WRITERS IN EXILE
365
I saw here in the lobby a lot of books in Russian and books
translated from Russian into English. I am very grateful to the
organizers of this conference, because they have given us the op–
portunity to talk and express our thoughts. But I think
we
should do something else. It's not enough to have Russian
newspapers; we should have newspapers written in English by
writers from the Eastern bloc, so that we can talk
to
the Ameri–
can people directly. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: How long will the Soviet authori–
ties be allowed to lie
to
the world with what amounts
to
the sanc–
tion of the entire world? President Carter did say something once
in refutation of the lies, but he was hesitant; he didn't seem
to
know what he was saying even though he was refuting something.
WILLIAM PHILLIPS: Are there any prophets here?
ANOTHER SPEAKER: Well, there was one person who knew–
he wrote 1984-but he's not with us today.
WILLIAM PHILLIPS: You mean we have two years
to
go?
Suppose we put the question in a different form. Some of our
panelists might want to answer it. What are the prospects in the
Soviet Union? For democratization? For tightening or for main–
taining the status quo? Would any of you like
to
speak about
that?
PAVEL LITVINOV: Well, now the question is more rhetorical,
and I believe most people here can answer the question as well as
I can or cannot. What can I say?
It
looks like today's world is not
worried by the situation in Eastern Europe-except maybe in
Poland, but perhaps not even there. The Western world is ready
to
accept what is going to happen, and I foresee nothing good. I
am generally an optimist, but at the moment I see no basis for
my opumlsm.
WILLIAM PHILLIPS: What do you think will happen within
the Soviet Union?
PAVEL LITVINOV: I believe that the movement for human
rights in the Soviet Union will continue, but it needs a lot of
help. Perhaps after Mr. Brezhnev's retirement and death some
changes may bring something good, but they can always bring
something bad as well.
WILLIAM PHILLIPS: Does anyone else want
to
comment?
PHILIP
KOKUR: Not so much a comment as a question. Do
any of the panelists see any more opportunities under the Hel-
