OF FIRS, FLIES & FEARS THAW WAS IN THE MOSCOW AIR LAST 
WEEK, MELTING THE FIRST THIN LAYERS OF SNOW AFTER THE LONG 
MONTHS OF WINTER . BUT TO THE 500 WRITERS, MUSICIANS, PAINTERS 
AND POETS GATHERED IN THE KREMLIN'S SVERDLOV HALL LAST WEEK, THE 
CHANGING SEASON OUTSIDE ONLY UNDERSCORED NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV'S WORDS OF WARNING SHOUTED 
FROM THE PLATFORM . KHRUSHCHEV'S DECREE TO RUSSIA'S INTELLECTUALS : NEW 
IDEAS IN RUSSIA MUST REMAIN IN THE DEEP FREEZE INDEFINITELY . 
" ONE HEARS, " CRIED NIKITA IN HIS 2FHOUR BLAST, " 
THAT THE TIME HAS COME FOR LAISSEZ FAIRE, THAT THE REINS 
OF GOVERNMENT HAVE BEEN LOOSENED . . . THAT EVERYBODY CAN 
DO AS HE PLEASES . " NO ! THUNDERED KHRUSHCHEV . 
" THE PARTY IMPLACABLY COMES FORWARD AGAINST ANY IDEOLOGICAL VACILLATION . 
THERE WILL NEVER BE ANY ABSOLUTE POLITICAL FREEDOM, NOT EVEN UNDER 
COMPLETE COMMUNISM . " TAKE YOUR CHOICE . TO RUSSIA'S RULER, 
IT HAD BECOME ALL TOO CLEAR THAT THE RECENT FLOOD OF 
ARTISTIC EXPRESSION POETRY READINGS BEFORE MASS AUDIENCES, EXHIBITS OF MODERN PAINTINGS, 
JAZZ IMPORTED FROM ABROAD, BOOKS AND ARTICLES ABOUT THE STALIN TERROR 
WERE BECOMING DANGEROUS CARRIERS OF ALIEN WESTERN IDEAS, SHAKING THE FOUNDATIONS 
OF COMMUNITY SOCIETY . DESTALINIZATION, TOUCHED OFF BY NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV HIMSELF 
AT THE 20TH PARTY CONGRESS IN 1956, HAD GONE TOO FAR 
. NIKITA SPARED NO GROUP IN THE RESTLESS AUDIENCE . WRITER 
ILYA EHRENBURG, 72, DREW SCORN FOR THE TITLE OF HIS 1954 
NOVE, THE THAW, WHICH, SAID NIKITA, SUGGESTS POLITICAL " IMPERMANENCE AND 
INSTABILITY . / AS FOR EHRENBURG'S MEMOIRS, WHICH HAVE BEEN RUNNING 
IN THE LITERARY JOURNAL NOVY MIR, KHRUSHCHEV REMARKED CAUSTICALLY, " ONE 
NOTICES THAT HE DEPICTS EVERYTHING IN GRIM TONES . " KHRUSHCHEV 
WARNED THE VETERAN EHRENBURG AGAINST " SLIPPING INTO AN ANTI-COMMUNIST POSITION 
. " THEN KHRUSHCHEV TURNED ON YOUNG POET EVGENCY EVTUSHENKO : 
" HE SHOWS VACILLATIONS, INSTABILITY OF VIEWS . . . I 
WOULD LIKE TO ADVISE COMRADE EVTUSHENKO AND OTHER MEN OF LETTERS 
THAT THEY SHOULD NOT SEEK CHEAP SENSATIONALISM . " EVERYONE WAS 
AWARE, NIKITA ANNOUNCED, THAT EVTUSHENKO RECENTLY TOLD A PARIS AUDIENCE THAT 
HIS POEM, BABI YAR (WHICH DREW FIRE FROM THE KREMLIN), HAD 
BEEN " CRITICIZED BY DOGMATISTS . " SUCH BEHIND-THE-BACK REMARKS IN 
FOREIGN COUNTRIES WILL NOT DO, HINTED THE PREMIER : " IF 
THE ENEMIES OF OUR CAUSE BEGIN TO PRAISE YOU FOR WORKS 
CONVENIENT TO THEIR PURPOSE, THEN THE PEOPLE WILL JUSTLY CRITICIZE YOU 
. SO CHOOSE WHAT SUITS YOU BEST . " LOVE FOR 
TREES . KHRUSHCHEV DESCRIBED WITH HORROR A RECENT JAZZ CONCERT HE 
ATTENDED ( " ONE WOULD HAVE LIKED TO HIDE, BUT THERE 
WAS NO PLACE TO HIDE " ), EXPRESSED DEEP DISTASTE AT 
SUCH NEW DANCE CRAZES AS THE TWIST ( " SIMPLY OBSCENITIES, 
SOME SORT OF FRENZY, THE DEVIL KNOWS WHAT " ), AND 
TURNED ON THE PAINTERS AND SCULPTORS WITH UNDISGUISED FURY . SOME, 
HE ROARED, SEEK INSPIRATION IN " RUBBISH HEAPS AND STINKING LATRINES, 
" OR / PRESENT PEOPLE IN AN INTENTIONALLY UGLY ASPECT . 
