Russian Association of Proletarian Writers. Chronology of the creation of trade unions of writers Rapp Russian Association of Proletarian Writers

Russian Association of Proletarian Writers

Russian Association of Proletarian Writers(RAPP) is a literary association in the USSR, formed in 1925 at the 1st All-Union Conference of Proletarian Writers. After the formation of VOAPP (All-Union Association of Proletarian Writers' Associations) in 1928, RAPP took a leading position in it.

Story

RAPP (Russian Association of Proletarian Writers) took shape at the First All-Union Conference of Proletarian Writers in 1925. Its members included writers (the most famous A. Fadeev and D. Furmanov) and literary critics. The predecessor of RAPP was Proletkult, one of the most massive organizations founded in 1917. According to the ideologists of Proletkult and RAPP, every work of art has a class character. The new proletarian society does not need the literature of past eras, since it was not created by the proletariat and, therefore, reflects class interests alien to it. The Proletkultists proposed throwing Pushkin, Tolstoy, and Tchaikovsky into the “dustbin of history.” In their opinion, it was necessary to create a new, entirely proletarian culture. In their desire to create a new culture, representatives of RAPP reached extreme extremism. They treated almost all writers who were not members of their organization as “class enemies.” Among the authors who were attacked by RAPP members were not only A. Akhmatova, Z. Gippius and I. Bunin, but even such recognized “singers of the revolution” as M. Gorky and V. Mayakovsky.

The ideological opposition to RAPP was formed by the literary group “Pereval” (All-Union Association of Workers’ and Peasants’ Writers), whose ideological leader was the literary critic A.K. Voronsky, the founder of the first Soviet “thick” (i.e. literary) magazine “Krasnaya Nov”. The “Perevalovites” (among them M. Prishvin, V. Kataev) defended the idea of ​​the non-class, universal significance of art as a means of understanding the world. For them, the new Soviet culture could not take place without the perception of cultural heritage. As a result, the confrontation between the two ideological movements ended in the defeat of the “Pass”. Voronsky had to leave literary criticism and leave the editorial office of the magazine he organized. At a discussion at the Comacademy, the group was accused of “bourgeois liberalism.”

RAPP (Russian Association of Proletarian Writers) is an organization established at the First All-Union Conference of Proletarian Writers in January 1925 to unite representatives of proletarian literature, develop a mass proletarian literary movement and criticize bourgeois movements. The creation of RAPP was associated with the strengthening of the positions of the “Napostovites”, who claimed to be the true conductors of the party line in literature. However, after the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of June 18, 1925, a contradiction emerged between the orthodox “nastovstvo” and the party policy developed on a broader basis, in particular on the issue of consolidating forces in literature and caring for fellow travelers. At the Extraordinary All-Union Conference of the VAPP in February 1926, the line of the “left liquidators” (S. Rodov, G. Lelevich, I. Vardin) was recognized as erroneous. A split occurred in the RAPP, the “Napost” minority remained as an “ideological movement”, and the majority, and among them L. Averbakh (General Secretary of the VAPP and RAPP), D. Furmanov, A. Fadeev, Y. Libedinsky, V. Kirshon, A. Selivanovsky, V. Ermilov and others, united around the magazine “At the Literary Post” (1926-32) and “RAPP” (1931-32). The slogans of the day were study, creativity and self-criticism.

The previous wary attitude towards heritage was replaced by a demand to “learn from the classics.” At the same time, RAPP insists on the historical inevitability of the hegemony of proletarian literature, which understands the world from the point of view of the proletariat and influences readers in accordance with the tasks of the working class. Rapp's platform was dominated by a mixture of concepts of aesthetics, sociology, and politics. In the speech “Down with Schiller!” At the plenum of the RAPP (1929), Fadeev explained the advantage of the realistic method, its difference from the realism of the past and romanticism, by the fact that the proletarian artist can and will depict the birth of the new in the old, tomorrow in today, the struggle and victory of the new over the old. The vulgar sociologism of the governing documents was combined with the theory of the “living person”, the requirement of psychologism, tearing off masks from reality. One of the aspects of the RAPP's activities were creative discussions devoted to the development of an artistic platform, the problem of method, style, and genres. Along with theorists, writers M. Sholokhov, Fadeev, F. Panferov, V. Vishnevsky, who were members of RAPP, took part in them. Despite the fact that the Rappites had priority in putting forward the category of creative method, their dogmatic and politicized approach led to the identification of the method with a worldview, and the artistic image with the illustration of an idea. In an effort to turn RAPP into a “literary educational organization,” its leaders put forward the slogan “the drummer is the central figure of the literary movement” and demanded the “demification” of poetry and the introduction of “Plekhanovian orthodoxy” into criticism. The greatest importance was attached to the fight against literary opponents - “Pass” and A. Voronsky, Lef, constructivism, .

