WORLD : Soviet Ideologists Lose Bid to Halt Khrushchev Memoirs’ Publication

MOSCOW — Soviet ideology officials sought this week to halt publication in Moscow of the memoirs of Nikita S. Khrushchev, but editors fought back and won clearance to continue, the late Kremlin leader’s son said today.

Sergei Khrushchev reported the censorship bid in a speech at the opening of the first major exhibition to be staged in the Soviet Union on the 10 years from 1954 to 1964 when his father was the country’s uncontested No. 1.

“They said it was not convenient at this stage to publish the memoirs and made clear they would not give sanction for any further extracts to appear,” said the 53-year-old engineer, himself writing a book about Khrushchev.

But Vitaly Korotich, editor-in-chief of the weekly Ogonyok, which has published extracts from the memoirs for the past month, and editors of other journals planning to run longer versions insisted that they had to go ahead, he added.

Sergei Khrushchev, who told visitors to the exhibition that he had helped his father record his recollections after his removal from power in 1964, said officials had cited a Kremlin decision of 1977 for their action.

The memoirs were printed in Western countries in the ‘70s.