“I had more troubles at work than you’d expect, for my age,” roared Scepura, “but I don’t skulk about it. And I hate to hear how people say now that all that was unnecessary, the wrong path. What do you mean, wrong path? What about all our victories? What about Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsk?!”
It made for a good riverboat tour, all in all. That evening, board the plane and fly to Moscow. Then, in a couple days, a trip abroad. All these arguments, these doubts—they make sense, too, of course. But he remembered, quite suddenly he recalled, the words of that woman: “the latest decree of the government.” . . .
“When was that?” he asked of the Irkutsk fellow.
“Three months ago, in confirmation of the previous one.”
We-e-l-l, what was the purpose, then, of lunging toward the top, contesting the point: You would only harm yourself.
After all, he knew the lay of the land in the halls of power. If a decision is adopted, and even reconfirmed, there is no changing it anyway, no matter what. All will proceed according to plan.
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glossary
Akhmatova, Anna (1889-1966): major Russian poet. Her apolitical poems of the postrevolutionary years were harshly criticized by Marxists, and she was forced into silence for some years.
Antonov, Aleksandr (1888-1922): member of the SR Party who headed the peasant uprising in Tambov Province in 1920-1921. He was killed in battle.
Bagramyan, Ivan (1897-1982): marshal, participant in most of the major Soviet battles in World War II. He served for a time under Georgi Zhukov.
Bedny, Demyan (pseudonym of Yefim Pridvorov, 1883-1945): poet, satirist, and propagandist for the Communist Party.
Belinsky, Vissarion (1811-1948): influential nineteenth-century critic. His approach to literature was later adapted to form one of the central components of the official Marxist-Leninist socialist realist aesthetic.
Beria, Lavrenty (1899-1953): from 1938 to 1946, the powerful minister of the interior, who controlled the security forces and administered the labor camps. After Stalin’s death he was appointed as first deputy prime minister and reappointed to head the MVD. He was arrested on June 26, 1953 by Khrushchev and others within the leadership and, after a secret trial, was executed on December 23 of the same year.
Beskin, Osip (1892-1969): art critic and journalist.
Bezymensky, Aleksandr (1898-1973): poet and early proponent of proletarian literature, active in RAPP and Litfront.
Blyukher (Blϋcher), Vasily (1889-1938): Civil War hero and military commander arrested in 1938 during Stalin’s purge of Red Army commanders. He died in prison.
Bruski: novel by Fyodor Panfyorov (1896-1960), which tells of peasant life during the time of collectivization.
Budyonny, Semyon (1883-1973): commander of the 1st Cavalry Army during the Civil War. As commander-in-chief of the southern and southwestern fronts in World War II, he was blamed for the Battle of Kiev, the worst disaster ever suffered by the Red Army. Nevertheless, he continued to enjoy Stalin’s favor.
Bulganin, Nikolai (1895-1975): political officer and, with Khrushchev, member of the collective leadership after Stalin’s death.
Cement (Tsement): 1925 novel by Fyodor Gladkov (1883-1958). The novel deals with the restoration of a cement plant by a communist activist and set the pattern for later “production novels.”
Cheka: an abbreviation from the Russian Extraordinary Commission (Chrezvychainaia komissiia), formed in December 1917 as the military and security agency of the Bolshevik government. In 1922 it was replaced by the GPU (State Political Administration), a department of the NKVD (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs of the Russian Republic), but in 1923 it became subordinate to the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR as the OGPU (All-Union State Political Administration). Subsequent administrative reorganizations brought new names for the security services: the NKGB, the MGB, the MVD and, from 1954 to 1991, the KGB. Despite the name changes, those who served in the “organs” often referred to themselves as Chekists.
Chernyshevsky, Nikolai (1828-1889): literary critic, novelist, revolutionary, and nineteenth-century Russia’s most prominent radical journalist. His ideas helped shape Soviet approaches to literature and art.
