In his brief address, heard with intense attention and interrupted by stormy applause, Comrade Stalin spoke of the brilliant successes achieved by Soviet women in all fields of industrial, cultural, and scientific work, and in such a difficult field -- one that had seemed inaccessible to women -- as aviation. In all these endeavors, the Soviet woman, in the favorable atmosphere of socialist society, now stands alongside men and in many cases surpasses them.

Comrade Stalin further warned of the need for special caution and care with the most precious thing we have -- human lives, and especially the lives of our brave, sometimes recklessly brave, hero-aviators. These lives are dearer to us than any records, however great and resounding those records may be. Therefore, in safeguarding the lives of our heroes, the peace and happiness of their families, the party and the government will be extremely strict in granting aviators' requests for permission to undertake record-setting dangerous flights, and will permit such flights only in rare and exceptional cases.

Noting the valiant work of the conquerors of the North, Comrade Stalin saluted I.D. Papanin and the close-knit family of polar aviators.

Congratulating Comrades Sakharov, Burlakov, Romanov, Derkunsky, Tikhonov, and others, who skillfully located the crew of the "Rodina" in the taiga and immediately rendered them assistance, Comrade Stalin proposed a toast to the rank-and-file Soviet aviators, who are the mainstay and hope of our glorious Soviet aviation.

Stormy ovations accompanied Comrade Stalin's words, full of care and attention for the advanced and courageous Soviet people.

Pravda. October 28, 1938.