Writers' Union of the USSR. Great Soviet Encyclopedia - Union of Writers of the USSR Maxim Gorky, first chairman of the Union of Writers

Writers' Union The Writers' Union of the USSR is an organization of professional writers of the USSR. It was created in 1934 at the First Congress of Writers of the USSR, convened in accordance with the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of April 23, 1932. This Union replaced all previously existing organizations

Plan:

Introduction

• 1 Organization of the USSR SP
• 2 Membership
• 3 Leaders
• 4 SP USSR after the collapse of the USSR
• 5 SP USSR in art
Notes

Introduction

Union of Writers of the USSR- organization of professional writers of the USSR.

Created in 1934 at the First Congress of Writers of the USSR, convened in accordance with the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of April 23, 1932.

The union replaced all the previously existing organizations of writers: both those united on some ideological or aesthetic platform (RAPP, “Pereval”), and those performing the function of writers’ trade unions (the All-Russian Union of Writers), the All-Roskomdram.

According to the charter of the Union of Writers of the USSR as amended in 1971 (the Charter was edited several times) - “... a voluntary public creative organization uniting professional writers of the Soviet Union, participating with their creativity in the struggle for the construction of communism, for social progress, for peace and friendship between peoples.”

“II...7. The Union of Soviet Writers sets the general goal of creating works of high artistic value saturated with the heroic struggle of the international proletariat, the pathos of the victory of socialism, reflecting great wisdom and the heroism of the Communist Party. The Union of Soviet Writers aims to create works of art worthy great era socialism." (From the 1934 charter)

The charter defined socialist realism, as the main method of Soviet literature and literary criticism, following which was prerequisite JV membership

1. Organization of the USSR joint venture

The highest body of the USSR Writers' Union was the Congress of Writers (between 1934 and 1954, contrary to the Charter, it was not convened), which elected the USSR Writers' Board (150 people in 1986), which, in turn, elected the chairman of the board (from 1977 - the first secretary) and formed the secretariat of the board (36 people in 1986), who managed the affairs of the joint venture in the period between congresses. The plenum of the board of the joint venture met at least once a year. The board, according to the 1971 Charter, also elected the secretariat bureau, which consisted of about 10 people, while the actual leadership was in the hands of the working secretariat group (about 10 staff positions occupied by administrative workers rather than writers). Yu. N. Verchenko was appointed head of this group in 1986 (until 1991).

The structural divisions of the USSR Writers' Union were regional writers' organizations: the Writers' Union of the Union and Autonomous Republics, writers' organizations of regions, territories, Moscow and Leningrad, with a structure similar central organization.

The USSR SP system published “Literary Newspaper”, magazines “New World”, “Znamya”, “Friendship of Peoples”, “Questions of Literature”, “Literary Review”, “Children’s Literature”, “Foreign Literature”, “Youth”, “ Soviet Literature" (published in foreign languages), "Theater", "Soviet Motherland" (in Yiddish), "Star", "Bonfire".

All trips abroad members of the joint venture were subject to approval by the foreign commission of the USSR joint venture.

The board of the USSR Union of Writers was in charge of the publishing house “Soviet Writer”, the Literary Institute named after. M. Gorky, Literary consultation for beginning authors, All-Union Bureau for the Promotion of Fiction, Central House of Writers named after. A. A. Fadeeva in Moscow, etc.

Under the rule of the USSR Writers' Union, the Literary Fund operated; regional writers' organizations also had their own literary funds. The task of the literary funds was to provide members of the joint venture with material support (according to the “rank” of the writer) in the form of providing housing, construction and maintenance of “writer’s” holiday villages, medical and sanatorium-resort services, provision of vouchers to “houses of creativity of writers”, provision of household services, supplying scarce goods and food products.

2. Membership

Admission to membership of the joint venture was carried out on the basis of an application, in addition to which recommendations had to be attached three members SP. A writer wishing to join the SP had to have two published books and submit reviews of them. The application was considered at a meeting of the local branch of the USSR SP and had to receive at least two-thirds of the votes when voting, then it was considered by the secretariat or the board of the USSR SP, and at least half of their votes were required for admission to membership.

The numerical composition of the USSR SP by year (according to the organizing committees of the SP congresses):

• 1934 - 1500 members
• 1954 - 3695
• 1959 - 4801
• 1967 - 6608
• 1971 - 7290
• 1976 - 7942
• 1981 - 8773
• 1986 - 9584
• 1989 - 9920

In 1976, it was reported that out of the total number of members of the joint venture, 3,665 wrote in Russian.

A writer could be expelled from the Union of Writers “for offenses that undermine the honor and dignity of a Soviet writer” and for “deviating from the principles and tasks formulated in the Charter of the Union of Writers of the USSR.” In practice, reasons for exclusion could include:

• Criticism of the writer from the highest party authorities. An example is the exclusion of M. M. Zoshchenko and A. A. Akhmatova, which followed Zhdanov’s report in August 1946 and the party resolution “On the magazines Zvezda and Leningrad.”
• Publication abroad of works not published in the USSR. B. L. Pasternak was the first to be expelled for this reason for publishing his novel “Doctor Zhivago” in Italy in 1957.
• Publication in Samizdat
• Openly expressed disagreement with the policies of the CPSU and Soviet state.
• Participation in public speaking(signing open letters) protesting against the persecution of dissidents.

