Since its inception in 1972 Index on Censorship, a bi-monthly journal, has been wreaking havoc wherever possible with those who wield blue pencils and worse weapons. Index publishes writing of literary merit that has been banned and exposes cases of suppression and censorship wherever they occur.

The founding of Index represents the happy but all too rare situation of people mobilizing promptly in the service of a dream. In 1968 Pavel Litvinov, the wellknown Soviet dissident, and Larisa Bogoraz wrote an open letter protesting the contravention of Soviet laws by judicial authorities during the trial of Galanskov, Ginsberg, Dobrovolsky, and Lashkova. In response to their appeal, published in newspapers of various countries, the English poet Stephen Spender sent a telegram to Litvinov expressing his sympathy and saying he would like to assist these people in their plight.