p Perhaps in no other field of art is the ideological conflict as acute as it is in literature. In a novel where the inner world and political stand of the characters are disclosed, the author is unable to hide or even obscure his sympathies and antipathies, he cannot conceal his ideological credo from the reader.

p To speak of writers separately means to speak about literature, for we are closely bound together by the continuity of artistic thinking and literary traditions. We, writers, are in fact a single chain made up of separate links.

p Life in our day has proved that only art which serves the interests of the people will live in the masses and retain its right to further existence. And, naturally enough, art which satisfies the spiritual requirements of just one class, a class of enslavers, a parasitic class that is departing from the historical scene, is doomed to oblivion and death.

p This can be seen very clearly from the history of modern literature. No matter how gifted Bunin was both in prose and poetry, he is almost forgotten, and little known to our readers, young people especially. And not because Bunin is not republished in the USSR. He is. Gorky and Serafimovich, on the 192 other hand, will not be forgotten. And yet they were Bunin’s contemporaries, they entered the literary scene together but they served the people differently. And their works are appraised differently. Bunin was awarded the Nobel Prize for his Life of Arseniev, and yet Gorky was not thus honoured by the Swedish Academy for his Life of Klim Samgin, a work perfect in its finish and really encyclopaedic in its embracing description of all the strata and layers of society in tsarist Russia.

p Similarly, the Swedish connoisseurs of literature failed to notice Gorky’s excellent novel The Artamonovs. The same thing happened to Serafimovich’s The Iron Flood and many other important works of Soviet prose.

p As you will see, on the international arena the appraisal of works of art is also dictated by class interests. And this gives the lie to the statements of bourgeois theorists that art is by its very nature classless___

p Soviet people throughout the country are celebrating the birth centenary of Alexander Serafimovich, an outstanding writer whose work, like the work of Gorky, Mayakovsky, Alexei Tolstoi, Yesenin and Sergeyev-Tsensky will never know oblivion in our country or in the world, and will be inherited by the coming generations as a cultural treasure.

p The Iron Flood will forever remain one of the assets of Soviet literature. Among the books written by Serafimovich this novel is especially precious to us because it was one of the first two books—the other being Furmanov’s Revolt—to give an impressive portrayal of those heroes who marched in the front ranks of fighters for Soviet power, for the great cause of communism, a portrayal, what is more, infused with love and gratitude for these first soldiers of the Revolution.

p Alexander Serafimovich’s whole life, just like his work, was essentially revolutionary. Till the end he honestly served progress, the revolution, and our Communist Party.

p We, the Don people, feel a special gratitude and warm regard for Serafimovich not just because he was born and bred in our part of the country, but also because he treated all people living there with the same fatherly kindness—be they Don Cossacks, newcomers to the Don, Kuban Cossacks, or the peasants of Stavropol region who took up arms to establish and consolidate Soviet power in the South of Russia, cementing its strength with their own blood.

p I had the good fortune to become closely acquainted with Comrade Serafimovich more than thirty years ago. In 1925, 193

p In Moscow for the Fourth All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers Sholokhov in the presidium of the Fourth All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers N. V. Podgorny congratulates the writer on the title of Hero of Socialist Labour Bound for Europe Sholokhov is received by Janos Kadar Dresden. Sholokhov in conversation with Willi Bredel The German Democratic Republic. Authoress Anna Seghers welcomes the guest Walter Ulbricht presents Sholokhov with the Order of the Friendship of Nations Star Finnish writer Martti Larni wishes Sholokhov many happy returns of the day on his 60th birthday A guest of the Pravda staff Veshenskaya. Professor Eberhard Briining presents to the writer a diploma of Honorary Doctor of Philosophy of Leipzig University Sholokhov visits a tea plantation in Georgia It was here in the Kazakh steppes that Sholokhov first learnt the news that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize Georgia. Planting a tree in the “Druzhba” (Friendship) orchard The Svca Jarl sails from Turku to Stockholm The Nobel Prize certificate At the Soviet Embassy in Stockholm. The Sholokhovs with their two sons and two daughters. Left to right: Alexander, Svetlana, the writer and his wife Maria Petrovna, Maria and Mikhail Arets nobelpristagane MICHAIL SJOLOCHOV The King of Sweden congratulates Sholokhov STILLA FLYTER DON —en nobelpristagares mSsterverk—ett av sovjetlitteraturens kraftfullaste verk. En levande och storslagen skildring av Donkosackernas liv under ryska revolutionens ooh inbordeskrlgets dramatiska dagar. Del 1-51 presentband 150:– Qvriga Sjoloehov-bSeker: DIN AZURBU STXPPEN ETTMXNNISKOODi Tidens Klaasiker 7:50 NYPLOJDMARK Tid«n» Bokklubb tnb. 14:50 SKORDVIDDON 27:50, Inb. 32:50 SEFILMENITV Romanerna fllmidM 1957–58 av den kinds rsalsaSrsn Sergei Oeraslmov och vlaai »om eerleavsnitt I TV under deeember. Fllmen aand« I oavkortat skick idr f&rttt gangen ! SVBrigs. From a Swedish newspaper Khabarovsk. Vsevolod Sysoyev, director of the local lore museum, a scientist and famous tiger hunter, gives Mikhail Sholokhov a ginseng root for a present The Baikal sets sail for Honshu Sholokhov signs an autograph for a Japanese reader In the woods near Nakhodka Bay In Tokyo the Moskovsky Rabochy publishers decided to bring out a collection of my short stories, and showed the galley proofs to Serafimovich who, upon reading them, said he would like to meet the young author. After that we often saw each other. Serafimovich came to stay with me in Veshenskaya, and when I happened to be in Moscow I always called on him. In 1930 he spent ten days or so with us in Veshenskaya. We went fishing together and boating on the Don, and Serafimovich always took the liveliest interest in everything that was happening in the Don country at the time.

p Our acquaintance developed into close friendship in spite of the rather big disparity in our ages. I carry deep in my soul the image of this dear, unassuming man with a typically Cossack twinkle in his eye—a great writer who was always ready to give a helping hand to beginners, myself among them.

p I think that what is taking place in our Don country just now is the best memorial to our wonderful, celebrated author, and our fellow countryman.

p Once, in Veshenskaya, he saw a small steamboat which was going against the current, loudly slapping its pads on the water, and signalling for the pontoon bridge to be swung open. He said then: “This wonderful little ship is rousing the sleepy banks of the quiet Don to life, isn’t it?”

p If he were to see the life seething on his “quiet Don" just now, the old man, I’m sure, would be terribly pleased. We, readers, will always cherish the memory of this good, charming person, and treasure his books which serve the cause of communism.

1963