A film titled ' Soviet Siberia and Central Asia Americas new gateway to Asia' depicts U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace journey to China through Soviet union. Animated map of the world. A portion of the globe. A U.S. Army Air Forces C-54 Skymaster takes off from Bering Strait and lands in Yakutsk. U.S. Vice President being greeted by Soviet leaders and chairman of council of the people's commissars of the Yakutsk Republic. The Vice President with other leaders look at the original wooden tower left in the city. They stand in front of a library. Civilians in the background. The children meet Vice President Wallace. He visits an agricultural station and talks to the people who carry agriculture in the north.
The Russian Revolution of 1917. Scenes of trench warfare on the Western Front during World War I. German soldiers firing at enemy positions. Ill-equipped Russian troops in the field, and suffering from pestilence and disease. A Russian soldier wearing no shirt and with no equipment is seen scratching at itches on his own body. Starving, sad Russian children are shown back in Russia. Scenes of St Petersburg, Russia in March 1917, during demonstrations for increased bread rations. Responding Russian troops defect and join demands for the transfer of power from the Czar to an elected parliament. A military vehicle loaded with troops is seen rallying and celebrating with Russian people. Minister of Justice in the Provisional Government Alexander Kerensky speaks to a large crowd. Czar Nicholas II, who has abdicated, sitting on a stump, with a few guards behind him. Political prisoners are freed from prisons. Leon Trotsky, speaking from a train platform, upon his return from exile in Canada. Summer, 1917, and Alexander Kerensky becomes Head of the Russian Provisional Government. Kerensky, standing in the balcony of a building, proclaims Russia a republic. A large crowd gathered outside the building. Vladimir Lenin speaking to a large crowd on the Kerensky Republic. View of Farmer workers with shovels in a field. Lenin and Trotsky call for the members of the Farmer Worker Army Union Soviet to work against the Kerensky Republic. View of Lenin speaking against the Republic and for class warfare. Lenin's Bolsheviks riot and seize the railroad stations, telegraph lines, and government offices. A tower column of the Russian monarchy is seen falling to the ground. Events on November 25 after the Russian Revolution: A number of people on a street during elections called for by Kerensky. View of Lenin talking to people in the streets. Lenin's Bolshevik group loses to the SR party. People in the streets near the time of the election. The elected assembly of the Socialist Revolutionary Party is seen meeting under the protection of Trotsky's Red Army which is seen marching near a crowd. Catherine Breshkovsky is seen standing and speaking at the assembly meeting. The elected assembly in session. The assembly refuses to turn power over to the Lenin Soviet. The members of the elected assembly are seen finally giving in to the Bolsheviks and the factions of the SR that have split to support the Bolsheviks. The leaders of the defeated faction of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SR) are seen leaving the grounds of the assembly. In the next scene, a crowd protests against the dismissal of the elected assembly, to no avail.. Lenin speaking to a large crowd. He speaks about the power won and maintained by violence. Views of the demonstrating crowd.
The Moscow summit between the U.S. and USSR in Moscow, Russia. Wyeth family artwork being packed in boxes for a visit to the Soviet Union. Various paintings being packed up. In exchange, some Russian paintings and artwork seen that will be displayed in America. General Secretary of the Communist Party of Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev visits the United States during Glasnost efforts amid Perestroika reforms. People on the streets in what appears to be New York or possibly Washington DC are surprised when he exits his motorcade to shake hands directly with American citizens gathered on the sidewalks.The U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and his wife visiting Soviet Georgia and being greeted by Soviet citizens. Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan side by side at a summit in Washington DC. They stand together on the White House lawn as a band plays. Animation depicts the sharing of cultures between the two nations and the exchange of magazines. View of American rock star Billy Joel and his band performing at a concert in the Soviet Union on New Year's eve. A Moiseyev Dance Company folk troupe from Russia performing a dance in the United States. Cultural exchange between the two countries includes views of a piano performance by Vladimir Horowitz in Moscow and a ballet performance in the United States by the Bolshoi Ballet. Several Russian school children pose for pictures on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. Soviet teenage children enjoy a elevated ropes course in an outdoor program. People sit in an amphitheater with officials at a Chautaqua Talk in 1987. A group of Soviet citizens view a touring "Information USA" exhibit in the Soviet Union that presents American culture. They view the program on an array of television monitors. A young Russian boy speaks in Russian about his interest in learning about American culture. People watch a science exhibition. Astronauts of the USA (NASA) and Soviet Union in a spacecraft. The astronauts open a connecting hatch and shake hands (possibly on a space station). Narrator describes collaboration of the two nations to monitor and study the depleting ozone layer of the earth and how to protect it. A man is shown sunbathing. Officials of the America and the Soviet Union sign an agreement relating to sharing information about safety of nuclear power plants. Soviet representatives and George Shultz, the U.S. secretary of State, inaugurate a new communication system that communicates nuclear dangers between the two countries. A woman in the communication room. Food grain pouring from a harvester, part of what is supplied to the Soviets. Soviet Union tanks and soldiers in Afghanistan. Soviet soldiers walking on a street in Afghanistan in front of a shop. Arrested American journalist Nicholas Daniloff disembarks an aircraft after his release. View of the exterior of the American Embassy in Russia. U.S. marine Sgt. Clayton J. Lonetree being escorted under guard after having been accused of collaborating in a Soviet spy mission at the U.S. embassy in Moscow. Scene inside a Voice of America radio broadcast studio. Sign indicates it is broadcasting in Russian. Close up of meter moving on a radio instrument during the broadcast. Dancers from the Dance Theatre of Harlem performing before their visit to the Soviet Union. A group of Soviet citizens including men, women and children walking outdoors. Mikhail Gorbachev with U.S. President Ronald Reagan at a ceremony on the White House grounds on December 8, 1987.
