LIBEL ACTION IN PARIS

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25713, 27 January 1949, Page 5

LIBEL ACTION IN PARIS

CLAIM BY VICTOR KRAVCHENKO

COMMUNIST OFFICIAL GIVES EVIDENCE

PARIS, January 25. Fernand Grenier, a member of the French Communist Party’s central committee and a witness for tfie defence. read out long passages from Victor Kravchenko’s book, “I Chose Freedom,” dealing with talks with his father and grandfather when the author’s £7OOO libel action against the Communist weekly newspaper “Les Lettres Francaises,” was resumed today.

“Kravchenko was not nine years old when he had this long, involved economic argument in Marxist thoughts,” he said.

Kravchenko retorted: “Of course I do not remember everything my father and grandfather said.” Grenier persisted: “My argument is that Kravchenko quotes at great length from economic arguments that are obviously fictitious.” Grenier argued that a former worker and Communist could not have written an anti-Russian book like “I Chose Freedom.” Soviet Industrial Strength There was a violent clash between the two men when Grenier quoted a phrase from the book about Soviet industrial strength during the war being “incoherent and inefficient.” Grenier said that the fact that the Red Army had won its fight against Hitler with only 5 per cent, of Allied aid in equipment proved that the Soviet industrial effort was in fact “coherent and efficient.”

Kravchenko shouted: “Liar and traitor. You represent the victory over Fascism as a miracle wrought by Stalin. No. gentlemen. It was not a miracle by Stalin. It was a miracle by the Russian people. The war was won by the Russian people thanks to labour, tears, suffering, patriotism, and sacrifice.”

Counsel for Grenier objected to his witness —a former Minister of the French Government —being called a traitor and a liar. The judge replied that he could not interrupt Kravchenko because “I do not understand what he is saying. It would be pointless to interrupt the translator.” (Kravchenko is giving his evidence in Russian.)

Kravchenko had a geography test when Grenier made a page by page criticism of “I Chose Freedom.” Grenier said that on page 70 of the French edition there was a passage describing the town of Ashkhabad as having its name changed to Stalinabad. He produced a map of the Soviet Union and said that Ashkhabad had never had its name changed. There was a Stalinabad. but it was over 600 miles away.

Kravchenko was shown the map and asked to point to the two towns. He brushed the map aside, saying: “All this means nothing. The names of Soviet towns are always being changed.” Court’s Protection Sought A remark about his relationship with a girl roused Kravchenko to appeal to the court for protection against “questions wounding my human feeling.” The defence lawyer (Maitre Nordmann) had said that in a deposition to the court Kravchenko denied that a girl called Elena was his mistress, but in one passage of “I Chose Freedom?’ Kravchenko described how in fact Elenh had become his mistress.

Kravchqnko jumped up and shouted: “Shame on you. Be silent about her. You say nothing about her being a victim of the Soviet regime.” Claude Morgan, manager of the defendant newspaper, said that the information contained in the articles about which Kravchenko complained came from an American journalist named Sim Thomas. He gave no further identification.

Replying to a question by Kravchenko’s lawyers as to how he got witnesses from Russia to come <o Paris, Morgan said: “The Soviet Union is not a closed country. We have good relations with our Soviet friends.”