INTRODUCTION
361
last
year.
8
To establish
his
credentials with Soviet readers Koche–
tov has written a "zubatovist" novel which will shortly appear in
Znamya.
In an excerpt which has already been published, the
hero of the novel describes an episode that happened at the out–
break of the war when he was a minor Party official in a town
on the Soviet-Lithuanian frontier.
As
the local headquarters of
the N.K.V.D. hastily burn their archives before the evacuation,
he has the unique experience of being shown the file on himself
by an acquaintance who works there. The file contains forty de–
tailed denunciations written by a man whom he had until then
always regarded as
his
best friend .
It is not certain that the re-emergence of Kochetov, which
could scarcely have happened without strong official support, is
a sign of some impending regression in Soviet literature. The
most likely explanation is that the Party wishes to restore some
balance between the two camps which now for the first time
since the 'twenties almost openly exist among Soviet writers.
There is even a clear identification of certain journals with both
sides: the monthlies
Novy Mir
and
Yunost
and the bi-weekly
Literary Gazette
are on the whole "progressive," while
Neva
(and henceforth, presumably,
Oktyabr)
and the bi-weekly
Literatura i Zhizn
are "reactionary." The progressives, now over–
whelmingly strong in numbers, are, it is no doubt considered,
best kept in check by having the threat of total reaction always
hanging over them. This is a better and more intelligent way of
imposing restraint on them than by gross administrative interfer–
ence. Whether the Party will continue to tolerate this unprece–
dented "two-camp" situation or whether it will find itself com–
pelled (much of course depends on the international situation)
to arbitrate decisively in favor of one side or the other side, re-
9. Just before his death Panferov completed a novel,
In the Name of the
Y oung,
which was attacked for its near-pornographical elements. The
writer of these lines, who was Panferov's host during his month's visit
to England in 1958, is introduced at one stage, under the thinly dis–
guised name of "Mister Wood,"
in
the role of an unsuccessful pimp.
