Article

Name: “Couldn’t Say Anything Else”? I. G. Ehrenburg’ Meeting with Sverdlovsk Party Activists in October 16, 1932

Authors: N. V. Veselkova

Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

In the section Archival materials and publications

Abstract:

In the autumn of 1932, Ilya Ehrenburg (at that time, constantly lived in Paris) made a trip to Kuznetsktstroy, capturing several cities along the way, including Sverdlovsk. Until now, by the materials of the Sverdlovsk local press and memoirs only the meeting with the creative intelli- gentsia was traced. The transcript preserved in the fund of the Sverdlovsk Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (then the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)) bears witness to another event, where Ilya Grigorievich communicated with the party activists in Sverdlovsk. The article provides a detailed commentary to the document, first publishing in this volume.

A specially convened party meeting was conducted by two local representatives of the party and cultural establishment, Ivan Astakhov and Semen Tubanov, both recently appointed from Moscow, the fact which well shows the need of the Ural region and its capital for the influx of “cultural forces” from the outside. Writers and artists were heavily invited to the Urals during that time, but it was not easy to sing the victories of socialism here: shortly before Ehrenburg, unable to withstand the local flavor, Boris Pasternak initially arrived “for a long time”, fled from Sverd- lovsk.

Ehrenburg reads excerpts from his last works, tells about the search for a new literary form, which he calls the “romanization of a factual material,” then answers questions from the audience. Many of the topics raised at the Sverdlovsk meeting are cross-cutting for that Ehrenburg’s journey to the USSR and his work of the early 1930s in general. Among them there are the possibility for literature to influence life actively, Ehrenburg revealed this idea by the chapter “A Republic of the Workers” from his recent book “Spain”, as well as the position of Soviet culture against the background of European, primarily both French and Russian émigré literature. The writer attaches particular importance to the Gorgulov case, thanks to which he began to cooperate with newspa- per “Izvestia”, and was able to make a business trip to the cities of Siberia and the Urals in 1932.

Keywords: Ehrenburg, “The Second Day”, Ural-Kuzbass, Sverdlovsk, Pasternak, Russian emigration, Gorgulov case

Bibliography:

Berard Ewa. Burnaya zhizn’ Il’i Ehrenburga [Rough life of Ilya Ehrenburg / La vie tumultueuse d’ Ilya Ehrenburg]. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 2009, 272 p. (in Russ.)

Dianov S. A. Organy Glavlita na Urale v mezhvoennyj period (1920–1941 gg.) [The system of Glavlit in the Urals in the interwar period (1920–1941)]. Perm, 2011, 334 p. (in Russ.)

Dianov S. A. Ural’ skaya cenzura v licah [Persons of the Ural censorship]. Perm, 2011, 201 p. (in Russ.)

Figurnova O. Chetvertaya zhizn’ Kuprina [predislovie]; Primechaniya [The Fourth Life of Kuprin [preface]; Notes]. In: Kuprin A. I. Golos ottuda: 1919–1934: Rasskazy. Ocherki. Vospominaniya. Fel’ etony. Stat’ i. Lit. portr. Nekrologi. Zametki [Voice from there: 1919–1934: Stories. Essays. Memories. Feuilletons. Articles. Literary portraits. Obituaries. Notes]. Moscow, 1999, p. 5–17. (in Russ.)

Frezinskiy B. Ya. Ob Il’e Ehrenburge (Knigi, lyudi, strany) [About Ilya Ehrenburg (Books, people, countries)]. Moscow, 2013, 904 p. (in Russ.)

Kasanova P. Mirovaya respublika literatury [The World Republic of Letters / La République mondiale des Lettres]. Moscow, 2003, 416 p. (in Russ.)

Katsis L. F. Vladimir Mayakovsky. Poet v intellektualnom kontekste epokhi [Vladimir Mayakovsky: Poet in the intellectual context of the era]. Moscow, 2000, 830 p. (in Russ.)

Klark K. Moskva, chetvertyy Rim: stalinizm, kosmopolitizm i evolyutsiya sovetskoy kultury (1931–1941) [Moscow, the fourth Rome: Stalinism, cosmopolitanism, and the evolution of Soviet culture, 1931–1941]. Moscow, 2018. (in Russ.)

Kotova M. Posleslovie [Afterword]. In: Forsh O. D. Sumasshedshiy korabl’ [The mad ship]. Moscow, 2011, p. 299–316. (in Russ.)

Kozlov V. P. Obshchaya tragediya narodov SSSR [The shared tragedy of the peoples of the USSR]. In: Golod v SSSR, 1929–1934 [Hunger in the USSR, 1929–1934]. In 3 vols. Moscow, 2011, vol. 1: 1929 – July 1932, pt. 1, p. 5–9. (in Russ.)

Pilshchikov I., Ustinov A. Viktor Shklovsky, Roman Jakobson i sozdanie «pervoy teorii syuzhetoslozheniya» [Viktor Shklovsky, Roman Jakobson and the Creation of the “First Theory of Plot Structuring”]. Syuzhetologiya i syuzhetografiya, 2018, no. 2, p. 5–24. (in Russ.)

Popov V., Frezinskiy B. Ilya Ehrenburg v 1932–1935 gody: Hronika zhizni i tvorchestva [Ilya Ehrenburg in the years 1932–1935: Chronicle of life and work]. In 3 vols. St. Petersburg, 2001, vol. 3, 337 p. (in Russ.)

Rafikov M. S. Musa Dzhalil’ i Ural. In: «Umiraya, ne umret geroj...» Musa Dzhalil’ i sovremennost’ [“Dying, the hero will not die... ” Musa Jalil and modernity]. Materials of the interuniversity scientific and practical conference “Dzhalil’ reading”. Ed. by R. L. Iskhakov, E. K. Sozina. Ekaterinburg, Ural State Uni. Publ., 2006, p. 52–54. (in Russ.)

Shmakov A. A. Louis Aragon. In: Pisma iz Lozanny: Literaturovedcheskie ocherki [Letters from Lausanne: Literary Essays]. Scientific ed. B. T. Utkin, crit. L. Vinogradova. Chelyabinsk, 1980, p. 50–66. (in Russ.)

Struve G. Russkaya literatura v izgnanii [Russian Literature in Exile]. 3 rd ed. revised and supplemented. Paris, Moscow, YMKA-Press, Russkiy put', 1996. (in Russ.)

Wulf V. Ya., Chebotar S. Elza Triolet. Kommunisticheskaya muza [Elza Triolet. Communist muse]. In: Wulf V. Ya., Chebotar S. Velikiye zhenshchiny XX veka [Great women of the 20 th century]. Moscow, Yauza: Eksmo, 2010, p. 392–406. (in Russ.)