Yanks for Stalin
Interview Transcript

Anna Stepanova  (cont)

Q.  Could you recite one for us?

A.  "In our great days we build, in the happy roar-- ah-- hail the country of heroes, the country of dreamers, the country of scientists."  That is from the film "The Radiant Path."

Q.  How did people like these songs?

A.  Very well.  We sang them all.  It was how we were educated.  We were taught to not want to be rich, but to accept the difficulties and not complain.  That's how we lived.  That's who we were.

Q.  Were you happy?

A.  We were very happy to work.  We loved our work, and we had many excellent workers among us.  In 1930, one woman, I've forgotten her name, wrote how happy she was that she lived in the era of Josef Vissarionovich Stalin, because she made 400 rubles and fulfilled 170% of her quota.  Another wrote to thank Stalin for her son's happy childhood.  I'll read from the letter about what happened to her son.  It seems that her son, a schoolboy, visited Sverdlovsk on a class trip for free.  That's all.  People were ready to thank the authorities for the smallest of things.  That's how we were taught.

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