RUSSIA THE VIEW FROM LENIN HILLS ABOUT A MONTH AGO, SOON AFTER 
NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV TOUCHED OFF A GENERAL CRACKDOWN ON MODERN ART (TIME, 
DEC . 14), SEVERAL HUNDRED SOVIET ARTISTS AND WRITERS WERE ABRUPTLY 
SUMMONED TO THE MODERN, GLASS-WALLED RECEPTION PALACE AT LENIN HILLS, ON 
THE OUTSKIRTS OF MOSCOW . KHRUSHCHEV HIMSELF, IT SEEMED, WANTED TO 
HEAR WHAT POETS AND PAINTERS THOUGHT OF THE PARTY LINE ON 
AVANT-GARDE ART . THE ARGUMENT RAGED FOR FIVE HOURS, FAR INTO 
THE NIGHT, AND INCLUDED SEVERAL REMARKABLY FRANK EXCHANGES WITH THE SOVIET 
RULER . ONE OF THE FIRST TO SPEAK UP WAS AGING 
JOURNALIST-PROPAGANDIST ILYA EHRENBURG, 71 . DEFENDING A CEZANNE-LIKE BLUE AND PURPLE 
CANVAS CALLED FEMALE NUDE, DONE BY RUSSIAN PAINTER ROBERT FALK IN 
1922, WHICH ART CRITIC KHRUSHCHEV HAD DERIDED, EHRENBURG SAID : " 
YOU AND I, NIKITA SERGEEVICH, ARE GETTING ON AND HAVEN'T GOT 
MUCH TIME LEFT . BUT FALK'S PAINTING WILL LIVE AS LONG 
AS THERE ARE LOVERS OF BEAUTY . " NEXT, ABSTRACT SCULPTOR 
ERNST NEIZVESNTY, WHOSE WORK ALSO HAD BEEN ATTACKED BY NIKITA, TOOK 
THE FLOOR . " YOU MAY NOT LIKE MY WORK, COMRADE 
KHRUSHCHEV, " THE SCULPTOR SAID, " BUT IT HAS THE WARM 
ADMIRATION OF SUCH EMINENT SOVIET SCIENTISTS AS KAPITSA AND LANDAU . 
" RETORTED KHRUSHCHEV SCORNFULLY : " THAT'S NOT WHY WE ADMIRE 
KAPITSA AND LANDAU . " NEIZVESNTY FELL SILENT, BUT OFFICIAL KREMLIN 
POET EVGENY EVTUSHENKO ROSE TO HIS FRIEND'S DEFENSE . " HE 
CAME BACK FROM THE WAR WITH 14 BULLETS IN HIS BODY, 
" SAID EVTUSHENKO, " AND I HOPE HE WILL LIVE MANY 
MORE YEARS AND PRODUCE MANY MORE FINE WORKS OF ART " 
AS PEOPLE SAY, " SHOT BACK NIKITA BRUTALLY, " ONLY THE 
GRAVE CORRECTS A HUNCHBACK . " EVTUSHENKO MANAGED A BRAVE REPLY 
: " I HOPE, COMRADE KHRUSHCHEV, WE HAVE OUTLIVED THE TIME 
WHEN THE GRAVE WAS USED AS A MEANS OF CORRECTION . 
" THE AUDIENCE WAS STUNNED, THEN BURST INTO APPLAUSE ; EVEN 
KHRUSHCHEV SHEEPISHLY JOINED IN . EVTUSHENKO'S DISPLAY OF COURAGE DID NOT 
LAST LONG . TWO WEEKS AFTER THE LENIN HILLS MEETING, THE 
PARTY'S IDEOLOGICAL BOSS, LEONID ILYICHEV, CALLED IN THE POET AND A 
NUMBER OF OTHER YOUNG INTELLECTUALS FOR AN ATTITUDE TALK . ILYICHEV 
WAS ESPECIALLY ANGRY OVER EVTUSHENKO'S POEM BABI YAR, WHICH CONDEMNED SOVIET 
ANTI-SEMITISM AND WHICH HAD JUST BEEN ENTHUSIASTICALLY RECEIVED IN A NEW 
SYMPHONIC SETTING BY COMPOSER DMITRY SHOSTAKOVICH . CULTURAL COMMISSARS QUICKLY CANCELED 
FURTHER PERFORMANCES OF THE SYMPHONY . AS FOR THE POEM, SAID 
ILYICHEV, IT SHOULD BE CHANGED TO INCLUDE AN ATTACK ON WEST 
GERMANY . AFTER A SLEEPLESS NIGHT, EVTUSHENKO AGREED TO " IMPROVE 
" BABI YAR . 