Union of Writers of the USSR

The Writers' Union of the USSR ( Russian Союз писателей СССР / Sojus pissatelei SSSR ) was an association of professional writers of the Soviet Union , which was founded in 1934 on the initiative of the Central Committee of the CPSU .

The founding of the association was decided by a decree of the Central Committee of April 23, 1932 on the restructuring of literary and artistic organizations. The association was founded during the first congress of Soviet writers in 1934. The aim of the new organization was to establish party and state control in the field of literature in accordance with the totalitarian intentions of Stalinism . After 1945, Stalin's leading cultural functionary Andrei Zhdanov played an essential role . For professional writers, membership in the association was de facto compulsory; exclusion from the association amounted to a publication ban. At the same time, the members of the association, like those of other Soviet artists' associations, enjoyed certain privileges: They had their own rest homes, club restaurants, etc.

The first congress of the Soviet Writers' Union was celebrated in Moscow from August 17 to September 1, 1934 with great pomp. 591 delegates and 40 foreign guest delegates (including André Malraux , Louis Aragon , Oskar Maria Graf and Klaus Mann ) met under the presidency of the association chairman Maxim Gorki , who was active from 1934 to 1936 . Oskar Maria Graf wrote in his travel report that he was impressed by the “exciting, fully sparked participation of the whole people” in the congress and the subsequent events throughout the country. And he stated that "incessant propaganda" and "orders" can do a lot, but certainly not "such an obsessive interest, such touching restless questions, such a natural thirst for education from all classes".

The organizational type of the Soviet writers 'or artists' association was exported after 1945 to the states within the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union. With the end of the Soviet Union , the Soviet Writers' Union was divided into national associations of the successor states of the Soviet Union.

Chairwoman of the Writers' Union

1934-36: Maxim Gorki

1936–38: Alexej Tolstoy

1938–44: Alexander Fadejew

1944–46: Nikolai Tichonow

1946–54: Alexander Fadejew

1954–59: Alexej Surkow

1959–77: Konstantin Fedin

1977–86: Georgi Markow

1986–91: Vladimir Karpov

Individual evidence

^ Oskar Maria Graf : Journey to Soviet Russia 1934 . Berlin 1977, p. 62.

[1] Oskar Maria Graf : Journey to Soviet Russia 1934 . Berlin 1977, p. 62.