Those expelled from the joint venture were denied publication of their books and publications in journals subordinate to the joint venture; they were practically deprived of the opportunity to earn money through literary work. Exclusion from the joint venture was followed by exclusion from the Literary Fund, entailing significant financial difficulties. Expulsion from the joint venture for political reasons, as a rule, was widely publicized, sometimes turning into real persecution. In a number of cases, exclusion was accompanied by criminal prosecution under the articles “Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda” and “Dissemination of deliberately false fabrications discrediting the Soviet state and social order”, deprivation of USSR citizenship, forced emigration.

For political reasons, A. Sinyavsky, Yu. Daniel, N. Korzhavin, G. Vladimov, L. Chukovskaya, A. Solzhenitsyn, V. Maksimov, V. Nekrasov, A. Galich, E. Etkind, V. were also excluded from the joint venture. Voinovich, I. Dzyuba, N. Lukash, Viktor Erofeev, E. Popov, F. Svetov.

In protest against the exclusion of Popov and Erofeev from the joint venture in December 1979, V. Aksenov, I. Lisnyanskaya and S. Lipkin announced their withdrawal from the Union of Writers of the USSR.

3. Leaders

According to the 1934 Charter, the head of the USSR SP was the chairman of the board, and since 1977 the first secretary of the board.

Conversation between J.V. Stalin and Gorky

The first chairman (1934-1936) of the board of the USSR Writers' Union was Maxim Gorky. (At the same time, the actual management of the activities of the joint venture was carried out by the 1st secretary of the joint venture, Alexander Shcherbakov).

This position was subsequently held by:

• Alexei Tolstoy (from 1936 to 1938); the actual leadership until 1941 was carried out by general secretary SP USSR Vladimir Stavsky
• Alexander Fadeev (from 1938 to 1944 and from 1946 to 1954)
• Nikolai Tikhonov (from 1944 to 1946)
• Alexey Surkov (from 1954 to 1959)
• Konstantin Fedin (from 1959 to 1977)

• Georgy Markov (from 1977 to 1986)
• Vladimir Karpov (since 1986; resigned in November 1990, but continued to conduct business until August 1991)
• Timur Pulatov (1991)

4. SP USSR after the collapse of the USSR

After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the USSR Writers' Union was divided into many organizations in various countries of the post-Soviet space.

The main successors of the Writers' Union of the USSR in Russia are the Union of Writers of Russia and the Union Russian writers.

5. SP USSR in art

Soviet writers and filmmakers in their work repeatedly turned to the topic of the USSR SP.

• In the novel “The Master and Margarita” by M. A. Bulgakov, under the fictitious name “Massolit,” the Soviet writers’ organization is depicted as an association of opportunists.
• The play by V. Voinovich and G. Gorin “Domestic cat, medium fluffy” is dedicated to the behind-the-scenes side of the activities of the joint venture. Based on the play, K. Voinov made the film “Hat”
• IN essays literary life “A calf butted with an oak tree” A.I. Solzhenitsyn characterizes the USSR SP as one of the main instruments of total party-state control over literary activity in USSR.

Notes

1. Charter of the Union of Writers of the USSR, see “Information Bulletin of the Secretariat of the Board of the Writers' Union of the USSR”, 1971, No. 7(55), p. 9]

Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia

K: Organizations closed in 1991

Union of Writers of the USSR- organization of professional writers of the USSR.

The union replaced all previously existing organizations of writers: both those united on some ideological or aesthetic platform (RAPP, “Pereval”), and those performing the function of writers’ trade unions (All-Russian Union of Writers, All-Roskomdram).

From the Charter of the Writers' Union as amended in 1934 (the charter was edited and changed several times): “The Union of Soviet Writers sets the general goal of creating works of high artistic significance, saturated with the heroic struggle of the international proletariat, the pathos of the victory of socialism, reflecting the great wisdom and heroism of the Communist Party. The Union of Soviet Writers aims to create works of art worthy of the great era of socialism."

According to the charter as amended in 1971, the Union of Writers of the USSR is “a voluntary public creative organization uniting professional writers of the Soviet Union, participating with their creativity in the struggle for the building of communism, for social progress, for peace and friendship between peoples.”

The charter defined socialist realism as the main method of Soviet literature and literary criticism, adherence to which was a mandatory condition for membership of the SP.

Organization of the USSR SP

The board of the USSR Union of Writers was in charge of the publishing house "Soviet Writer", Literary consultation for beginning authors, the All-Union Bureau for the Promotion of Fiction, the Central House of Writers named after. A. A. Fadeeva in Moscow, etc.

Also in the structure of the joint venture there were various divisions that carried out management and control functions. Thus, all foreign trips of members of the Union were subject to approval by the foreign commission of the USSR SP.

