Banned Books

How does one begin to understand why something is banned – or, as Ruzya had to do, when something ought to be banned? As a novice censor at Glavlit, Ruzya studied memos like this one explaining why a U.S.-published biography of Albert Einstein could not be allowed:

1)The author of the introduction recommends studying the works of contemporary reactionary philosophers John Dewey, G. Santayana, G. Mupa, Betrand Russell and others. In several places in the introduction the author calls such backwards personalities as Betrand Russell, J. Dewey and others “great thinkers”.

2) In the chapter called “Einstein’s Social Philosophy”, the author relays Einstein’s thinking: Einstein believes that the world is facing a crisis and that humanity is in danger of a catastrophe. The only salvation lies in organizing the intellectual and spiritual forces of the world into one moral force, something like the “conscience of the world.” Morality is the highest value of all, such is Einstein’s credo. Never do anything that contradicts your conscience, even if the state demands it…

So morality fell outside the law because it might contradict state policy. And memory fell outside the law, too, because it could contradict the official version of history.

Masha Gessen, in Ester and Ruzya