SIR,—Bernard Levin's 'Outtourist' impressions are obviously those of the unseasoned
traveller. As a news correspondent who has done penal servitude in Moscow, experienced the rigid censorship Mr. Levin has merely heard of, known people whb actually did disappear for speaking to foreigners. and all the rest of it, I won't engage in any argument about the validity, legitimacy or harshness of the Communist regime. But in everyday matters, not since Mark Twain's has there been an Innocent Abroad so innocent as your contributor. To wit :
1. As such, the absence of lettuce in Moscow no more denotes a . low standard of living than the absence of popcorn in London. Even before they became Communists, Russians preferred cabbage to lettuce, which they rightly consider fit only for rabbits. Even in London, lettuce is somewhat hard to come by in March.
2. In every country I know of, including Britain, foreign embassies usually have a policeman stationed outside. His job probably includes noting who goes in and out. Communist embassies in some Western capitals frequently have hidden cameras trained on their entrances for the same purpose. It is true Western hotels don't have uniformed militia outside, preferring house detectives inside, but the Gorgon on the upper floors of Moscow has sisters in some of the best hotels in New York, Paris, Vienna, and probably even London.
3. Russians stay in the same hotels as foreigners, for Intourist hotels are not exclusively so. I lived at the Metropol in Moscow for years, and even in war- time as many Russians had rooms there as foreigners. The Moskva used to be completely for Russians. I don't know where Mr. Levin descended, but surely he could not have failed to notice one or two Rus- sians around, especially since they seem to him to be so different from anybody else.
4. I share Mr. Levin's distaste for Russian news- paper stalls and the products of the prolific Com- munist printing presses. But 'rubbish' is not a word to be swallowed lightly by anyone who has ever tried to find something to read on a New York, or even a London, news-stand. 5. Even members of British coach tours know by now that some countries require visas, which are obtained in advance by the thoughtful traveller. Anyone who is not aware that Western flights land in West Berlin, and Communist flights in East Ger' many, can't really be aware. As for trick airplane routing, don't mention it to somebody who has tried to travel from Cyprus to Israel, let's say, or from Salisbury to Nairobi, by any airline but a British one. 6. I have saved Mr. Levin's most trenchant ob- servation for the last, Out of sheer curiosity, how many telephone calls did he make from his Cone°• hagen bedroom after discovering a telephone dirce* tory there? Oi did he just feel good knowing he could call somebody if he wanted to, and even if the other person didr't want him to? Since the telephone is cne of the most insidious, time-wasting and unnecessary devices ever invented in a thinking society, I would venture that the non-existence of telephone directoriei in Moscow shows that the Russians, however else they may fall short of their avowed aim, have indeed taken the first step toward Utopia. In short, Mr. Levin writes about Moscow in the same non sequitur fashion that a Pravda or lzvestio correspondent writes about Paris or London.-- Yours faithfully,
ALEXANDER KENDRICK
CBS News, 33 Champs Elysees, Paris Ville
Previous page
