State — or State of Mind?
7 F OR an unusual American reaction here is some comment by "The New Yorker": "Between us and the Russian people," writes Brooks Atkinson, "stands the Soviet Government." That is half the story. Between us and the Russian people stand both our governments-not as deliberate and evil barriers between man and man but as conscientious guardians, each of its own. With the very best intentions (and in the very best tradition), the government of every nation stands,
wall-fashion, shutting out the sun, breaking the force of the wind. The people, accustomed to the shadow, jealous of their yards, tend the wall-repairing, admiring, grooming, rebuilding, enlarging, saving. Within the last year, the shadow has grown suddenly; the gloom is almost impenetrable. There are, of course, more things standing between peoples than their governments. There are the oceans and the seas, the languages and the dialects, the economies, the pigmentations, the memories of old feuds. Most formidable of all, there is the human instinct to settle into groups and clubs, and to find stimulus in the assumption of the other club’s hostility, wrong-headed-ness, and foxiness. But quite apart from these obvious and by no means irremovable barriers between peoples is government. Mr. Atkinson’s report on the Russian people was rather favourable. He described them as "admirable . . . genuine, hard-working, and practical." But they are admitable-on-the-other-side-of-the-wail, genuine trans-murum, hard working on the other side of -' the-fence. We call the Russian wall the "iron curtain." Our own is probably more of a plastic curtain, fitted with chrom-. ium louvres, automatic peephole adjustments, and electric eyes, and sprayed with DDT against the beetles that crawl on all walls. Neither the Russian people nor the American people nor any people have as yet seen the essentially fictitious character of the nation. The nation still persists in people’s minds as a tangible. solid, living and breathing thing, capable of doing and thinking, feeling and believing, having and enjoying. But the nation is not that at all. A nation is a state of mind. (For "state" read "state of mind" and you will understand the day’s news better). The Times headlined Mr. Atkinson’s able report "RUSSIA BARS AMITY WITH U.S." But nobody knows what that means, because in truth there is no such _thing as Russia-unless you are satisfied. with a bear. A bear that bars amity. There is no such thing as the U.S.-unless you are satisfied with an uncle. ‘The uncle and the bear, without amity, without reality. In an essay on nationalism in the book If Men Want Peace, Professors Mander and Harrison wrote this excellent definition: "A nation is a group of (continued on next page)
REPORT ON RUSSIA
(continued from preyious page) people which thinks that it is a nation." There is no question that millions of people in the U.S.S.R. think of themselves as a nation, and that millions of people in the U.S.A. think of themselves as a nation; and there is no question that the destinies of the two groups are kept distinct and regarded as separate, and to a large degree antithetical. But then there comes the assurance, from a visitor to Russia, that the Russians are "admirable." And the newspaper drops to our lap and we close our eyes, wondering whether there is not perhaps a hole somewhere, at the base of the wall, through which the admirable peoples'could pass back and forth-the genuine, the hard-working, the very real people. What "Pravda" Said | "Pravda’s" attack on: Brooks Atkinson was reported by "Time" as follows: PRAVDA's No. 1 hatchet man, David Zaslaysky, came out swinging savagely. He tried to pin on i the practice (Pravda’s. own practice, incidentally) of reckless and seurrilous fiction-mongering. He portrayed him as a "commercial traveller" for a gicton capitalist newspaper enterprise, who only job was to produce, by fabrication or distortion, the sort of news his bosses wanted to print. Other Soviet-style billingsgate: "Foulest of words... ancient and hackneyed gossip ... . phantasmagoria of phrases ... delirium of an impudent person. : . mercenary from head to heels . , . this savage ... bandit . . .depraved souls . . + product of the Stock Exchange and black market . .. scum... How can you influence him? Such persons are not even beaten, so as not to stain one’s hands." Dog of a Dog And now, to get the picture complete, a line or two about the reaction of the reporter himself to the "Pravda" attack. Again we quote "The New Yorker"; — E went over to the Times office ' to haye a talk with Brooks Atkinson after Pravda recommended him for
the Order of the Highest Putrefaction, Foufth Class, and called him an untalented calumniator, a bandit not fit to be whipped, a liar, scum, a blackmailer, and so on. We discovered the bandit in a cubicle adjoining the "morgue." He is a lean, wiry, professorial, pipe-smoking type, and he was talking over the télephone to his mother, "Now, no need to get excited, Mother," he was saying, "I’m not excited. Mr. Sulzberger’s not excited, They meant nothing personal. It’s just the way those fellews carry on." Mr, Atkinson completed his call, lighted his pipe, and turned’ to us, "It did startle me slightly, though," he said, "To see all those terms and my name right in front of them. After all, I’m a quiet fellow-one-time English teacher at Dartmouth, dramatic critic, writer of books on birds and Thoreau and the White Mountains. But after ten months in Russia, I know those attacks are almost mechanical reactions’ to articles in the capitalist press. But ‘untalented calumniator’ is a new one. Sort of distinguished me, I think . . .". Atkinson and his wife were in Moscow from last July until May of this year, living in a single room at the Hotel Metropole with a fine view of the outside of the Kremlin, Every morning, he polluted himself by listening to BBC news broadcasts, after which he read translations of Russian newspapers, During the early part of his stay, he devoted most of his afternoons to writing letters te the Government, "None of this casual telephoning for appointments," he said. "Everything must be in writing. But you never get any writing back, You can’t say they've refused you, but they sure as hell haven't agreed to anything..." . Atkinson once met David Zaslavsky, the author of the Prayda attack, in the lobby of a Moscow concert hall. They were very polite to each other. "The word, I think, is ceremonious," Atkinson said, Zaslavsky is about sixty-five, Atkinson told us, and is a hack writer specialising in the ° vilification of foreigners (fourth class)... . Atkinson still considers himself a i sthe-road liberal and no Redbaiter, He liked the Russian peoplewhat he saw of them-and he thought the Government was sincerely working for what it believed to be their welfare.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19460920.2.17.2
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 378, 20 September 1946, Page 7
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,128State — or State of Mind? New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 378, 20 September 1946, Page 7
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Material in this publication is protected by copyright.
Are Media Limited has granted permission to the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to develop and maintain this content online. You can search, browse, print and download for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Are Media Limited for any other use.
Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.