America Abroad: Case of May Day Blues

Case of May Day Blues

Once upon a time, the surest way for a Western journalist to end an interview with a Soviet official was to ask about factionalism in the Kremlin, shortages in the stores or rumors of unrest somewhere in the south. The official's face, hardly radiant to begin with, would become a mask of reproof that emitted, like a recorded announcement, a curt lecture on the inadmissibility of slander against the U.S.S.R. and interference in its internal affairs.

Nowadays Soviets want to talk about nothing but their domestic situation. The more alarming the subject and the gloomier the prospect, the more they have...

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