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A look at Russian emigrants to the U.S. and their difficulties in adjusting to American society.

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00:00Major funding for Frontline is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
00:05Additional funding is provided by this station and other public television stations nationwide,
00:10and by the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies,
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00:24We think of them as the enemy.
00:26Two hundred and fifty million faceless people of the Soviet Union.
00:33We know very little about them.
00:36We never meet them, or even see them up close.
00:40And yet they are right here, among us.
00:47Yes, the Russians are here.
00:56From the network of public television stations,
01:05a presentation of KCTS Seattle,
01:07WNET New York,
01:09WPBT Miami,
01:11WTVS Detroit,
01:13and WGBH Boston.
01:15This is Frontline.
01:17With Jessica Savage.
01:23Have you ever thought how wonderful it might be
01:25not to have to worry about job security,
01:28education,
01:29medical attention?
01:31Not bad.
01:32But would you in turn sacrifice your right to change jobs,
01:36the right to choose your education,
01:37to move from one place to another at will?
01:40Think carefully.
01:41The people you will meet in tonight's film did.
01:43They are Russians who chose to leave the Soviet Union
01:46and settle here in America,
01:48united by one desire,
01:50a better life,
01:51more freedom.
01:52They now have lived among us from one to ten years.
01:55Those in this film are living in areas of New York and Philadelphia.
01:59They came here from all walks of life,
02:01diverse economic backgrounds in the Soviet Union.
02:04It is important to remember
02:06that these people did not exactly win good citizenship awards in Russia.
02:09However, you will not exactly find them to be outspoken supporters of America either.
02:15Tonight, on Frontline,
02:17the Russians are here.
02:19It's a special film essay,
02:20produced, directed, and written by Alfred Backel,
02:23and narrated by Anita Sanjolo.
02:25This is a rare chance for us to learn something
02:27about the Soviet view of American freedom,
02:30and perhaps to learn something of our own view as well.
02:34They are pilgrims from a mysterious land.
02:45They've come to our shores vindicating our belief
02:48in the values of our democratic society.
02:50It's a wave of immigration which began in 1971,
03:01when the Soviet Union,
03:03for reasons which are still not clear,
03:06let go of some of its citizens.
03:09The official policy allowed Jewish families
03:13to reunite in Israel.
03:14But the Soviet bureaucracy,
03:18unusually lax,
03:19let others with no valid claims slip through.
03:25Of the 250,000 who left the Soviet Union
03:29in the last 10 years,
03:30100,000 now live in the United States.
03:34Half of them on the East Coast,
03:36where they built their communities,
03:39with their lifestyle,
03:41their language,
03:43and their culture.
03:44It's a mini-Russia,
04:01with Russian sounds
04:03and Russian faces.
04:05It has its own music,
04:27its own games and entertainment,
04:34its films,
04:37even its film stars.
04:50People we have never heard of,
04:53like Alina Rybak and Boris Sitchkin,
04:55are known to every Russian,
04:58and will fill a hall of thousands
05:01with standing room only.
05:03playing the song and the West Coast.
05:05It was very rare,
05:08that so much needs to be done.
05:09And we will need to be done.
05:11And we will be the one, dear,
05:15to you, dear Alina Rybak,
05:16I want to dance to you.
