Defection to the Soviet Union
After Oswald left the Marine Corps in September of 1959, ostensibly to care for his mother, he almost immediately left for the Soviet Union where he attempted to renounce his citizenship. At the age of 19, Oswald thus committed an act which was the most striking indication he had yet given of his willingness to act on his beliefs in quite extraordinary ways.
While his defection resulted in part from Oswald’s commitment to Marxism, it appears that personal and psychological factors were also involved. On August 17, 1963, Oswald told Mr. William Stuckey, who had arranged a radio debate on Oswald’s activities on behalf of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, that while he had begun to read Marx and Engels at the age of 15,
the conclusive thing that made him decide that Marxism was the answer was his service in Japan. He said living conditions over there convinced him something was wrong with the system, and that possibly Marxism was the answer. He said it was in Japan that he made up his mind to go to Russia and see for himself how a revolutionary society operates, a Marxist society.[C7-167]
On the other hand, at least one person who knew Oswald after his return thought that his defection had a more personal and psychological basis.[C7-168] The validity of the latter observation is borne out by some of the things Oswald wrote in connection with his defection indicating that his motivation was at least in part a personal one. On November 26, 1959, shortly after he arrived in the Soviet Union, and probably before Soviet authorities had given him permission to stay indefinitely, he wrote to his brother Robert that the Soviet Union was a country which “I have always considered * * * to be my own” and that he went there “only to find freedom. * * * I could never have been personally happy in the U.S.”[C7-169] He wrote in another letter that he would “never return to the United States which is a country I hate.”[C7-170] His idea that he was to find “freedom” in the Soviet Union was to be rudely shattered.
Whatever Oswald’s reasons for going to the Soviet Union might have been, however, there can be little doubt that his desire to go was quite strong. In addition to studying the Russian language while he was in the Marines, Oswald had managed to save enough money to cover the expenses of his forthcoming trip. While there is no proof that he saved $1,500, as he claimed, it would have taken considerable discipline to save whatever amount was required to finance his defection out of the salary of a low ranking enlisted man.[C7-171]
The extent of Oswald’s desire to go to the Soviet Union and of his initial commitment to that country can best be understood, however, in the context of his concomitant hatred of the United States, which was most clearly expressed in his November 26, 1959, letter to his brother Robert. Addressing himself to the question of why “I and my fellow workers and communist’s would like to see the present capitalist government of the U.S. overthrown” Oswald stated that that government supported an economic system “which exploits all its workers” and under which “art, culture and the sprit of man are subjected to commercial enterpraising, [and] religion and education are used as a tool to surpress what would otherwise be a population questioning their government’s unfair economic system and plans for war.”[C7-172]
He complained in his letter about segregation, unemployment, automation, and the use of military forces to suppress other populations. Asking his brother why he supported the American Government and what ideals he put forward, Oswald wrote:
Ask me and I will tell you I fight for communism. * * * I will not say your grandchildren will live under communism, look for yourself at history, look at a world map! America is a dieing country, I do not wish to be a part of it, nor do I ever again wish to be used as a tool in its military aggressions.
This should ansewer your question, and also give you a glimpse of my way of thinking.
So you speak of advantages. Do you think that is why I am here? For personal, material advantages? Happiness is not based on oneself, it does not consist of a small home, of taking and getting, Happiness is taking part in the struggle, where there is no borderline between one’s own personal world, and the world in general. I never believed I would find more material advantages at this stage of development in the Soviet Union than I might of had in the U.S.
* * * * *
I have been a pro-communist for years and yet I have never met a communist, instead I kept silent and observed, and what I observed plus my Marx’ist learning brought me here to the Soviet Union. I have always considered this country to be my own.[C7-173]
Responding to Robert’s statement that he had not “renounced” him, Oswald told his brother “on what terms I want this arrangement.” He advised Robert that:
1. In the event of war I would kill any american who put a uniform on in defence of the american government—any american.
2. That in my own mind I have no attachment’s of any kind in the U.S.
3. That I want to, and I shall, live a normal happy and peaceful life here in the Soviet Union for the rest of my life.
4. that my mother and you are (in spite of what the newspaper said) not objects of affection, but only examples of workers in the U.S.[C7-174]
Despite this commitment to the Soviet Union Oswald met disappointments there just as he had in the past. At the outset the Soviets told him that he could not remain. It seems that Oswald immediately attempted suicide—a striking indication of how much he desired to remain in the Soviet Union.[C7-175] It shows how willing he was to act dramatically and decisively when he faced an emotional crisis with few readily available alternatives at hand. He was shocked to find that the Soviet Union did not accept him with open arms. The entry in his self-styled “Historic Diary” for October 21, 1959, reports:
I am shocked!! My dreams! * * * I have waited for 2 year to be accepted. My fondes dreams are shattered because of a petty offial, * * * I decide to end it. Soak rist in cold water to numb the pain. Than slash my leftwrist. Than plaug wrist into bathtum of hot water. * * * Somewhere, a violin plays, as I wacth my life whirl away. I think to myself “How easy to Die” and “A Sweet Death, (to violins) * * *”[C7-176]
Oswald was discovered in time to thwart his attempt at suicide.[C7-177] He was taken to a hospital in Moscow where he was kept until October 28, 1959.[C7-178]
Still intent, however, on staying in the Soviet Union, Oswald went on October 31, to the American Embassy to renounce his U.S. citizenship. Mr. Richard E. Snyder, then Second Secretary and senior consular official at the Embassy, testified that Oswald was extremely sure of himself and seemed “to know what his mission was. He took charge, in a sense, of the conversation right from the beginning.”[C7-179] He presented the following signed note:
I Lee Harvey Oswald do hereby request that my present citizenship in the United States of America, be revoked.
