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http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/during-cold-war-cia-used-doctor-zhivago-as-a-tool-to-undermine-soviet-union/2014/04/05/2ef3d9c6-b9ee-11e3-9a05-c739f29ccb08_story.html
During Cold War, CIA used 'Doctor Zhivago' as a tool to undermine Soviet
Union
*Written by* *Peter Finn* *Petra Couvée*
Published: April 5
A secret package arrived at CIA headquarters in January 1958. Inside were
two rolls of film from British intelligence -- pictures of the pages of a
Russian-language novel titled "Doctor Zhivago."
The book, by poet Boris Pasternak, had been banned from publication in the
Soviet Union. The British were suggesting that the CIA get copies of the
novel behind the Iron Curtain. The idea immediately gained traction in
Washington.
"This book has great propaganda value," a CIA memo to all branch chiefs of
the agency's Soviet Russia Division stated, "not only for its intrinsic
message and thought-provoking nature, but also for the circumstances of its
publication: we have the opportunity to make Soviet citizens wonder what is
wrong with their government, when a fine literary work by the man
acknowledged to be the greatest living Russian writer is not even available
in his own country in his own language for his own people to read."
The memo is one of more than 130 newly declassified CIA documents that
detail the agency's secret involvement in the printing of "Doctor Zhivago"
-- an audacious plan that helped deliver the book into the hands of Soviet
citizens who later passed it friend to friend, allowing it to circulate in
Moscow and other cities in the Eastern Bloc. The book's publication and,
later, the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature to Pasternak triggered
one of the great cultural storms of the Cold War.
Because of the enduring appeal of the novel and a 1965 film based on it,
"Doctor Zhivago" remains a landmark work of fiction. Yet few readers know
the trials of its birth and how the novel galvanized a world largely
divided between the competing ideologies of two superpowers. The CIA's role
-- with its publication of a hardcover Russian-language edition printed in
the Netherlands and a miniature, paperback edition printed at CIA
headquarters -- has long been hidden.
[Explore a selection of the CIA documents]
The newly disclosed documents, however, indicate that the operation to
publish the book was run by the CIA's Soviet Russia Division, monitored by
CIA Director Allen Dulles and sanctioned by President Dwight D.
Eisenhower's Operations Coordinating Board, which reported to the National
Security Council at the White House. The OCB, which oversaw covert
activities, gave the CIA exclusive control over the novel's "exploitation."
The "hand of the United States government" was "not to be shown in any
manner," according to the records.
The documents were provided at the request of the authors for a book, "The
Zhivago Affair," to be published June 17. Although they were redacted to
remove the names of officers as well as CIA partner agencies and sources,
it was possible to determine what lay behind some of the redactions from
other historical records and interviews with current and former U.S.
officials. Those officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss
material that remained classified.
The title page from a 1958 Russian-language edition of "Doctor Zhivago"
that the CIA arranged to have secretly printed in the Netherlands and
distributed to Soviet tourists at the 1958 world's fair in Brussels. (Tim
Gressie/Tim Gressie)
A voice from the past
During the Cold War, the CIA loved literature -- novels, short stories,
poems. Joyce, Hemingway, Eliot. Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Nabokov.
Books were weapons, and if a work of literature was unavailable or banned
in the Soviet Union or Eastern Europe, it could be used as propaganda to
challenge the Soviet version of reality. Over the course of the Cold War,
as many as 10 million copies of books and magazines were secretly
distributed by the agency behind the Iron Curtain as part of a political
warfare campaign.
In this light, "Doctor Zhivago" was a golden opportunity for the CIA.
Both epic and autobiographical, Pasternak's novel revolves around the
doctor-poet Yuri Zhivago -- his art, loves and losses in the decades
surrounding the 1917 Russian Revolution. At times, Zhivago is Pasternak's
alter ego. Both the character and the writer, who was born in 1890, were
from a lost past, the cultured milieu of the Moscow intelligentsia. In
Soviet letters, this was a world to be disdained, if summoned at all.
Pasternak knew that the Soviet publishing world would recoil from the alien
tone of "Doctor Zhivago," its overt religiosity, its sprawling indifference
to the demands of socialist realism and the obligation to genuflect before
the October Revolution.
But Pasternak had long displayed an unusual fearlessness: visiting and
giving money to the relatives of people who had been sent to the gulag when
the fear of taint scared so many others away, intervening with authorities
to ask for mercy for those accused of political crimes, and refusing to
sign trumped-up petitions demanding execution for those designated enemies
of the state.
"Don't yell at me," he said to his peers at one public meeting where he was
heckled for asserting that writers should not be given orders. "But if you
must yell, at least don't do it in unison."
Pasternak felt no need to tailor his art to the political demands of the
state. To sacrifice his novel, he believed, would be a sin against his own
genius. As a result, the Soviet literary establishment refused to touch
"Doctor Zhivago."