05:17Only a few years ago
05:43they were in Russia
05:44living a life of rigid ideology
05:46and daily hardships
05:48a life of food lines and shortages
05:53a few amenities and making due
05:56where luxury goods could only be dreamt about
06:02leaving Russia for America
06:17all things seem within reach
06:19and they found themselves in a world
06:22where the clouds were fur-lined
06:24and it rained salami
06:26a world of American abundance
06:36every weekend a celebration
06:52while they remember Odessa
06:54remember and eat
06:58remember and drink
07:01the freedom of America
07:18the possibilities of America
07:21the only place in the world
07:23where X-rated movies speak Russian
07:25and if it's true
07:27it's not too attractive
07:29then erotica
07:30it's a path
07:32through love
07:34школа
07:44очеловечивания сексуальных актов
07:47нет
07:49нет
07:51нет
07:53нет
07:54нет
07:55нет
08:05нет
08:06нет
08:07нет
08:08нет
08:09нет
08:10нет
08:14нет
08:18the unpleasant parts of life in America
08:20are made easier by friendly authorities
08:23имеет место
08:25на прайкне
08:26okay
08:27we do not
08:28want you
08:30to recommend
08:32or to trust
08:33this chain
08:35don't only use the chain
08:36don't use the chain
08:37don't open the door
08:39with the chain
08:41we always use our people
08:43we look through the door
08:44if we don't know who they are
08:46we don't open the door
08:48we told you last time in fact
08:50that the police don't come unannounced
08:52the telephone company doesn't come unless you call them
08:55we never open the door for anybody we don't know who it is
08:58especially in the summertime
09:00a lot of people have no air conditioning
09:03you wanna leave your door open a little bit
09:05to get some air from the hallway
09:07don't
09:07no good
09:08Gornish
09:09no good
09:10thank you
09:14thank you
09:18thank you very much
09:20thank you
09:22but the relations with the authorities
09:24benign as those are
09:26are not as close as they seem on the surface
09:28I've noticed with every dealing I've ever had with them
09:32that they tend to shy away from us
09:35they're very fearful of us and they back away from the establishment
09:40and they have nothing to do with the police at all
09:43that's a very bad hang up from Russia
09:46we know who they are and the teachers refuse to go to court
09:49I think they have a very hard time understanding or accepting the freedom that is offered in America
09:54and I think that we've had things where things are openly available to them and they might try and go around to circumvent certain things
10:07they were buying forged Russian licenses so that they can go down to motor vehicle to obtain a regular driver's license
10:16and they were paying a lot of money
10:19where if they would just realize all they had to do was go down to motor vehicle
10:24take out a permit form
10:26which is a five dollar fee
10:28take a test and then have a driving test and they would have got a New York City license
10:32and it may have been that in Russia everything was done by payoffs
10:37I'm not an expert about Russians but I believe that that was their system
10:44a system of an underground illegal economy
10:47which Luba now a cafe owner tries hard to explain
10:52you know it's very difficult to explain to you
10:56very difficult
10:57you must live in this country
10:59you must born in this country
11:01what country?
11:02in Russia
11:03if you work
11:07you or your husband in Russia
11:11you can't make a life
11:12you can't buy nice things what you want
11:15it's impossible
11:16if you want
11:18have what you want
11:20you must steal
11:22you make business
11:24monkey business
11:26or black money
11:27or something
11:28you must make something
11:29and that's all Russians?
11:31most of them
11:33they have to learn that in the United States it's not done this way
11:37we do everything
11:39by the book
11:40they have rules, regulations
11:42they have rights
11:44and until they learn that they do have rights
11:47and they have freedom here
11:49it's going to be very very tough
11:51you are all new arrivals
11:54to this country
11:56freedom is what they come for
11:58very short time
12:00right?
12:01three months?
12:02it is what they tell us
12:03it is what we want to hear
12:04can you tell me
12:06how you see freedom
12:08for you
12:09and what it means to you?
12:11freedom
12:13it means
12:14for me
12:15to speak
12:16to speak
12:20to speak
12:21that
12:22that
12:24that I want
12:25and
12:27to do
12:29that I want to do
12:30for me freedom
12:32it's freedom for
12:34work for myself
12:36I think freedom means
12:38you can find all kind of books
12:42starting from
12:43early history
12:44all over the world
12:45all kind of languages
12:48I think
12:49that in this country
12:50I don't be afraid
12:52of my children
12:55of their future
12:57of their life
12:59of their life
13:05but making one's way in America
13:07it's hard to hold on to the ideals
13:11it's too much
13:12you know
13:13it's too much freedom here
13:14who is there too much freedom for?
13:16I'll tell you
13:18it's too much freedom for criminals
13:20too much freedom for young people
13:22I'm telling you
13:24why do you come here?
13:26why I come here
13:27I want to be free
13:31half of the cab drivers in New York City seem to be Russian
13:41they have their own meeting places
13:44their restaurants
13:46where they will drive from miles away
13:48so that they can eat Russian food
13:51see Russian faces
13:54and express Russian thought
13:57why did you come here?
14:01I want to be free
14:03it depends how do you understand freedom
14:08I'm free
14:09I'm free working 20 hours
14:11I'm free
14:12I'm free to go to France
14:14but I have no money
14:15you know
14:16what do you mean free?
