(4 of 19)
"What you wrote about convergence is utopian nonsense. Capitalism can't be made humane. Their social programs and employee stock plans aren't steps toward socialism. And there's no trace of state capitalism in the U.S.S.R. We'll never give up the advantages of our system, and capitalists aren't interested in your convergence either.
"Without a strong hand, we could never have rebuilt our economy after the war or broken the American atomic monopoly -- you yourself helped do that. You have no moral right to judge our generation -- Stalin's generation -- for its mistakes, for its brutality; you're now enjoying the fruits of our labor and our sacrifices.
"Convergence is a dream. We've got to be strong, stronger than the capitalists -- then there'll be peace. If the imperialists use nuclear weapons, we'll retaliate at once with everything we've got and destroy every target necessary to ensure victory."
So our response would be an immediate, all-out nuclear attack on enemy cities and industry as well as on military targets! Most alarming, Slavsky ignored the question of what, other than military force, might prevent war. I pointed out that Reflections warned against exactly the kind of approach he was taking, in which life-and-death decisions are made by people who have usurped power (and privilege) without accepting the checks of free opinion and open debate. I raised the issue of Czechoslovakia: Was there any guarantee against Soviet intervention? Slavsky said that had been ruled out by the Central Committee, provided there was no overt counterrevolutionary violence, as occurred in Hungary.
A couple of weeks after this, Khariton told me that Slavsky opposed my return to the Installation. "You're to remain in Moscow for the time being," he said. This was tantamount to being fired.
On July 22 Reflections was published in the New York Times and later was widely reprinted. The International Publishers Association said that in 1968-69 more than 18 million copies were published around the world, putting me in third place after Mao Zedong and Lenin and ahead of Georges Simenon and Agatha Christie.
Reflections was well received by liberal intellectuals abroad. A kindred voice had reached them from behind the Iron Curtain -- and from a member of a profession that in America was dominated by "hawks." On the other hand, my criticism of Soviet society appealed to conservatives, and everyone seemed pleased by my comments on the environment, my humanitarian concerns and my scenarios for the future.
The essay was widely read in the U.S.S.R. as well -- samizdat was flourishing -- but many people were punished for circulating Reflections. A driver from Dushanbe who had mailed my essay to a friend was sentenced to three years in a labor camp for defaming the Soviet system.
On Aug. 21 newspapers reported that Warsaw Pact troops had entered Czechoslovakia and were "fulfilling their international duty." The invasion had begun. The hopes inspired by the Prague Spring collapsed. And "real socialism" displayed its true colors, its stagnation, its inability to tolerate pluralistic or democratic tendencies, not just in the Soviet Union but even in neighboring countries. The abolition of censorship and free elections were regarded as too risky and contagious.