Turning the pages back... June 15, 1957 (06/15/03)

Turning the pages back...

June 15, 1957

While the campaign to revoke New York Times correspondent Walter Duranty's Pulitzer Prize, awarded for his reporting from the Soviet Union, is currently in the news, it should be noted that Duranty's case - though by far the most egregious example - unfortunately, is not an isolated instance of reporting by American journalists that has elicited criticism from the Ukrainian American community.

On June 15, 1957, The Ukrainian Weekly questioned the accuracy of a report from Kyiv by New York Times correspondent William T. Jorden, which stated, "The farmers of the [sic] Ukraine are determined to make good Nikita S. Khrushchev's pledge that the Soviet Union will soon produce as much wheat, milk and butter as the United States."

Mr. Jorden reported that Krushchev's pledge "has fired the imagination of Ukrainian farmers."

The Weekly complained: "The entire account by The Times correspondent of the Ukrainian farmers backing Khrushchev's pledge on higher output is written in such glowing terms as to suggest that before it was cabled, it must have been beautifully doctored by the censors."

The Weekly goes on to argue that such widespread support and excitement surrounding the production increase was unlikely, since the collective farms resembled slave labor camps. The Weekly claimed that the people worked from dawn until nightfall with harsh penalties for slowing the pace of work. They were compensated only with a small plot of land and a daily salary of $1.50.

Furthermore, The Weekly notes, Khrushchev had been sent by Stalin to disband the Ukrainian Politburo because it had allowed Ukrainian farmers to sabotage the Soviet farming system. Given this, The Weekly felt it was unlikely that Khrushchev's pledge for increased production would have been met with unmitigated support.

Source: "Ukrainian Farmers Reported to 'Back Pledge' of Khrushchev on Higher Output," The Ukrainian Weekly, June 15, 1957.

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