YEVIUSHENKO IN PARIS
By G. Vataud
The young Soviet poet Yevgenil Yevtushenko drew a crowd of some 5.000 students, intellectuals and young workera at the well-known meeting hall Ilutualité February 17. Ho recited some of this political poems and enawered many iene questions put to bin by the audience.
The meeting wes sponsored by the Union des Etudiants Commmistes (union of Commmist students) which is in open opposition to the Thorez leadership of the French Commmist party.
Hours before tha maeting an enormous line up indicated that the hall weuld ‘bu jammed. Loudspeakers wera hastily ricged in corridors and adjacent rooms to take oars of the overflow.
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Yevtushenko recited such “lyrical” poems as Hail, and political poems liics Babi, Yar (a passionate denunciation of anti-Semitism which still exists in the Soviet Union because of the use made of it by the bureaucraty) and Stalin's Heirs (en attack against Stalin and Stalinism).
drew the most applause. The audience, composed mostly of young Communist students stepped in the conformist atmosphere of the French CP, wher oniy lip service has been paid to Kkrushchev's "de-Stalinization", were too stunned by ‘he vigorous anti-Stalinism of Stalin's Heirs to respond to the magnificent poem with tha full enthusiasm which it merite.
During the question-and-answer period, Yevtushenko insisted that he seeis3 in his peetry to present "a global picture of man and the world” and that he does not really separate lyrical from political poetry.
Vhen asked if the didn't acree that posts in France hove a hard tims because they are not subsidized by the government, he said that, they would do vattar if they handled subjects that interest and involve people.
In response to a question as to why he recited few lyrical but may political | poems, he replied: "In Paris there are enough lyrical posts. But I think you esuli do with a few more revolutionary ones.“
Yevtushenko's answers to the dozens of questions = he had fo time to arsver | ell ~ amounted to a single passionate appeal for revolution. He read two fins poexus about the Cuban Revolution, one a tribute to a Cuban youth shot after seizing the microphone in a Batista radio station and speakinz "three minutes of truth.”
The poem ended, "I dedicate this poem to you, youth of the world, who are likewise ready to give your lives for three minutes of truth."
Yevtushenko wound up the evening by recalling an indident at the Helsir*i Youth Festival last summer. He had a wonderful time, he said fraternizing with ycourg Frenchmen. One of them suddenly said, “You can come to Paris, Yevtushenko. You wen't iuterest any- body with your stuff about socialiem and revolution. You w'on't drew a crowd. But when gou have the equivalent of Galeries Iafayetts (2 dig aspartment store) in Moccow and the city is full of oars, then the Soviet Union will again have som influence on us.”
This view, of course, reflects the perspective advanced by Khrushcher and Thorez that a "break through” will not occur in the West until the atandar? ¢f living in the USSR is higger than in the
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United States. Said Yevtushenko: "I listened to this youth and I thought to myself, 'You poor old man.’ And I felt sorry for him. I'm convinced that French youth are different. And this evening I am glad to see them here in such numbers and so enthusiastic when I speak about revolution. I hope they make their own revolution."
These comments are all the more significant in view of the fact that at the last three congresses of the French CP, the word "revolution" doesn't appear once in the resolutions.
To a question about the Hungarian revolution. Yevtushenko responded: "It was a tragedy for all the Soviet people. The caugre of the revolt was the crimes of the dogmatists. The revolt was undertaken by pure-minded people. But afterwards events turned ou% in such a way that they were submerged by fascists, especially those who moved in from Western Germany. To have Hungarian socialism destroyed by fascism could not be tolerated." He paused for a long moment and then sighed. "You know, I wasn't there. . .; "
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