A picture of Bernt Leuton, a resident of East Berlin East Germany, who fled to West Berlin West Germany. Border guards at the Communist side of Berlin in East Germany. View of Leuton on August 13, 1961 after being shot by an East German guard, after successfully swimming across the connecting canal. He is hauled out by West German guards. A map of the world. Narrator begins to trace history of Bernt Leuton's shooting by recounting prior events in history of Russia and Soviet Union. View of the Winter Palace of Czar Nicholas II, with the Czar and Czarina Alexandra standing on a balcony. Saint Petersburg, Russia on January 22nd , 1905 : Peasants and workers, with their leader Russian Orthodox Priest, Father Georgi Gapon, gathered outside the palace to deliver a petition to Czar Nicholas II. A number of the people carry banners. A picture of Czar Nicholas II. Reenactment of Czar's armed cossack cavalry dispersing the crowd, The words 'My autocracy will remain unchanged' issued by the Czar to which Father Gapon replies that they "no longer have a Czar." Picture of Father George Gapon. Picture of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, and moving images of Lenin speaking. The Czar Nicholas II and his wife, escorted by guards, moving on a path during a ceremony. The Czar mounting a horse and the guards saluting him. A picture of the Czar's wife and hemophiliac son. Picture of Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin, whose occult powers were believed to have kept the Czar's son alive.
Views of industrial development projects and activities during first 5-year plan under Joseph Stalin in Soviet Union. Mining activities, with ore being moved on conveyor belts and open rail cars. view upwards toward piping and towers in a petroleum refining plant. Steel plant and open hearth furnace. Turbine deck in a hydroelectric power plant. Electric transmission lines. Farmer irrigating crops with machinery. Workers shoveling grain out of open bed trucks. Apartment houses under construction. A machinist turning metal on a lathe. Factory workers in a room with pictures of Lenin and Stalin on the wall. Freight trains underway (ostensibly to Siberia). Officials visiting a machine shop, during the 2nd Five Year Plan, in 1935. They present worker's medals to Stakhanovites (superior workers). Views of Stakhanovites conversing and comparing medals at a presentation occasion. View of criminal (political) proceedings conducted in the Great Purge (Yezhovshchina) during 1937-38. Photograph of N.I. Yezhov (called Stalin's executioner, by the narrator). Picture of Stalin walking with Felix Dzerzhinsky, Lev Kamenev, and Gregory Zinoviev, Ca. 1925. The latter two images are circled as narrator says they were quickly disposed of after Stalin seized power. View of trials in which persons are accused of plotting with Leon Trotsky, in 1936, at the Hotel Bristol, in Copenhagen (according to narrator, who notes that the hotel was no longer in operation in 1936). More trial scenes. Image of N.I. Yezhov is shown, again, as narrator states that he was purged in 1938, along with other officials.
Momentary image of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, Russian mystic and advisor to the Russian Imperial family. German troops fighting in no man's land on Western Front in World War 1. Ill prepared and equipped Russian troops clean themselves and clothing of fleas and lice, that cause heavy casualties from typhus. Explosions on front lines. Starving Russian civilians at aid camp. Demonstrations for increased bread rations, in St. Petersburg, Russia, March, 1917, getting out of hand. Tsarist troops sent in to quell the disturbance, instead, join in the revolutionary protests. Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky, member of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, vice-chairman of the Petrograd Soviet,and first Minister of Justice in the Provisional Government, is seen tipping his hat, and later giving a speech. Czar (Tsar) Nicholas II, seen sitting on a tree stump, with soldiers behind him. Russians crowding a square, breaking down prison bars, and releasing prisoners. Dissidents haranguing Russian crowds. Kerensky speaking to crowd. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin returning by railroad train from exile in Switzerland. Leon Trotsky arrives from Canada and is seen speaking to a crowd. Kerensky on a balcony as, head of the provisional government, in Summer, 1917, proclaiming Russia a Republic. Young women marching in parade. Lenin making remarks. Field filled with farm workers (worker army union, AKA Soviet) tilling soil with hand tools. Lenin, bareheaded (holding his cap behind his back) making a speech. An unidentified cathedral seen in background. Bolsheviks stir up unrest. Winged Victory column topples. Bolshevik mobs take over government buildings in Russian Revolution.