20

A new article, 'Always with the People', appeared on the wall-newspaper in the hall of the Physics Institute.

This article said that the Soviet Union – under the leadership of the great Stalin, who was guiding the country through the tempest of war – attached immense significance to science; that the Party and Government honoured and respected scientists as nowhere else in the world; and that even during the current difficult times the Soviet state was providing scientists with all the conditions necessary for normal, productive work.

It went on to list the great tasks now facing the Institute: the new building work, the expansion of the old laboratories, the bringing together of theory and practice, and the importance of scientific research for the armaments industry.

Mention was made of the patriotic 'elan that had seized the collective of scientists; the collective was determined to justify the concern and trust of the Party and of comrade Stalin himself, determined not to disappoint the hope with which the people looked on this glorious vanguard of the Soviet intelligentsia.

The final part of the article was about the unfortunate fact that there were certain individuals in this healthy and fraternal collective who lacked a sense of responsibility to the People and the Party -individuals who were isolated from the great Soviet family. These individuals were opposed to the collective and considered their personal interests of greater importance than the tasks entrusted to them by the Party; they tended to exaggerate their own scientific achievements, real or imaginary. Deliberately or not, some of these individuals became mouthpieces for alien, anti-Soviet views and attitudes; the ideas they spread were politically dangerous. These individuals often called for an 'objective attitude' towards the idealist, reactionary and obscurantist theories of foreign idealists. They even boasted of their links with these idealists, thus belittling the achievements of Soviet science and offending the patriotic pride of Russian scientists.

Sometimes these individuals posed as defenders of a supposedly flouted justice, trying to win a cheap popularity among the shortsighted, the gullible and the naive; in fact they were sowing seeds of discord, seeds of a lack of faith in Russian science, of a lack of respect for its splendid past and great names. The article called on scientists to liquidate every sign of decadence, everything alien and hostile, everything that might hinder the fulfilment of the tasks with which, during the Great Patriotic War, they had been entrusted by the Party and the People. The article ended: 'Forward, towards new peaks of science, following the splendid path lit by the searchlight of Marxist philosophy, the path we have been shown by the great Party of Lenin and Stalin.'

No names were mentioned, but the article was obviously about Viktor. It was Savostyanov who first told him about it. At that moment Viktor was with a group of colleagues putting the last touches to the new apparatus. Instead of going to read it immediately, he threw his arms round Nozdrin's shoulders and said: 'Come what may, this giant will do its work.'

Nozdrin responded with a volley of curses. For a moment Viktor wasn't sure who they were aimed at.

Towards the end of the afternoon Sokolov came up to Viktor.

'Viktor Pavlovich, I admire you. You've been working all day as though nothing had happened. You're a real Socrates.'

'If a man's born blond, his hair won't turn brown just because he's been abused on a wall-newspaper,' said Viktor.

He was by now so accustomed to his feeling of resentment towards Sokolov as to be almost unconscious of it. He no longer reproached him for his excessive caution. Sometimes he said to himself, 'He does have many good qualities – and, besides, we all have our failings.'

'Yes,' said Sokolov, 'but there are articles and articles. Anna Stepanovna felt quite ill after reading it. First she went to the first-aid post and then she was sent home.'

'What on earth have they written?' thought Viktor. He preferred not to ask Sokolov, and no one else mentioned it to him. He might just as well have had terminal cancer.

That evening Viktor was the last to leave the laboratory. Alexey Mikhailovich, the old caretaker now working as a cloakroom attendant, said:

'That's how it is, Viktor Pavlovich. There's no peace in this world for an honest man.'

Viktor put on his coat, went back up the stairs and stopped in front of the board.

When he had read the article, he looked round in confusion. For a moment he thought he was going to be arrested then and there – but the hall was quiet and empty.

He could feel quite tangibly the difference in weight between the fragile human body and the colossus of the State. He could feel the State's bright eyes gazing into his face; any moment now the State would crash down on him; there would be a crack, a squeal – and he would be gone.

The street was full of people, but there seemed to be a strip of no man's land between them and Viktor.

In the trolleybus a man in a soldier's winter cap turned excitedly to his companion. 'Have you heard the latest news?'

' Stalingrad!' someone else shouted from one of the front seats. 'The enemy's been crushed.'

A middle-aged woman stared at Viktor. She seemed to be reproaching him for his silence.

Viktor thought about Sokolov almost tenderly now. 'Yes, we all of us have our failings.'

But no one ever sincerely believes his own failings to be equal to those of other people. Soon Viktor was thinking: 'Yes, but his views depend on his success, on the love shown him by the State. Now the tide's turning, now it looks like victory, he won't utter a word of criticism. But I'm not like that: whether the State's strong or weak, whether it beats me or caresses me, my convictions remain the same.'

When he got home, he would tell Lyudmila all about the article. Yes, they really did have it in for him now. 'So much for the Stalin Prize, Lyudochka', he would say. 'An article like that means you're going to be arrested.'

'We share one destiny,' he thought. 'She'd accompany me if I was invited to lecture at the Sorbonne – and she'll accompany me to a camp in Kolyma.'

'Well, you can't say you haven't brought it on yourself,' Lyudmila would say.

He would reply coolly: 'I don't need criticism. I've had enough of that at the Institute. I need understanding and affection.'

Nadya opened the door. She flung her arms round him and buried her face in his breast.

'What's the matter? Let me take my coat off. I'm cold and wet.'

'Haven't you heard yet? Stalingrad! There's been a tremendous victory! The Germans have been surrounded! Come on, come on!'

She helped him off with his coat, took him by the hand and dragged him down the corridor.

'This way. Mama's in Tolya's room.'

She opened the door. Lyudmila was sitting at Tolya's desk. Slowly she turned her head and gave Viktor a sad, solemn smile.

He couldn't bring himself to talk about what had happened at the Institute. Instead, they all sat down at Tolya's desk; Lyudmila drew a diagram showing how the Germans had been encircled and explained her plan of operations to Nadya.

That night, when Viktor was alone in his room, he thought:

'Oh God! Why don't I write a letter of repentance? That's what everyone else does in a situation like this.'