I have entered the Soviet Union for the express purpose of appling for citizenship in the Soviet Union, through the means of naturalization.
My request for citizenship is now pending before the Surprem Soviet of the U.S.S.R..
I take these steps for political reasons. My request for the revoking of my American citizenship is made only after the longest and most serious considerations.
I affirm that my allegiance is to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.[C7-180] (See Commission Exhibit 913, [p. 261].)
As his “principal reason” for renouncing his citizenship Oswald stated: “I am a Marxist.”[C7-181] He also alluded to hardships endured by his mother as a worker, referring to them as experiences that he did not intend to have himself,[C7-182] even though he stated that he had never held a civilian job.[C7-183] He said that his Marine service in Okinawa and elsewhere had given him “a chance to observe ‘American imperialism.’” but he also displayed some sensitivity at not having reached a higher rank in the Marine Corps.[C7-184] He stated that he had volunteered to give Soviet officials any information that he had concerning Marine Corps operations,[C7-185] and intimated that he might know something of special interest.[C7-186] Oswald’s “Historic Diary” describes the event in part as follows:
I leave Embassy, elated at this showdown, returning to my hotel I feel now my energies are not spent in vain. I’m sure Russians will except me after this sign of my faith in them.[C7-187]
The Soviet authorities finally permitted Oswald to remain in their country.[C7-188] No evidence has been found that they used him for any particular propaganda or other political or informational purposes. They sent him to Minsk to work in a radio and television factory as a metal worker.[C7-189] The Soviet authorities denied Oswald permission to attend a university in Moscow,[C7-190] but they gave him a monthly allowance of 700 rubles a month (old exchange rate)[C7-191] in addition to his factory salary of approximately equal amount[C7-192] and considerably better living quarters than those accorded to Soviet citizens of equal age and station.[C7-193] The subsidy, apparently similar to those sometimes given to foreigners allowed to remain in the Soviet Union, together with his salary, gave Oswald an income which he said approximated that of the director of the factory in which he worked.[C7-194]
Even though he received more money and better living quarters than other Russians doing similar work, he envied his wife’s uncle, a colonel in the MVD, because of the larger apartment in which he lived. Reminiscent of his attitude toward his superiors in the Marine Corps, Oswald apparently resented the exercise of authority over him and the better treatment afforded to Communist Party officials.[C7-195] After he returned to the United States he took the position that the Communist Party officials in the Soviet Union were opportunists who were betraying their positions for personal gain. He is reported to have expressed the conclusion that they had “fat stinking politicians over there just like we have over here.”[C7-196]
Oswald apparently continued to have personal difficulties while he was in Minsk. Although Marina Oswald told the Commission that her husband had good personal relationships in the Soviet Union,[C7-197] Katherine Ford, one of the members of the Russian community in Dallas with which the Oswalds became acquainted upon their arrival in the United States, stated that Mrs. Oswald told her everybody in Russia “hated him.”[C7-198] Jeanne De Mohrenschildt, another member of that group, said that Oswald told her that he had returned because “I didn’t find what I was looking for.”[C7-199] George De Mohrenschildt thought that Oswald must have become disgusted with life in the Soviet Union as the novelty of the presence of an American wore off and he began to be less the center of attention.[C7-200]
The best description of Oswald’s state of mind, however, is set forth in his own “Historic Diary.” Under the entry for May 1, 1960, he noted that one of his acquaintances “relats many things I do not know about the U.S.S.R. I begin to feel uneasy inside, its true!”[C7-201] Under the entry for August-September of that year he wrote:
As my Russian improves I become increasingly concious of just what sort of a sociaty I live in. Mass gymnastics, complusory afterwork meeting, usually political information meeting. Complusory attendence at lectures and the sending of the entire shop collective (except me) to pick potatoes on a Sunday, at a state collective farm: A “patroict duty” to bring in the harvest. The opions of the workers (unvoiced) are that its a great pain in the neck: they don’t seem to be esspicialy enthusiastic about any of the “collective” duties a natural feeling. I am increasingly aware of the presence, in all thing, of Lebizen, shop party secretary, fat, fortyish, and jovial on the outside. He is a no-nonsense party regular.[C7-202]
Finally, the entry of January 4-31 of 1961:
I am stating to reconsider my disire about staying the work is drab the money I get has nowhere to be spent. No night clubs or bowling allys no places of recreation acept the trade union dances I have have had enough.[C7-203]
Shortly thereafter, less than 18 months after his defection, about 6 weeks before he met Marina Prusakova, Oswald opened negotiations with the U.S. Embassy in Moscow looking toward his return to the United States.[C7-204]