Under the rule of the USSR Writers' Union, the Literary Fund operated; regional writers' organizations also had their own literary funds. The task of the literary funds was to provide members of the joint venture with material support (according to the “rank” of the writer) in the form of housing, construction and maintenance of “writer’s” holiday villages, medical and sanatorium-resort services, provision of vouchers to “houses of creativity for writers”, provision of personal services, supply of scarce goods and food products.

Membership

Admission to membership in the Writers' Union was made on the basis of an application, to which the recommendations of three members of the joint venture were to be attached. A writer wishing to join the Union had to have two published books and submit reviews of them. The application was considered at a meeting of the local branch of the USSR SP and had to receive at least two-thirds of the votes when voting, then it was considered by the secretariat or the board of the USSR SP and at least half of their votes were required for admission to membership.

The size of the USSR Writers' Union by year (according to the organizing committees of the Union of Writers' congresses):

• 1934-1500 members
• 1954 - 3695
• 1959 - 4801
• 1967 - 6608
• 1971 - 7290
• 1976 - 7942
• 1981 - 8773
• 1986 - 9584
• 1989 - 9920

In 1976, it was reported that of the total number of members of the Union, 3,665 write in Russian.

The writer could be expelled from the Writers' Union "for offenses that undermine the honor and dignity of the Soviet writer" and for "deviating from the principles and tasks formulated in the Charter of the USSR Writers' Union." In practice, reasons for exclusion could include:

• Criticism of the writer from the highest party authorities. An example is the exclusion of M. M. Zoshchenko and A. A. Akhmatova, which followed Zhdanov’s report in August 1946 and the party resolution “On the magazines Zvezda and Leningrad.”
• Publication abroad of works not published in the USSR. B. L. Pasternak was the first to be expelled for this reason for publishing his novel “Doctor Zhivago” in Italy in 1957.
• Publication in samizdat
• There is openly expressed disagreement with the policies of the CPSU and the Soviet state.
• Participation in public speeches (signing open letters) protesting against the persecution of dissidents.

Those expelled from the Writers' Union were denied the publication of books and publications in magazines under the jurisdiction of the Union of Writers; they were practically deprived of the opportunity to earn money through literary work. Expulsion from the Union was followed by exclusion from the Literary Fund, entailing tangible financial difficulties. Expulsion from the joint venture for political reasons, as a rule, was widely publicized, sometimes turning into real persecution. In a number of cases, exclusion was accompanied by criminal prosecution under the articles “Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda” and “Dissemination of deliberately false fabrications discrediting the Soviet state and social system”, deprivation of USSR citizenship, and forced emigration.

For political reasons, A. Sinyavsky, Y. Daniel, N. Korzhavin, G. Vladimov, L. Chukovskaya, A. Solzhenitsyn, V. Maksimov, V. Nekrasov, A. Galich, E. Etkind, V. were excluded from the Writers' Union. Voinovich, I. Dzyuba, N. Lukash, Viktor Erofeev, E. Popov, F. Svetov.

In protest against the exclusion of Popov and Erofeev from the joint venture in December 1979, V. Aksenov, I. Lisnyanskaya and S. Lipkin announced their withdrawal from the Union of Writers of the USSR.

Managers

According to the 1934 Charter, the head of the USSR Joint Venture was the Chairman of the Board.
The first chairman (1934-) of the board of the Union of Writers of the USSR was Maxim Gorky. At the same time, the actual management of the activities of the Union was carried out by the 1st Secretary of the Union, Alexander Shcherbakov.

• Alexey Tolstoy (from 1936 to gg.); the actual leadership until 1941 was carried out by the General Secretary of the USSR SP Vladimir Stavsky;
• Alexander Fadeev (from 1938 to and from);
• Nikolai Tikhonov (from 1944 to 1946);
• Alexey Surkov (from 1954 to gg.);
• Konstantin Fedin (from 1959 to gg.);

According to the 1977 Charter, the leadership of the Writers' Union was carried out by the First Secretary of the Board. This position was held by:

• Georgy Markov (from 1977 to gg.);
• Vladimir Karpov (since 1986; resigned in November 1990, but continued to conduct business until August 1991);

Control by the CPSU

Awards

• On May 20, 1967 he was awarded the Order of Lenin.
• On September 25, 1984 he was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples.

SP USSR after the collapse of the USSR

After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the USSR Writers' Union was divided into many organizations in various countries of the post-Soviet space.

The main successors of the USSR Writers' Union in Russia and the CIS are the International Commonwealth of Writers' Unions (which for a long time led by Sergei Mikhalkov), the Union of Writers of Russia and the Union of Russian Writers.

Ground for separation single community writers of the USSR into two wings (the Union of Writers of Russia (SPR) and the Union of Russian Writers (SWP)) was the “Letter of the 74s”. The SWP included those who were in solidarity with the authors of the “Letter of the 74th”; the SWP included writers, as a rule, liberal views.

SP USSR in art

Soviet writers and filmmakers in their work repeatedly turned to the topic of the USSR SP.

