[Russian Revolution footage]

[bell] November 7th, 1967, Red Square in Moscow. The Soviet Union celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Bolevik Revolution. The seven days that shook the world and altered the course of world history for Russia and her rulers. A day of remembrance. [bell] Born in Germany, he spent most of his life in England. He never lived in Russia, but his thinking lives there yet. His name, Carl Marx. His vision was narrow and fanatic and in some ways totally [music] unrealistic, but it was intense. In 1848, Markx and a fellow Prussian named Angles wrote a small book that would have a great effect on world history. Its opening words were grimly prophetic. A spectre is haunting Europe. The spectre of communism. 70 years will pass before the spectre strikes and communism takes root in Russia, a land of grinding poverty and smoldering unrest at the turn of the 20th century. The people have suffered under 500 years of autocratic rule. And now the end and the beginning are come for Russia and her people. Zar ignored the unrest of his subjects at a time when it can [music] no longer be ignored. Russia's involvement in World War I undermines the decaying structure [music] of the Tsarus regime. And in March, it flies in triumph and Moscow becomes the headquarters of international communism. Led by Lenin, the Bolsheviks consolidate their power and strengthen their control over Russian life. And at his side, Lenon has a disciple of his own, a young man named Joseph Stalin. In January 1924, Lenin dies. Before his death, he writes that Stalin has grabbed enormous power and has used it roughly. But it is from Lenin that Stalin has learned his ruthlessness, and history will prove him again and again an apt pupil. In his last testament, Lenin condemns Stalin. He has learned too late that Azi's up and cominging communist just appointed party boss for the Moscow district Nikita Kruch. There are elections from time to time with everyone compelled to vote. The people have but one choice of candidates, the slate put forward by the Communist Party. [bell] and prime Stalin objective is to industrialize Russia. As years pass, much is achieved toward this goal, but at a harsh price to the people of the country. Reliable estimates place the number of slave labor casualties at 15 to 20 million people. Lenin had given the farmers some freedom to gain their support. Now in control, Stalin reverses this. The farms are collectivized. Objections are eliminated by eliminating those who object. They too number in the millions. Stalin needs industrialization to Russia. And yet the long range plans of the communist leaders are actually helped by the war and the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany. The USSR comes out of the struggle with a stronger military establishment. Stalin is more firmly in power than ever. Sharing the spotlight is Nikita Krushchev, whose star is still rising in the Communist Polit Bureau. After World War II, communism takes over Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. But Russia is not to remain the only great political power in the communist world. By 1949, bitter civil [music] war in China is coming to an end with the Chinese Communists in control. [bell] Mount Satum. March 1953. Joseph Stalin is dead and once again the political push and pull for power gets underway. Melenov becomes premier and no dramatic change is immediately apparent. But a shrewd jockeying for position is going on in the years that immediately follow. From his position in the party secretariat, Nikita Kruch is busy building himself up for the premiership with Buganin who will hold the office briefly before him. Rusev is seen all over the world. He travels as Stalin never did. A roving jovial ambassador for communism. By 1958, the working and planning have paid off. Nikita Kushchev holds the two key posts of first secretary to the party and premier of Russia. [music] He establishes himself as the master of the cold war technique, the architect of the peaceful coexistence line. and peaceful coexistence means less tension for the moment in relations with the free world. Kushchoff visits and tours the United States. He also attends a major meeting of the United Nations [music] and makes it clear that he believes that the communist world can bury the West without resorting to large-scale warfare. peaceful coexistence. It is Kushchoff's term, his invention, and to the extent that it serves communist aims, he means it. But in 1962, peaceful [music] coexistence is interrupted when reconnaissance photographs uncover [music] Russian supplied nuclear missiles in Cuba. Faced with a showdown, Kushchoff has the missiles removed. But had they reached readiness before being discovered, the nuclear threat in the Western Hemisphere would have been very real indeed. Apparently, peaceful coexistence is a highly elastic term. In communist China, Kristoff is denounced as a betrayer of the true Marxist revolutionary [music] teachings and the border between the two nations becomes 4,000 m of dispute. This line shows the extent of China's territory before the conquests of the Russian Zars. China remembers this land as hers. The USSR does not. It is perhaps the greatest amount of territory ever taken from a single nation by another. And to make the problem sharper, with less than half the area of Russia, China has three times the population at home. Inside the Soviet Union, still other problems are piling up for Nikita Crush. On the surface, all appears to be going well. But he faces serious setbacks. The continued failure of collective farming, the widening breach in communist unity, a scarcity of consumer goods. Behind the smiles, there is trouble. Then in 1964 [bell] in the Kremlin, the power again changes hands. But the commitment to communism and its creed remains undened. The faces change, but the challenge remains the military, economic, educational, and scientific. The new premier, Alexi Kosikin, is a recognized [music] expert on industrial problems. Krushche's other job as first secretary to the Communist Party is taken over by Leonid Bre. Here is a new generation. Since Bref played no role in the revolution, he grew up under communism. The two leaders and their country have in 1967 reached a significant milestone. Industrially much has been done. Still there are problems. A Soviet economist said recently, "Among all the developed countries in the world, we have the worst and most backward structure of production. We have as many machine tools as the United States, but only half our tools are working, while the remainder are either not utilized or are in the repair shop. In the cities of the Soviet Union, there is a newer look as in the Lenenrad Metro, a sort of working showpiece of modern metropolitan transportation. Such mass transport is sorely needed because individual transport is scarcer in Russia than in any industrial nation on Earth. Western Europe has some 90 cars for every 1,000 people. The USSR has three. Today, a private Russian citizen can buy a car like this one. It will cost him cash in advance, six years wages if he is the average non-farm worker, and even then there's a waiting list of a year. [music] This kind of demand for consumer goods by the average citizen is a major pressure on communist leaders to re-evaluate their industrial system. The challenge of education is a very real one for Soviet schools must provide training for the skills and talents on which will depend future advances in Soviet science and technology. The facilities in centers of learning are good and getting better. And high performance students from all walks of life find that there is a place for science and technology has paid off for the Russians in the field of space exploration. There is no question that Soviet achievements in space, including a soft landing on Venus, have been significant. Looked at objectively, however, communism has left many of its promises unfulfilled. Its basic premise that economics is the key to all of man's hopes and aspirations has not in 50 years produced a prosperous economic structure of its own. Just the same, the deep determination is there to make it work and to make it the only system on earth. And so it cannot safely be ignored because it is a concept that for half a century has animated millions of people and still continues to do so. The Screen News Digest is brought to you by your friends and neighbors of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. BG&E providing natural gas and electric power for the homes, businesses, and industries of growing California.