Moscow Diary

...But one of his pre-1956 posts stripped him of any illusions about the nature of the Moscow regime: As deputy minister of the interior, Mi~unovi~ was one of those responsible for fighting the Soviet subversion of the Tito regime...

...It is rather a standing conspiracy with at the most some 15 to 20 people being privy to what is going on, the Politburo members and a handful of others jealously guarding this special knowledge while attempting to formulate policies...

...This subtle and penetrating novel by the veteran writer and Founder Member of the | Irish Academy of Letters is a must for the t h o u g h t f u l | reader...

...Hence, according to the dictates of proper diplomacy but also out of some need for inner reassurance, the Soviets sought Tito's advice and approval when it came to dealing with the problems de-Stalinization brought them in Eastern Europe...

...But even there Soviet officials, any one of whom some years before would have quaked before him, are told to treat Molotov like dirt--and they do...

...Often enough, portrayals of the 1960s, or of earlier periods of American history, are debaucheries of the living record, and these books are not exceptions...

...On his return he is greeted with embraces and flowers by his colleagues, driven to the Kremlin, and informed that he has just been fired as First Secretary, one of the main plotters being Bulganin himself...

...Our aim is to bring good books to the diseerning reader...

...It was given to us to learn at the outset that life is a profound and passionate thing and we were permitted to scorn nothing but indifference...

...Even that grudging admiration the Soviet leaders felt toward Tito resulted from their dread of Stalin, apparently unmitigated by t2 Tilt...

...Dublin Sunday Press...

...I suspect the "egalitarian" Johnson, "democratic and humble, his office filled with clients rich and poor," sat out the Civil War developing his fine art collection...

...His "Siding With Supply" (May, 1980) is an exemplary piece of writing about supply-side economics, easily the best short piece on the subject I have read...

...Through it all, though, he managed to retain his affection for the Russian people...

...John P. Roche Fletcher School, TuJ~s University Medford, Massachusetts Siding With Bethell I have long thought that Tom Bethell has an uncanny and enviable gift of writing on esoteric economic subjects with clarity and knowledge...

...D Sarkes Tarzian Inc...

...MOSCOW DIARY Viljko Mi~unovi~ / Doubleday / $15.95 Adam B. Ulam By both temperament and training Viljko Mic'unovi~ was especially wellsuited to be Yugoslavia's ambassador in Moscow between 1956 and 1968, that period of turbulence in Communist politics which might well have been a turning point in the history of Communism, and perhaps in the history of the world, had the West been more perceptive and resourceful...

...d~'.~.dr',dF'~F',dV'~P",d~, To: Order Dept...

...Well, one might say, in any case a vast improvement over what used to be done under similar circumstances in Stalin's time...

...The sticking point was his commentary on the contrast between Oliver Wendell Holmes, J r . , the Boston "aristocrat" and John Graver Johnson, the "egalitarian" Philadelphia lawyer...

...As for the practices of democratic politics generally in the country of his "history's" subject, he shows only contempt...

...I believe there is some kind of penalty involved for those caught writing about economic theories without resorting to jargon and obfuscation so you'd better hustle the estimable Mr...

...This was not only because of the configuration of forces within the Party, but because of some compulsion within Khrushchev which, even after he bad initiated laudable and bold reforms, would pull him back to an essentially orthodox, quasi-Stalinist position...

...Order direetly from us -- we ship within 48 hours - - or from your bookstore...

...Longship Press is a small publisher...

...That the "liberal" intelligentsia in particular should recognize the silliness of this way of thinking is obvious, but of course they are always the last to know...

...Obviously one could not let everyone know right away how extensive the intrigue against the First Secretary had been, so for a few more months he continues as prime minister and travelling companion-then finally he is consigned to the memory hole...

...AMERICAN SPECTATOR JUI.Y 1980 his death...

...F107, 163-09 Depot, Flushing, NY 11358 gance," Holmes was one of the first to respond to "the trumpet that shall never call retreat" and--with three Civil War wounds--was only miraculously able to write for posterity...

...The right to vote is viewed at best as a "diversion," at worst as a tool of cynical manipulation...

...This was an important time in Yugoslav and Soviet relations, a time when the Kremlin, having failed to rape the little country, was embarking on a gentler, if not a very subtle, course of seduction...

...is a major theme of Francis Stuart's A Hole in the Head...

