Jump to content

Letter from a group of Soviet writers about Solzhenitsyn and Sakharov

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Letter from a group of Soviet writers about Solzhenitsyn and Sakharov (Russian: Письмо группы советских писателей о Солженицыне и Сахарове) was an open letter to the editor of the newspaper "Pravda", the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, from a group of famous Soviet writers in connection with "anti-Soviet actions and speeches" of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Andrei Sakharov. It was published in Pravda newspaper on August 31, 1973.[1]

Dear Comrade Editor! Having read the letter published in your newspaper by members of the USSR Academy of Sciences regarding the behavior of Academician Sakharov, discrediting the honor and dignity of the Soviet scientist, we consider it our duty to express full agreement with the position of the authors of the letter...

— Soviet writers, "Letter from a group of Soviet writers about Solzhenitsyn and Sakharov", Pravda (31.08.1973)

The letter praised the Soviet Union's posture in the world and criticized the two dissidents as harming the Soviet Union's struggle in the Cold War.

Signatories[edit]

  1. Chinghiz Aitmatov
  2. Yuri Bondarev
  3. Vasil Bykaŭ
  4. Rasul Gamzatov
  5. Oles Honchar
  6. Nikolay Gribachov
  7. Sergey Zalygin
  8. Valentin Kataev
  9. Alim Keshokov
  10. Vadim Kozhevnikov
  11. Mikhail Lukonin
  12. Georgi Markov
  13. Ivan Melezh
  14. Sergey Mikhalkov
  15. Sergey Narovchatov
  16. Vitaly Ozerov
  17. Boris Polevoy
  18. Afanasy Salynski
  19. Sergey Sartakov
  20. Konstantin Simonov
  21. Sergey Smirnov
  22. Anatoly Sofronov
  23. Mykhailo Stelmakh
  24. Alexey Surkov
  25. Nikolai Tikhonov
  26. Mirzo Tursunzoda
  27. Konstantin Fedin
  28. Nikolai Fedorenko
  29. Aleksandr Chakovsky
  30. Mikhail Sholokhov
  31. Stepan Shchipachev

Vasil Bykaŭ, in his autobiography "The Long Road Home", published after the collapse of the USSR, claims[2] that he did not consent to the appearance of his signature on the letter, but on the day of signing the letter was read in the Vremya program, where Bykov was named among the signatories. Vasil Bykaŭ's disagreement with signing the letter published in Pravda is also evidenced by the writer Igor Zolotussky in a documentary about Bykov.[3]

Mikhail Lukonin’s son, in his memoirs about his father, also disputes his father's voluntary participation in this signing.[4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Советские писатели против Сахарова и Солженицына -документ". Дилетант (in Russian). 2017-06-04. Retrieved 2024-05-18.
  2. ^ Bykov, Vasil (2005). Долгая дорога домой (in Russian). Moscow: АСТ. p. 324. ISBN 985-13-4015-4.
  3. ^ "Фильм "Прощай, XX век. Знак войны. В. Быков"" (in Russian). Телеканал Культура. Archived from the original on 2018-12-25.
  4. ^ Sergey Lukonin (2018-10-26). "Испытание на разрыв". Литературная Россия : газета. Archived from the original on 2020-06-04.
Retrieved from "https://wiki.riteme.site/w/index.php?title=Letter_from_a_group_of_Soviet_writers_about_Solzhenitsyn_and_Sakharov&oldid=1232168445"