No 13 Proposals in connection with the launch of the “Vostok” spacecraft with Yuri Gagarin April 11 1961 Dictated N S Khrushchev Pitsunda Tomorrow as stated if everything goes well a spaceship with a man will be launched at 0900 hours Its voyage around the Earth will take an hour and a half and he should land We would like for everything to be safe The day after tomorrow he arrives in Moscow When I left we exchanged views I for example conveyed and the comrades agreed that it is necessary to somehow consider a ceremonial meeting in the government Now Ustinov called me two or three hours ago It was planned for the thirteenth but apparently they succumbed to superstition and say that tomorrow they will be allowed They thought as I was told that they would bring him here I ripped that apart It doesn’t work it’s just poorly explained and poorly understood why here -Because we are on holiday here Therefore I believe that I will go and persuade Anastas Ivanovich and there will be a meeting at the Vnukovo airfield with all the pomp that is possible- radio television a short rally then follow to Moscow to the Kremlin We need to arrange a reception in the Kremlin I didn’t say but I think that maybe we should organize a parade in Moscow on Red Square This is a landmark event I had the thought that it would be necessary to prepare a message from the Central Committee and the government to the people and the party and to all of progressive humanity To note that such a feat has been accomplished by humanity when the development of science has allowed a person to penetrate into space and return Thus development has already begun for human exploration of outer space the penetration of man into space and his safe return It must be noted that we are pleased to inform our people our party about this man of the Soviet Union the socialist Motherland that this is a demonstration of Marxist-Leninist teachings its progressiveness because the former Tsarist Russia which never dreamed of competing with other countries more technically and economically advanced but in a short time the working class under the leadership of the great party of Lenin led by Lenin took power into their own hands and when people who did not understand the progressive phenomenon that was manifested in the accomplishment of the October Revolution and the seizure of power by the working class which many honest people who understood the progressiveness of the revolutionary labor movement but also those who showed some distrust that how can the working class take power into its hands and maintain the status it was not said about the development of science and art but about the preservation And now we are demonstrating in front of the whole world that having taken power into our own hands the worker who mastered literacy knowledge science and not only mastered in order to maintain it at the level that it was but he developed advanced this science and has reached such heights that our country has overtaken all the countries of the world and was the first to break forth into space and the man returned We were the first to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile we were the first to send a satellite to the moon we were the first to send a satellite in the direction of Venus list And now we have already sent a satellite with animals and returned them safely And now the crown of this progressive conquest of space backed by science by technology we have now achieved find the words Something like that Now to turn to this We appeal to progressively minded people to the peoples and governments of all countries that these are the heights that man his mind has now reached and if we now focus our efforts in order to apply our material and spiritual efforts in this direction now for the exploration and not the conquest of space and the disclosure of other secrets of nature in order to put them at the service of humanity and above all for the successful advancement of humanity in the conquest of science to meet the material and spiritual needs of humanity it is necessary to ensure peace Therefore we once again extend our hand to all countries of the world to all governments of the world regardless of the social and political structure of these countries regardless of skin color beliefs and so forth we must put all our knowledge material and spiritual means at the service of mankind and to achieve this we must ensure peace And first of all in order to ensure this peace it is necessary to come to an understanding of the need that in order to ensure peace it is necessary to put an end to the arms race and relying on reason to find the strength and courage to reach an agreement on general disarmament under the strictest international control Repeat what I said in America We the Soviet people the people who are building socialism and communism had the honor of being the first to penetrate space And we place these achievements and discoveries not in the service of war but not in the service of the good for all people for humanity We believe that these achievements are not only the achievements of our people but also the achievement of all mankind ----------- I believe that this message could be given as soon as we receive news that the spacecraft has landed and the person is in safe condition the statement will be earlier as soon as it is launched Apparently there will be a rally I will need to speak briefly therefore the speech is also in this spirit We will fly not tomorrow but the day after tomorrow Tomorrow he will put himself in order get ready at the spacecraft launch site and the day after tomorrow he will fly to the Vnukovo airfield and a meeting will be organized at the airfield A demonstration should be held on Red Square there is no need for a speech The demonstration is not yet foreseen I am putting this forward now The demonstration needs to be organized a certain number of people must be allocated from each plant factory and institution Written down by N Garilov AP RF F 52 Op 1 D 441 L 1-6 Original Translated by Sarah Dunn for the National Security Archive