14:18free, free, free
14:19it all depends
14:22what do you think about
14:25how do you understand it
14:27it's a big business
14:29it's not easy
14:30all these problems
14:31if somebody tell you
14:32I came
14:33I didn't like regime
14:34I like it here
14:35I don't like it there
14:36each country has
14:38its own problems
14:40and good points
14:41and bad points
14:42but in keeping the score
14:45Russia seems to get most of the good points
14:48mainly for the vast network of free social services
14:51it offers all its citizens
14:53ironically
14:54freedom for all in America
14:56is something they now frown on
14:58too much freedom
15:00over here
15:01too much freedom
15:02because
15:03too much freedom for you too?
15:06not for everybody
15:09for bad people
15:10there's too much freedom
15:11what is this strange notion of freedom?
15:14if you will
15:16have conversation with
15:18Soviet immigrants
15:19everybody will tell about freedom
15:22and
15:23will
15:24answer to you
15:25definitely
15:26I want to be free
15:28exactly
15:29I want to be
15:30I came for
15:31being freedom
15:32but
15:33when you will go
15:34further
15:35Dr. Simkin
15:36is a psychiatrist
15:37and a Soviet immigrant
15:38this person
15:39does not understand
15:41what
15:42is real freedom
15:44because
15:45they never had
15:46real freedom
15:52Soviet people
15:53are in mass
15:54some new creation
15:56as called
15:58homo sovieticus
16:00every child
16:07who is born in Soviet Russia
16:09is
16:10pre-programmed
16:12to be
16:13the soldier
16:14of
16:15great
16:16great army
16:17what is
16:18soviet folk
16:19now
16:20we are
16:21we are
16:22we are
16:23we are
16:24we are
16:25we are
16:26we are
16:27we are
16:28what is
16:31army
16:32army is
16:33the
16:34necessity
16:35to
16:36obey
16:37orders
16:41and
16:42every step
16:43in life
16:44can be
16:45programmed
16:46by
16:47hierarchy
16:48of orders
16:53and
16:54soviet government
16:55and soviet
16:56ideology
16:57build this
16:59army
17:00during
17:01all the
17:02soviet period
17:03of
17:04Soviet Russia
17:05sixty years
17:06of one party
17:07one truth
17:08one voice
17:10a
17:11life long indoctrination
17:16not only to obey orders
17:18but to obey them willingly
17:20every individual is made to feel needed by the state
17:27freedom they learn is the individual's understanding of society's needs and the state taking care of the individual's needs
17:35this
17:37this is the only true free society
17:38this is the only true free society
17:40individual freedom leads to chaos
17:42the capitalistic system
17:44to a lawless jungle
17:46it is the people who have heard these words everyday of their lives
17:50even if they didn't believe them
17:52who are transplanted suddenly to our world
17:55they are bound to feel somewhat frightened and lost
17:58soviet immigrants reveal some of their thoughts and feelings in letters to their newspapers
18:10dear editor
18:13we came here seven years ago and are doing well
18:16but chasing dollars we have lost our child
18:21i look at the face of my daughter and i see a stranger
18:24at seventeen she knows all there is to know about sex
18:28sometimes i don't know where she is or with whom
18:31they call it here privacy
18:35i can think of nothing but my business
18:39i have to make decisions all the time
18:41decisions that may influence my future
18:43and the future of other people who depend on me
18:46american businessmen
18:50american businessmen talk about how they like to take risks
18:53i like risks about as much as i like the kgb
18:58in russia i didn't have to worry about financial risks
19:03dear editor
19:06we all know that in russia there are many problems
19:10but at least there you always know the address to go to with your complaints
19:16the government could punish you
19:18but it could also protect you
19:20here in america we may have fewer problems
19:23but there is no place to go with our complaints
19:25you are nobody's responsibility
19:27you are free and on your own
19:30it was freedom from authorities that they most wanted
19:35ironically it's what they now miss
19:42there are several newspapers which have been established in the west in the last ten years by soviet immigrants
19:48alex gennis and peter vile are journalists on the new american gazette published in new york city
19:54new york city
19:56we got our own democratic experience in the newspaper new american
19:58new american
20:00and we are making the attempt
20:01to
20:02involve
20:07the democratic mind
20:09into the
20:11democracy into the mind of
20:14our emigrent society
20:15but
20:16I think it is very difficult, mostly because, maybe mostly because ourselves.
20:25Sergei Doblatov is the former editor-in-chief of the newspaper.
20:30In Russia, every morning I was coming to my job,
20:36and I knew exactly what to do, what to write, what to think, and what nothing.
20:49Because, for example, in newspaper, every month we received the least directions
20:58about political persons and another situation in the world.
21:08And I knew that Mr. Franco is bad, Mr. Allende is good, and it was very comfortable.
21:21Then we arrived here, and I became editor-in-chief of the Russian newspaper.
21:28And nobody told me what to do, what to think, what to write.
21:36I must decide it every day myself.
21:41And it's interesting, it's normal, but it's not very comfortable.
21:47It's very difficult for Russian people to understand that everybody has different point of view.
21:53To expose negative events is considered freedom.
21:56To show protesting homosexuals and lesbians on television is considered democracy.
22:03It looks funny, but if somebody doesn't agree with an article in our newspaper,
22:14he doesn't try to write the opposite article.
22:18But his first wish is to close the newspaper and put all of us into jail.
22:23It's true. It's funny and it's very sad, but it's true.
22:30The passage to freedom is not only hard on journalists and opinion-makers,
22:35it's a bumpy ride for the ordinary man and woman who encountered dozens of small, everyday difficulties
22:41for which they have not been prepared.
22:46Marina was a museum curator in Leningrad.
22:50Like everyone else in Russia, she was employed by the state.
22:53Here she became a tour organizer and has her own business.
22:57The transition has not been easy.
22:59Well, in Russia it's really secure.
23:03Most of the people, when they graduate from colleges, they get their position.
23:08And most of them, they hold their position to the end of their days.
23:13They don't want to have any changes, even though they're not satisfied.
23:17They don't try to discover, to find out if they're satisfied or not,
23:20because they believe that this is the only way to live their life.
23:24Here in America you have to get adjusted to a new way of life.
23:27If you're not satisfied with your job, go and look for something new,
23:31or try to create something new, that happened to me.
23:34But it's not easy.
23:36Because in Russia you can live a very happy life.
23:41You don't have to fight, you don't have to struggle for that.
23:45And here it's so different.
23:46For example, by the end of last year I felt so great,
23:50and I thought that I had the best business, I was making so decent money.
23:54And I was looking for a new house, and I was looking for something new and different.
23:59And I thought, oh, here is my freedom.
24:01And the new year started, and in one day everything changed.
24:05I was not making money at all, and I was thinking what was going to happen.
24:11If I will spend all of money I have already, who is going to come and tell me,
24:14I have a job for you, come and take it.
24:18So from that point I think it's very difficult.
24:21And that is the reason why so many people who came from Russia to America feel so unhappy.
24:26Even though they have their freedom.
24:29So many people in Russia were dreaming of that freedom.
24:32They were repeating that word hundreds and hundreds of times.
24:34But no one of them really realized what was that.
24:39They didn't think that freedom was freedom to go and look for your job, freedom to go and fight for your future, freedom to go and find something for your kids, freedom to go and decide what are you going to do tomorrow.
24:53So freedom really becomes very terrifying sometimes, difficult for them, and for some of them it becomes a real tragedy.
25:04Because people don't have that experience to fight for their life every day of their life.
25:09Exhausted from the daily struggle, inexperienced in travel and the ways of the free world, most Soviet immigrants are not adventurous.
25:19Many stick together and move in guided tours, even in the cities where they now live.
25:25Marina's tours are many courses on the American scene.
25:29First, there is the inevitable geography lesson.
25:32The things to do in America and places to do them in.
25:58A short but comprehensive discourse on the most important American institution of all, money.
26:14So, dear friends, we are on Wall Street.
26:19Can you stop a bus for a second?
26:21We are going to visit the largest and largest company called Merrill Lynch, the largest brokers, such as Rockefeller, Morgan, American exchange.
26:33But while Marina educates others, she must constantly continue to educate herself.
26:39In America, since I started my business, I don't remember one single day where I would feel happy from the beginning of my day till end.
26:50I would probably feel happy for ten minutes and then I would think, what's going to happen tomorrow?