Political labels, cliquishness and clandom determined relations with other groups and the situation within the organization. Writers and critics of the “left opposition” RAPP and followers of V. Pereverzev spoke out against these trends. In 1930 they formed the Litfront group, which included A. Bezymensky, Vishnevsky, I. Bespalov, Rodov, G. Gorbachev, A. Zonin, M. Gelfand. Heterogeneous in composition and views, the group could not withstand the polemics with the RAPP and disintegrated by 1931. During this period, the RAPP, having practically monopolized literary life (the Lefist V. Mayakovsky and the constructivists E. Bagritsky, V. Lugovsky joined it in February 1930), ceased to correspond to the leading role assigned to her. There was a danger of the RAPP turning “from a means of the greatest mobilization of Soviet writers and artists around the tasks of socialist construction into a means of cultivating circle isolation” (On the restructuring of literary and artistic organizations: Resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of April 23, 1932, CPSU in resolutions).

RAPP was liquidated, its leaders (Averbakh, A.N. Afinogenov, Kirshon, Fadeev, M. Chumandrin) were among the 50 members of the organizing committee of the created Union of Soviet Writers. M. Gorky was elected honorary chairman, I. Gronsky was elected chairman, and V. Kirpotin was elected secretary. In preparation for the congress, meetings of the organizing committee were held at Gorky's apartment. The meeting on October 26, 1932 was attended by members of the Politburo of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, headed by I.V. Stalin. The key concept of the Writers' Union statute was discussed - the “method of socialist realism.” In November 1932, the Organizing Committee held a meeting of critics, which discussed the problems of Marxist-Leninist aesthetics and the definition of the basic method of Soviet literature. The draft charter of the Union was published on May 6, 1934. Formally, the Writers' Union was a voluntary organization that united all writers who stood on the platform of Soviet power and participated in the construction of socialist culture. In practice, he, like RAPP, had the opportunity to influence not only the creative, but the political, material, and sometimes even the private life of writers. The first congress of the USSR Writers' Union was chaired by M. Gorky from August 17 to September 1, 1934.

United group of proletarian writers of the mountains. Moscow at a meeting on May 14 in the presence of about 25 people. outlined the Charter of the Moscow Union of Proletarian Writers, in which the goals and objectives of the Union were developed, in accordance with the resolution adopted at the All-Russian Conference Prolet. writers on May 13, instructed the Board.

The following comrades were elected to the Board: M. Gerasimov, V. Kirillov, S. Obradovic, M. Sivachev, N. Lyatko, V. Aleksandrovsky and M. Volkov. Candidates are co-opted by the Board.

The audit commission included comrades. E. Nechaev, F. Shkulev and Shershnev.

Information in the Subsection of Proletarian Literature of the People's Commissariat for Education (Tverskaya, M. Gnezdnikovsky p., no. 9, tel. 197-97).

Chernozem, literary collection. Second issue. Publication of the Surikov Literary and Musical Circle. M. 1919, 48 pp. Price not specified.

“The writer writes, the reader reads,” it was once said in the past. But we have survived this, we no longer read, but read, and therefore we demand from the writer (if he calls himself that) not writing, but serious, thoughtful work in the field of art, not abuse of the printing press, but sincere creativity.

The Surikov circle released a second collection of stories and poems. The first, in 1919, passed without a trace, without attention, like many of the “works” of the Surikov circle, because the work of its members as a whole did not go beyond one impersonal collection a year.

There is little need to say about this second collection of "Chernozem".