Chubar, Vlas (1891-1939): Soviet politician and party official. From 1923 to 1934 he was prime minister of the Soviet Ukrainian Republic.
Chuykov (Chuikov), Vasily (1900-1982): commander of the 62nd Army that defended Stalingrad; he later commanded Soviet occupation forces in Germany.
Czechoslovak Legions: After the Russian Revolution and Russia’s abandonment of the war in 1917, a force of 40,000 to 50,000 Czechs and Slovaks, former prisoners of war, were to be evacuated via the Trans-Siberian Railway to fight with the Allies on the western front. As they traveled eastward, they became involved in the Russian Civil War, often fighting against the Bolsheviks and taking control of large sections of the railway.
The Death of Ivan the Terrible (Smert’ Ivana Groznogo): 1866 play by Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoy (1817-1875); with Tsar Fyodor (Tsar’ Fedor Ioannovich, 1868), it forms part of his historical trilogy.
Denikin, Anton (1872-1947): former tsarist general; from 1918 to 1920 he commanded the White Army forces in southern Russia.
desyatina: a traditional unit of land measure, 2.7 acres, used until Russia adopted the metric system in 1924.
Dobroliubov, Nikolai (1836-1861): influential radical journalist and literary critic. His 1859 article “The Dark Kingdom” viewed the plays of Aleksandr Ostrovsky as social documents revealing the oppressive nature of the world of Moscow merchants and, by implication, of Russia itself. In his “Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom” (1860), he claimed to find a symbol of revolution in another Ostrovsky play.
Extraordinary Commission: see Cheka.
Fellow Travelers (poputcbiki): Soviet writers of non-proletarian origin who accepted the 1917 Revolution while practicing an art largely independent of Marxist ideas.
Forward, Time!: 1932 novel by Valentin Kataev (1897-1986). The novel deals with the construction of a metallurgical plant during the first five-year plan and has become a classic of socialist realism.
Friche, Vladimir (1870-1929): literary scholar and theoretician of the sociological method. His books of the 1920s set forth an uncompromisingly materialist view of the history of literature and art.
Frunze, Mikhail (1885-1925): outstanding commander of Bolshevik forces during the Civil War. He died on the operating table under mysterious circumstances.
Futurists: a diverse group of poets and artists who rebelled against the art of the past and found inspiration in urban and technological themes. In the years before World War I, they practiced experimental, avant-garde art. Many futurists tried to adapt themselves to the new Soviet order (see Lef), but by 1930 futurism had ended.
Golikov, Filipp (1900-1980): political officer, later marshal. After some successes in high military commands, he suffered a significant defeat near Voronezh and lost control of his troops. General Zhukov was called in to repair the situation.
GPU: see Cheka.
Grechko, Andrei (1903-1976): marshal, minister of defense from 1967 to 1976.
How the Steel Was Tempered (Kak zakalialas’ stal’, 1932-34): fictionalized autobiography by Nikolai Ostrovsky (1904-36); regarded as a classic of socialist realism.
Industrial Party: a group of prominent engineers and industrial planners accused of “wrecking” and counterrevolutionary activity. Their trial, in November-December 1930, was one of the first of the show trials of the 1930s.
The Iron Flood (Zheleznyi potok): 1924 novel by Aleksandr Serafimovich (1863-1949) depicting the transformation of a disorganized mass into an effective fighting force by a Bolshevik leader.
Kaganovich, Lazar (1893-1991): Soviet political figure and Communist Party official; a close associate of Stalin. In 1957, he, Molotov, and Bulganin participated in a failed coup against Khrushchev. He was forced to resign his posts and in 1961 was
expelled from the party.
Kerensky, Alexander (1881-1970): Russian political leader, active before and during the 1917 Revolution. He headed Russia’s Provisional Government from July to November 1917.
Khalkhin Gol: river in Outer Mongolia on which Soviet and Mongol troops fought off fierce attacks by the Japanese between June and September 1939.