Fortunately for Pasternak, a Milan publisher had received a copy of the
manuscript from an Italian literary scout working in Moscow. In June 1956,
Pasternak signed a contract with the publisher, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli,
who would resist all efforts by the Kremlin and the Italian Communist Party
to suppress the book.
In November 1957, an Italian-language edition of "Doctor Zhivago" was
released.
CIA saw a weapon
In Washington, Soviet experts quickly saw why Moscow loathed "Doctor
Zhivago."
In a memo in July 1958, John Maury, the Soviet Russia Division chief, wrote
that the book was a clear threat to the worldview the Kremlin was
determined to present.
"Pasternak's humanistic message -- that every person is entitled to a
private life and deserves respect as a human being, irrespective of the
extent of his political loyalty or contribution to the state -- poses a
fundamental challenge to the Soviet ethic of sacrifice of the individual to
the Communist system," he wrote.
In an internal memo shortly after the appearance of the novel in Italy, CIA
staff members recommended that "Doctor Zhivago" "be published in a maximum
number of foreign editions, for maximum free world distribution and acclaim
and consideration for such honor as the Nobel prize."
While the CIA hoped Pasternak's novel would draw global attention,
including from the Swedish Academy, there was no indication that the
agency's motive for printing a Russian-language edition was to help
Pasternak win the prize, something that has been a matter of speculation
for some decades.
Giant stars hanging over broad promenades added a bright touch to the
Brussels Universal and International Exposition in 1958. (Associated Press)
Prince Rainier III of Monaco, holding his glasses and looking skyward, and
Princess Grace, with a bouquet, at the Vatican pavilion at the Brussels
exposition. (Associated Press)
As its main target for distribution, the agency selected the first postwar
world's fair, the 1958 Brussels Universal and International Exposition.
Forty-three nations were participating at the 500-acre site just northwest
of central Brussels.
Both the United States and the Soviet Union had built huge pavilions to
showcase their competing ways of life. What was especially interesting to
the CIA: The fair offered one of those rare occasions when large numbers of
Soviet citizens traveled to an event in the West. Belgium had issued 16,000
visas to Soviet visitors.
After first attempting to arrange a secret printing of the novel through a
small New York publisher, the CIA contacted the Dutch intelligence service,
the BVD. Agency officials had been following reports of the possible
publication of "Doctor Zhivago" in Russian by an academic publishing house
in The Hague and asked whether it would be possible to obtain an early run
of copies.
The two intelligence agencies were close. CIA subsidies in 1958 paid for
about 50 of the BVD's 691 staff members, and new Dutch employees were
trained in Washington. Joop van der Wilden, a BVD officer, was dispatched
to the U.S. Embassy at The Hague to discuss the issue with Walter Cini, a
CIA officer stationed there, according to interviews with former Dutch
intelligence officials.
Cini told him it would be a rush job, but the CIA was willing to provide
the manuscript and pay well for a small print run of "Doctor Zhivago." He
emphasized that there should be no trace of involvement by the U.S. or any
other intelligence agency.
The blue linen cover of the 1958 Russian-language edition of "Doctor
Zhivago." (Tim Gressie/Tim Gressie)
In early September 1958, the first Russian-language edition of "Doctor
Zhivago" rolled off the printing press, bound in the signature blue linen
cover of Mouton Publishers of The Hague.
The books, wrapped in brown paper and dated Sept. 6, were packed into the
back of a large American station wagon and taken to Cini's home. Two
hundred copies were sent to headquarters in Washington. Most of the
remaining books were sent to CIA stations or assets in Western Europe -- 200
to Frankfurt, 100 to Berlin, 100 to Munich, 25 to London and 10 to Paris.
The largest package, 365 books, was sent to Brussels.
"Doctor Zhivago" could not be handed out at the U.S. pavilion at the
world's fair, but the CIA had an ally nearby: the Vatican.
The Vatican pavilion was called Civitas Dei, the City of God, and Russian
emigre Catholics had set up a small library "somewhat hidden" behind a
curtain just off the pavilion's Chapel of Silence, a place to reflect on
the suppression of Christian communities around the world.
There, the CIA-sponsored edition of "Doctor Zhivago" was pressed into the
hands of Soviet citizens. Soon the book's blue linen covers were littering
the fairgrounds. Some who got the novel were ripping off the cover,
dividing the pages, and stuffing them in their pockets to make the book
easier to hide.
The CIA was quite pleased with itself. "This phase can be considered
completed successfully," read a Sept. 10, 1958, memo.
In the Soviet Union, meanwhile, word of the novel's appearance quickly
reached Pasternak. That month, he wrote to a friend in Paris, "Is it true
that Doctor Zhivago appeared in the original? It seems that visitors to the
exhibition in Brussels have seen it."
Children view a statue of Pope Pius XII at the Vatican pavilion at the
world's fair in Brussels. (Associated Press)
Contractual problems
There was only one problem: The CIA had anticipated that the Dutch
publisher would sign a contract with Feltrinelli, Pasternak's Milan
publisher, and that the books handed out in Brussels would be seen as part
of that print run.