What's in it?..

Old hackneyed truths, sometimes imbued with a non-proletarian sense of attitude towards life, images alien to the spirit of collectivism, a drumbeat of empty words and a dull, senile view of a new day.

Nowadays they write and debate a lot about proletarian creativity, proletarian poetry. Many who wrote hymns to cigarettes and kid gloves imagined themselves to be proletarian poets and writers. More than once, orally and in print, the Surikov circle of populist writers put their “proletarian” stamp on their work...

In the second collection everything can be found, but not the proletarian.

Vlasov-Oksky parodies Northerner: red squall

Playful sparkles The earth is enchanted... Say goodbye to troubles Spring people. Into the oceanic mud A spring has emerged...

A. Smirnov's poem "Song of the Proletarian Poet" is a song by the poet... Balmont.

Yves’s poems emanate intellectual whining and gray pessimism. Morozova. Here are asters, and shrouds on the trees, and death with a scythe, and a funeral song and the well-worn saying of an individualist:

"How good spring is and how sad autumn is... How sad it is on earth...

S. Drozhzhin does not leave the old path and still dreams like an old man:

"Oh, if only I could I was the same bird Whenever a life without contentment I lived and forgot. Then I would sing exactly the same About people's happiness Otherwise there is melancholy in my soul, Yes, there is only grief in her."

Nefedov writes about the city:

"Asphalt and dust, iron and fog, The stench of the day without a sunny smile, Contentment, luxury, enchanting deception And the rabble's wheezing is changeable and unsteady... Everything, everything in you is cursed and empty... ...In the soulless Moloch, the tireless Vampire"...

"The hour will come - by the decree of fate You will perish, cursed, like ancient Gomorrah...

No, we workers do not look at the city with such eyes. A proletarian poet who has realized the power and significance of labor should not have slavish lack of will, slavish obedience to the city, to the creation of his own hands.

"Only in the city are possible Both movement and struggle. And the plains are hopeless - Such is the fate of the plains... Further, further from the plains. To the kingdom of factories and machines. To the city noisy and harsh, Where are the beginnings of a new life"!..

This is what the proletarian poet, St. Petersburg worker, I. Loginov said back in 1914.

The city is a fiery font of the New World, a beacon of science, art: in it is the cohesion of forces, in it is the birth of the Great Collective... “This is a giant forge, where a new joyful life is forged, this is a mighty symphony of labor, iron and steel!..” (Kirillov).

Nefedov’s poetry lives in the past, but the past has no place in the present.

The collection also contains revolutionary poems. This is the end of the verse. "Hearts of Workers" R. Sword:

... "The whole world lies before us. Now it belongs to us Workers of the entire universe. We stand as a formidable force And now we won’t disarm We are our own military camp. The workers' camp is now powerful. We need freedom in all countries And the sun of enlightenment. In one beat the heart drains, Forward to victory until the end We will enter without retreat...

We have already forgotten the announcements in the poems of “Uncle Micah” about Duchess cigarettes, and R. Sword reminds us with his “work”.

There are also lyrics in the collection: M. Tolstaya, poem “Dandelion”.

"Among the unmown grass, Among the fragrant flowers of May, The dandelion grew without worries, Shaking my tender head...

What a strange coincidence of the surname and the poem: I remember dear Al from my school days. Tolstoy's "My Bells"...

Rehashes of Nikitin, Nadson, waste paper of the word are poems by I. Golikov, A. Suslov, S. Ganshin and Senichev.

No bright image, no pleasing alliteration, no sincere mood - tortured words, hackneyed rhymes, mostly verbal (spills and smiles), prolixity and frequent lack of control over the meter of the verse.

In the prose department, with the exception of I. Yurtsev’s smartly written story “The Slander,” which paints a page in modern life, the rest are “walking, worn-out nickels.”

The decoration of the collection is two or three random poems by proletarian poets who have revealed themselves and a figurative poem by the deceased poet S. Koshkarov.

Many participants in the collection should wish not a printing press, but long, intensive work on themselves, on their worldview. You must not “pee”, you must devote yourself completely to creative work, be an ascetic of art. To burn forever in the fire of creativity, with an unyielding searching mind, looking for new words, new images in the multifaceted work life.