26:55You have to learn how to deal with the competition and I think competition is the most difficult thing to learn in America.
27:04It's very difficult to learn how to fight on a legitimate basis because all of us who came to this country, from some point we are very aggressive, I find.
27:15And we want to have our business, we want it badly. And when I started my business and a couple of months later someone also decided to do the same.
27:24My first feeling was to go and kill him. And then I had to learn how to do it indirectly, how to improve my business, how to try to be better and how to attract people in a different way.
27:37So here we have to learn how to have different mentality.
27:48But a different mentality is not an easy thing to come by, especially when one was born and grew up in the Soviet Union.
27:56There are only a few lucky ones to whom the new mentality seems to come easily and naturally.
28:07Hi, hi. Yeah, it's me. Would you take a look for one stock in particular? American Exchange Instrument System, ISY.
28:18Michael Kroll has been in the West for four years.
28:21Okay, I'll hold on.
28:22When I came to the United States, I didn't have any ideas what I'm going to do.
28:37I had different education. I was studying technology. I didn't finish it.
28:41Then I was a soldier in the National Army for two years. Then I studied medicine.
28:45In particular, I didn't have any profession. But I have experience in carpenting.
28:49So I became a carpenter here, and I built a few things as a carpenter.
28:55Once I was hired to build a deck in the country.
28:59It was my first big job. I didn't even know how much to charge.
29:03Call me back, okay?
29:05In the evenings, because I stayed in this house, I saw the gentleman who hired me, reading newspaper with these little numbers, and asked him what it is.
29:14He said, it's a stock market report. And I said, what these little numbers mean? He said, surprises.
29:20And if it's plus one, it's plus one dollar. And I said, how come?
29:25So if I buy a thousand shares of this stock today and tomorrow, it's plus two points, it means I made two thousand dollars.
29:31He said, yes. And I said, it's a very easy way to make money.
29:34He said, yes, but if it goes down two points, then you lose two thousand dollars.
29:39So, and I liked the idea. And then I asked him some more questions.
29:45And whatever he said was kind of easy for me to understand.
29:49And I think I even started to give him some suggestions by the end of this conversation.
29:54So I was a carpenter who became interested in the finances. So, and it went out and it's really something I would like to do professionally.
30:04Michael Crowell's office is filled with Soviet immigrants eager to be initiated into the mysteries of American money-making.
30:11Mr. Tarrant, Michael Crowell's same name.
30:21Can I ask you? Yes.
30:23Hello. Hello.
30:25Please sit down.
30:27I'll give you my card so you could always find me.
30:33This is Michael Crowell.
30:35Michael's sales pitch to his customers is a sobering one.
30:38In this rich country, he claims, for lack of good advice, 95% of Americans cannot afford to retire without the help of their social security payments.
30:49Americans, they ask who you work for, what's your company, what's your track record, why you suggest this, why it's good for me.
31:02And if they don't understand something, they try to criticize your professional judgment.
31:09Russians, they're not analyzing what you actually suggested on advising. Once they decide to trust you, they do what you say.
31:22Once they trust you, they will hand over their worldly possessions, often in cash, an old habit from the Soviet Union, which has no banking system and no investment opportunities.
31:39So, let me tell you that 95% of Americans, statistically, cannot afford to retire without social security income.
31:51So, Americans are generally poor when they become old because they did not care a lot to develop some kind of program.
32:03All it takes to correct this sad situation is some savings and a little Russian know-how.
32:09Michael believes that America is the land of limitless opportunities, so wonderful that even Americans do not grasp its wonders.
32:18What the communists have been fighting and killing for, for 60 years, America has achieved and doesn't even know it.
32:25A peculiarly Soviet view of the ideal society.
32:28In America is now, in America is now, communism exists. It's not my opinion, it's a fact, okay?
32:37Communism is very simple to understand. It's idea in which everybody have food, shelter, and can survive, okay?
32:47In America, in America, if tomorrow I will say, I cannot work, I'm tired, I'm destroyed, I'm nobody, I want to be taken care of by society.
32:59So, society have here benefits, social benefits like welfare, Medicare, housing, and people who live on this benefit,
33:12because they deserve so, because they have children, because they're sick, whatever it is,
33:17these people are better off material-wise than middle class and Russian.