• In the novel “The Master and Margarita” by M. A. Bulgakov, under the fictitious name “Massolit,” the Soviet writers’ organization is depicted as an association of opportunists.
• The play by V. Voinovich and G. Gorin “Domestic cat, medium fluffy” is dedicated to the behind-the-scenes side of the activities of the joint venture. Based on the play, K. Voinov made the film “Hat”
• IN essays on literary life A.I. Solzhenitsyn characterizes the SP of the USSR as one of the main instruments of total party-state control over literary activity in the USSR.
• IN literary novel“Little Goat in Milk” by Yu. M. Polyakov events unfold against the backdrop of the activities of the Soviet writers' organization. The idea of ​​the novel is that an organization can make a name for a writer without delving into his work. As for the identification of characters with reality, according to the author, he tried his best to keep future readers of the novel from making false identifications.

Criticism. Quotes

Andrey Malgin, “Letter to a literary friend”:

Address

The board of the Union of Writers of the USSR was located at Povarskaya Street, 52/55 (“Sollogub’s Estate” or “City Estate of the Princes Dolgorukov”).

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Notes

see also

Links

• Union of Writers of the USSR // Great Soviet Encyclopedia: [in 30 volumes] / ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov. - 3rd ed. - M. : Soviet encyclopedia, 1969-1978.