Sweeping aside everything unnecessary, decrepit, all the rubble and rubbish of old truths and concepts, build the Great Forge-Workshop, where the forge of Collective Efforts should burn brightly, the friendly forging of sharply fiery Words should not subside!..

This brief article, more precisely, a chronology of events, deals only with large trade unions and associations of writers. Here you will not read about literary and artistic circles and amateur communities, for example, about the oldest “Society of Lovers of Russian Literature,” created back in 1811 under the Emperor. Moscow University and existed until 1930, when it shared the fate of other literary societies and associations disliked by the authorities.

Members of the "Society" over the years were many famous Russian writers - K. Balmont, L. Tolstoy, M. Gorky, V. Solovyov, M. Voloshin, V. Korolenko, V. Veresaev, A. Bely, A. Kuprin, and etc. We will not tell you about the numerous circles of self-taught peasant writers that arose at the end of the 19th century, or about the myriad of various small groups and associations of the first quarter of the 20th century, which were engaged, for the most part, in semi-literary “circle” squabbles and biased assessments of the work of modern writers, thereby shortening the lives of colleagues.

Tsarist Russia until 1917

1859, November 8. Creation of the first Literary Fund in Russia. According to the plans of the authors of the famous literary magazines “Sovremennik”, “Domestic Notes”, “Library for Reading”, etc., the “Literary Fund” was created in Russia - the first public organization to help “drinking and needy” professional writers. The Fund's funds consisted of small voluntary percentage contributions from publishers of books, magazines and newspapers, from membership fees, from an annual allowance appointed by the emperor, from donations from individuals and classes, from income from performances, concerts, exhibitions, lectures by writers Ostrovsky, Pisemsky, Turgenev, Goncharov, Dostoevsky, Nekrasov, Shevchenko, Maykov, etc.. Until the October Revolution, all the writers of multinational Russia (which included the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Finland, the Caucasus region, Siberia, Central Asian regions...) were Russians, Poles , Ukrainians, Latvians, Belarusians, Tatars, Georgians, etc., could consider themselves equally socially protected and respected artists of words...
After February 1917

VARIOUS ASSOCIATIONS, GROUPS AND ASSOCIATIONS OF WRITERS

We also give a description of literary magazines published in the late tenths and twenties of the twentieth century. Their content will tell a thinking person much more about one of the most interesting periods in the history of Russian literature and creative unions.

1917, October 19. PROLETKULT. Organized a week before the October Revolution, its goal was to create a new proletarian culture. After the October Revolution, Proletkult became the most massive organization and the one most responsive to revolutionary tasks. Almost all major cities of the country had branches of Proletkult and their own press organs. In Moscow there is the magazine "Proletarian Culture", and in St. Petersburg - "The Future". In 1918-1920, Proletkult published government-supported magazines "Flame" (Petrograd) and "Creativity" (Moscow). The writers who collaborated with Proletkult had many privileges during this time of famine. Subsequently, the activities of the organization were sharply criticized by V.I. Lenin in the letter of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) “On Proletkults”, and in the early 20s this organization was liquidated administratively. The reason for the liquidation of Proletkult A.V. Lunacharsky explained that Lenin “did not want the creation of a competing workers’ organization next to the party.”

1918, March. The Union of Workers of Fiction was formed in Petrograd - SDHL (1918-1919). M. Gorky, A. Blok, N. Gumilev, K. Chukovsky, A. Kuprin, E. Zamyatin, and others took part in the creation and work of the Union.

The Charter of the Union stated that the Union's action extended to the entire territory of Russia. SDHL set itself the task of protecting literary figures and helping aspiring writers. The desire to help its members financially was the determining, but not the only, incentive for the emergence of the Union. SDHL during this period was a kind of literary center that united most of the Russian writers and represented their professional interests not only in Petrograd, but also in other regions of the country. In May 1919, due to a conflict that arose within the leadership, the union ceased to exist.

