The history of Saratov Association of Proletarian Writers: From the period of formation to the conflict

The peculiarity of Saratov literary process of the 1920s is determined by the facts that the local budget was insufficient to implement cultural initiatives, by slow paperwork, and by the creeping pace of accomplishing cultural initiatives. At the time in question Saratov played the role of a buffer territory, where all public figures from the capital suspected of non-conformism were sent. Thus, people noticed to be politically pro-opposition and favoring formalism, were delegated to the provincial town. It was presumed that the slow-paced life in the region will compel the critics G. Lelevich and V. P. Druzin to become more politically loyal towards the strategic direction of VAPP (All-Soviet Association of Proletarian Writers); and D. B. Ryazanov, an archiver, bibliographer, the first head of the Institute of K. Marx and F. Engels, would be distracted from his interest to Menshevism. According to tradition established in the 1920s, all the exiled (in some documents they were officially on business-trips) took part in counselling SAPP (Saratov Association of Proletarian Writers), later SARRAPP (Saratov Division of the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers). The history of SAPP falls into two periods: the period of formation (1924–1927) when the former members of Proletkult became stronger and felt the power of their literary voice, and the mature one (after 1928), when the organization faced social, personal and literary conflicts, among other things related to the activity of the people exiled to Saratov. For the first time, Saratov sources are complemented by the documents from the Department of manuscripts of A. M. Gorky Institute of World Literature and by personal letters from the archives of the Russian national library in order to recreate the history of SAPP. D. B. Ryazanov’s attendance of SAPP has been first established. It has been first shown that the essence of the conflict in SAPP is confined to the opposition of the groups of academics and writers.

Proletkult (Proletarian culture), VAPP (All-Soviet Association of Proletarian Writers), SAPP (Saratov Association of Proletarian Writers), G. Lelevich, D. B. Ryazanov, I. Mashbiz-Verov, V. P. Druzin