totalitarian East there is politicalcensorship, and the media of mass communications are controlled by theState. In the democratic West there is economic censorship and the mediaof mass communication are controlled by members of the Power Elite.Censorship by rising costs and the concentration of communication-power inthe hands of a few big concerns is less objectionable than State Ownershipand government propaganda; but certainly it is not something to which aJeffersonian democrat could approve._
Ilya Simonov looked blankly at Catherina and whispered, "Why, what he'sreading is as much an attack on the West as it is on us."
She looked at him and whispered back, "Well, why not? This gathering is todiscuss freedom of the press."
He said blankly, "But as an agent of the West--"
She frowned at him. "Mr. Dickson isn't an agent of the West. He's anAmerican journalist."
"Surely you can't believe he has no connections with the imperialistgovernments."
"Certainly, he hasn't. What sort of meeting do you think this is? We'renot interested in Western propaganda. We're a group of intellectualssearching for freedom of ideas."
Ilya Simonov was taken back once again.
* * * * *
Colonel Ilya Simonov dismissed his cab in front of the Ministry and walkedtoward the gate. Down the street the same plainclothes man, who had beenlounging there the last time he'd reported, once again took him in, thenlooked away. The two guards snapped to attention, and the security agentstrode by them unnoticing.
At the lieutenant's desk, before the offices of Kliment Blagonravov, hestopped and said, "Colonel Simonov. I have no appointment but I think theMinister will see me."
"Yes, Comrade Colonel," the lieutenant said. He spoke into an inter-officecommunicator, then looked up. "Minister Blagonravov will be able to seeyou in a few minutes, sir."
Ilya Simonov stared nervously and unseeingly out a window while he waited.Gorki Park lay across the way. It, like Moscow in general, had changed agood deal in Simonov's memory. Everything in Russia had changed a gooddeal, he realized. And was changing. And what was the end to be? Or wasthere ever an end? Of course not. There is no end, ever. Only new changesto come.
The lieutenant said, "The Minister is free now, Comrade Colonel."
Ilya Simonov muttered something to him and pushed his way through theheavy door.
Blagonravov looked up from his desk and rumbled affectionately, "Ilya!It's good to see you. Have a drink! You've lost weight, Ilya!"
His top field man sank into the same chair he'd occupied nine monthsbefore, and accepted the ice-cold vodka.
Blagonravov poured another drink for himself, then scowled at the other."Where have you been? When you first went off to Prague, I got reportsfrom you almost every day. These last few months I've hardly heard fromyou." He rumbled his version of a chuckle. "If I didn't know you better,I'd think there was a woman."
Ilya Simonov looked at him wanly. "That too, Kliment."
"You are jesting!"
"No. Not really. I had hoped to become engaged--soon."
"A party member? I never thought of you as the marrying type, Ilya."
Simonov said slowly, "Yes, a Party member. Catherina Panova, my assistantin the automobile agency in Prague."
Blagonravov scowled heavily at him, put forth his fat lips in a thoughtfulpout. He came to his feet, approached a file cabinet, fishing from hispocket a key ring. He unlocked the cabinet, brought forth a sheaf ofpapers with which he returned to his desk. He fumbled though them for amoment, found the paper he wanted and read it. He scowled again and lookedup at his agent.
"Your first report," he said. "Catherina Panova. From what you say here, adangerous reactionary. Certainly she has no place in Party ranks."
Ilya Simonov said, "Is that the complete file of my assignment?"
"Yes. I've kept it here in my own office. I've wanted this to beultra-undercover. No one except you and me. I had hopes of you workingyour way up into the enemy's organization, and I wanted no possible chanceof you being betrayed. You don't seem to have been too successful."
"I was as successful as it's possible to be."
The security minister leaned forward. "Ah ha! I knew I could trust you tobring back results, Ilya. This will take Frol Zverev's pressure off me.Number One has been riding me hard." Blagonravov poured them both anotherdrink. "You were able to insert yourself into their higher circles?"
Simonov said, "Kliment, there are no higher circles."
His chief glared at him. "Nonsense!" He tapped the file with a pudgyfinger. "In your early reports you described several groups, smallorganizations, illegal meetings. There must be an upper organization, somemovement supported from the West most likely."
Ilya Simonov was shaking his head. "No. They're all spontaneous."
His chief growled, "I tell you there are literally thousands of theselittle groups. That hardly sounds like a spontaneous phenomenon."
"Nevertheless, that is what my investigations have led me to believe."
Blagonravov glowered at him, uncertainly. Finally, he said, "Well,confound it, you've spent the better part of a year among them. What's itall about? What do they want?"
Ilya Simonov said flatly, "They want freedom, Kliment."
"Freedom! What do you mean, freedom? The Soviet Complex is the most highlyindustrialized area of the world. Our people have the highest standard ofliving anywhere. Don't they understand? We've met all the promises we evermade. We've reached far and beyond the point ever dreamed of by Utopians.The people, all of the people, have it made as the Americans say."
"Except for freedom," Simonov said doggedly. "These groups are springingup everywhere, spontaneously. Thus far, perhaps, our ministry has beenable to suppress some of them. But the pace is accelerating. They aren'tinter-organized now. But how soon they'll start to be, I don't know.Sooner or later, someone is going to come up with a unifying idea. A newsocio-political system to advocate a way of guaranteeing the basicliberties. Then, of course, the fat will be in the fire."
"Ilya! You've been working too hard. I've pushed you too much, relied onyou too much. You need a good lengthy vacation."
Simonov shrugged. "Perhaps. But what I've just said is the truth."
His chief snorted heavily. "You half sound as though you agree with them."
"I do, Kliment."
"I am in no mood for gags, as the Yankees say."
Ilya Simonov looked at him wearily. He said slowly, "You sent me toinvestigate an epidemic, a spreading disease. Very well, I report thatit's highly contagious."
* * * * *
Blagonravov poured himself more vodka angrily. "Explain yourself. What'sthis all about?"
His former best field man said, "Kliment--"
"I want no familiarities from you, colonel!"
"Yes, sir." Ilya Simonov went on doggedly. "Man never achieves completefreedom. It's a goal never reached, but one continually striven for. Themoment as small a group as two or three gather together, all of them mustgive up some of the individual's freedom. When man associates withmillions of his fellow men, he gives up a good many freedoms for the sakeof the community. But always he works to retain as much liberty aspossible, and to gain more. It's the nature of our species, I suppose."
"You sound as though you've become corrupted by Western ideas," thesecurity head muttered dangerously.
Simonov shook his head. "No. The same thing applies over there. Even incountries such as Sweden and Switzerland, where institutions are as freeas anywhere in the world, the people are continually striving for more.Governments and socio-economic systems seem continually to whittle away atindividual liberty. But always man fights back and tries to achieve newheights for himself.
"In the name of developing our country, the Party all but eliminatedfreedom in the Soviet Complex, but now the goals have been reached and thepeople will no longer put up with us, sir."
"_Us!_" Kliment Blagonravov growled bitterly. "You are hard
ly to beconsidered in the Party's ranks any longer, Simonov. Why in the world didyou ever return here?" He sneered fatly. "Your best bet would have beento escape over the border into the West."
Simonov looked at the file on the other's desk. "I wanted to regain thosereports I made in the early days of my assignment. I've listed in themsome fifty names, names of men and women who are now my friends."
The fat lips worked in and out. "It must be that woman. You've become softin the head, Simonov." Blagonravov tapped