TRANSMITTAL SLIP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01446R000100060012-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 18, 1998
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: November 4, 1958
• Content Type: FORM

Approved For Release 1999/09/08 : CIA-RDP80-01446R000100060012-8
25X1A5a1
TRANSMITTAL SLIP
DATE
4 Nov 58
TO: Mr. Robert Amory, Jr.
ROOM NO.
BUILDING
354
Admin
REMARKS:
The attached comments of
were prepared at our request
in one day. As a quick reaction to a
current crisis, they indicate, in our
judgment, the depth of his knowledge
and insight. We are eager to get the
benefit of his thought and research in
support of our longer range studies.
011W
DB D
FROM: Chief, SRS/DDI
ROOM NO.
BUILDING
EXTENSION
304
I 2210 E St
2455
I FORM O 2A I REPLACES FORM 36-8 GPO: 1957-0-439445 (47)
WHICH MAY BE USED.
25X1A5a1
Approved For Release 1999/09/08 : CIA-RDP80-01446R000100060012-8
 Approved For Release 1999/09/08 : CIA- P80-01446R000100060012-8
4 November 1958
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
THROUGH: Deputy Director/Intelligence
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SUBJECT:
Comments of
25X1A5a1
1.
The attached comments were prepared on short notice
2.
The views fit in with our memorandum of 30 October
1958, but go considerably further. We agree that the role of the
Tashkent writers conference is very important, and that the pend-
ing Congress of Soviet Writers will be a major event in the buildup
of the 21st Party Congress in January.
3. The suggestion in paragraph 7 may seem rather extreme,
but it is worth pondering. We would be inclined to assume that the
Sov~:et leaders had reckoned for some time with the possibility of a
Nobel Prize award for Pasternak, and had prepared a powerful
campaign to cope with it. Vilification has been a classic weapon
against dissident intellectuals, especially in France and Italy, and
has generally had a much more devastating effect on the victim and
on other Communist intellectuals than the Free World usually attri-
bute s to it.
4. L'Unita and L'Humanite" have strikingly soft-pedaled
the affair, reflecting the sensitivity of the French and Italian CPs
to the problem of the dissident intellectuals. Nevertheless, even
here, the Kremlin is probably not greatly concerned by the adverse
reactions which its brutal action will arouse, and probably antici-
pates that a tightening of the party discipline will result.
5. It occurs to us that the role of Italian publisher Feltrin-
elli in this whole affair is rather dubious, and might deserve closer
investigation by the Agency. 25X1A9a
-A ck
G_~._. c7:? ES S
AbP ed Foej Iea ~; ~ 9/09/08 : D .arr: `~1FtE~wl~'rrER: ?P86-1604"M&060012-8 :?
 Approved For Release
25X1A5a1
Comments of
P80-01446 R000100060012-8
3 November 1958
on the Pasternak Case
1. The Pasternak case should be examined exclusively in its
relation to the CPSU general political line.
2. Pasternak is the last prominent representative of the group
of Russian literati influenced by the West (Blok, Gorki, Tolstoi, Essenin,
etc.). Pasternak's distinguishing features reflected in his literary art
are Christian humanism, individual idealism, and personal independence.
Pasternak`s influence on Soviet literature has been considerable and was
on the ascendant.
3. Should Pasternak be evicted from the USSR, this would signify
a return of the CPSU to Lenin-Dzerzhinski methods applied in 1921-24
toward a number of Russian writers and scientists (Bunin, Berdyaev,
Melgunov, etc.). The only difference in the two instances is that at present
the decision is ascribed to the "anger of the people. "
4. The general strategy of the Lenin-Stalin period was founded on
the principle of the shift of the world center of the revolution from the West
to Russia. At the present stage the CPSU in view of the continued revolu-
tionary trend eastwards is making every effort to retain its vanguard posi-
tion as a leader of World Communism supported by the revolutionary poten-
tials of Asia and Africa.
5. In order to achieve this objective it is necessary for CPSU to
present the USSR as a center of Eastern (Asiatic) literature and art and to
give the peoples of the East a more prominent position in the cultural field.
The Tashkent Asia and Africa Writers' Conference (October 7-13, 1958)
formulated theoretical premises for the enunciation of a principle that the
culture of the East is superior to that of the West. The pending Third
Congress of Soviet Writers may draw further conclusions from these
premises.
6. The Pasternak case is planned to serve as a warning to Soviet
writers and artists still oriented toward Western culture. The tactical
"thaw" period of 1953-1957 has apparently weakened internal discipline
in the ranks of Soviet "art workers" and the Leninist principle of "Party
subjugated science and art" may have lost in effectiveness.
Approved For Release 1999/ 1446R000100060012-8
 Approved For Release 1999/09/08 : CIA-RDP80-01446R000100060012-8
J!M
7 The granting of the Nobel prize to Pasternak comes at a
most suitable moment as far as the CPSU is concerned and it might
prove interesting to verify whether and to what extent it may have been
directly or indirectly inspired by Moscow.
Approved For Release
80-01446 R000100060012-8