33:21So, it means they don't give anything, but they have everything of necessity.
33:29This is a communism. It exists here, as it was planned by Karl Marx.
33:34In Russia?
33:35In Russia, it does not exist, because in Russia you have to work for a living, by law.
33:41If in Russia you don't work, you will be punished, you will be forced to work, to take some type of employment.
33:48The problem with this easy existence that America seems to offer is that it doesn't provide what the Soviet immigrants crave, social status.
33:58In the money-poor Soviet economy, status was linked to title and position.
34:03So, in America, when youngsters find work and parents don't, the self-image of the family is badly shaken.
34:11My father was a good engineer, and I think this experience, what he had, he had almost 20 years in the company, other company.
34:21So, he thought that with his speciality, he will find a job here without any problem, because he's a real specialist.
34:32But here he's unemployed. For two years he doesn't work. He feels, like, insulted that I'm working, and he's not, and I support all the family.
34:46So, for now, well, he doesn't say me much about it, but he feels not good.
34:52So, my mom was chief nurse in the hospital. My mom had a really good job, really good job. Everybody liked her, and she was proud of what she was doing.
35:07She was working with people.
35:08She, it's really hard to explain, but she did something good. Here she can't, she can't pass the test to be a nurse, even a regular nurse, and it's really turning her down.
35:26It's so hard for them to adjust, because there were something there. There are nothing here. They had power. They were, they had authority. They were respected, and they come here, like, they were managers and bosses, and they had all those people who listened to them and who respected them.
35:42They come here, and they're nothing. They work as clerks, and they work in factories, even though they were engineers. They can't find jobs, because even though they were chief nurses.
35:49If, if, if they knew that it will be like this, like we have now, life, they would never come here.
35:57If mostly people, intellectuals people, know, uh, know before about their situation after one, two, three years in a new country, I think they, they will never leave their country.
36:17Russia.
36:18I, we are, we are from Russia.
36:21Dmitry felt important in Russia.
36:23I was, uh, a big boss in big military club. I was a boss in student club for students. And I was a boss, my last job, uh, in, for, for, uh, big radio factory, radio company.
36:46But, uh, uh, in, for...
36:50what's feeling can has can have a person he get up from the bed in six o'clock in the morning
37:04what i go to do today what i go to do at nine o'clock what i have to do tomorrow
37:13what we will what what will be the day after tomorrow i don't know what's what what will
37:21be happen if we don't we don't have this this our radio station
37:30dimitri and his friends operate without pay a small radio station in philadelphia for russian
37:36immigrant program a meridian больше улыбки пожалуйста больше пожалуйста добрый вечер
37:42уважаемые радиослушатели добрый вечер дорогие друзья в эфире радиопрограмма меридиан сегодня
37:50у микрофонов меридиана анна виноградова иосиф дорфман запахла росой весна на пороге мы свежесть
37:59вдыхаем с дыханием эфира we prepared enjoyed for a hundred thousand people from this our
38:06feeling it's nice if you somebody need us in this feeling for us very important
38:19people 40 45 years and older they cry with us they laugh with us they like us
38:29this calling and callings and letters what we received from the people
38:41it's our life
38:46remembering is another part of their life
38:48remembering russian songs and images
39:00and so they sit and watch the old russian movies they had brought with them
39:05over and over
39:17а годы летят наши годы как птицы летят и некогда нам поглянуться назад
39:35those very russian images
39:58they exist in america too
40:00but only briefly
40:03in the few days of bad weather
40:05in an otherwise pleasant little seaside neighborhood
40:12the real russia is far now
40:15and lives only in the memory
40:17it is not the snows of russia they miss
40:28but a feeling of human warmth and care that they had there
40:39in russia people are very much interconnected with each other
40:47but in this country everybody lives by himself or by herself
40:54if kenny nakliushchev is a philosopher
40:57what shocked me the most was a feeling of emotional coldness of americans
41:05everybody who came from russia feels this thing i personally was prepared to this experience
41:13theoretically but it was absolutely different things to be prepared theoretically
41:20uh and to be prepared emotionally emotionally i was absolutely not prepared for that
41:30in russia uh friendships are uh only real thing people have
41:36in the present it is uh the greatest luxury the greatest treasure we have
41:44this treasure this russian friendship has fallen victim to the capitalist system
