In 1929 a brief spell of relative economic prosperity gave way
to a full-blown crisis. The Depression as a phenomenon was nothing new
as things like this happen about once in a decade. But what happened in
1929 was in many respects absolutely out of the way. Industrial production
not merely contracted, as it did before, but was actually thrown back to
where it was at the turn of this century. It also sent unemployment sky-high
and even in the world's richest country, the United States, the unemployed
subsisted on a meager ration of just one plate of soup a day. When the
Great Depression struck on Black Tuesday, few people could imagine that
the downturn would be so protracted and overwhelming… On October 29 intense
speculative trading sent the Wall Street stock market crashing down. Share
prices slid by 10 billion dollars devastating the financial systems of
the United States and the rest of the world. The US banks suspended all
their loans to Europe, Germany stopped paying reparations and Britain and
France put on ice their foreign debt obligations. The world was running
desperately out of cash and business activity had ground to a near standstill.
As a result, international trade fell three-fold thus exacerbating even
further what was already a very serious problem of overproduction.
Vatican, the official residence of the Pope and the nucleus of
the Vatican city-state, the smallest independent political entity in the
world, was established in 1929 as the spiritual center of the Roman Catholic
Church.
In that same year, the construction began of a major fortification
line named after one of its sponsors, the French war Minister Andre Maginot.
Stretching along the French northern frontier with Germany, the line consisted
of a number of fortifications mostly in the form of formidable bunkers
and underground tunnels. The Maginot line boasted powerful anti-tank defenses,
but despite the huge construction outlays and the seemingly impregnable
layout, the Germans easily got around it during their 1940 invasion of
France.
In 1929 the Soviet Union obtained its first planetarium and jazz
orchestra led for many years by the hugely popular crooner and actor, Leonid
Utyosov.
Russia's ruling Orthodox Patriarch Aleksy the Second also traces
his birthday back to the year 1929. Since his enthronization in the late
Eighties, Patriarch Aleksy has presided over an unprecedented religious
comeback with numerous churches restored and as many built anew. One of
his peers was the great Soviet athlete Lev Yashin who for 21 years tended
the goal of his native Dinamo Moscow football club. An Olympic and European
champion, Lev Yashin was often invited to play for world and European teams
and has just recently been officially recognized as the best European goalkeeper
of the 20th century.
Russian music lovers have recently been celebrating the 70th
birth anniversary of the outstanding crooner Lyudmila Zykina. Throughout
her long and successful career she has toured in 92 countries, formed the
"Rossia" song ensemble and won countless prizes and honorary
awards. Few people know, however, that this beautiful and talented woman
once was a fine hockey player hooked on motorcycling. Zykina is a truly
inimitable singer who has been equally admired by the Fab Four and the
jazz great Ella Fitzgerald. The brilliant French pantomime actor Marcel
Marceau once told her that: "when people come to your concerts, they
want a bit of Russia…"
I hate to be imposing, but there is one thing I want you to know
before we're finished. Yes, it was in 1929 that our station, then called
Radio Comintern, began broadcasting to the world. 70 years on, the Voice
of Russia World Service airs its programs in 33 languages to 160 countries
across the world. We thank our listeners everywhere for their kind attention
to our programs .
THE 20th CENTURY:YEAR AFTER YEAR series
of historical programs is prepared by Vladimir Zhamkin.
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