362
MAX HAYWARD
mains to be seen. For the moment, at
any
rate, there
is
a free
fight between them.
In a passage at the end of
Dr.
Zhivago,
Pasternak says:
"Although the enlightenment and liberation which had been ex·
pected to come after the war had not come with victory, the
presage of freedom was in the air throughout these post·war
years, and it was their only historical meaning."
We have seen that there has indeed been a growth of free·
dom in the years since Stalin's death. The writers have played a
great part in this. In this brief and necessarily inadequate survey
I have dwelt on some of the more unsavory aspects of Soviet
literary history, but I should like to end by saying that the vast
majority of Soviet writers, to whom
this
issue
is
humbly dedi·
cated, have acquitted themselves with honor in a situation which
required more courage, patience, intelligence and fortitude than
could ever be imagined by people who live in more fortunate
circumstances. One day it will perhaps be shown that not only
Russia, but the whole world, is indebted to Soviet literature for
keeping alive, in unimaginable conditions, that indefinable sense
of freedom which is common to all men.
