, 2014, p. 71).

5. “Biuro po vyezdam za granitsu i v”ezdam v SSSR pri SM SSSR.” Available at http://shieldandsword.mozohin.ru/ki4758/structure/bureau.htm (accessed August 7, 2015).

6. Zelenov, M.V. “Perestroika apparata TsK VKP(b) v 1946, v iiule 1948 i oktiabre 1953 g.: struktura, kadry i funktsii (istochniki dlia izucheniia)” Noveishaia istoriia Rossii, St. Petersburg, 2011, No. 1, p. 108.

7. Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv noveishei istorii (hereinafter, RGANI), f. 5, op. 14. Foreword. p. unnumbered. See also: Orlov, I.B., and A.D. Popov. Skvoz’ “zheleznyi zanaves,” p. 40.

8. Orlov, I.B., and A.D. Popov. Skvoz’ “zheleznyi zanaves,” p. 38. They note that the draft resolution on the resumption of foreign tourism in the USSR (April 1955) specified the following: the USSR Foreign Ministry, the USSR KGB, and the Commission for Foreign Travel will establish “a simplified (accelerated) procedure for the processing of permissions for exiting the USSR and for issuing collective visas to Soviet citizens” (ibid., p. 37).

9. “Zapiska A.S. Paniushkina v TsK KPSS. 10 avgusta 1956.” RGANI, f. 5, op. 14, d. 17, l. 78.

10. “Spravochnik po istorii Kommunisticheskoi partii i Sovetskogo Soiuza 1898–1991.” Available at http://www.knowbysight.info/SSS/06554.asp (accessed August 7, 2015). Selivanovskii remained deputy minister until August 26, 1951; he resigned as chairman of the Commission on September 18 of that year (ibid.).

11. “Spravochnik po istorii Kommunisticheskoi partii i Sovetskogo Soiuza 1898–1991.”

12. Aleksei Fedotovich Senenkov. Available at http://shieldandsword.mozohin.ru/nkvd4353/terr_org/oblast/kalinin.htm (accessed April 23, 2016).

13. Petrov, N.V., and K.V. Skorkin. Kto rukovodil NKVD, 1934–1941. Moscow: Spravochnik, 1999. Available at http://www.memo.ru/history/nkvd/kto/biogr/index.htm (accessed April 23, 2016). Paniushkin became a major-general on May 31, 1954.

14. “Doluda, A.L.” In Biograficheskii slovar’. Al’manakh “Rossiia. XX vek.” Available at http://www.alexanderyakovlev.org/almanah/almanah-dict-bio/55074/4 (accessed August 4, 2016).

15. Maksimenkov, L. “O politicheskoi predystorii konkursa im. P.I. Chaikovskogo. Available at http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2739084 (accessed May 14, 2016).

16. Ogryzko, V. “Preodolenie zaushatel’stva: Tshchatel’no splanirovannyi proryv Il’i Glazunova,” Literaturnaia Rossiia, March 13, 2015. Available at www.litrossia.ru/archive/item/346-preodolenie-zaushatelstva-tschatelno-splanirovannyj-proryv-ili-glazunova (accessed May 14, 2016).

17. The position of chairman of the Commission was vacated by a decision of the Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee on May 30, 1955 (see Orlov, I.B., and A.D. Popov. Skvoz’ “zheleznyi zanaves,” p. 37).

18. “Poriadok predostavleniia dokumentov v Komissiiu po vyezdam za granitsu pri TsK KPSS dlia oformleniia zagranichnykh komandirovok. 16.04.1959.” RGANI, f. 5, op. 14, d. 19, l. 52.

19. “Informatsionnaia zapiska v TsK KPSS ‘O nekotorykh itogakh raboty Komissii po vyezdam za granitsu za 1960 g.’ 14.03.1961,” ibid., d. 20, l. 7, 8.

20. Ibid., l. 52–54.

21. “A.S. Paniushkin—TsK KPSS. 23.04.1959,” ibid., l. 50–51.

22. Commission chairman Paniushkin requested that the commission’s staff be expanded by fifteen people (“Zapiska A.S. Paniushkina v TsK KPSS. 10.08.1956,” ibid., d. 17, l. 81).

23. “Otchet o rabote Komissii po vyezdam za granitsu pri TsK KPSS za 1953 god,” ibid., d. 15, l. 89.

24. Ibid., l. 92.

25. “Zam. predsedatelia KGB SSSR K. Lunev—TsK KPSS. 31.12.1958,” ibid., d. 18, l. 39.

