Quotations from the video: Ilya Ilf and Yevgeniy Petrov pseudonyms, respectively, of Ilya Arnoldovich Faynzilberg and Petrovich Katayev Soviet humorists, whose intimate literary collaboration at the end of the 1920s and in the '30s resulted in a number of immensely popular satirical works. In 1936, following a tour of the United States Ilf and Petrov wrote Odnoetazhnaya Amerika ("One-Storied America"), a witty account of their automobile trip across that country. Every small city would like to be like New York. "An average American cannot stand abstract conversations and topics unfamiliar to them. They are interested only in the things directly related to their house, car or next-door neighbours. They are interested in the life of the state only every four years - at the time of presidential elections. This is not to say that the lack of spirituality is an organic trait of the American nation. The armies from the North once went to liberate black people of slavery! But it was capitalism that made them like this, it maintains their spiritual indifference. Terrible are the sins of American capitalism, which with brilliant dexterity foists onto the people trashy cinema, radio, and a Sunday paper cocktail, neglecting Tolstoy, Van Gogh and Einstein." "The foundation of life in the Soviet Union is communist ideology. We have a clear goal set for the country. So we - compared to the Americans - are already calmer and happier then the country of Morgan and Ford, the country of twenty-five million cars, the country of hot and cold water, bathrooms and services. When the idea won, Stalin came up with his motto about the technology that saves everything. That's why technology here does not seem like a genie that escaped from a bottle. On the contrary; we are rushing in order to catch up with and overtake the technology of America. America doesn't know what will happen to it tomorrow. We know and can tell you with certainty what will happen to us in fifty years."