From the History of the Work of the Union of Soviet Writers’ Defense Commission: Closing and Reorganization

Abstract

Based on archival sources, the article reconstructs an unknown episode in the history of the Defense Commission of the Union of Soviet Writers, which took place in 1936–1939. The question of the commission’s work completion had been raised starting in the summer of 1936. In May 1937, the act of transferring its documents was signed. The reasons for the closure were repressions, economic, redundancy of functions, and personnel problems. The consequence was a change in the position of the journal “Znamia,” which took over its duties. The range of tasks had to be expanded to justify the resumption of the activities. In the autumn of 1938, V.V. Vishnevsky and B.L. Gorbatov created a document that described a new direction of work: mobilization registration of writers and their military training depending on the group identified during the registration. The organizational meeting of the commission on the renewed composition occurred on January 25, 1939. Vishnevsky became its new head.

Keywords

• defense commission of the union of soviet writers
• journal “znamia
• ” v.v. vishnevskii
• institutional aspects of the literary process of the 1930s
• political directorate of the workers’ and peasants’ red army
• the great terror
• literary association of the red army and navy (lokaf)