Russian propaganda doesn’t overlook a thing — it is even directed against Christmas. Says Khrushchev: “There is no room in the modern Soviet for the religious superstitions which give meaning to the observance of Christmas.”
A milestone in the Soviet onslaught on the Christmas joys of normal childhood was reached in the mid-1950s, when the Ministry of Light Industries for captive Eastern Europe decreed that “Children’s toys may be produced for propaganda purposes only . . . dolls, teddy bears, and other toy animals must be dressed in uniforms of the Communist Party army, police, or organized labor groups.”
The toy makers marketed an ideological game called “Paths to Peace,” which was widely distributed at Christmas time in public halls and schools by Father Frost, the Red substitute for Santa Claus.
The tools of the game consisted of a map of the globe and six dice carved with colored peace doves. If, after a player cast his dice, he reached the capital of “People’s Democracy”—a Red-controlled country such as Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia — he won a point. But if he reached a Western capital, he lost all his points. He was even worse off if he landed in Washington, D.C. — he was thrown out of the game!
Long a harassed refugee from Communist rule in Eastern Europe, Christmas is making a comeback in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. In Romania and in Bulgaria, however, it has never emerged from the pall of Stalinism.
But even at the peak of Stalin’s rule, the Party did not attempt a direct all-out assault on Christmas. The technique was to divert attention from it by splitting up its symbols and ceremonies between Stalin’s birthday on December 21 and New Year’s Day, with Christmas an ordinary working day in between. Even today no decorative signs of the season are visible behind the Iron Curtain.
As the Soviet answer to Santa Claus, Father Frost is a flat-stomached male athlete, sometimes bearded but mostly not, whose muscularity is demonstrated by the fact that he can drive his red sleigh apparently with greater skill than the mystical “eight reindeer.” His main work, that of distributing gifts to the children, takes place on New Year’s Day as a symbol of Soviet generosity toward the satellites.
The Soviets will doubtless continue trying to put a “frost” on Christmas in the satellite countries, but the forces for truth as the Free World’s radio broadcasts and the undying spirit of freedom among the conquered peoples show signs of thawing the cold front presented by the Iron Curtain—even on Christmas Day!!