The contract was never signed, and the Russian-language edition printed in
The Hague was illegal. The Italian publisher, who held the rights to
"Doctor Zhivago," was furious when he learned about the distribution of the
novel in Brussels. The furor sparked press interest and rumors, never
confirmed, of involvement by the CIA.
The spies in Washington watched the coverage with some dismay, and on Nov.
15, 1958, the CIA was first linked to the printing by the National Review
Bulletin, a newsletter supplement for subscribers to the National Review,
the conservative magazine founded by William F. Buckley Jr.
A writer using the pseudonym Quincy observed with approval that copies of
"Doctor Zhivago" had been quietly shipped to the Vatican pavilion in
Brussels: "That quaint workshop of amateur subversion, the Central
Intelligence Agency, may be exorbitantly expensive but from time to time it
produces some noteworthy goodies. This summer, for instance, [the] CIA
forgot its feud with some of our allies and turned on our enemies -- and
mirabile dictu, succeeded most nobly. . . . In Moscow these books were
passed from hand to hand as avidly as a copy of Fanny Hill in a college
dormitory."
The CIA concluded that the printing was, in the end, "fully worth trouble
in view obvious effect on Soviets," according to a Nov. 5, 1958, cable sent
by Dulles, the director. The agency's efforts, after all, had been
re-energized by the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature to Pasternak
the previous month.
The Kremlin treated the award as an anti-Soviet provocation, vilified the
author, and forced Pasternak to turn it down.
The CIA provided elaborate guidelines for its officers on how to encourage
Western tourists to talk about literature and "Doctor Zhivago" with Soviet
citizens they might meet.
"We feel that Dr. Zhivago is an excellent springboard for conversations
with Soviets on the general theme of 'Communism versus Freedom of
Expression,' " Maury wrote in a memo in April 1959. "Travelers should be
prepared to discuss with their Soviet contacts not only the basic theme of
the book itself -- a cry for the freedom and dignity of the individual -- but
also the plight of the individual in the communist society."
The miniature paperback edition of "Doctor Zhivago" that the CIA printed at
its headquarters in 1959. (Courtesy of the CIA)
Clandestine edition
Prompted by the attacks on Pasternak in Moscow and the international
publicity surrounding the campaign to demonize him, the CIA's Soviet Russia
Division began to firm up plans for a miniature paperback edition. In a
memo to the acting deputy director for plans, the chief of the division,
Maury, said he believed there was "tremendous demand on the part of
students and intellectuals to obtain copies of this book."
Officials at the agency reviewed all the difficulties with the Mouton
edition published in the Netherlands and argued against any outside
involvement in a new printing. "In view of the security, legal and
technical problems involved, it is recommended that a black miniature
edition of Dr. Zhivago be published at headquarters using the first
Feltrinelli text and attributing it to a fictitious publisher."
The agency already had its own press in Washington to print miniature
books, and over the course of the Cold War it had printed a small library
of literature -- each book designed to fit "inside a man's suit or trouser
pocket."
By July 1959, at least 9,000 copies of a miniature edition of "Doctor
Zhivago" had been printed "in a one and two volume series," the latter
presumably to make it not so thick and easier to split up and hide. The CIA
attempted to create the illusion that this edition of the novel was
published in Paris by a fictitious entity, the Société d'Edition et
d'Impression Mondiale. A Russian emigre group also claimed it was behind
the publication.
CIA records state that the miniature books were passed out by "agents who
[had] contact with Soviet tourists and officials in the West." Two thousand
copies of this edition were also set aside for dissemination to Soviet and
Eastern European students at the 1959 World Festival of Youth and Students
for Peace and Friendship, which was to be held in Vienna.
There was a significant effort to distribute books in Vienna -- about 30,000
in 14 languages, including "1984," "Animal Farm," "The God That Failed" and
"Doctor Zhivago." Apart from a Russian edition, plans also called for
"Doctor Zhivago" to be distributed in Polish, German, Czech, Hungarian and
Chinese at the festival.
The New York Times reported that some members of the Soviet delegation to
the Vienna festival "evinced a great curiosity about Mr. Pasternak's novel,
which is available here." Occasionally it was not only available, but
unavoidable. When a Soviet convoy of buses arrived in sweltering Vienna,
crowds of Russian emigres swarmed them and tossed copies of the CIA's
miniature edition through the open windows.
On another occasion, a Soviet visitor to the youth festival recalled
returning to his bus and finding the cabin covered with pocket editions of
"Doctor Zhivago."
"None of us, of course, had read the book but we feared it," he wrote in an
article many years later.
Soviet students were watched by the KGB, who fooled no one when these
intelligence operatives described themselves as "researchers" at the
festival. The Soviet "researchers" proved more tolerant than might have
been expected.
"Take it, read it," they said, "but by no means bring it home."
Adapted from "The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA and the Battle Over
a Forbidden Book," by Peter Finn and Petra Couvée. Couvée is a writer and
translator who teaches at Saint Petersburg State University in Russia.
Received on Mon Apr 07 2014 - 11:52:23 EDT