1918. Formation of the All-Russian Union of Poets (1918-1929). By uniting poets of different directions and schools, the Union contributed to the publication of books, almanacs and collections of poetry, and organized literary evenings. Its existence in Moscow and Petrograd (1920-1922, 1924-1929) is associated with the names of A. Blok, N. Gumilev, V. Kamensky, V. Bryusov, G. Shengeli; I. Sadofeva, N. Tikhonova...

1918. Formation of the All-Russian Writers' Union. The Writers' Union had Moscow and Petrograd branches.

1919. Opening of the Petrograd House of Arts (1919-1923). It was often compared to a ship or an ark that saved the St. Petersburg intelligentsia during the years of post-revolutionary famine and devastation. The role of Noah on this “ark” was played by Maxim Gorky. Literary studios worked in PDI and during its existence two almanacs were published. The Petrograd House of Arts, together with the House of Writers and the House of Scientists, played a very important role in the literary life of not only St. Petersburg, but also the country. N. Gumilev, K. Chukovsky, E. Zamyatin worked there. You can read about life in the House of Arts in the novel “Crazy Ship” by O. Forsh.

1920, October 18 - 21. FIRST ALL-RUSSIAN CONGRESS OF PROLETARIAN WRITERS. It took place in Moscow, on the premises of the House of Printing. 142 people attended the Congress. Of these, 95 have a casting vote, and 47 have an advisory vote.

The following cities had representation at the Congress: 1 each - Tashkent, Grozny, Vologda, Saratov, Kashira, Skopin, Volyn, Ivanovo-Voznesensk, Dvinsk, Tver, Orenburg, Orel, Baku, Serdobsk, Ryazan, Kaluga, Odessa, Varnavin, Kostroma, Vyatka , Altaisk, Kiev, Ekaterinoslav, Maykop, Dmitrov. Then Pyatigorsk - 3, Tambov - 5, Kharkov - 4, Chelyabinsk - 2, Rostov-Don - 2, Voronezh - 2, Samara - 2, Omsk - 2, Vladimir - 2, Petrograd - 21 and Moscow - 69.

In terms of composition: there were 39 people from the Proletkults of Moscow, Petrograd and the provinces, and 6 people from the Central Committee of the Proletkults. from circles and unions of proletarian writers and poets - 27. Section of proletarian writers of Moscow - 15, from the Central Committee of the Russian Federation - 7, from Otnarob - 12 people, from newspaper editors - 5, from the Communist Youth Union - 1, from the Union of Journalists - 2, personally - 28 people. Politically, there are 93 communists, 1 anarchist, left Socialist-Revolutionary. - 1, sympathetic comm. parties - 8 and non-party - 39. Age: from 19 to 30 - 54 people, from 30 to 40 years - 47, over 40 years - 17 people, the rest were not indicated. Poets and fiction writers working in literature according to the time of publication of their works: over 30 years - 8 people, from 20 to 30 - 9 people, from 10 to 20 - 15 people, from 1 year to 10 - 42 people. There are 47 people who have books of their works. 54 people were subjected to repression during tsarist times - prisons, exile, hard labor, arrests, deportations and various punishments.

The Presidium of the Congress was elected consisting of: chairman - T.V. Kirillov, comrades of the chairman - t.t. Gerasimov and Sadofiev, Secretary of the Congress - Comrade S. Obradovic, members - Comrade Comrade Aleksandrovsky, Shuvalov, Mashirov-Samobytnik and Pomorsky. The honorary chairmen were - t.t. V. I. Lenin, A. V. Lunacharsky and M. Gorky.

1921, May. Creation of the All-Russian Union of Peasant Writers. The Union's charter set the task of a comprehensive artistic reflection of all the everyday, social, and economic features of the life of the peasant masses.

1921. Formation of the All-Russian Association of Proletarian Writers (VAPP). It was thanks to the work of proletarian writers that later such a concept as socialist realism would appear in literature.

1922, December 30. Organization of the Left Front of the Arts - LEF (1922-1929). It is thanks to the evolution of the ideas of futurism “from extreme autonomy of artistic form to the idea of ​​complete pragmatism and a sociological approach to literature” that we have such a concept as “social order”.

1925. Resolution of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) “On the party’s policy in the field of fiction.” The resolution put forward the thesis of free competition among various groups and movements. But freedom was immediately limited - competition must take place on the basis of proletarian ideology.

