40
PARTISAN REVIEW
publication of such Slavophile journals as
Molodaya Gvardiya
[
Young
Guard] and
Nash sovremennik
[Our Contemporary] . The supertotali–
tarian state with all its monopolies and
organs
will always be able to
make use of them and their work . They are being used even now to
frighten off dissidents who are not " pure" Russians and the Western
democratic intelligentsia .
A readership poll conducted in 1968-69 by the
Literaturnaya
gazeta
[Literary Gazette] (a journal popular among all circles of the
intelligentsia) gives some idea of the numbers of nationalistically
oriented people in the RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federated Socialist
Republic) . The poll was analyzed at the laboratory of economic
mathematics of Novosibirsk University, where I was working at the
time . The poll showed that the nationalistic Journals
Young Guard
and
Our Contemporary
were read by only 1.5% of those polled as
compared to 40% who read
Yunost[Youth]
and 30% who read
Novy
Mir[New
World] , both of which were known for their liberal editorial
policies a few years ago '. Unfortunately , abroad the voice of the
nationalists sounds louder than what one might expect from their
actual numbers; the KGB makes no attempt to muffle it .
II. SAKHAROVANDSOVIETSOCIETY
People all over the world admire the unique duel of Andrey
Sakharov and his friends against a state machinery unequalled today in
power , ferocity , and perfidy . The very fact that such a man as
Sakharov-the totality of his views and his personality-could emerge
in the Soviet Union is an important cause for reflection.
Sakharov, world-famous both as a scientist and as a fighter, stands
out first and foremost for his inborn modesty, gentleness, and lack of
dogmatism .
It
seems superfluous to speak about the maturity of his
ideas on democracy and law . Out of the tragic experience of Out
country, he learned everything an honest person needed to know. And
still he did not turn to extremism, did not become a reactionary. In an
interview for Swedish radio , for example, he said,
"It
is inconceivable
to restructure the state fundamentally. What is needed is continuity
and gradualism ; otherwise we will again end with the horrible