An excerpt characterizing the Writers' Union of the USSR

Boris did not succeed in marrying a rich bride in St. Petersburg and he came to Moscow for the same purpose. In Moscow, Boris was indecisive between the two richest brides - Julie and Princess Marya. Although Princess Marya, despite her ugliness, seemed more attractive to him than Julie, for some reason he felt awkward courting Bolkonskaya. On her last meeting with her, on the old prince’s name day, to all his attempts to talk to her about feelings, she answered him inappropriately and obviously did not listen to him.
Julie, on the contrary, although in a special way peculiar to her, willingly accepted his courtship.
Julie was 27 years old. After the death of her brothers, she became very rich. She was now completely ugly; but I thought that she was not only just as good, but even much more attractive than she was before. She was supported in this delusion by the fact that, firstly, she became a very rich bride, and secondly, that the older she became, the safer she was for men, the freer it was for men to treat her and, without taking on any obligations, take advantage of her dinners, evenings and the lively company that gathered at her place. A man who ten years ago would have been afraid to go every day to the house where there was a 17-year-old young lady, so as not to compromise her and tie himself down, now went to her boldly every day and treated her not as a young bride, but as a acquaintance who has no gender.
The Karagins' house was the most pleasant and hospitable house in Moscow that winter. In addition to parties and dinners, every day a large company gathered at the Karagins, especially men, who dined at 12 o'clock in the morning and stayed until 3 o'clock. There was no ball, party, or theater that Julie missed. Her toilets were always the most fashionable. But, despite this, Julie seemed disappointed in everything, telling everyone that she did not believe in friendship, nor in love, nor in any joys of life, and expected peace only there. She adopted the tone of a girl who had suffered great disappointment, a girl as if she had lost a loved one or had been cruelly deceived by him. Although nothing of the sort happened to her, they looked at her as if she were one, and she herself even believed that she had suffered a lot in life. This melancholy, which did not prevent her from having fun, did not prevent the young people who visited her from having a pleasant time. Each guest, coming to them, paid his debt to the melancholy mood of the hostess and then engaged in small talk, dancing, mental games, and Burime tournaments, which were in fashion with the Karagins. Only some young people, including Boris, delved deeper into Julie’s melancholic mood, and with these young people she had longer and more private conversations about the vanity of everything worldly, and to them she opened her albums covered with sad images, sayings and poems.
Julie was especially affectionate towards Boris: she regretted his early disappointment in life, offered him those consolations of friendship that she could offer, having suffered so much in life herself, and opened her album to him. Boris drew two trees in her album and wrote: Arbres rustiques, vos sombres rameaux secouent sur moi les tenebres et la melancolie. [Rural trees, your dark branches shake off darkness and melancholy on me.]
Elsewhere he drew a picture of a tomb and wrote:
"La mort est secourable et la mort est tranquille
“Ah! contre les douleurs il n"y a pas d"autre asile".
[Death is salutary and death is calm;
ABOUT! against suffering there is no other refuge.]
Julie said it was lovely.
“II y a quelque chose de si ravissant dans le sourire de la melancolie, [There is something infinitely charming in the smile of melancholy," she said to Boris word for word, copying this passage from the book.
– C"est un rayon de lumiere dans l"ombre, une nuance entre la douleur et le desespoir, qui montre la consolation possible. [This is a ray of light in the shadows, a shade between sadness and despair, which indicates the possibility of consolation.] - To this Boris wrote her poetry:
"Aliment de poison d"une ame trop sensible,
"Toi, sans qui le bonheur me serait impossible,
"Tendre melancolie, ah, viens me consoler,
“Viens calmer les tourments de ma sombre retraite
"Et mele une douceur secrete
"A ces pleurs, que je sens couler."
[Poisonous food for an overly sensitive soul,
You, without whom happiness would be impossible for me,
Tender melancholy, oh, come and comfort me,
Come, soothe the torment of my dark solitude
And add secret sweetness
To these tears that I feel flowing.]
Julie played Boris the saddest nocturnes on the harp. Boris read aloud to her Poor Lisa and more than once interrupted his reading from the excitement that took his breath away. Meeting in a large society, Julie and Boris looked at each other as the only indifferent people in the world who understood each other.
Anna Mikhailovna, who often went to the Karagins, making up her mother’s party, meanwhile made correct inquiries about what was given for Julie (both Penza estates and Nizhny Novgorod forests were given). Anna Mikhailovna, with devotion to the will of Providence and tenderness, looked at the refined sadness that connected her son with the rich Julie.
“Toujours charmante et melancolique, cette chere Julieie,” she said to her daughter. - Boris says that he rests his soul in your house. “He has suffered so many disappointments and is so sensitive,” she told her mother.
“Oh, my friend, how attached I have become to Julie lately,” she said to her son, “I can’t describe to you!” And who can not love her? This is such an unearthly creature! Ah, Boris, Boris! “She fell silent for a minute. “And how I feel sorry for her maman,” she continued, “today she showed me reports and letters from Penza (they have a huge estate) and she is poor, all alone: ​​she is so deceived!
Boris smiled slightly as he listened to his mother. He meekly laughed at her simple-minded cunning, but listened and sometimes asked her carefully about the Penza and Nizhny Novgorod estates.
Julie had long been expecting a proposal from her melancholic admirer and was ready to accept it; but some secret feeling of disgust for her, for her passionate desire to get married, for her unnaturalness, and a feeling of horror at the renunciation of the possibility true love still stopped Boris. His vacation was already over. He spent whole days and every single day with the Karagins, and every day, reasoning with himself, Boris told himself that he would propose tomorrow. But in the presence of Julie, looking at her red face and chin, almost always covered with powder, at her moist eyes and at the expression of her face, which always expressed a readiness to immediately move from melancholy to the unnatural delight of marital happiness, Boris could not utter a decisive word: despite the fact that for a long time in his imagination he considered himself the owner of Penza and Nizhny Novgorod estates and distributed the use of income from them. Julie saw Boris's indecisiveness and sometimes the thought occurred to her that she was disgusting to him; but immediately the woman’s self-delusion came to her as a consolation, and she told herself that he was shy only out of love. Her melancholy, however, began to turn into irritability, and not long before Boris left, she undertook a decisive plan. At the same time that Boris's vacation was ending, Anatol Kuragin appeared in Moscow and, of course, in the Karagins' living room, and Julie, unexpectedly leaving her melancholy, became very cheerful and attentive to Kuragin.
“Mon cher,” Anna Mikhailovna said to her son, “je sais de bonne source que le Prince Basile envoie son fils a Moscou pour lui faire epouser Julieie.” [My dear, I know from reliable sources that Prince Vasily sends his son to Moscow in order to marry him to Julie.] I love Julie so much that I would feel sorry for her. What do you think, my friend? - said Anna Mikhailovna.
The thought of being a fool and wasting this whole month of difficult melancholy service under Julie and seeing all the income from the Penza estates already allocated and properly used in his imagination in the hands of another - especially in the hands of the stupid Anatole, offended Boris. He went to the Karagins with the firm intention of proposing. Julie greeted him with a cheerful and carefree look, casually talked about how much fun she had at yesterday's ball, and asked when he was leaving. Despite the fact that Boris came with the intention of talking about his love and therefore intended to be gentle, he irritably began to talk about women's inconstancy: how women can easily move from sadness to joy and that their mood depends only on who looks after them. Julie was offended and said that it was true that a woman needs variety, that everyone will get tired of the same thing.
“For this, I would advise you...” Boris began, wanting to tell her a caustic word; but at that very moment the offensive thought came to him that he could leave Moscow without achieving his goal and losing his work for nothing (which had never happened to him). He stopped in the middle of his speech, lowered his eyes so as not to see her unpleasantly irritated and indecisive face and said: “I didn’t come here at all to quarrel with you.” On the contrary...” He glanced at her to make sure he could continue. All her irritation suddenly disappeared, and her restless, pleading eyes were fixed on him with greedy expectation. “I can always arrange it so that I rarely see her,” thought Boris. “And the work has begun and must be done!” He blushed, looked up at her and told her: “You know my feelings for you!” There was no need to say any more: Julie’s face shone with triumph and self-satisfaction; but she forced Boris to tell her everything that is said in such cases, to say that he loves her, and has never loved any woman more than her. She knew that she could demand this for the Penza estates and Nizhny Novgorod forests and she received what she demanded.
The bride and groom, no longer remembering the trees that showered them with darkness and melancholy, made plans for the future arrangement of a brilliant house in St. Petersburg, made visits and prepared everything for a brilliant wedding.