" SUCH A MAN WAS ERNEST NEIZVESTNY, A SCULPTOR WHO HAS 
RECENTLY WON WIDE ACCLAIM IN MOSCOW'S ART WORLD WITH HIS PROVOCATIVE 
WORKS . BUT TO KHRUSHCHEV, HIS WORK WAS JUST A " 
NAUSEATING CONCOCTION . IT IS A GOOD THING WE DO NOT 
HAVE MANY SUCH ARTISTS, " HE SAID . JUST WHAT WERE 
NIKITA'S TASTES ? FOR A MOMENT, HIS IMAGINATION TOOK FLIGHT, AS 
THE AUDIENCE LISTENED NERVOUSLY : " RECENTLY I WAS WATCHING THE 
SUN RISE ON A FOREST COVERED IN HOARFROST . I SAID 
TO THOSE WITH ME : " LOOK AT THOSE FIR TREES, 
AT THEIR ATTIRE, AT THOSE SNOWFLAKES GLISTENING IN THE RAYS OF 
THE SUN . HOW WONDERFULLY BEAUTIFUL THAT IS ! ' YET 
THE MODERNISTS AND ABSTRACTIONISTS WANT TO PAINT THESE FIR TREES WITH 
THEIR ROOTS IN THE AIR, AND THEY SAID THIS IS NEW, 
PROGRESSIVE ART . " TIME TO SHUT UP . RUNNING THROUGH 
HIS SPEECH WAS THE CLEAR SUGGESTION THAT KHRUSHCHEV FELT HIS OWN 
ROOTS WERE IN DANGER . TOO MANY OF THE INTELLECTUALS WERE 
DEVOTING THEIR WORK TO EXPOSURE OF THE EXCESSES OF TERROR IN 
THE STALIN ERA WHICH WAS STRIKING PRETTY CLOSE TO HOME, SINCE 
KHRUSHCHEV HAD BEEN STALIN'S HENCHMAN THROUGHOUT THAT PERIOD . " THE 
QUESTION IS SOMETIMES ASKED, " NIKITA ADMITTED, " DID THE LEADING 
PEOPLE OF THE PARTY KNOW ABOUT THE ARRESTS AT THE TIME 
? YES, THEY KNEW . BUT DID THEY KNOW THAT COMPLETELY 
INNOCENT PEOPLE WERE BEING ARRESTED .? NO, THEY DID NOT KNOW 
. " ANYONE FAMILIAR WITH NIKITA'S 1956 DESTALINIZATION SPEECH TO THE 
20TH PARTY CONGRESS KNEW THIS TO BE A LIE, FOR HE 
HAD OPENLY DISCUSSED STALIN'S MURDEROUS POLITICAL PURGES OF THE 1930S . 
NOW, HE SAID, WAS THE TIME TO SHUT UP ABOUT THE 
DARK CHAPTERS OF HISTORY . " ALL ATTENTION IS BEING ONE-SIDEDLY 
CONCENTRATED ON LAWLESSNESS AND THE ABUSE OF POWER . HERE ONE 
NEEDS MODERATION . IF ALL WRITERS BEGAN TO WRITE ONLY ON 
THIS TOPIC, WHAT SORT OF LITERATURE WOULD THERE BE .? WHO 
WOULD DASH FOR IT ? FLIES, ENORMOUS FAT FLIES . EVERY 
SORT OF BOURGEOIS SCUM FROM ABROAD WILL CRAWL TOWARD IT . 
" WHEN KHRUSHCHEV'S SPEECH WAS OVER, THE STUNNED AUDIENCE LEFT THE 
HALL WEARING THE OLD, FAMILIAR STONY STARES OF STALIN'S DAY . 
IT WOULD BE HARD TO FORCE THEM ALL INTO PUBLIC RECANTATIONS 
; IN FACT, A SURPRISING NUMBER STAYED SILENT . BUT SURE 
ENOUGH, SOME CAVED IN QUICKLY TO THE CULTURAL PURGE . WITHIN 
48 HOURS, THE MOSCOW WRITERS UNION HAD OUSTED ITS LIBERAL CHAIRMAN, 
POET STEPAN SHCHIPACHOV, AND REPLACED HIM WITH A REGIME TRUSTY . 
AND AS FOR HAPLESS ERNEST NEIZVESTNY, THE SCULPTOR DENOUNCED PERSONALLY BY 
NIKITA, HE SOON SHOWED UP IN PRAVDA WITH AN OBEDIENT STATEMENT, 
HAILING THE " MARXIST-LENINIST WORLD OUTLOOK " AND PROMISING TO " 
WORK MORE, BETTER, MORE IDEOLOGICALLY, MORE EXPRESSIVELY . 