p Comrades,

p I have been entrusted with the very honourable and responsible task of opening the Second Congress of Russia’s Writers.

p It makes me happy, and at the same time slightly nervous, to perform this duty, knowing that the attention of millions of people in the Soviet Union and abroad is focused on this meeting of writers representing our great Russian literature and the many wonderful literatures that are developing on Russia’s vast territory.

p I am convinced that the work of our congress will not go unnoticed for world public opinion and, particularly, the press. We must, of course, be prepared and realise that not just our friends, who sincerely rejoice in our successes and sympathise with our reverses, will respond to this event, but also our foes, 200 who will most certainly want to comment on our work. I have in mind those gentlemen who simply adore gossiping about our affairs.

p Oh well, never mind them. We have no end of questions which we must discuss frankly and in a businesslike manner at this congress. I am saying this to forestall what our people, our millions of readers, might think: what on earth for did the writers all leave their desks to hold a meeting when they have other things to do, and we have far too many meetings as it is?

p The opinion of the people is what we, writers, must value above all else. What else can justify the life and effort of each one of us if not the trust we earn from the people and a recognition of the fact that we give our all to the Party and our country?

p I believe this is where we must look for the key to the problem of the artistic intelligentsia in the life of our society, if such a problem does exist at all.... Frankly, I sometimes think we’re making too much of this problem. It’s very nice, of course, to be treated with care, helped along and heartened with kind words, but isn’t every one of us, Soviet intellectuals, reared by the Party and the people, obliged in his turn to treat with great care and filial love everything that has been gained in the difficult, half-a-century-long struggle by our people, our Party, and our own Soviet power?

p If my own private opinion were asked, I’d say that the problem of the intelligentsia is solved very simply in our country: just be a loyal soldier of Lenin’s Party, and whether you are a Communist or a non-Party man give all of yourself, give all your strength and your soul to the people, share in the people’s life with its joys and difficulties, and there’s the end of the “problem”.

p We shall have to spend a few days together here, in Moscow. We shall have to do a job of work together, and we’ll have to work hard, too. And so as to get the most out of these few days for the benefit of Soviet literature, let us agree beforehand that we shall work with goodwill, as brother soldiers should, and try to forget all petty hurts and misunderstandings. Let us keep uppermost in our minds the thought which unites all of us—our concern for the further advancement of our great Soviet literature. The Party and the whole country are expecting this of us.

p I am sure you will understand what I mean: I am not asking you to fall on each other’s neck and forgive all wrongs. 201 Friendliness is all very well, but in our literary, our ideological business there are principles a deviation from which must not be forgiven even to your dearest friend. Our unity will be really solid only when we cease to overlook each other’s mistakes and learn to call a spade a spade. If there is still something which interferes with our normal work and the normal development of literature, let us ruthlessly sweep this something out of our path. If there are still people among us who like to flirt with their liberalism occasionally and play at give-away in the ideological struggle, let us tell them straight to their faces what we think of them.

p We have no right to evade a straight-from-the-shoulder talk, as our responsibility is too big for this, and the cause entrusted to us is too important.

p Naturally, every one of us has his sore problems, and each of the speakers will certainly want to touch upon them and tell the meeting about the affairs and cares of his own literary organisation. But allow me to stress this point particularly— the most important thing is not to lose sight of the main orientation, our main theme: literature and the life of the people, literature and the construction of communism. If you and I manage to hold that high note the song will be well sung, and our congress will proceed not just as a current literary affair but as a fruitful gathering of people who ponder seriously on life and on our art.

p People abroad often ask us—some of them with malice and others with a genuine desire to understand—just what is socialist realism? I shall not venture to try and rob the theorists of their bread and, besides, scientific formulations are not my strong point. But what I usually say in reply is this: socialist realism is a method of depicting the truth of life, the truth as understood and interpreted by the artist from positions of Leninist partisanship. To put it even more plainly, I think it’s a method which actively helps people to build up a new world.

p Anyone who honestly wants to understand what is socialist realism should make a close study of the vast store of experience accumulated by Soviet literature in the fifty years of its existence. The history of this literature is, in fact, socialist realism embodied in the tangible images of its heroes and in the visual pictures of the people’s endeavour.

p Let the glorious road traversed by Soviet literature and, particularly, Russian literature which is one of its main detachments, pass before our mind’s eye today as we discuss the future. The wealth we have amassed is enoimous. We have 202 something to be proud of and to oppose to loud but barren abstractionism. And though we can see how much more we still have to do to justify the trust of the people, and though we may still be dissatisfied with our work, we must never forget the contribution made by our literature to the treasurestore of mankind’s spiritual values, nor the unquestionable authority it enjoys everywhere in the world.

p Dear comrades!

p The writers of the Russian Federation are the first in the USSR to hold a congress of their own. Other such congresses on a republican level are bound to follow. It would be fine if we, Russians, were to make this a serious, businesslike discussion. I trust that we shall make it so.

p On this hopeful note, allow me to announce that the Second Congress of Writers of the Russian Federation is open.

1965