41:49in russia it's the friendship of paupers we have nothing we can share with one another
41:56you have a bottle of booze you can share it with your friend it costs nothing except of pleasure
42:02every piece of bread you can cut it in halves two are fed up in america it's more complicated
42:10here it is the struggle for surviving there in russia you can be happy if somebody give you three
42:16rubles which in american currency means means about 30 cents you can buy some booze you can buy some
42:23bread you can be happy for a whole day in america you have to pay your rent you have to pay your bills
42:29you have to pay 300 will be not enough and who can share 300 nobody can therefore friendship here is
42:40a little bit more complicated on the western level our friendship is very close to the drinking
42:49i mean drinking vodka it was instead of our political activities we had another political
43:00activities we have very few money and friendship with vodka was instead of all these things and many
43:11others our best friend maybe was the russian government because russian system helped us to be together
43:20and vodka is the bridge between the people and now in america we have some of us have friends some
43:29all of us have vodka but we don't have russian government but the loss great as it is may have been
43:35worth it especially for these people the artists the painters the writers who had come here because
43:42they really wanted freedom freedom to create to publish
43:47constantine kuzminski is an anthologist of russian literature for the first time in his life he can
44:00pursue his work in peace and safety here rough dada lev halif can now write all the books he had always
44:11dreamt of writing no one will harm him or stop him from publishing them no one though will help him sell
44:20them what did he expect of the west as a writer a poet i hope to be understood by the west but my
44:34possibilities here are as limited as they were in russia there i wasn't allowed anywhere here i am allowed
44:45everywhere but i can't get through here there's masses of freedom and masses of indifference to the
44:56written word in russia the writer is a prophet here no one will listen there's a commercial approach of
45:11publishers they say that american readers don't need my writing how do they know that they don't need my
45:20writing we have a great mission to write to tell about our tragedy russian writers who need russian writers
45:29they don't need them in soviet union and they're quite satisfied if they have let's say one two
45:36threes too much to digest for american consciousness soldier needs in for prose brodsky for poetry well that's
45:46enough that's it and if there come 200 more russian writers they cannot digest their own writers in america
45:56therefore we are not necessary over here america is necessary for us that's another story
46:05america with its free choice and vast possibilities and yet
46:10we thought here where they buy and sell culture where they create fantastic architecture invest money
46:18in everything here is the place where we can invest our gift our talent our ideas and books nothing of the
46:28kind the west is generous in many ways like distributing food stamps to the newcomers but it
46:35will not grant them the one thing they crave recognition what a cult we created in russia of the west
46:47what an incredible cult
46:56the higher the wall the more you wanted to look over it
46:58the more inaccessible the more bitter was the thought that we may never see the west
47:12god what a cult we had created of the west not only were we naive the kgb was naive
47:20if they knew how we'd be treated in the west they would have thrown us out long ago
47:33you see russian poets russian dissident writers are as famous in russia as rock stars movie stars in america
47:42they admire they are adored uh women uh are happy to make love to them friends are happy to supply them
47:50with booze or support whatever here in america nobody needs them there is a lot of other questions to be
47:58sold in america therefore we are an additional question and to recognize this it's not uh much fun and not
48:06much pleasure i actually missed the kgb they paid attention to me they were the first to read my
48:21manuscripts thoroughly it was wonderful to have real attention you know you are not alone
48:37you feel important you feel like a real writer you must be a real writer if they are watching you so closely
48:50and from the safety of his kitchen halif reflects on democracy
48:58how did i imagine democracy in russia no one would grab my manuscript
49:03that no one would try to strangle me that no one would hurt my son that i would be allowed to come
49:13and go and breathe
49:17but here where democracy is for everyone it becomes a circus
49:23imagine a circus which has lions and mosquitoes
49:26and you say that they should both have this democracy
49:32but why why should mosquitoes have the democracy which was designed for lions
49:42they will only misuse it
49:46democracy
49:47what an abstraction it has become for me what a disaster
