"The younger generation is switching to the English language.....In the course of a score of years, the Russian newspapers will begin to disappear for lack of readers"--from an article by M. K. Stotsky on "The Future of the Russian Press".

What a dismal prediction is made by Mr. M. K. Stotsky concerning the fate of the Russian press in America and of the Russian language, as well! It is painful to think of such a dismal future for the Russian Americans yet he states nothing but the truth, and I agree with him completely.

Ten years of experience in guiding the activity of the younger generation of Russians in America has given me a great deal of knowledge and experience in fighting inertia and indifference toward the study of the Russian language, not only among children, but also among their parents. The parents show little concern over the fact that their children are forgetting the mother 2tongue, and do not even wish to retain their earlier knowledge. We must not forget that in most cases, the child is simply a piece of clay--he is raw material to be molded into form according to the will of the person in whose care he is. Unfortunately for us, our Russian parents in America are surrounded by so many anomalies in their everyday lives that the child's behavior is more often shaped by outside influences, by movies, and other diversions of a similar nature. As a result, the child acquires all the characteristics of a homeless boy or girl. He displays a total lack of discipline, rowdyism, disregard for cleanliness, and, not infrequently criminal traits. The movies all too often play up the gangsters' prowess, the racketeers' cunning, and the crooks' vices; consequently, these people of the underworld very quickly become heroes in the childs' imagination.

The American government, which devotes so much attention to the welfare of children--on paper and theoretically--does nothing in a practical way, and only recently have public protests forced our local, state, and Federal governments to adopt measures toward the censorship of films. The churches 3regarded the problem even more seriously and issued a call for a total boycott of indecent movies.

The child, after switching to the English language of necessity, becomes acquainted with the country of his parents only from second-hand sources, in which case the history and the past of Russia are so distorted generally that one can but wonder from whom or what sources the data was originally taken. Naturally, children who receive such misinformation are affected by it. The child begins to hate everything Russian; he resents Russia, and, finally, becomes ashamed of his Russian origin, and begins to conceal his parentage.

Deprived of the possibility of becoming acquainted with the country of his parents or its literature from original sources, the child's mind is inculcated with all sorts of fairy tales; we old people are forced to protest with a feeling of resentment, because we do not always succeed in convincing the child to the contrary. Let me illustrate what I mean.

Once a child brought me a volume from the Children's Encyclopedia; on page 3,624 there was a picture of a warrior, and under the picture was this caption: "Rurik, the daring Viking, who with his two brothers conquered a great part of Russia in the ninth century."

"Why," said the child, "you told me that the Russians themselves asked the Vikings to rule their country. Now I find out that the country was conquered."

I was compelled to read from some Russian history books in order to convince the child that we do not distort our own history. In the same book on page 3,629, there is a painting by Makovsky, which represents the custom of kissing among noblemen during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The idea for the picture was taken from the book, Prince Serebriany, written by A. Tolstoy.

In the picture, the nobleman Morozov's wife hands a cup of wine to the prince. Under the picture, however, we read the following caption: "The subjection of the peasants lasted longer in Russia than in any other European country, and 5here we see peasants bringing bread and salt to their feudal lord, two hundred years ago, in token of submission."

On page 3,747, there is a picture which represents Russian workers crushing stones with hammers for road paving. Their footgear is bound in rags to preserve the shoes from damage. In the region of the Caucasian mountains sheep skins are used for this purpose. Read what is stated under the picture. "The great mass of the people of Russia are very poor, their despotic and selfish government exacts enormous sums from them in taxes, a great proportion of which is wasted or embezzled. The poverty of the people can be seen from this picture of Russian road-builders at work; the men having to use rags instead of shoes."

In the same book, in the fourteenth volume, space is alloted to a brief biography of Napoleon Bonaparte, and three portraits and included--Nelson, Wellington, and Napoleon--under the caption: "The men who changed the world." Napoleon's biography takes up five pages; his deeds on the fields of battle 6are described somewhat in detail, and accounts are given of the defeats he suffered, but there is not one word of the major and crushing blow which was administered to him by the Russian people, and which was fatal to the French conqueror. There is not even a mention of the role played by the Russian emperor, Alexander I, who actually crushed Napoleon's might.

What is this? Is it envy of Russia or carelessness on the part of the publisher? There are many other examples of lack of knowledge of the history of the Russian people, but even those just cited clearly demonstrate that Mr. Stotsky's prophecies will come true, and that members of the Russian colony should feel as I do about the situation.

How, then, can we help matters? How shall we react to our children's loss of the mother tongue? How shall we prevent this ultimate catastrophe? What shall we do in order to keep our children with us? I think that we can still save the situation; it is not yet too late. Send your children to Russian 7schools.

A powerful organization of fighters for the preservation of the Russian language--Roova--has developed a chain of schools over almost the entire area of the United States--schools where the child hears the mother tongue and the truth about the country of his parents; schools where he is taught to love everything that is connected with Russia, and all that is sacred and dear to every Russian.

I appeal to you, parents! You must send your children to our schools. So far as finances are concerned, these schools are accesible to everyone, even though these are hard times. It's true that you will deprive your child of a few hours of leisure, but you must preserve your children's knowledge of the Russian language; remind them that otherwise these hours would be spent on the streets, or in movies, which will hardly benefit them. Our schools have been in existence for several years and by now the results are clear: You hear Russian speech where you did not hear it before; children read and write well. If you know 8how to arouse the child's interest, he will be attracted to Russian books and to the Russian press.

Thus far, my appeal has been addressed to parents only. Now I want to address those who stand at the head of Roova. It will soon be two years since America recognized the Soviet government. By this act, the existence of 170,000,000 Russians has also been recognized. When the people are recognized, their language is also recognized. The immediate task, then, of Roova is to request the United States government to recognize the Russian language and make possible its study in the educational institutions of America, as is the case with French and German. This recognition will create interest in the Russian language and the Russian children will not have to wonder as to where and how this language can be useful.

They will have a real problem before them: to pass the examinations in Russian in an American educational institution. They will have to discard some other language from the number of subjects required because knowledge of Russian will 9will be taken into consideration by the board [of education].

Then our schools will be more stable; they will have a specific course of study in teaching Russian because their pupils will be eager to prepare themselves for examinations in Russian in American schools. The government of the United States should meet us halfway in this proposal because the country at large will benefit from this step, since it will acquire citizens who speak the Russian language.