1925. Renaming of the All-Russian Union of Peasant Writers into the All-Russian Association of Peasant Writers (VOKP). But in the spirit of the resolution of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) of 1925, the platform of the VOKP began to be built on an eclectic combination of “proletarian” ideology and “peasant images.” There was no longer a place for true peasant poets and “fellow travelers” here.

1925, December. Formation of the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers (RAPP). The Russian Association of Proletarian Writers was formed back in January 1925 within the framework of the VAPP.

1925, December 28. Death of Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin. On December 23, 1925, a pathetic “fellow traveler” and a homeless poet left Moscow for Leningrad, and a week later he returned to Moscow great, talented and brilliant, but already in a coffin.

1928. Return of Maxim Gorky to Russia.

1928. FIRST ALL-UNION CONGRESS OF PROLETARIAN WRITERS. He reorganized the All-Russian Association of Proletarian Writers (VAPP). The proletarian associations of all national republics were united into the All-Union Association of Proletarian Writers, and the RAPP became the head of this All-Union Association of Proletarian Writers' Associations. It was she who was called upon to unite all the creative forces of the country's working class and lead all literature, also educating writers from the intelligentsia and peasants in the spirit of the communist worldview and attitude. RAPP inherited and even strengthened the vulgar sociological nihilistic tendencies of Proletkult. It declared itself not only as a proletarian literary organization, but also as a representative of the party in literature, and considered speeches against its platform as a speech against the party. RAPP demanded the establishment of the hegemony of proletarian writers through administrative means, through the transfer of press organs to them, and the displacement of “fellow travelers” from magazines and collections.

1929. First All-Russian Congress of Peasant Writers. Lunacharsky and Gorky performed there. They said that the country needed a special peasant writer, whose ideological aspirations would be proletarian.
By the end of the 20s and the beginning of the 30s, all non-proletarian writing groups practically disappeared from the literary scene of the USSR. But some are still trying to defend their independence.

1930, March 12. The head of the creative association "Pereval" A.K. Voronsky sends a letter to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, in which he writes that the writers of "Pereval" are closer to the revolution and perceive it more organically. They were not overgrown with contracts “for complete collected works,” or dachas, or houses, or furniture, or “fame.” They have studied and learned a lot in recent years. Their achievements in artistic skill are very significant. Their work in search of a new genre, style, dynamic image deserves serious attention...

After the “exemplary” trial of “The Pass” at the “Communist Academy”, those who liked to go against the literary policy of the party immediately decreased.

1930, April 14. Death of Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky. Somehow it's just in time. After the poet’s death, few writers dared to openly criticize the party’s political policies.

1931. The All-Russian Association of Peasant Writers - VOKP is renamed the organization of Proletarian-Collective Farm Writers. This was in accordance with the policy of “de-peasantization” pursued in the country. In addition, a ban was imposed on Yesenin’s legacy.

1932, April 23. Resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks "On the restructuring of literary and artistic organizations." The very next day, Sunday April 24, 1932, in the newspaper Pravda and on the first page, the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was published. It spoke of the liquidation of the VOAP and RAPP, a radical restructuring of literary and artistic organizations and the unification of all writers who support the platform of the Soviet government into the Union of Soviet Writers.

1934, July 28. Formation of the Literary Fund of the USSR. By the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR "On the Literary Fund of the USSR", the Literary Fund of the USSR was formed. The same decree determined the main source of funds for the Literary Fund: contributions from fiction publishing houses and editorial offices of magazines and contributions from entertainment enterprises.

UNION OF SOVIET WRITERS USSR

1935, February 20. The Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR approved the Charter of the Literary Fund of the USSR as an independent legal entity. Until the collapse of the Soviet Union, the funds of the Literary Fund were used to provide social assistance to writers (creative benefits, loans for work on new works, creative trips, benefits due to temporary disability, preferential trips to creative houses and sanatoriums, free medical care), as well as family members of writers, aspiring writers and descendants of classics of Russian literature. The USSR Literary Fund financed the expenses of the Union of Soviet Writers, the maintenance of the Literary Institute belonging to the Writers' Union, and covered the costs of operating cultural and public service institutions (houses of writers and clubs).