Count Ilya Andreich arrived in Moscow at the end of January with Natasha and Sonya. The Countess was still unwell and could not travel, but it was impossible to wait for her recovery: Prince Andrei was expected to go to Moscow every day; in addition, it was necessary to purchase a dowry, it was necessary to sell the property near Moscow, and it was necessary to take advantage of the presence of the old prince in Moscow to introduce him to his future daughter-in-law. The Rostov house in Moscow was not heated; besides, they came to a short time, the countess was not with them, and therefore Ilya Andreich decided to stay in Moscow with Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova, who had long offered her hospitality to the count.
Late in the evening, four of the Rostovs' carts drove into Marya Dmitrievna's yard in the old Konyushennaya. Marya Dmitrievna lived alone. She has already married off her daughter. Her sons were all in the service.
She still held herself straight, she also spoke directly, loudly and decisively to everyone her opinion, and with her whole being she seemed to reproach other people for all sorts of weaknesses, passions and hobbies, which she did not recognize as possible. From early morning in the kutsaveyka, she did housework, then went: on holidays to mass and from mass to prisons and prisons, where she had business that she did not tell anyone about, and on weekdays, after getting dressed, she received petitioners of different classes at home who came to her every day, and then had lunch; There were always about three or four guests at the hearty and tasty dinner; after dinner I made a round of Boston; At night she forced herself to read newspapers and new books, and she knitted. She rarely made exceptions for trips, and if she did, she went only to the most important people in the city.
She had not yet gone to bed when the Rostovs arrived, and the door on the block in the hall squealed, letting in the Rostovs and their servants who were coming in from the cold. Marya Dmitrievna, with glasses down on her nose, throwing her head back, stood in the doorway of the hall and looked at those entering with a stern, angry look. One would have thought that she was embittered against the visitors and would now throw them out, if at this time she had not given careful orders to people on how to accommodate the guests and their things.
- Counts? “Bring it here,” she said, pointing to the suitcases and not greeting anyone. - Young ladies, this way to the left. Well, why are you fawning! – she shouted at the girls. - Samovar to warm you up! “She’s plumper and prettier,” she said, pulling Natasha, flushed from the cold, by her hood. - Ugh, cold! “Undress quickly,” she shouted at the count, who wanted to approach her hand. - Cold, I guess. Serve some rum for tea! Sonyushka, bonjour,” she said to Sonya, highlighting her slightly contemptuous and affectionate attitude towards Sonya with this French greeting.
When everyone, having undressed and recovered from the road, came to tea, Marya Dmitrievna kissed everyone in order.
“I’m glad with my soul that they came and that they stopped with me,” she said. “It’s high time,” she said, looking significantly at Natasha... “the old man is here and they are expecting their son any day now.” We must, we must meet him. Well, we’ll talk about that later,” she added, looking at Sonya with a look that showed that she didn’t want to talk about it in front of her. “Now listen,” she turned to the count, “what do you need tomorrow?” Who will you send for? Shinshina? – she bent one finger; - crybaby Anna Mikhailovna? - two. She's here with her son. My son is getting married! Then Bezukhova? And he's here with his wife. He ran away from her, and she ran after him. He dined with me on Wednesday. Well, and - she pointed to the young ladies - tomorrow I’ll take them to Iverskaya, and then we’ll go to Ober Shelme. After all, you will probably do everything new? Don't take it from me, these days it's sleeves, that's what! The other day, the young Princess Irina Vasilievna came to see me: I was afraid to look, as if she had put two barrels on her hands. After all, today is a day - new fashion. So what are you doing? – she turned sternly to the count.
“Everything suddenly came together,” answered the count. - To buy rags, and then there is a buyer for the Moscow region and for the house. If you're so kind, I'll find some time, go to Marinskoye for a day, and show you my girls.
- Okay, okay, I’ll be intact. It’s like in the Board of Trustees. “I’ll take them where they need to go, and scold them, and caress them,” said Marya Dmitrievna, touching big hand to the cheek of his favorite and goddaughter Natasha.

Writers' Union

The Writers' Union of the USSR is an organization of professional writers of the USSR. It was created in 1934 at the First Congress of Writers of the USSR, convened in accordance with the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of April 23, 1932. This Union replaced all the previously existing organizations of writers: both united on some ideological or aesthetic platform (RAPP, “Pereval”), and those performing the function of writers’ trade unions (All-Russian Union of Writers, All-Roskomdram).

The Charter of the Writers' Union, as amended in 1934, stated: “The Union of Soviet Writers sets the general goal of creating works of high artistic significance, saturated with the heroic struggle of the international proletariat, the pathos of the victory of socialism, reflecting the great wisdom and heroism of the Communist Party. The Union of Soviet Writers aims to create works of art worthy of the great era of socialism." The charter has been edited and changed several times. As amended in 1971, the Union of Writers of the USSR is “a voluntary public creative organization uniting professional writers of the Soviet Union, participating with their creativity in the struggle for the construction of communism, for social progress, for peace and friendship between peoples.”

The charter defined socialist realism as the main method of Soviet literature and literary criticism, adherence to which was a mandatory condition for membership of the SP.

The highest body of the USSR Writers' Union was the Congress of Writers (between 1934 and 1954, contrary to the Charter, it was not convened).