...However, I was startled by Robert Nisbet's review, particularly as I look on Bob as an old campa~ero...

...With Mi~unovi~, Khrushchev would sometimes lapse into a confiding mood...

...A single misstep --whether a political blunder, an incautious phrase, or an unpropitious absence from Moscow--and a Soviet potentate may find himself instantly transmogrified, if no longer into a corpse as in Stalin's time then into a powerless potentate "emeritus...

...Latest in a line of novels of distinction...

...C } n e of the most important aspects of Mi~unovi~'s journal is the way in which it allows us to see again how often (though not always) the Soviets profit from the secretive nature of their decision-making...

...Individuals (Eric Hoffer), movements (pro-Viemam war parades), and values (a belief in merit and racial equality) that obviously stand at variance with the interpretations of the authors are simply ignored...

...Bethell out of the country...

...We can, however, in terms of literary quality...

...That something else, for lack of a better expression, is their penchant for ignoring those tangible aspects of the American experience which soundly contradict their arguments...

...Tito and he agreed that "there would have to be [Soviet] intervention if there was a counterrevolution in Hungary...

...And then in many ways, Midunovi~, like his own leader, remained a Communist committed to the idea that you cannot make an omelette without bre~aking some eggs (occasionally quite a few...

...In order to conspire properly at keeping their own people, and the outside world, in the dark about what decisions are being made and how, Soviet leaders plot constantly, and watch constantly for the plottings of others...

...Brecht's remark that the regime had decided to "dissolve the people" upon receiving their complaints catches the spirit of what I have in mind...

...It suited Tito's purpose to show himself not unresponsive to the wooing, while nimbly eluding the kind of Soviet embrace he knew would smother his country's hardwon independence...

...Since then we should have, but have not quite, learned how to react to the Kremlin's outrageous actions...

...Unlike a Westerner or one of Khriashchev's conniving subordinates, the personable Mi~unovi~ was someone to whom Khrushchev could unburden himself, especially about his troubles with impossible colleagues, ungrateful Poles and Hungarians, and the obtuse West...

...As it was, through sheer bluff Khrushchev discouraged the United States from protesting vigorously enough the events in Budapest, and Britain and France went ahead with their fatal venture in Suez...

...Reagan has courageously permitted a newsman to examine his hair for dyes and behind his ears for facelift scars, I sincerely hope that our great President will follow his opponent's example and show up Mr...

...H. GephuHzon San Fransisco, California There opportunity America...

...Before 1948 Mi~unovi~ had been, like nearly all Yugoslav Communists of the time, a worshiper of the Fatherland of Socialism...

...Tito had defied Stalin and somehow gotten away with it...

...Longship Press RFD 1, Box 124C Brooks, Maine 04921 I would like to order Francis Stuart's novel A Hole in the Head...

...Freedom of the press, including the right of opposition papers to circulate freely, he _ /[ TERRORISM...

...This, combined with his lively intelligence and Montenegrin charm, made him Tito's logical choice as envoy to the Soviet Union in 1956...

...C O R R E S P O N D E N C E 0~QIoD0iI6IoiO08~I0gQogQg0o0~aDOIgD~6t0BaQU~O04IQaiIQ08~QI0IQ0Q910Uag~QoIIoB00QQ0iamII0QaIQoQ~mQQggQqg00oI00B00Qg0~IDQiOD8QiiiiGa~GaI~0IQgQ~jQ0Qg~QDQ6DQQ The Mobile Holmes Having considered E. Digby Baltzell's The Protestant Establishment a striking case for confining WASPs to reservations, I do not plan to read his latest work on the Boston and Philadelphia Protestant ethics..If I did, I might go bonkers and join the IRA-Provos...

...For sharing in the antiKhrushchev intrigue, Molotov is named, a s a kind of sadistic joke, ambassador to Mongolia, the climate of which is rough on the old man's, and especially his wife's, health...

...Hell, it's the best piece on the subject, period...

...Name Address City, State & Zip [ ] payment of $10.95 enclosed ($9.95 + $1.00 shipping) i (no shipping charges, 2 or more books) [] bill me [ ] send as a gift - name and address (and a card) enclosed [ ] mail information on other I Longship books does not deny...

...Instead of intimidation and subversion, the Soviets had begun, in 1955, to resort to cajolery and honeyed words, accompanied Adam B. U/am is professor of government and associate of the Russian Research Center at Harvard...

