An American went to the Soviet Union in the '30s and helped put out a newspaper for the world. She recounted in the mid-'50s:
I had organized The Moscow News and got into such baffling difficulties with its Russian editor that I wanted to resign and even quit the country in despair. On a friend’s advice, I sent my complaint to Stalin. His office phoned me to “come down and talk it over with some responsible comrades.” It was put so casually that I was thunderstruck to find myself at a table with Stalin, Kaganovich and Voroshilov, as well as the persons against whom I complained. The small Politburo, steering-committee for the USSR, was taking up my complaint. 1 was ashamed. Stalin set me at ease by asking whether I could follow discussion in Russian. Then he launched a question and let everyone talk. He himself said less than anyone. He did not even sit at the head of the table as chairman, but casually at one side where he could see all the faces. At first, I was disappointed because he was so unimposing; then I forgot it in the speed of the talk. Later, I realized that Stalin, by an occasional word, a question here and there, the repeating of another’s word with an emphasis, had kept the discussion moving and to the point. As he brought out all the views, I began to understand even the people about whom I had complained. I had thought I wanted to resign and get away from it. I told them that that was all I wanted. But as Stalin repeated: “Is that all? Are you otherwise quite content?” The desire that had been latent awoke and I knew that what I really wanted was a bigger, better paper which, with the new understanding arrived at, now seemed possible. I said this, and this is what we got. –Anna Louise Strong, The Stalin Era, p. 21. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#39583): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/39583 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/116549413/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