Kikvidze, Vasily (1895-1919): commander of a Red Army unit active in suppressing the Tambov uprising; killed in battle.
Kirponos, Mikhail (1892-1941): colonel general who succeeded Zhukov in commanding the Kiev Military District. He attempted to repulse the German advance on Kiev but found himself surrounded. Stalin refused him permission to withdraw his forces, and Kirponos was either killed or committed suicide.
Kirshon, Vladimir (1902-1938): dramatist. His play The Rails Are Humming (Rel’sy gudyat, 1925) deals with industrialization. His best-known play, Bread (Khleb, 1930) looks at collectivization and the liquidation of the kulaks.
Kogan, Pyotr (1872-1932): Marxist critic and literary historian; proponent of a rigidly sociological view of art.
Kolesnikov, Ivan (1860-1920): former tsarist officer who commanded a Cossack force against the Reds in the Civil War.
Koltsov, Aleksei (1809-1842): poet best known for his lyrical verse on peasant life and the Russian countryside.
Komsomol: abbreviation for the Communist Union of Youth (Kommunisticheskii soiuz molodezhi), the youth division of the Communist Party. Young people between the ages of fourteen and twenty-eight were eligible for membership.
Konev, Ivan (1897-1973): marshal; he led Soviet troops in the liberation of much of Eastern Europe.
Kotovsky, Grigory (1881-1925): noted Red Army cavalry commander in the Civil War.
Kovtyukh, Yepifan (1890-1938): Civil War hero and victim of Stalin’s purges.
Krylov, Ivan (1769-1844): journalist, dramatist, and writer of satirical fables.
Kulak: strictly speaking, a peasant with enough means to own a farm and hire labor. The Bolsheviks used the term to describe peasants who were only marginally better off than their fellow villagers or those who resisted Stalin’s forced collectivization of agriculture. In 1930 Stalin called for “the elimination of kulaks as a class,” and millions were arrested, exiled, or killed.
Lef: The Left Front of the Arts, a literary group formed in 1922, whose members came largely from the pre-war Futurist movement. The movement aimed to solidify an alliance between the former Futurist avant-garde and the new Soviet regime.
Litfront: a short-lived literary group that emerged from RAPP in 1930.
Lyubov Yarovaya: 1925 drama by Konstantin Trenyov (1876-1945).
Malenkov, Georgi (1902-1988): one of Stalin’s closest associates. In September 1953, he and Nikita Khrushchev took power as a dual leadership, but Malenkov was forced to resign in 1955.
Mamontov, Konstantin (1869-1920): Cossack general who commanded the 4th Don Cavalry Corps with the White Army; noted for his daring raids behind Soviet lines in August and September 1919.
Mekhlis, Lev (1889-1953): political officer, colonel general, and close confidant of Stalin. He represented the Soviet GHQ in the Crimea from late December 1942 to May 1943 but was unable to hold the Kerch Peninsula and was relieved of his command, though he remained in Stalin’s favor.
Meretskov, Kirill (1897-1968): marshal; he held important commands on the Leningrad front and from August 1940 to January 1941 served as chief of the general staff. In June 1941, he was arrested and confessed, after interrogation, to involvement in a military conspiracy. He was released a few months later, but his evidence was used against other officers.
Molotov, Vyacheslav (1890-1986): politician and diplomat, leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s. He formed a short-lived alliance with Beria and Malenkov after Stalin’s death.
MVD: see Cheka.
Nekrasov, Nikolai (1821-1878): poet and publisher, known for his sympathetic portrayals of the tribulations of peasant life. In 1877 the painter Ivan Kramskoy (1837-87) depicted the fatally ill Nekrasov lying in bed.
NEP-men: From 1921 to 1928 the Soviet regime instituted the New Economic Policy (NEP), a period of limited private enterprise to help restore the economic life of the country after seven years of war, revolution, and civil war. Many small businessmen, who were known as “NEP-men,” prospered during this period.
