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Article: Leo Labedz, R I P. (editor of the scholarly journal Survey and staunch anti-communist) (Editorial)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- April 26, 1993
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Leo Labedz, who died recently in London, was a Polish Jew born in the Russian city of Simbirsk, exactly half a century after V. I. Lenin, Simbirsk's most famous native. Communism was the life concern of both men, but, unlike Lenin, Leo opposed it.
Leo had a unique opportunity to learn about the Soviet Union when, after the Soviet seizure of Eastern Poland, his father was drafted to work at an NKVD clinic in Morszyn near Lvov. Soviet party dignitaries came there for treatment. It was just after the Great Purge, when many of them were afraid to confide even in their own wives - but they felt comfortable talking to the teenaged son of their doctor. Young Leo struck ...