1954. Second Congress of SSP Writers.

USSR WRITERS UNION

1979. The Literary Fund of the USSR was exempted from funding the Union of Writers of the USSR and the Literary Institute.

1983, (12) December. 50th anniversary of the Literary Institute named after. A.M. Gorky. Presentation of the Order of Lenin to the Literary Institute.

1984. 50th anniversary of the Writers' Union. The publication of the book "Five Decades. The Union of Writers of the USSR 1934 - 1984" for the anniversary by the publishing house "Soviet Writer".

1989. The emergence of the PEN Center in Moscow. The decision to create it was made in Maastricht at the International Congress of the PEN Club.

1991. Renaming the Soviet PEN Center to Russian.

1991. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Union of Writers of the USSR and the Literary Fund of the USSR ceased to exist, ending the history of the most elite, rich, powerful and ideologically driven creative organization of the socialist era. Nothing like this has existed in the world before. The USSR Writers' Union broke up into several independent unions, and the Literary Fund was also transformed. The names appeared in writers' reference books: International public organization of writers "Literary Fund" (International Literary Fund), Literary Fund of Russia and Moscow Literary Fund and others...

The material was published on the Moscow Writers website:http://mp.urbannet.ru/HTML/istor-sp.htm
It is a pity that the author of this great work is not indicated...