49:57what a paradox i who was brought up without democracy felt like a real person in russia
50:05here with all the democracy i feel like a victim
50:09a victim of democracy
50:17and it seems as if the totalitarian regimes are right
50:21i am against totalitarian regimes with all my might
50:25and yet when i compare them with this maximum of american freedom
50:30i don't know which is better i don't know which is better i'm lost
50:38it's wild this democracy wild
50:44and so democratically and freely lev halif can now walk into rusica
50:50a bookstore and publishing house who will display his books for him
50:54they will discuss his other books which in this free country the publishing house is free to publish
51:13or not to publish
51:18and the russian readers are also free
51:20they can decide if they want to buy halif's books
51:25or if they don't
51:32they are all free now
51:38they came believing that freedom means a better life
51:42work success
51:45and recognition
51:46they now realize that freedom means nothing
51:51but freedom
51:54they thought that life would be as secure as it was in russia
51:58and free
52:00they know now they have given up every bit of security they had
52:04for freedom
52:06was it worth it
52:09we who never had to make the trade-off are sure it is
52:12many of those who have made it wonder
52:14rights
52:17rights responsibility
52:19freedom
52:21do not mean to them what they mean to us
52:24they never will
52:26they are children of another system
52:29a system which they dislike but which made them what they are
52:35so now they're here
52:38people from another world
52:40trying to cope as best they can
52:43with alien dreams and difficult ideas
52:48was it worth it
52:50who can tell
52:52the price of admission is high
52:53all we can do is make them feel welcome
52:57at the party
52:58thank you
52:59oh
53:00oh
53:01oh
53:02oh
53:03oh
53:05oh
53:06oh
53:07oh
53:09oh
53:11oh
53:13oh
53:15oh
53:17Americans, they don't like us, but at least they don't exterminate us.
53:26You see? That is the basic question.
53:30They allow us to be, to be, to be, to be, and not not to be.
53:38They allow us to be.
53:47My children, my friends, my galsy, where are you now?
54:02I love you, dear, I love you, dear. I love you, dear, I love you, dear.
54:07I love you, dear, dear, dear.
54:09Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
54:13Why, might you ask, are the Russians so critical of our country, and if they don't like it, why don't they leave?
54:26The truth may be that this freedom we hold so dear is a difficult one to comprehend for people brought up in a society that squashes individuality and self-reliance.
54:39We're assuming that people oppressed by totalitarian Marxist regimes want to be free.
54:54They probably do.
54:56But we're also assuming they want our brand of freedom and are willing and able to pay the price for it.
55:02For these people, the price is steep.
55:05The Russians you saw on tonight's film bought themselves a one-way ticket.
55:09When they left the Soviet Union, they were stripped of their citizenship.
55:12There is no going back, even if they wanted to.
55:16And would we really want them to?
55:18They may disagree with us, but whom among us would not guarantee their right to do so?
55:23For after all, is that not what American freedom is about?
55:27Next week, on Frontline, an investigation into a headline story of recent weeks.
55:35Why have more than 350,000 disabled people lost their disability benefits over the past two years?
55:44His name is Calvin Bickham.
55:46His doctor says he's too sick to work.
55:49The Social Security Administration says he's not.
55:52He's not.
55:53The administration has toughened its policy, looking for fraud, looking to save money.
55:59But how fair has it been?
56:01And who's been hurt in the process?
56:05Who decides disability is the name of the program?
56:08It is next on Frontline.
56:11I'm Jessica Savage.
56:22And who doesn't help me?
56:23I probably can't help me.
56:24What do you do about the American freedom?
56:25I want to win a move.
56:27I'm Jessica Savage.
56:28The apologize who we choose not.
56:30positons antich splinter
56:33stitching, meaning he's too אםist,
56:35or gibberish
56:39or就到 the swamp
56:43and brought arms the wrong form.
56:48Let him know who this stuff is.
56:49For a transcript of this program,
56:59please send $4 to Frontline,
57:02Box 322, Boston, Massachusetts, 02134.
57:07Frontline is produced for the documentary consortium
57:10by WGBH Boston,
57:11which is solely responsible for its content.
57:14Major funding for Frontline was provided
57:16by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
57:19Additional funding was provided by this station
57:21and other public television stations nationwide
57:23and by the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies
57:26for over 100 years providing worldwide business
57:29and personal insurance through independent agents and brokers.
57:34For video cassette information about Frontline,
57:37write to PBS Video, Box 8092, Washington, D.C., 20024.
57:48www.mrom
58:04Dinas
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