According to the 1934 Charter, the head of the USSR Joint Venture was the Chairman of the Board. The first chairman of the board of the Union of Writers of the USSR in 1934–1936 was Maxim Gorky. At the same time, the actual management of the activities of the Union was carried out by the 1st Secretary of the Union, Alexander Shcherbakov. Then the chairmen were Alexei Tolstoy (1936–1938); Alexander Fadeev (1938–1944 and 1946–1954); Nikolai Tikhonov (1944–1946); Alexey Surkov (1954–1959); Konstantin Fedin (1959–1977). According to the 1977 Charter, the leadership of the Writers' Union was carried out by the First Secretary of the Board. This position was held by: Georgy Markov (1977–1986); Vladimir Karpov (since 1986, resigned in November 1990, but continued to conduct business until August 1991); Timur Pulatov (1991).

The structural divisions of the USSR Writers' Union were regional writers' organizations with a structure similar to the central organization: the Writers' Union of the Union and Autonomous Republics, writers' organizations of regions, territories, and the cities of Moscow and Leningrad.

The printed organs of the USSR Writers' Union were "Literary Gazette", the magazines "New World", "Znamya", "Friendship of Peoples", "Questions of Literature", "Literary Review", "Children's Literature", "Foreign Literature", "Youth", " Soviet Literature" (published in foreign languages), "Theater", "Sovietish Heyland" (in Yiddish), "Star", "Bonfire".

The board of the USSR Union of Writers was in charge of the publishing house “Soviet Writer”, the Literary Institute named after. M. Gorky, Literary consultation for beginning authors, All-Union Bureau for the Promotion of Fiction, Central House of Writers named after. A. A. Fadeeva in Moscow.

Also in the structure of the joint venture there were various divisions that carried out management and control functions. Thus, all foreign trips of members of the joint venture were subject to approval by the foreign commission of the USSR joint venture.

Under the rule of the USSR Writers' Union, the Literary Fund operated; regional writers' organizations also had their own literary funds. The task of the literary funds was to provide members of the joint venture with material support (according to the “rank” of the writer) in the form of housing, construction and maintenance of “writer’s” holiday villages, medical and sanatorium-resort services, provision of vouchers to “houses of creativity of writers”, provision of personal services, supply of scarce goods and food products.

Admission to membership in the Writers' Union was carried out on the basis of an application, to which the recommendations of three members of the joint venture were to be attached. A writer wishing to join the Union had to have two published books and submit reviews of them. The application was considered at a meeting of the local branch of the USSR SP and had to receive at least two-thirds of the votes when voting, then it was considered by the secretariat or the board of the USSR SP and at least half of their votes were required for admission to membership. In 1934, the Union had 1,500 members, in 1989 – 9,920.

In 1976, it was reported that out of the total number of Union members, 3,665 write in Russian.

The writer could be expelled from the Writers' Union. Reasons for exclusion could include:

- criticism of the writer from the highest party authorities. An example is the exclusion of M. M. Zoshchenko and A. A. Akhmatova, which followed Zhdanov’s report in August 1946 and the party resolution “On the magazines “Zvezda” and “Leningrad”;

– publication abroad of works not published in the USSR. B. L. Pasternak was the first to be expelled for this reason for publishing his novel Doctor Zhivago in Italy in 1957;

– publication in “samizdat”;

– openly expressed disagreement with the policies of the CPSU and the Soviet state;

– participation in public speeches (signing open letters) protesting against the persecution of dissidents.

Those expelled from the Writers' Union were denied the publication of books and publications in journals subordinate to the Union of Writers; they were practically deprived of the opportunity to earn money through literary work. Their exclusion from the Union was followed by exclusion from the Literary Fund, entailing tangible financial difficulties. Expulsion from the joint venture for political reasons, as a rule, was widely publicized, sometimes turning into real persecution. In a number of cases, exclusion was accompanied by criminal prosecution under the articles “Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda” and “Dissemination of deliberately false fabrications discrediting the Soviet state and social system,” deprivation of USSR citizenship, and forced emigration.

For political reasons, A. Sinyavsky, Y. Daniel, N. Korzhavin, G. Vladimov, L. Chukovskaya, A. Solzhenitsyn, V. Maksimov, V. Nekrasov, A. Galich, E. Etkind, V. were excluded from the Writers' Union. Voinovich, I. Dzyuba, N. Lukash, Viktor Erofeev, E. Popov, F. Svetov. In protest against the exclusion of Popov and Erofeev from the joint venture in December 1979, V. Aksenov, I. Lisnyanskaya and S. Lipkin announced their withdrawal from the Union of Writers of the USSR.

After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the USSR Writers' Union was divided into many organizations in various countries of the post-Soviet space.

The main successors of the USSR Writers' Union in Russia are the International Commonwealth of Writers' Unions, which was led by Sergei Mikhalkov for a long time, the Union of Writers of Russia and the Union of Russian Writers.