Historical reference :
The Union of Writers of the USSR is an organization of professional writers of the USSR. The Union of Soviet Writers (SSP) was created on the basis of the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of April 23, 1932 “On the restructuring of literary and public organizations”, which liquidated all previously existing writers' organizations, such such as the All-Russian Union of Writers (VSP), the All-Russian Union of Poets, the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers (RAPP), the All-Union Association of Proletarian Writers' Associations (VOAPP), the Literary Association of the Red Army and Navy (LOKAF), etc. Until 1934, work on organizing the Union and The preparations for the First Congress of Writers were carried out by the Organizing Committee headed by M. Gorky. In August 1934, the First All-Union Congress took place, uniting Soviet writers into a single union and approving its charter. At the congress, the board of the Union of Soviet Writers was elected, which in 1934-1936. was headed by M. Gorky. At the First Congress, the charter of the Union of Writers of the Union was adopted, which states that the Union of Soviet Writers is “a voluntary public creative organization uniting professional writers of the Soviet Union.” According to the charter, the supreme body of the union was the All-Union Congress of Writers. The congress elected the board, which in turn elected the chairman of the board, the secretariat and the secretariat bureau, which managed affairs in the period between congresses. The plenum of the board was convened no earlier than once a year. Under the board, creative sections were created: poets (A.A. Surkov), children's writers (S.Ya. Marshak), translators (D.A. Gorbov), critics and literary scholars (I.M. Bespalov), historical and revolutionary writers (K.P. Zlichenko), folklore section (Yu.M. Sokolov), commission of defense fiction (D. Lieberman), etc. The structure of the Writers' Union has been changed several times due to the expansion of functions in creative activities. In accordance with the charter, structural divisions The Union of Writers' Unions were regional writers' organizations: the Writers' Union of the Union and Autonomous Republics, writers' organizations of territories, regions, and the cities of Moscow and Leningrad. The board of the Union of Writers of the USSR was in charge of the economically independent publishing houses "Soviet Writer" and "Literary Newspaper", the Literary Institute named after. M. Gorky, All-Union Bureau of Translators of Fiction, Literary consultation for beginning authors, Central House of Writers in Moscow, Literary Fund of the USSR, All-Union Office for Copyright Protection (VUOAP). After A.M. Gorky, A.N. Tolstoy (1936-1938, actual leadership until 1941) was elected chairman of the board of the SSP. carried out by the General Secretary of the SSP V.P. Stavsky), A.A. Fadeev (1938-1944, 1946-1954; in 1941-1954 also General Secretary of the SSP), N.S. Tikhonov (1944-1946). In 1953, on the basis of the resolution of the CPSU Central Committee of October 8, 1953, “Issues of the Union of Soviet Writers of the USSR,” there were significant reductions in the number of members of the secretariat of the board and changes in the structure of the governing bodies of the Union of Writers of the Union, in particular, the position of general secretary was abolished. By 1954, The following creative commissions worked in the union: on military literature (S.I. Vashentsev), on drama (B.A. Lavrenev), on the literature of the peoples of the USSR (N.S. Tikhonov), on Russian literature of the republics, territories, regions of the USSR (V.A. Smirnov), on literary theory and criticism (V.M. Ozerov); commission and section on children's literature (L.A. Kassil); foreign commission and sections - the Moscow section of translators of literature of the peoples of the USSR (P.G. Antokolsky), foreign translators (M.A. Zenkevich), as well as the section of folk art (I.N. Rozanov), essays and scientific fiction (B .N. Agapov), poets (S.P. Shchipachev), prose (K.G. Paustovsky). At the II All-Union Congress of Writers, held in December 1954, the Union of Soviet Writers was renamed the Union of Writers of the USSR (SP USSR) and its new charter was adopted. A.A. Surkov was elected Chairman of the Board, and from 1959 - K.A. Fedin. Based on the resolution of the Presidium of the Board of the USSR SP of July 21, 1956, in order to simplify the structure of the Board apparatus, from January 16, 1957, the number of creative commissions was reduced to three: on Russian literature (Yu.G. Laptev), on foreign literatures (S.V. Mikhalkov), on the national literatures of the peoples of the USSR. A group of consultants on the affairs of publishing houses and press organs of the union, as well as consultants on issues of drama and film drama, began to operate under the secretariat. Since 1977, the leadership of the USSR Writers' Union was carried out by the first secretaries of the board G. M. Markov (1977-1986), V. V. Karpov ( 1986-1991), Timur Pulatov (1991). After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the USSR Writers' Union ceased to exist, dividing into writers' organizations of the former union republics. The successors of the USSR Writers' Union in Russia are the Union of Writers of Russia and the Union of Russian Writers.
Foreign Commission of the USSR SP
The Foreign Commission of the USSR SP was formed at the end of December 1935 on the basis of the Soviet section of the International Association of Revolutionary Writers (MORP) (1930–1935). MORP, in turn, was created on the basis of the International Bureau of Revolutionary Literature (MBRL), formed in 1923 by the writers L. Aragon, I. Becher, T. Dreiser, A. Barbus, B. Brecht. The tasks of the MBRL included: comprehensive assistance in the development of proletarian literature, turning it into a powerful means of influencing the masses, accelerating the “leftward movement” of petty-bourgeois writers, attracting them to the side of the proletariat, leading national sections and uniting them into an international militant organization, fighting an ideology hostile to the working class . All these tasks were fully accepted by the foreign commission. Its first chairman was M.E. Koltsov, its deputy was M.Ya. Apletin, who later headed the commission. The first regulation, which determined the structure and staff of the commission, was adopted on April 6, 1936.
In 1941–1943 the commission was evacuated to Ufa. In accordance with wartime requirements, its structure and functions changed. Subsequently, they changed in accordance with the regulations on the commission of 1952 and 1958. According to the regulations adopted on August 25, 1970, the main functions of the commission were: systematic study and generalization of the processes taking place in the literature of foreign countries, implementation of annual plans for international cooperation, propaganda of Soviet literature abroad, study of information materials about foreign literature and literary life, implementation communication on literary issues with employees of foreign embassies in Moscow. The general management of its activities was entrusted to the secretariat of the board of the USSR SP. The day-to-day work of the commission was directed by one of his secretaries. Structure of the commission: chairman, deputy chairman, executive secretary, executive secretaries of the Council for International Writers' Relations, the Soviet Committee for Relations with Writers of Asian and African Countries; departments - literature of socialist and capitalist countries; countries of Asia and Africa; information and propaganda of Soviet literature; sectors for receiving foreign writers, for sending Soviet writers abroad.
Consultants from the literature departments of socialist and capitalist countries, Asian and African countries studied the literary and social processes of a country or group of countries and carried out practical work to implement literary connections with them.
The commission worked closely with public writers' bodies: the Council for International Writers' Relations and the Soviet Committee for Relations with Writers of Asian and African Countries.