Walter Duranty
Walter Duranty (
1884–
1957), born in
Liverpool,
England, won a controversial
Pulitzer Prize in
1932 for a set of stories he wrote in
1931 as
The New York Times'
Moscow correspondent, ostensibly covering
Joseph Stalin's
Five-Year Plan to industrialize the
Soviet Union.
His work has been subsequently denounced as propaganda for the regime. The English journalist
Malcolm Muggeridge, who worked in Ukraine as a journalist for
The Manchester Guardian and witnesssed many of the same events, called Duranty "the greatest liar I have met in journalism."
In recent years, scholars, such as
Andrew Stuttaford and
Sally J. Taylor, have criticized Duranty for what they see as deference to
Joseph Stalin's and the
Soviet Union's official
propaganda in Duranty's news stories. [
1] Taylor wrote a book called
Stalin's Apologist : Walter Duranty: The New York Times's Man in Moscow (ISBN 0195057007).
The New York Times hired a professor of Russian history to review Duranty's work. That professor,
Mark Von Hagen of
Columbia University, concluded Mr. Duranty's reports to be unbalanced and uncritical, and they far too often gave voice to
Stalinist propaganda. [
2]
In his
New York Times articles (including one published on
March 31,
1933), Duranty repeatedly denied the existence of a
Ukrainian famine in 1932â€"33. In an article in NYT, August 24 1933, he claimed "any report of a famine is today an exaggeration or malignant propaganda", but admitted privately to William Strang (in the British Embassy in Moscow on
September 26,
1933) that "it is quite possible that as many as ten million people may have died directly or indirectly from lack of food in the Soviet Union during the past year." [
3]
American engineer Zara Witkin and UK intelligence claim Duranty misrepresented this well-documented event, known as the
Holodomor in
Ukraine. Several organizations have called on the
Pulitzer Board to revoke his prize, but in
2003 the Board issued a statement announcing its decision not to revoke the prize, although it did state that "Mr. Duranty's 1931 work, measured by today's standards for foreign reporting, falls seriously short". Duranty was also criticized for defending Stalin's notorious
show trials.
Duranty, who lost a leg in a railway accident, lived in Moscow for twelve years. After his return to the United States, he was unable to obtain steady work as a journalist. He died without expressing any remorse for his actions.
*
Gareth Jones (journalist)*
Lion FeuchtwangerPulitzer Prize Articles by Walter Duranty
*
"Red Russia of Today Ruled by Stalinism, Not Communism"*
"Socialism First Aim in Soviet's Program; Trade Gains Second"*
"Stalinism Shelves World Revolt Idea; To Win Russia First"*
"Industrial Success Emboldens Soviet in New World Policy"*
"Trade Equilibrium is New Soviet Goal"*
"Soviet Fixes Opinion by Widest Control"*
"Soviet Censorship Hurts Russia Most"*
"Stalinism Smashes Foes in Marx's Name"*
"Red Army is Held No Menace to Peace"*
"Stalinism Solving Minorities Problem"*
"Stalinism's Mark is Party Discipline"*
"The Russian Looks at the World"*
"Stalin's Russia Is An Echo of Iron Ivan's"Miscellaneous
*
The section of articles regarding the campaign to revoke Walter Duranty's 1932 Pulitzer Prize*
The Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain â€" Duranty Protest Site*
Ukrainian Congress Committee of America official site about Walter Duranty and "Holodomor"*
Zara Witkin's memoir of Soviet Russia, see pages 208-210*
Pulitzer Prize Board Statement on Walter Duranty's 1932 Prize* Crowl, James W.
Angels in Stalin's Paradise: Western Reporters in Soviet Russia, 1917-1937; A Case Study of Louis Fischer and Walter Duranty. Washington, D.C.: The University of America Press (1981), ISBN 0819121851
* Sally J. Taylor,
Stalin's Apologist: Walter Duranty : The New York Times Man in Moscow. Oxford University Press (1990), ISBN 0195057007
*