The basis for dividing the single community of writers of the USSR, which consisted of about 11,000 people, into two wings: the Union of Writers of Russia (SPR) and the Union of Russian Writers (SWP) - was the so-called “Letter of the 74”. The first included those who were in solidarity with the authors of the “Letter of the 74’s”, the second included writers, as a rule, of liberal views. It also served as an indicator of the mood that prevailed at that time among a number of literary figures. The most famous, most talented writers in Russia started talking about the danger of Russophobia, about the infidelity of the chosen “perestroika” path, about the importance of patriotism for the revival of Russia.

The Writers' Union of Russia is an all-Russian public organization that unites a number of Russian and foreign writers. It was formed in 1991 on the basis of the unified Union of Writers of the USSR. The first chairman is Yuri Bondarev. As of 2004, the Union consisted of 93 regional organizations and united 6,991 people. In 2004, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the death of A.P. Chekhov, the A.P. Chekhov Memorial Medal was established. Awarded to persons awarded the A.P. Chekhov Literary Prize “for their contribution to Russian modern literature.”

The Union of Russian Writers is an all-Russian public organization uniting Russian and foreign writers. The Union of Russian Writers was formed in 1991 during the collapse of the Union of Writers of the USSR. At the origins of its creation were Dmitry Likhachev, Sergei Zalygin, Viktor Astafiev, Yuri Nagibin, Anatoly Zhigulin, Vladimir Sokolov, Roman Solntsev. First Secretary of the Union of Russian Writers: Svetlana Vasilenko.

The Union of Russian Writers is a co-founder and organizer of the Voloshin Prize, the Voloshin Competition and the Voloshin Festival in Koktebel, the All-Russian Meetings of Young Writers, and is a member of the Organizing Committee for the celebration of the anniversaries of M. A. Sholokhov, N. V. Gogol, A. T. Tvardovsky and others outstanding writers, on the jury of the International literary prize them. Yuri Dolgoruky, conducts “Provincial literary evenings"in Moscow, was the initiator of the construction of a monument to O. E. Mandelstam in Voronezh in 2008, participates in international and Russian book fairs, together with the Union of Journalists of Russia holds conferences of women writers, creative evenings, literary readings in libraries, schools and universities, round tables on translation problems, regional seminars on prose, poetry and criticism.

The publishing house “Union of Russian Writers” was opened under the Union of Russian Writers.

The organization is incomparably more massive than the notorious RAAP - Russian Association of Proletarian Writers, dispersed in 1932. RAPP divided all writers into proletarians and fellow travelers, assigning the latter a purely technical role: they can teach the proletarians formal skills and go either to remelting, that is, to production, or to reforging, that is, to labor camps. Stalin focused precisely on his fellow travelers, because the course towards restoring the empire - with the oblivion of all the international and ultra-revolutionary slogans of the twenties - was already obvious. Fellow travelers - writers of the old school, who recognized the Bolsheviks precisely because only they were able to keep Russia from collapse and save it from occupation - perked up.

A new writers' union was required - on the one hand, something like a trade union dealing with apartments, cars, dachas, treatment, resorts, and on the other, an intermediary between the ordinary writer and the party customer. Gorky was involved in organizing this union throughout 1933.

From August 17 to 31, its first congress was held in the Hall of Columns of the former Assembly of the Nobility, now the House of Unions. The main speaker was Bukharin, whose emphasis on culture, technology and a certain pluralism was well known; his appointment as the main speaker of the congress indicated a clear liberalization of literary policy. Gorky took the floor several times, mainly in order to emphasize again and again: we still do not know how to show a new person, he is unconvincing, we do not know how to talk about achievements! He was especially delighted by the presence at the congress of the national poet Suleiman Stalsky, a Dagestan ashug in a worn robe and a gray shabby hat. Gorky took a photo with him - he and Stalsky were the same age; in general, during the congress, Gorky photographed very intensively with its guests, old workers, young paratroopers, metro workers (almost did not pose with the writers, this had its own principle).

Separately, it is worth mentioning the attacks on Mayakovsky, which were heard in Gorky’s speech: he already dead Mayakovsky was condemned for his dangerous influence, for a lack of realism, an excess of hyperbole - apparently, Gorky’s enmity towards him was not personal, but ideological.

The first congress of writers was widely and enthusiastically covered in the press, and Gorky had every reason to be proud of his long-standing plan - to create a writers' organization that would show writers how and what to do, and at the same time provide for their livelihood. Gorky’s own letters during these years contain a sea of ​​ideas and advice, which he gives out with the generosity of a sower: write a book about how people make the weather! The history of religions and church predatory attitude towards the flock! The history of literature of small nations! Writers are not happy enough, they need to be more fun, brighter, more excited! This constant call to joy can be understood in two ways. Maybe he was talking about his own horror at what was happening, but in none of his essays from this time there is a shadow of horror, or even doubt about the unconditional triumph of justice in the vastness of the Union of Soviets. One delight. So another reason is probably that the literature of the thirties never learned to lie talentedly - and if it did lie, it was very mediocre; Gorky was sincerely perplexed when he saw this. He was, oddly enough, extremely far from the life that most Russian writers lived, not to mention the people about whom they wrote; His ideas about this life were drawn mainly from newspapers, and his mail, apparently, was strictly controlled by the secretary we already knew