26. “A.S., Paniushkin—sekretariu TsK KPSS A.I. Kirichenko. 06.01.1959,” ibid., l. 40–41.

27. Calculation based on “Otchet o rabote Komissii … za 1953 god,” ibid., d. 15, l. 85, 86, 90. The 2,710 who submitted their documents on a private basis included not only people who wanted to travel out of the country but also those who wanted to enter the USSR, which produces a small error in the relative data.

28. The Commission reviewed a total of 95,991 applications in 1957, but of the 28,128 people who submitted documents for entry or exit travel, 24,383 were planning to go abroad and, accordingly, 3,745 intended to visit the USSR. See [“Otchet o rabote Komissii po vyezdam za granitsu pri TsK KPSS za 1957 god], ibid., d. 18, l. 8, 15.

29. “Zapiska A.S. Paniushkina v TsK KPSS. 10.08.1956,” ibid., d. 17, l. 78.

30. “Otchet o rabote Komissii … za 1953 god,” ibid., d. 15, l. 90.

31. Ibid., l. 91.

32. Vaksberg, A.I. Moia zhizn’ v zhizni. Moscow, 2000. Vol. 1, pp. 123–124. Film director G. Daneliia, with his characteristic humor, recalled that before a trip to Mexico an instructor from the CPSU Central Committee, after concluding a conversation with him, S.F. Bondarchuk, I.K. Skobtseva, and I.V. Talankin, asked Danieliia to hang back and told him privately that “since I am a Georgian, there may be provocations against me by women” (see Danieliia, G. Bezbiletnyi passazhir. Moscow, 2005, p. 135).

33. Kulaev, I.S. “Vremena i nravy: memuary, pis’ma, dnevniki. Moia rabota s Ernestom Cheinom,” Vestnik Rossiiskoi akademii nauk, vol. 79, No. 6, 2000, p. 556.

34. One example of such ties is presented in a document titled “List of Workers on the Construction of the HCS Who Violated the Rules of Conduct for Soviet Citizens Abroad” [“Spisok rabochikh stroitel’stva DKN, narushivshikh pravila povedeniia sovetskikh grazhdan za granitsei”]. Plasterer Sh. and mechanic A. got acquainted in Warsaw “with three Polish women of easy virtue,” bought some alcohol, and went off to visit them at home for a day and a half. Later the Polish militia detained them and demanded that they return to the Friendship settlement, where they were living. Instead, the workers bought vodka and went back to their new acquaintances. Only closer to midnight did they turn up at the dormitory. Less than a week later the plasterer again wound up with the same group. As a result, both workers were added to the list of people being recalled to the USSR (RGANI, f. 5, op. 14, d. 15, l. 2–3).

35. “Spravka ‘O nekotorykh sluchaiakh narushenii norm povedeniia sovetskimi grazhdanami, rabotaiushchimi na stroitel’stve Dvortsa kul’tury i nauki v Varshave.’ 12.01.1953,” ibid., l. 8, 12, 13, 24.

36. “Otchet o rabote Komissii … za 1953 god,” ibid., l. 89.

37. Ibid., l. 88.

38. “Zapiska A.S. Paniushkina v TsK KPSS. 10.08.1956,” ibid., d. 17, l. 80.

39. “Otchet o rabote Komissii … za 1957 god. 24.01.1958,” ibid., l. 89.

40. “Informatsionnaia zapiska v TsK ‘O nekotorykh itogakh raboty Komissii po vyezdam za granitsu za 1960 g.’ 14.03.1961,” ibid., d. 20, l. 11.

41. “Zapiska A.S. Paniushkina v TsK KPSS. 10.08.1956,” ibid., d. 17, l. 79.

42. “Otchet o rabote Komissii … za 1957 god. 24.01.1958,” ibid., d. 18, l. 9.

43. “Zapiska A.K. Doludy i zam. zaveduiushchego otdelom administrativnykh organov TsK KPSS V. Zolotukhina v TsK KPSS. 14.12.1959,” ibid., d. 19, l. 97.

44. See “Informatsionnaia zapiska v TsK ‘O nekotorykh itogakh raboty Komissii po vyezdam za granitsu za 1960 g.’ 14.03.1961,” ibid., d. 20, l. 9.

