Curiosity About The Outside World

After Stalin's death overseas visits were allowed for those whose loyalty was beyond doubt. Even these, however, had a disturbing effect in the universities. Newspaper articles about Western countries were openly denounced as untrue, and Western periodicals and papers began, despite government reluctance, to become more readily available. Even Yugoslav papers were eagerly sought as "the nearest thing to an objective account of the outside world that we have.

A poem by Y. Yevtushenko, a gifted and outspoken young writer, expresses the mood of many young Russians:

"Long live movement
And fervour
And Longing—
Triumphant longing!
Boundaries hinder me …
I do not like
Not knowing Buenos Aires, New York
I want to roam about
As much as I like
To talk to everybody
Even in broken English
Like a boy
Hanging out of the bus,
I want to travel through Paris in the morning,
I want art, but different—like myself."