On Oct. 28, 1958, Pasternak was expelled from the Soviet Writers Union.

Image Credit... The New York Times

The next day, Pasternak — bowing to Soviet pressure — cabled the Swedish Academy to let them know he could not accept the award. “In view of the meaning given to this honor in the community to which I belong, I should abstain from the underserved prize that has been awarded to me,” he wrote. “Do not meet my voluntary refusal with ill-will.”

The cable did little to improve his standing in the Soviet Union; he was even encouraged to leave the country. The Times noted that Pasternak “told two Western correspondents that any message received from him in Stockholm had been sent freely. He declined to discuss his position and urged correspondents not to visit or call him any more.”

By Oct. 31, 1958, some in the Soviet Union were calling for “the traitor Pasternak” to be banished from the country.