In looking through boxes of memorabilia, I came across photos and an article that I wrote for the Harvard Crimson in September, 1974. I had gone to Russia with my parents before returning to college. My father was convinced that Glasnost was underway, that there would be big business opportunities for the intrepid PR firm that would be first to open an office in Moscow.
Needless to say, that was an illusion. We had a “maid” assingned to sit outside our room to track our every move. The hotel room was bugged, according to my father’s long time journalist friend Murray Fromson of CBS, who never spoke in his own apartment about anything more than the weather or the food he was eating. The central department store, GUM, was drab and the largely female shoppers were wearing sack like clothing.
As you will see from the attached story, I went to a dissident art exhibit in the Moscow suburbs, only to be confronted by para-military thugs who brought agricultural trucks to spray the attendees, then used their fists to smash journalists and nd local residents alike.
I was proud to take pictures and bring the film of various media organizations out of Russia that evening to demonstrate to the world that the iron fist of Communism was still very much in vogue. Putin’s actions in the Ukraine show that very little has changed in 50 years.
Richard Edelman is CEO.
