RUSSIA THE VIEW FROM LENIN HILLS ABOUT A MONTH AGO, SOON AFTER NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV TOUCHED OFF A GENERAL CRACKDOWN ON MODERN ART (TIME, DEC . 14), SEVERAL HUNDRED SOVIET ARTISTS AND WRITERS WERE ABRUPTLY SUMMONED TO THE MODERN, GLASS-WALLED RECEPTION PALACE AT LENIN HILLS, ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF MOSCOW . KHRUSHCHEV HIMSELF, IT SEEMED, WANTED TO HEAR WHAT POETS AND PAINTERS THOUGHT OF THE PARTY LINE ON AVANT-GARDE ART . THE ARGUMENT RAGED FOR FIVE HOURS, FAR INTO THE NIGHT, AND INCLUDED SEVERAL REMARKABLY FRANK EXCHANGES WITH THE SOVIET RULER . ONE OF THE FIRST TO SPEAK UP WAS AGING JOURNALIST-PROPAGANDIST ILYA EHRENBURG, 71 . DEFENDING A CEZANNE-LIKE BLUE AND PURPLE CANVAS CALLED FEMALE NUDE, DONE BY RUSSIAN PAINTER ROBERT FALK IN 1922, WHICH ART CRITIC KHRUSHCHEV HAD DERIDED, EHRENBURG SAID : " YOU AND I, NIKITA SERGEEVICH, ARE GETTING ON AND HAVEN'T GOT MUCH TIME LEFT . BUT FALK'S PAINTING WILL LIVE AS LONG AS THERE ARE LOVERS OF BEAUTY . " NEXT, ABSTRACT SCULPTOR ERNST NEIZVESNTY, WHOSE WORK ALSO HAD BEEN ATTACKED BY NIKITA, TOOK THE FLOOR . " YOU MAY NOT LIKE MY WORK, COMRADE KHRUSHCHEV, " THE SCULPTOR SAID, " BUT IT HAS THE WARM ADMIRATION OF SUCH EMINENT SOVIET SCIENTISTS AS KAPITSA AND LANDAU . " RETORTED KHRUSHCHEV SCORNFULLY : " THAT'S NOT WHY WE ADMIRE KAPITSA AND LANDAU . " NEIZVESNTY FELL SILENT, BUT OFFICIAL KREMLIN POET EVGENY EVTUSHENKO ROSE TO HIS FRIEND'S DEFENSE . " HE CAME BACK FROM THE WAR WITH 14 BULLETS IN HIS BODY, " SAID EVTUSHENKO, " AND I HOPE HE WILL LIVE MANY MORE YEARS AND PRODUCE MANY MORE FINE WORKS OF ART " AS PEOPLE SAY, " SHOT BACK NIKITA BRUTALLY, " ONLY THE GRAVE CORRECTS A HUNCHBACK . " EVTUSHENKO MANAGED A BRAVE REPLY : " I HOPE, COMRADE KHRUSHCHEV, WE HAVE OUTLIVED THE TIME WHEN THE GRAVE WAS USED AS A MEANS OF CORRECTION . " THE AUDIENCE WAS STUNNED, THEN BURST INTO APPLAUSE ; EVEN KHRUSHCHEV SHEEPISHLY JOINED IN . EVTUSHENKO'S DISPLAY OF COURAGE DID NOT LAST LONG . TWO WEEKS AFTER THE LENIN HILLS MEETING, THE PARTY'S IDEOLOGICAL BOSS, LEONID ILYICHEV, CALLED IN THE POET AND A NUMBER OF OTHER YOUNG INTELLECTUALS FOR AN ATTITUDE TALK . ILYICHEV WAS ESPECIALLY ANGRY OVER EVTUSHENKO'S POEM BABI YAR, WHICH CONDEMNED SOVIET ANTI-SEMITISM AND WHICH HAD JUST BEEN ENTHUSIASTICALLY RECEIVED IN A NEW SYMPHONIC SETTING BY COMPOSER DMITRY SHOSTAKOVICH . CULTURAL COMMISSARS QUICKLY CANCELED FURTHER PERFORMANCES OF THE SYMPHONY . AS FOR THE POEM, SAID ILYICHEV, IT SHOULD BE CHANGED TO INCLUDE AN ATTACK ON WEST GERMANY . AFTER A SLEEPLESS NIGHT, EVTUSHENKO AGREED TO " IMPROVE " BABI YAR .