Partija i literatura (di V. Kirpotin) [30-10-1937] - [D029]

Concise description of the directive:

The Communist Party feels great respect for the cultural values of our classical heritage. Lenin taught us that communism could not be built without critically reusing all the cultural wealth of humanity. Lenin speaks out decisively against the Proletkult theory. He mocks Proletkult’s miserable attempts to create proletarian literature by severing ties with the classical heritage of the past and with today’s working-class struggle. In the hands of the communist party, classical heritage is not a dead work displayed in a museum. The great works of classical art reflect the hopes of the popular masses and their hatred of the oppressors. Comrade Stalin gave us brilliant examples of how the legacy of classical literature can take on the role of a sharp weapon in our struggle today. The enemy of the people Averbach invented a treacherous trick: he declared that Soviet power could only create proletarian literature but not socialist literature. Bukharin and Radek also tried to detach socialist literature from the proletariat, creating various small groups such as Litfront, Pereval, and those of constructivism, to distract the writers’ attention from the proletariat. The party is eradicating enemies from the field of literature just as ruthlessly as in other areas of the country’s life. The dialectical-materialist artistic method was only an instrument of the criminal activity of Averbach’s circle, whose aim was to detach writers from our socialist reality by trying to confuse them by means of abstract and scholastic categories. The slogan of socialist realism helps writers become aware of the eternal desire of literature to have a strong connection to the popular masses, real life and the most progressive ideas of humanity.