In 1935, RCA signed a agreement with Amtorg, the Soviet Union’s foreign trade company, to license its patents and install an electronic television system in Moscow. Two years later, RCA Victor engineer Loren Jones led the installation of the television system, assisted by Waldemar (Wally) Poch and Henry (Hank) Kozanowski.  Jones had visited the Soviet Union briefly in 1931 in an earlier effort to connect the country to RCA's wireless telegraphy network. Jones had a certain facility with languages and no apparent objection to spending nine months in Russia.  Jones produced a privately published booklet in 1938 containing four letters he wrote during his tenure in the Soviet Union, which is reproduced below.  In 1982, he produced another booklet based on these letters and other sources.

Both booklets are reproduced on this website with the kind permission of the late Mrs. Loren Jones and Dr. Dayton Jones.

Page numbers are located at the top of the original pages. Punctuation has been retained from the original, as has spelling.  Jones refers to the city of “Veronej” and “Veronezh,” both variants of Voronezh.

Moscow Impressions

Circulation of any of the derogatory statements contained in this booklet might jeopardize the possibility of my ever returning to the U.S.S.R. Furthermore my company promised the Soviet authorities to avoid all publicity. Therefore this book­let is purely private, its circulation is restricted and. its contents should be regarded as confidential.

Loren F. Jones 1938

(p. 1) A number of my friends have requested copies of several fairly long and descriptive letters which I mailed, from Moscow between July, 1937 and April, 1938. Several of the letters were not mailed in Moscow but were carried outside of the U.S.S.R. in the pockets of friends to escape censorship.

Copies of four of the letters follow. Even though several of these letters were not censored, I tried to be a bit conservative when composing them. They do not tell the whole story.

A few additional comments will be found near the end of this little folder.

The difficulties of procuring accurate information or even general knowledge about economic, living and political conditions in the Soviet Union are considerable. The average tourist to the U.S.S.R, through no fault of his own, learns much less than he realizes. One wishing to get a fairly com­prehensive idea of “what it is all about” must remain in the U.S.S.R. six months or longer, must have a usable knowledge of the language, should have his own automobile and must have business connections of the type which will permit him to establish contacts. Fortunately, my arrangements were such that these requirements were fulfilled.