NKVD: see Cheka.
Novikov, Aleksandr (1900-1976): chief marshal of aviation in World War II. He was arrested in 1946, tortured, and forced to make a false confession implicating Georgi Zhukov in a conspiracy.
October (Oktyabr’): literary group and journal formed in 1922 by young Communist writers who wished to create a new proletarian culture. They fiercely opposed all non-proletarian literary groups, and particularly targeted Voronsky’s Pereval.
OnGuardists: writers and critics grouped around the journal On Guard (Na postu). The journal was uncompromisingly opposed to non-communist and non-proletarian writers.
Ostrovsky, Aleksandr (1823-1886): prominent nineteenth-century dramatist, best known for his plays set in the milieu of conservative business people.
Pereval (The Mountain Pass): literary grouping that developed around the journal Red Virgin Soil and the ideas of Aleksandr Voronsky. Though nominally Marxist, the group rejected the emphasis on ideology and party guidance advocated by RAPP.
Pereverzev, Valeryan (1882-1968): literary scholar and theoretician of the sociological method. He attempted to apply Marxist ideas to literature and called for the rigid application of economic determinism to the study of literature, an approach for which he was charged with “vulgar sociologism” and arrested in 1938.
Pieck, Wilhelm (1876-1960): first president of the German Democratic Republic, 1949-1960.
Pilnyak, Boris (pseudonym of Boris Vogau, 1894-1938): major Soviet novelist and short story writer of the 1920s. His early works in particular were written in a mannered, “ornamental” prose and were severely attacked by “proletarian” critics.
RAPP: acronym for the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers. It was the most influential proletarian literary organization from 1928 to 1932 and called for literary realism informed by Marxist-Leninist values. Although it claimed to represent the official line in literature, it was liquidated in 1932 along with all separate literary groups.
Rokossovsky, Konstantin (1896-1968): cavalry commander. He was arrested, imprisoned, and tortured in 1937 but released in 1940. He served under General Zhukov during the battle to defend Moscow. After the war Stalin appointed him Poland’s minister of defense.
The Rout (Razgrom): short novel (1927) by Aleksandr Fadeev (1901-1956), considered a classic of socialist realism.
Rybalko, Pavel (1894-1948): marshal, noted specialist in armored warfare.
Scorpio (Skorpion): publishing house that existed from 1900 to 1916 to promote the symbolist movement.
Shakhty Affair: In 1928, fifty-three engineers and technicians were accused of sabotage in the coal mining industry. Their widely publicized trial took place from May to July of that year.
SMERSH: Russian acronym for “Death to Spies” (Smert’ shpionam), the wartime counterintelligence directorate of the Soviet Army.
Smithy (Kuznitsa): group of proletarian writers, most of them poets, formed in 1920.
Shaposhnikov, Boris (1882-1945): marshal, talented military administrator. He served as chief of the general staff in 1940-1941.
Shcherbakov, Aleksandr (1901-1945): colonel general; close associate of Stalin; held many important posts in the party and government, including that of head of the Red Army’s political administration.
SR (Socialist Revolutionary): a member of the Socialist Revolutionaries, an important political party in early twentieth-century Russia. Its roots were in the earlier populist movement, and it enjoyed broad support among the peasantry. The party was essentially destroyed by the Bolsheviks during and after the Civil War. A “Combat Organization” within the party subscribed to terror
as a political weapon and was responsible for assassinations of a number of high-ranking officials. This organization supported itself by “expropriations” in the form of bank robberies and blackmail.
Suslov, Mikhail (1902-1982): major Soviet political figure during the Cold War. He led the conservative resistance to Khrushchev’s reforms.
Telegin, Konstantin (1899-1981): lieutenant general, political officer; Zhukov’s deputy during his term as commander of Soviet occupation forces in Germany. In 1948 he was arrested for alleged corruption and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison but was rehabilitated after Stalin’s death.
Apricot Jam: And Other Stories Page 39