45. Calculation based on “Informatsionnaia zapiska v TsK ‘O nekotorykh itogakh raboty Komissii … ’ 14.03.1961,” ibid.

46. “A.F. Senenkov—M.A. Suslovu. 03.11.1953,” ibid., d. 15, l. 144. The Ministry’s collegium issued a reprimand to Makarov (ibid., l. 146).

47. “Zapiska A.S. Paniushkina v TsK KPSS. 10.08.1956,” ibid., d. 17, l. 79–80. The document does not mention what category the remaining twenty-eight people were put in.

48. “Otchet o rabote Komissii … za 1957 god. 24.01.1958,” ibid., l. 13–14.

49. “Zapiska Komissii … v TsK KPSS. Dekabr’ 1957 g.,” ibid., l. 23.

50. “Otchet Komissii … za 1957 g. 24.12.1958,” ibid., l. 7, 8, 10.

51. “Zapiska Komissii … v TsK KPSS. Dekabr’ 1957 g.,” ibid., l. 23.

52. “Proekt postanovleniia Sekretariata TsK KPSS. Ne pozdnee 5 fevralia 1958 g.,” ibid., l. 29.

53. “Zapiska Komissii … v TsK KPSS. ‘O ser’eznykh nedostatkakh v rabote Ministerstva kul’tury SSSR po komandirovaniiu za granitsu deiatelei iskusstva.’ 09.01.1960,” ibid., d. 19, l. 100–104.

54. A.D. Makarov “performed in the USSR, the United States, Britain, France, and other countries with major musicians, incl[uding] with David Oistrakh, Leonid Sobinov, Antonina Nezhdanova, Jascha Heifetz, and Yehuda Menuhin.” Available at http://yiddishmusic.jewniverse.info/makarovabram/index.html (accessed July 22, 2016)); N.G. Val’ter, according to the Music Encyclopedia, “became a concertmaster and soloist for All-Union Radio in 1928. He performs in an ensemble with major Soviet and foreign musicians: L.B. Kogan, M. Maréchal, P. Fournier, and A. Navarra. He tours abroad.” Available at http://enc-dic.com/enc_music/Valter-N-G-1281.html (accessed August 29, 2016). One of the comments to G.V. Sviridov’s entries for 1973 says: “Aleksandr Pavlovich Erokhin, a piano accompanist with the Moscow Philharmonic, worked in an ensemble with Z.A. Dolukhanova, E.V. Obraztsova, and many other outstanding singers” (see Sviridov, G.V. Muzyka kak sud’ba. Available at http://gorenka.org/index.php/chitalnya-46/121-sviridov-g-v/5977-g-v-sviridov-muzyka-kak-sudba?showall=&start=23 [accessed July 22, 2016]). If the memorandum is about the same people, it becomes clear why they often toured abroad.

55. “Zapiska Komissii … v TsK KPSS. 26.05.1955,” RGANI, f. 5, op. 14, d. 17, l. 32–33. A decision is inserted in the memorandum: “Agreed,” with the signatures of L.I. Brezhnev, E.A. Furtseva, and three others, which are illegible.

56. “N. Vershinin—TsK KPSS. 16.08.1961,” ibid., d. 20, l. 65.

57. “N.M. Shvernik—M.A. Suslovu. 12.08.1954,” ibid., d. 16, l. 5–6.

58. “Glavnyi redaktor gazety ‘Izvestiia’ K. Gubin—TsK KPSS. 19.05.1959,” ibid., d. 19, l. 67.

59. The Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet “On the Prohibition of Marriages Between Citizens of the USSR and Foreigners” was published in Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta SSSR on March 18, 1947. The law was repealed on October 14, 1953.

60. “Zapiska K.E. Voroshilova M.A. Suslovu. 30.05.1953,” RGANI, f. 5, op. 14, d. 15, l. 106.

61. Zapiska A.F. Senenkova M.A. Suslovu. 30.10.1953,” ibid., l. 110.

62. “Otchet o rabote Komissii … za 1953 god,” ibid., d. 15, l. 86.

63. “Pis’mo A.S. Paniushkina v TsK KPSS. [Seredina 1956 g.],” ibid., d. 17, l. 44.

64. Ibid., l. 43.

65. “Otchet o rabote Komissii … za 1957 god. 24.01.1958,” ibid., d. 18, l. 16.

66. Ibid.

67. “Otchet o rabote Komissii … za 1953 god,” ibid., d. 15, l. 91.

68. Orlov, I.B., and A.D. Popov. Skvoz’ “zheleznyi zanaves,” p. 40.