Ehrenburg to Stalin on September 13 1934

From MarxistLeninists.org

Archive: RGASPI. F. 558. Op. 1. D. 4591. L. 4–7. Script. Typescript. The signature is an autograph.

Odessa, 13 September.

Dear Joseph Vissarionovich!

I hesitated for a long time whether I should write you this letter. Your time is precious not only to you, but to all of us. If I nevertheless decided to write to you, it is because without your participation the question of organizing the literatures of the West and America that are close to us can hardly be resolved.

You probably noticed how much the composition of the foreign delegations present at the congress of writers did not correspond to the weight and significance of such a phenomenon. With the exception of two Frenchmen - Malraux and J.-R. Blok, the Czech poet Nezval, two (not first-rate, but still gifted) German writers Pluvier and O. M. Graf, and finally the Dane Nekse, there were no serious representatives of Western European and American literature at our congress. This is partly due to the fact that the invitations to the congress, which for some reason were sent out not by the Organizing Committee, but by the MORP, were extremely poorly drafted. They invited the wrong people who should have been invited. However, the main reason for the low composition of the foreign delegations at our congress is the entire literary policy of the MORP and its national sections, which cannot be called otherwise than Rapp's.

The "International Congress of Revolutionary Writers", which took place in Kharkov several years ago, was entirely under the sign of the RAPP. Since then, April 23rd has happened. For us, this is a sharp line between the two epochs of our literary life. Unfortunately, April 23 did not change the policy of the MORP.

Who is in charge of the MORP? Several Hungarian, Polish and German writers of the third magnitude. They have been living with us for a long time, but this sedentary life did not affect either their psyche or their creative work. On the other hand, they have completely cut themselves off from the life of the West and they do not see the profound changes that have taken place in the thickness of the Western intelligentsia after the fascist offensive.

I will give a few examples. In America, the local "Rappers" push away from us such significant writers as Dreiser, Sherwood Andersen, Dos Pasos. They reproach the authors of novels for the "inconsistency" of the political line of this or that character in literary works, and I'm not talking about criticism, but about accusations of renegade, etc.

In France, the organ of the section of the MORP, the journal Commune, arranged a questionnaire among writers. The writers responded, but their responses were printed like this: twenty lines of the writer, and after that forty lines of editorial explanations of extremely rude and full of personal attacks. This behavior of the MORP section alienates even the writers closest to us: André Gide, Malraux, Roger Martin du Gard, Fernandez, and others. Suffice it to say that even Barbusse is in a position of hardly tolerable.

As regards the Germans, Radek, in his concluding remarks at the congress, clearly showed the narrowness and, even worse, the swagger of the literary circles which had seized the leadership of German revolutionary literature.

I might add that the same is happening in other countries. In Czecho-Slovakia, Vanchura and Olbrecht were thrown back. In Spain, the organization consists of several snobs and teenagers. In the Scandinavian countries, anti-fascist writers are treated as "worst enemies". Etc.

The situation in the West is now extremely favorable: the majority of the most prominent, talented, and even the most famous writers will sincerely follow us against fascism. If instead of the MORP there were a broad anti-fascist organization of writers, it would immediately include such writers as Romain Rolland, André Gide, Malraux, J.-R. Block, Barbusse, Wildrac, Dürten, Giono, Fernandez, Roger Martin du Gard, Gehenno, Chanson, Alain, Aragon, Thomas Mann, Heinrich Mann, Feuchtwanger, Leonard Frank, Glaeser, Pluvier, Graf, Mering, Dreiser, Sherwood Andersen, Dos Pasos, Godd, and others. I have listed only three countries and authors known to us from translations of their books. In short, such an organization, with rare exceptions, will unite all major and uncorrupt writers.

The political program of such an organization must be very broad and at the same time precise:

1) The fight against fascism.

2) Active defense of the USSR.

The Western European and American intelligentsia listen to the "big names". Therefore, the significance of a large anti-fascist organization headed by famous writers will be very great.

But to create such an anti-fascist organization of writers, we need, firstly, the sanction of our governing bodies, and secondly, the dissolution or radical reorganization of both the MOWP and its national sections.

The All-Union Congress of Writers will play an enormous role in attracting the Western European intelligentsia to us. At this congress, for the first time, questions of culture and craftsmanship were raised in their entirety, in accordance with the growth of our country and with its right to worldwide spiritual hegemony. At the same time, the Congress showed how much all our writers, non-Party as well as Party, are united around the Party in its creative work and in its preparation for the defense of the country. The way our writers greeted the delegates of the Red Army will allow the Western intelligentsia to understand our position within the country and our organic connection with the cause of its defense.

In turn, the disagreements that have affected the congress on questions of creativity and technology will show the same intelligentsia how amazingly we have grown in recent years. The majority of the congress warmly applauded those reports or speeches that insisted on raising the cultural level, on overcoming provincialism, on the need for research and inventions. These speeches and this applause also aroused warm sympathy among the foreign writers present at the congress. We can safely say that the work of the congress prepared the way for the creation of a large anti-fascist organization of writers from the West and America.

Forgive me, dear Iosif Vissarionovich, that I have taken so much time from you, but it seems to me that, in addition to our literary field, such an organization will now have general political military significance.

With deep respect, Ilya Ehrenburg.