Apr 24 2010
Polonsky May Sue Figes
According to the Telegraph, Polonsky has raised the possibility of legal action against Figes:
Dr Polonsky said she was intending to recover costs from Prof Figes. She said: “There have been some large legal costs built up in the last week which I hope to retrieve from the Figes family.” She added: “I understand that he is claiming that he has been traumatised by the research he did with victims of the Russian gulags which caused him to behave like this. I think it is horrific to use one of the greatest acts of criminality in history to excuse his bad behaviour. In any case he has been behaving like this for years beforehand.”
Meanwhile, Robert Service says the whole thing calls for reform of libel law in the UK:
The public interest in this squalid little story is that if someone is wealthy and malicious enough it is possible to tread on the throat of free and open discussion in this country almost with impunity. I was close to caving in at times simply because I lacked Figes’s financial resources. We have a set of libel laws seemingly designed to produce another Robert Maxwell. At the same time we have electronic media that enable the ink to flow from poison pens. In my case, these two features of our culture were wrapped around each other like a vicious weed. Legislative reform is urgently required.
Rather than suing, Polonsky (or, perhaps, her publisher) should send Figes a thank you note and a box of chocolates.
While she’s certainly the aggrieved party in this case, Figes’ stupidity is redounding to her success. It is generating a great deal of free publicity in major British venues like the Telegraph, TLS, the Independent, etc.
A quick check reveals that as of this typing Molotov’s Magic Lantern currently occupies the #365 Sales Ranking on Amazon.co.uk and is the site’s #16 best seller among all history books. [The book is not yet available via the main Amazon.com site]
Not bad. Especially for “the sort of book that makes you wonder why it was ever published…”