...Concerning both Viorst and Zinn, something else needs mentioning...

...t h e most interesting Irish writer alive...

...Apart from throwing a vivid light on the historical context in which Soviet and Yugoslav relations function even today, the book tells a good deal about Soviet politics during the period of transition between Stalin's despotism and what eventually emerged as the oligarcho-bureaucratic leadership with which we have been familiar for the past 15 years...

...Thus, Khrushchev goes on a state visit with his faithful companion, Nikolai Bulganin, in 1957...

...With the help of Marshal Zhnkov, Khrushchev succeeds in summoning the Central Committee together and turning the tables on his playful comrades...

...Deluxe accommodations -- TmvUips Dept...

...As Mic'unoviUs book makes clear, Russia's government is not--and was not usually even before the Revolution--a government in the proper sense of the word...

...Stalin's ghost was very much an enduring presence in the Kremlin generally...

...Bulganin's fate...

...This political game, in which MiEunovi~ himself played such an important part, is the subject of this instructive and frequently amusing book...

...Holmes at 90 sitting on a bdnch in Lafayette Square, admiring a well-turned female ankle and observing "oh to be 70 again," is surely a more worthy cultural paradigm than a rich antique Philadelphia lawyer getting his kicks from a picture on the wall...

...But let me remind Mr...

...A product of this dreadful system, Khrushchev intermittently tried to reform it, but he did not, and could not, alter it in any fundamental way...

...Yet one does not reach the apex of the Soviet pyramid by being only trustful and truthful...

...William F. Gavin McLean, Virginia The Ends of Good Government Now that Gov...

...I think I have read all of Holmes' published works, even the jejune Holmes-Laski correspondence, and his Supreme Court decisions...

...For instance, for all his perspicacity, and despite his being present when Mao insolently baited the Soviet leaders, even Mi~unovi~ did not realize how much the Chinese problem was already preoccupying the Kremlin and affecting its policy in every sphere of foreign relations...

...Despite his aristocratic"arroSAVE YOUR GAS...

...Choice...

...We cannot compete with the mass houses in terms of promotion and distribution...

...by melancholy protestations that their now sincere affections were not being adequately reciprocated, and by occasional remonstrations about Yugoslavia's illicit liaison with the West...

...At times, Khrushchev could lie shamelessly, and though MiEunovi~ usually caught on, he didn't always...

...But how unsentimental those inhabitants of the Soviet Olympus...

...And unfortunately, now the Soviets are no longer acting on sheer bluff...

...Through great good fortune in our youth," Holmes wrote in his old age, "our hearts were touched with fire...

...b St...

...And when ignoring the obvious proves too difficult, as for both authors in their last chapters, explanations are provided which rationalize a tendency to ignore majoritarian preferences when they clash with the received liberal intellectual vision...

...Theo Lippman (author of "Campaign Fundaments" in your April issue) for the liar he is by "baring all" at his next press conference: that should "put an end" to these vicious rumors...

...I The critics say: "...simply the leanest, most sophisticated and most incis...

...Zhukov's reward: immediate promotion to a full Politburo membership and shortly thereafter, upon his return from a foreign mission, a sudden dismissal from all his offices...

...Had the West known of these things and shaped its policies accordingly, it is quite likely that the tragedy of Hungary could have been avoided or mitigated, relieving in turn some of the international tension of the time, notably in the Middle East...

...Nevertheless, they later lamented its excessively brutal character publicly, which incensed the Soviets, who had begun to feel that they had gone too far in humoring Tito, especially since it aggravated their relations with Peking...

...This may be "arrogant," but it is the credo of an honorary Celt--not of one of Baltzell's desiccated WASPs...

...But they exist only because the "system" is ultimately interested in making a profit...

...ire novel on contemporary Ireland available...

...Nisbet and your readers that to say "Holmes wrote all his life for posterity" is a bit quaint...

...Louis - Post Dispatch "An exemplary w o r k . . . " Chicago Tribune...

...Roam the world by freighter at savings of at least 50...

...I have in various legal journals assaulted the old pirate for his eccentricities and clobbered various legal scholars who considered him "liberal...

...Practically no one in the West realized in 1956 how divided and unsure of itself the Soviet leadership was, and how debilitating were its apprehensions concerning Communist China...

...Bloomington, Indiana THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR JULY 1980 43...

...BEAT INFLATION...