Son Denounces Mrs Alliluyeva’s Action

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31379, 26 May 1967, Page 15

Son Denounces Mrs Alliluyeva’s Action

(N.Z. Press Assn. —Copgrightl NEW YORK, May 25. Svetlana Alliluyeva, daughter of the Soviet dictator, Stalin, has received a letter from her son, Josef, denouncing her departure from the Soviet Union, sources close to her have disclosed the “New York Times” News Service reported.

Friends said he was visibly shaken by the letter. The reaction of her son, who is 22, a medical student, and her daughter, Yekaterina, aged 17, both of whom are in Moscow, have been a constant cause of concern to Stalin’s daughter, according to her friends. In an article she wrote in Switzerland last March, about a month before the arrival of the letter, she appeared to anticipate the rejection she received from her son. The article will 6e published in the June issue of the “Atlantic Monthly.” She has publicly expressed doubt that her children would be allowed to receive any letters from her and is known to be hopeful that a copy of her essay will somehow reach them. Written In Convent

The 3230-word article is the first of her literary work to be published in English. It was written during her seclusion in a convent in Switzerland before she left for the United States on April 21. The article also sharply denounces the continued repres-

sion ani ideological restrictions placed on Soviet writers by the Communist authorities. As in the days of Tsars, she said, “it is given to gendarmes and policemen to be the first critics of a writer’s work.” Robert Manning, editor-in-chief of the "Atlantic Monthly,” said that Mrs Alliluyeva (her mother’s maiden name by which she prefers to be known), was inspired to write the essay after she had read a copy of the late Boris Pasternak’s novel “Dr. Zhivago.” Telephoned Son A major influence on the article’s mood, according to persons who know Mrs Alliluyeva, was a telephone conversation she had with her son while she was in Switzerland. She urged him then not to misunderstand the motives of her flight to the West—when she called back three days later, she could not reach him. Those who have spoken with her in recent weeks said Mrs Alliluyeva seemed to have sensed she would receive a letter from her son criticising her action. When she received her son’s letter, the informants said, Mrs Alliluyeva was deeply moved. Although her concern for the well-being of her children deepened, friends convinced her that as Stalin’s

grandchildren they were unlikely to suffer at the hands of the Soviet authorities.

“We’ve paid a pittance for the article compared to what some of the large-circulation magazines have been offering,” Mr Manning said in Boston.

“We have also agreed with Mrs Alliluyeva’s lawyers that the article can be reproduced abroad only by literary journals motivated by a genuine interest in her writing and not by commercial interest”

To publish the article in the June issue, which goes to the printer almost two months before publication, Mr Manning

added eight pages to the original 13-page magazine and changed its cover to feature Mrs Alliluyeva’s essay.