Agents of Deceit
Sir:
Your Aug. 21 cover story about Jacob Malik is the only one which I have read in any publication which clearly portrays how the agents of deceit from Russia conduct themselves. In other words, you come to the point and say that this current U.N. representative is nothing more than a liar.
It certainly is good to know that someone is not afraid to brand them what they are . . .
NED F. MORRIS Louisville, Ky.
The Stalin Myth
Sir:
TIME [July 17] gave the following definition of "The Cat in the Kremlin," that is, of Mr. Stalin:. "Better than any other Bolshevik he got hold of the essential principle of Leninism. The principle: anything for the sake of absolute power over men. Stalin is the No. 1 Communist not merely because he has the top job but because he himself is in a notably advanced stage of Communism . . . It is not true, as the Trotskyists and Socialists say, that he sneaked into power. He got it because he deserved it—by the standards deeply imbedded in Communist philosophy" . . .
[This] is a fact of considerable importance. For not only Trotskyists and some Socialists disdainfully treat Stalin as a traitor to the true Marxian-Leninist world-proletarian revolution and as a common nationalistic dictator—another Hitler. Many of the most powerful Western statesmen and military leaders accept this escapist myth . . .
Some practical deductions from this false interpretation of Stalin's personality, doctrines and aims are pregnant with tragic misunderstandings between Americans and the Russian people—the best potential ally in the struggle for freedom.
The Russian people were the first victims of the totalitarian yoke. They dream not of expansionism but only of the restoration of human freedom ... As to Stalin, he "spits," as Lenin once said, on Russian interests, because Russia must merely be "used as a base for world revolution."
Stalin . . . and all his international henchmen fanatically believe that "the capitalist system as a whole is already ripe for revolution." They fanatically believe, as Lenin proved, that "the importance of war as a midwife of Revolution can scarcely be exaggerated" . . .
ALEXANDER KERENSKY New York City
Authentic Display
Sir:
I was among the 6,000 listeners in Hollywood Bowl who could hardly believe their ears when the exotic [Peruvian singer] Yma Sumac stepped upon that platform and displayed what the critics later so aptly described as "the most phenomenal voice of the generation" . . .
It was with great surprise that I found your Aug. 28 story accompanied by the most vulgar picture I have ever seen in TIME . . . Let's keep the "television gown" in its proper place . . .
JUNE STARR Hollywood, Calif.
Sir:
. . . We in the hinterlands may still have doubts as to the authenticity of [Yma Sumac's] "four-octave-range" voice. Fortunately, your newsphoto of Miss Sumac leaves no doubt as to the authenticity of at least two reasons for her success in Hollywood . . .
H. O. FOLLANSBEE San Jose, Calif.
Sir: