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

Union of Writers The Union of Writers 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 organizations that existed before

Plan:

Introduction

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

Introduction

Union of Writers of the USSR- the 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 organizations of writers that existed before: both united on some ideological or aesthetic platform (RAPP, "Pass"), and performing the function of writers' trade unions (All-Russian Union of Writers), Vseroskomdram.

According to the charter of the Writers' Union of the USSR as amended in 1971 (the charter was edited several times) - "... a voluntary public creative organization that unites 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 charter of 1934)

The statute defined socialist realism, as the main method of Soviet literature and literary criticism, following which was prerequisite membership of the joint venture.

1. Organization of the joint venture of the USSR

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

The structural subdivisions of the Writers' Union of the USSR were regional writers' organizations: the joint ventures of the union and autonomous republics, the writers' organizations of the regions, territories, cities of Moscow and Leningrad, with a structure similar to central organization.

In the system of the Writers' Union of the USSR, the Literary Gazette, the magazines Novy Mir, 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 overseas trips members of the joint venture were subject to approval by the foreign commission of the joint venture of the USSR.

Under the jurisdiction of the Board of the Writers' Union of the USSR was the publishing house "Soviet Writer", the Literary Institute. M. Gorky, Literary consultation for novice authors, All-Union Bureau of Fiction Propaganda, Central House of Writers. A. A. Fadeev in Moscow and others.

Under the board of the Writers' Union of the USSR, the Literary Fund operated, and regional writers' organizations also had their own literary funds. The task of the literary funds was to provide material support to members of the joint venture (according to the "rank" of the writer) in the form of housing, construction and maintenance of "writers'" summer cottages, medical and sanatorium services, household services supply of scarce goods and foodstuffs.

2. Membership

Admission to the members of the joint venture was carried out on the basis of an application, in addition to which recommendations were to be attached three members SP. A writer wishing to join the SP was required to have two published books and submit reviews of them. The application was considered at a meeting of the local branch of the USSR Writers' Union 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 Writers' Union, and at least half of their votes were required for admission to membership.

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

• 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, 3665 write in Russian.

The writer could be expelled from the joint venture "for misconduct, dropping the honor and dignity of the Soviet writer" and for "departure from the principles and tasks formulated in the Charter of the Writers' Union of the USSR." In practice, the following could serve as a reason for exclusion:

• Criticism of the writer from the highest party authorities. An example is the exclusion of M. M. Zoshchenko and A. A. Akhmatova, which followed the report of Zhdanov 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 excluded for this reason for the publication in Italy of his novel Doctor Zhivago in 1957.
• Publication in "Samizdat"
• Openly expressed disagreement with the policy of the CPSU and Soviet state.
• Participation in public speaking(signing open letters) protesting against the persecution of dissidents.

Those expelled from the SP were denied the publication of their books and publication in journals subordinate to the SP, they were practically deprived of the opportunity to earn money by literary work. With the exception of the joint venture, an exclusion from the Literary Fund followed, entailing tangible financial difficulties. Exclusion from the joint venture for political reasons, as a rule, was widely publicized, sometimes turning into real persecution. In a number of cases, the 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 citizenship of the USSR, 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. Voinovich, I. Dziuba, 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. Aksyonov, I. Lisnyanskaya and S. Lipkin announced their withdrawal from the Writers' Union of the USSR.

3. Leaders

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

Conversation of I. V. Stalin with Gorky

The first chairman (1934-1936) of the Board of the Writers' Union of the USSR 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).

Subsequently, this position was 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 of the USSR after the collapse of the USSR

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

The main successors of the SP 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 cinematographers in their work repeatedly turned to the theme of the SP of the USSR.

• 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 "A domestic cat, medium fluffy" is dedicated to the behind-the-scenes side of the activity of the joint venture. Based on the play by K. Voinov, he made the film "Hat"
• IN essays literary life “A calf butted with an oak” A. I. Solzhenitsyn characterizes the SP of the USSR 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]

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 the organizations of writers that existed before: both united on some kind of ideological or aesthetic platform (RAPP, "Pass"), and performing the function of writers' trade unions (All-Russian Union of Writers, Vseroskomdram).

From the Charter of the Union of Writers in the edition of 1934 (the charter was repeatedly edited and changed): “The Union of Soviet Writers sets as its general goal the creation of works of high artistic value, 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 that unites professional writers of the Soviet Union, participating with their creativity in the struggle for building communism, for social progress, for peace and friendship between peoples."

The charter gave a definition of socialist realism as the main method of Soviet literature and literary criticism, following which was a prerequisite for the membership of the SP.

Organization of the joint venture of the USSR

Under the jurisdiction of the Board of the Writers' Union of the USSR was the publishing house "Soviet Writer", Literary Consultation for Beginning Authors, the All-Union Bureau of Propaganda of Fiction, the Central House of Writers. A. A. Fadeev in Moscow and others.

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

Under the rule of the USSR Writers' Union, the Literary Fund operated, and regional writers' organizations also had their own literary funds. The task of the literary funds was to provide material support to the members of the joint venture (according to the "rank" of the writer) in the form of housing, construction and maintenance of "writers'" summer cottages, medical and sanatorium services, the provision of vouchers to the "houses of creativity of writers", the provision of household services, supplies of scarce commodities and foodstuffs.

Membership

Admission to the Writers' Union was made on the basis of an application, to which the recommendations of three members of the Writers' Union 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 Writers' Union 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 Writers' Union and at least half of their votes were required for admission to membership.

The number of members of the Union of Writers of the USSR by years (according to the organizing committees of the congresses of the Union of Writers):

• 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 Union, 3,665 write in Russian.

The writer could be expelled from the Writers' Union "for misdeeds that damage the honor and dignity of the Soviet writer" and for "departure from the principles and tasks formulated in the Charter of the Writers' Union of the USSR." In practice, the following could serve as a reason for exclusion:

• 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 excluded for this reason for the publication in Italy of his novel Doctor Zhivago in 1957.
• Publication in "samizdat"
• Openly expressed disagreement with the policy of the CPSU and the Soviet state.
• Participation in public speeches (signing open letters) protesting against the persecution of dissidents.

Those expelled from the Union of Writers were denied the publication of books and publication in journals subordinate to the joint venture; they were practically deprived of the opportunity to earn money by literary work. With the exception of the Union, an exclusion from the Literary Fund followed, entailing tangible financial difficulties. Exclusion from the joint venture for political reasons, as a rule, was widely publicized, sometimes turning into real persecution. In a number of cases, the expulsion 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 citizenship of the USSR, 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. Voinovich , I. Dziuba , 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. Aksyonov, I. Lisnyanskaya and S. Lipkin announced their withdrawal from the Union of Writers of the USSR.

Leaders

According to the Charter of 1934, the head of the USSR Writers' Union was the Chairman of the Board.
The first chairman (1934-) of the board of the Writers' Union 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 joint venture Alexander Shcherbakov.

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

According to the Charter of 1977, 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 1977);
• 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 Union of Writers of the USSR was divided into many organizations in various countries of the post-Soviet space.

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

Soil for division united community writers of the USSR on two wings (the Union of Writers of Russia (SPR) and the Union of Russian Writers (SRP)) served as "Letter of the 74s". The SWP included those who were in solidarity with the authors of the "Letter of the 74s", the SWP - writers, as a rule, liberal views.

USSR joint venture in art

Soviet writers and cinematographers in their work repeatedly turned to the theme of the SP of the USSR.

• In the novel "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 fluffiness” is dedicated to the behind-the-scenes side of the joint venture. Based on the play by K. Voinov, he made the film "Hat"
• IN essays on literary life AI 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“A kid 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 did his best to keep future readers of the novel from false identifications.

Criticism. Quotes

Andrey Malgin, "Letter to a literary friend":

Address

The Board of the Writers' Union of the USSR was located at 52/55 Povarskaya Street ("Sollogub's Estate" or "City Estate of Princes Dolgorukovs").

Write a review on the article "Union of Writers of the USSR"

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

Marrying a rich bride in St. Petersburg did not work out for Boris and he came to Moscow for the same purpose. In Moscow, Boris was in indecision between the two richest brides - Julie and Princess Mary. Although Princess Mary, despite her ugliness, seemed to him more attractive than Julie, for some reason he was embarrassed to look after 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 alone, but 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 much more attractive than she had been 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 assuming any obligations, enjoy her dinners, evenings and lively society, gathering with her. 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 not to tie himself up, now went to her boldly every day and treated her not as a young lady, but as a a friend 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 had dinner at 12 o'clock in the morning and stayed up until 3 o'clock. There was no ball, festivities, theater that Julie would miss. Her toilets were always the most fashionable. But, despite this, Julie seemed disappointed in everything, told everyone that she did not believe in friendship, or in love, or in any joys of life, and expected peace only there. She adopted the tone of a girl who has suffered great disappointment, a girl who seems to have lost a loved one or was cruelly deceived by him. Although nothing like this happened to her, they looked at her as such, 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 good time. Each guest, coming to them, gave his debt to the melancholy mood of the hostess and then engaged in secular conversations, and dances, and mental games, and burime tournaments, which were in vogue with the Karagins. Only some young people, including Boris, went deeper into Julie's melancholy mood, and with these young people she had longer and more solitary conversations about the futility 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 her life herself, and opened her album to him. Boris drew two trees for her in an album and wrote: Arbres rustiques, vos sombres rameaux secouent sur moi les tenebres et la melancolie. [Rural trees, your dark boughs shake off gloom and melancholy on me.]
Elsewhere he drew 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 saving and death is calm;
ABOUT! there is no other refuge against suffering.]
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 a smile of melancholy,] - she said to Boris word for word the passage written out 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 poetry to her:
"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 of a too sensitive soul,
You, without whom happiness would be impossible for me,
Gentle melancholy, oh come comfort me
Come, calm the torments of my gloomy solitude
And join the 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 excitement, which captured his breath. Meeting in a large society, Julie and Boris looked at each other as the only people in the world who were indifferent, who understood each other.
Anna Mikhailovna, who often traveled to the Karagins, making up her mother's party, meanwhile made accurate 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 rich Julie.
- Toujours charmante et melancolique, cette chere Julieie, [She is still charming and melancholic, this dear Julie.] - 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.
“Ah, my friend, how I have become attached to Julie lately,” she said to her son, “I cannot describe to you! And who can't love her? This is such an unearthly creature! Oh Boris, Boris! She was 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 and all alone: ​​she is so deceived!
Boris smiled slightly, listening to his mother. He meekly laughed at her ingenuous cunning, but he listened and sometimes asked her attentively about the Penza and Nizhny Novgorod estates.
Julie had long been expecting an offer 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. Whole days and every single day he spent 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 strewn with powder, at her moist eyes and at the expression on her face, which always showed readiness to immediately move from melancholy to the unnatural rapture 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 the Penza and Nizhny Novgorod estates and distributed the use of income from them. Julie saw Boris's indecisiveness and sometimes the thought came to her that she was disgusting to him; but immediately a woman's self-delusion offered her 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' vacation was coming to an end, Anatole Kuragin appeared in Moscow and, of course, in the Karagins' living room, and Julie, suddenly 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 is sending his son to Moscow in order to marry him to Julie.] I love Julie so much that I should feel sorry for her. What do you think, my friend? Anna Mikhailovna said.
The idea of ​​being fooled and losing for nothing this whole month of hard melancholic service under Julie and seeing all the income from the Penza estates already planned and used properly in his imagination in the hands of another - especially in the hands of stupid Anatole, offended Boris. He went to the Karagins with the firm intention of making an offer. Julie greeted him with a cheerful and carefree air, casually talking about how fun she had been at the ball yesterday, and asking when he was coming. 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 female inconstancy: about 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 needed variety, that everyone would get tired of the same thing.
“For this I would advise you ...” Boris began, wanting to taunt her; but at that very moment the insulting thought came to him that he might leave Moscow without achieving his goal and losing his labors in vain (which had never happened to him). He stopped in the middle of her 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 see if he could continue. All her irritation suddenly disappeared, and restless, pleading eyes were fixed on him with greedy expectation. "I can always arrange myself so that I rarely see her," thought Boris. “But the work has begun and must be done!” He blushed, looked up at her, and said to her, “You know how I feel about you!” There was no more need to speak: 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 never loved a single woman more than her. She knew that for the Penza estates and Nizhny Novgorod forests she could demand this, and she got 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 go, but it was impossible to wait for her recovery: Prince Andrei was expected to Moscow every day; besides, it was necessary to buy a dowry; The Rostovs' 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 carts of the Rostovs drove into the courtyard of Marya Dmitrievna in the old Konyushennaya. Marya Dmitrievna lived alone. She has already married her daughter. Her sons were all in the service.
She kept herself as straight as ever, spoke her opinion directly, loudly and decisively to everyone, and with her whole being seemed to reproach other people for all sorts of weaknesses, passions and hobbies, of which she did not recognize the possibility. From early morning in Kutsaveyka, she did housework, then went: on holidays to mass and from mass to jails and prisons, where she had affairs that she did not tell anyone about, and on weekdays, dressed, she received petitioners of different classes at home who came to her every day, and then dined; at a hearty and tasty dinner there were always three or four guests, after dinner she made a party to Boston; at night she forced herself to read newspapers and new books, while she knitted. Rarely did she make exceptions for trips, and if she went out, she went only to the most important persons in the city.
She had not yet gone to bed when the Rostovs arrived, and the door on the block squealed in the hall, letting in the Rostovs and their servants who were coming in from the cold. Marya Dmitrievna, with spectacles pulled down on her nose, her head thrown back, stood at the door of the hall and looked at the incoming people with a stern, angry look. One would have thought that she was embittered against the newcomers and would now kick them out if she did not give careful orders to people at that time about how to accommodate the guests and their things.
- Counts? “Bring it here,” she said, pointing to the suitcases and not greeting anyone. - Ladies, this way to the left. Well, what are you kidding! she shouted at the girls. - Samovar to warm up! “I’ve gotten fatter, prettier,” she said, pulling Natasha, flushed from the cold, by the hood. - Ugh, cold! Get undressed quickly, - she shouted at the count, who wanted to approach her hand. - Freeze, please. Serve rum for tea! Sonyushka, bonjour,” she said to Sonya, emphasizing her slightly contemptuous and affectionate attitude towards Sonya with this French greeting.
When everyone, having undressed and recovered from the journey, came to tea, Marya Dmitrievna kissed everyone in order.
“I’m glad in my soul that they came and that they stopped at my place,” she said. “It’s high time,” she said, glancing significantly at Natasha ... “the old man is here and her son is expected from day to day. You need to get to know him. Well, let's talk about that later," she added, looking around 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, “tomorrow, what do you want?” Who will you send for? Shinshin? – she bent one finger; - crybaby Anna Mikhailovna? - two. She is here with her son. The son is getting married! Then Bezukhov chtol? And he's here with his wife. He ran away from her, and she jumped after him. He dined with me on Wednesday. Well, and them - she pointed to the young ladies - tomorrow I'll take them to Iverskaya, and then we'll drop by to Ober Shelme. After all, I suppose you will do everything new? Don't take it from me, now the sleeves, that's what! The other day Princess Irina Vasilievna, young, came to me: she was afraid to look, as if she had put two barrels on her hands. After all, today, what a day - new fashion. Yes, what do you have to do? she turned sternly to the count.
“Everything suddenly came up,” answered the count. - Buy rags, and then there is a buyer for the Moscow region and for the house. Well, if your grace is, I will choose a time, I will go to Marinskoye for a day, I will estimate my girls for you.
- All right, all right, I'll be safe. I have as in the Board of Trustees. I’ll take them where they need to be, and scold them, and caress them,” said Marya Dmitrievna, touching big hand to the cheek of his beloved and goddaughter Natasha.

Union of Writers

The Union of Writers 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 organizations of writers that existed before: both united on some ideological or aesthetic platform (RAPP, "Pass"), and performing the function of writers' trade unions (All-Russian Union of Writers, Vseroskomdram).

The Charter of the Writers' Union, as amended in 1934, stated: “The Union of Soviet Writers sets as its general goal the creation of works of high artistic value, 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 was repeatedly edited and changed. As amended in 1971, the Union of Writers of the USSR is "a voluntary public creative organization that unites 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 gave a definition of socialist realism as the main method of Soviet literature and literary criticism, following which was a prerequisite for the membership of the SP.

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

According to the Charter of 1934, the head of the USSR Writers' Union was the Chairman of the Board. Maxim Gorky was the first chairman in 1934-1936 of the Board of the Writers' Union of the USSR. At the same time, the actual management of the activities of the Union was carried out by the 1st secretary of the joint venture, 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 Charter of 1977, 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).

Structural subdivisions of the Writers' Union of the USSR were regional writers' organizations with a structure similar to the central organization: the joint ventures of the union and autonomous republics, writers' organizations of regions, territories, and the cities of Moscow and Leningrad.

The press organs of the Writers' Union of the USSR were Literaturnaya Gazeta, the magazines Novy Mir, Znamya, Friendship of Peoples, Questions of Literature, Literary Review, Children's Literature, Foreign Literature, Youth, Soviet Literature” (published in foreign languages), “Theatre”, “Soviet Geimland” (in Yiddish), “Star”, “Bonfire”.

Under the jurisdiction of the Board of the Writers' Union of the USSR was the publishing house "Soviet Writer", the Literary Institute. M. Gorky, Literary consultation for novice authors, All-Union Bureau of Fiction Propaganda, Central House of Writers. A. A. Fadeev in Moscow.

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

Under the board of the Writers' Union of the USSR, the Literary Fund operated, and 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 "writers'" summer cottages, medical and sanatorium services, the provision of vouchers to the "houses of creativity of writers", the provision of household services, supplies of scarce commodities and foodstuffs.

Admission to the Writers' Union was made on the basis of an application, to which the recommendations of three members of the Writers' Union 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 Writers' Union 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 Writers' Union and at least half of their votes were required for admission to membership. In 1934, the Union had 1500 members, in 1989 - 9920.

In 1976, it was reported that out of the total number of members of the Union, 3665 write in Russian.

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

- Criticism of the writer from the highest party authorities. An example is the exclusion of M. M. Zoshchenko and A. A. Akhmatova, which followed the report of Zhdanov 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 the publication in Italy of his novel Doctor Zhivago in 1957;

- publication in "samizdat";

- openly expressed disagreement with the policy of the CPSU and the Soviet state;

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

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

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

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

The basis for dividing the united community of writers of the USSR, which consisted of about 11,000 people, into two wings: the Writers' Union of Russia (SPR) and the Union of Russian Writers (SRP) - was the so-called "Letter of the 74s". The first included those who were in solidarity with the authors of the "Letter of the 74", the second - writers, as a rule, of liberal views. It also served as an indicator of the mood that prevailed then among a number of literary figures. The most famous, most talented writers of Russia spoke about the danger of Russophobia, about the unfaithfulness 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 uniting 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. In 2004, the Union consisted of 93 regional organizations and united 6991 people. In 2004, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the death of A.P. Chekhov, the Commemorative Medal of A.P. Chekhov was established. Awarded to persons awarded the A.P. Chekhov Literary Prize "for their contribution to modern Russian literature."

The Union of Russian Writers is an all-Russian public organization that unites Russian and foreign writers. The Union of Russian Writers was formed in 1991 with the collapse of the Union of Writers of the USSR. Dmitry Likhachev, Sergey Zalygin, Viktor Astafiev, Yuri Nagibin, Anatoly Zhigulin, Vladimir Sokolov, Roman Solntsev stood at the origins of its creation. 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 Conferences of Young Writers, 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 prominent writers, in the jury of the International literary prize them. Yuri Dolgoruky, holds "Provincial literary evenings» in Moscow, was the initiator of the erection 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 problems of translation, regional seminars on prose, poetry and criticism.

Under the Union of Russian Writers, the publishing house "Union of Russian Writers" was opened.

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 be melted down, that is, to production, or to be reforged, that is, to labor camps. Stalin focused precisely on fellow travelers, because the course towards the restoration of the empire - with the oblivion of all 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 disintegration 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 an ordinary writer and a party customer. Gorky was organizing this union throughout 1933.

From August 17 to 31, in the Hall of Columns of the former Assembly of the Nobility, and now the House of Unions, his first congress was held. The main speaker was Bukharin, whose attitude towards culture, technology and some 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 not convincing with us, we do not know how to talk about achievements! He was particularly delighted by the presence at the congress of the national poet Suleiman Stalsky, a Dagestan ashug in a worn robe, in a gray shabby hat. Gorky took a picture with him - he and Stalsky were the same age; in general, during the congress, Gorky very intensively filmed with his guests, old workers, young paratroopers, metro builders (almost did not pose with the writers, there was his own principled installation).

Separately, it is worth mentioning the attacks on Mayakovsky, which were voiced 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 tell writers how and what to do, and along the way would provide for their life. In Gorky's own letters during these years, there is a sea of ​​plans, advice that he distributes with the generosity of a sower: write a book about how people make the weather! The history of religions and the church's predatory attitude towards the flock! The history of the literature of small peoples! Few, few writers rejoice, it is necessary to be more cheerful, brighter, more reckless! This constant call to joy can be understood in two ways. Maybe he was talking about his own horror of what was happening - but in none of his essays of this time there is a shadow of horror, not even doubts about the unconditional triumph of justice in the vastness of the Union of Soviets. One delight. So another reason, probably, is that the literature of the thirties never learned to lie with talent - and if it did, then 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 they wrote about; his ideas about this life were drawn mainly from newspapers, and his mail, apparently, was strictly controlled by the secretary we already knew