The recent trail of two Russian authors is apparently the first step in a new series of restrictions on artistic freedom in the Soviet Union. Because the Soviet government has managed in recent years to control its artists through unofficial channels, these unexpected proceedings might appear to be a last-ditch maneuver in a losing battle. But the deliberate staging of the trial, almost inviting foreign criticism, is a confident reassertion of the government's right to censor. The harsh sentences imposed by the Supreme Court indicate that this is in fact a precedent for future suppression.

The official charge--creation of "anti-Soviet propaganda and agitation"--is so vague that it could be used to suppress practically all forms of creative effort. Exposed as the authors of particularly controversial stories, Alex ei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel were arrested last September but were brought to trial only last week. Their writings, published outside Russia under the psuedonyms Tertz and Arzhak, were fantastic portrayals of Soviet society. Sinyavsky depicted the horrors of the Stalinist trials and the inner workings of Stalin's regime in one of his short stories, "The Trial Begins." Daniel's tale "Moscow Speaks" envisioned a day of legalized crime and violence throughout the country. Writing in a grotesquely symbolic style reminiscent of Kafka and Dostoyevsky, the two authors explored the psychological realities of their lives.

Sinyavsky and Daniel attempted to convince their judges that such creative effort was not intended as anti-Soviet propaganda. But Soviet officials were incapable of distinguishing the language of fiction from that of subversive slander. They condemned the stories as hostile agitation without taking into account the creative use of allegory and allusion.

This interpretation reflects increasing feelings of insecurity within the present Soviet regime. Under Khruschev, the liberalization of controls brought artists and writers unprecedented freedom of expression. But the uncertainties of Soviet leaders, who have been frightened by the enthusiastic response of Russian intellectuals, has apparently reversed this trend. In the past year the government has moved toward stiffening censorship.

Until the Soviet Union succeeds in tolerating some measure of artistic freedom it will continue to stifle creative expression within the USSR, and to prevent free and open cultural exchange with nations abroad.