Author and translator Michael Scammel becomes the first director of Index. Under Scammel’s leadership, it is decided that Writers and Scholars International will form a magazine with Scammel as the editor. He acquires writing from Milovan Djilas from Yugoslavia and Greek law professor George Mangakis’ Letter to Europeans, written from prison.
In the same year Spender announces in the Times Literary Supplement the forthcoming publication of the magazine. He outlines that freedom and tyranny are to be the central theme. He writes: “Obviously there is a risk of a magazine of this kind becoming a bulletin of frustration. However, the material by writers which is censored in Eastern Europe, Greece, South Africa and other countries is among the most exciting that is being written today. Moreover, the question of censorship has become a matter of impassioned debate; and it is one which does not only concern totalitarian societies.”