156. Stalin edited the draft decree. Partiinoe stroitel’stvo, 1932, no. 9: 62; Artizov and Naumov, Vlast’, 168 (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 3, d. 875, l. 11: March 8, 1932), 172–3 (d. 881, l. 6, 22; op. 163, d. 938, l. 37–8: April 23, 1932). The theater director Vsevolod Meyerhold is said to have hung a framed copy of the decree on the wall in his expansive double apartment on Bryusov Lane, a few blocks up from Red Square. Kirpotin, Rovesnik zheleznogo veka, 156–7.
157. Artizov and Naumov, Vlast’, 176–7 (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 163, d. 941, l. 68–9). An architects’ union was also formed in 1932, but it would not hold its inaugural congress until 1937. The politburo formed a commission led by Stalin that concluded (June 7, 1932): “It is considered inexpedient to establish an organizational committee for musical organizations.” There were associations below the Union level, in Moscow and Leningrad, that did not have jurisdiction over each other. Maksimenkov, Sumbur, 29–32 (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 114, d. 300, l. 144). A decision to form a Composers’ Union would be made on May 3, 1939, but it would not be formed until 1948. Iakovlev, “Soiuz kompozitorov SSSR,” V: 232–3; Maksimenkov, Sumbur, 32 (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 163, d. 1124, l. 81; d, 1509, l. 4–5).
158. Na prieme, 68 (literary critic Leopold Averbakh, writer Vladimir Kirshon, Gronsky, and Stetsky), 70 (Gronsky, Stetsky, and Mekhlis).
159. Gronskii, Iz proshlogo, 334–6 (letter to Alexsander Ovcharenko, Oct. 22, 1972). See also arkhiv A. M. Gor’kogo MoG-3–25–7 (Gronsky reminiscences with Gorky archive staff, Nov. 30, 1963); and Kemp-Welch, Stalin and the Literary Intelligentsia, 132.
160. Gronsky was the proposed union’s working head, and leader of its party faction. Artizov and Naumov, Vlast’, 175–6 (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 14, d. 295, l. 1–3; APRF, f. 3, op. 35, d. 32, l. 24–24ob.: May 7, 1932); “Perepiska A. M. Gor’kogo s G. G. Iagodoi,” in Keldysh, Neizvestnyi Gor’kii, 168–206.
161. Gronskii, Iz proshlogo, 151–2. Gorky played a hand in getting Lev Kamenev appointed the first director of the Institute, but on Dec. 16, 1932, Kamenev was arrested. At that evening in the Bolshoi, Stalin had Henri Barbusse come to the stage from the audience and yielded him his seat. Izvestiia, Sept. 25 and 26, 1932. Andrei Bubnov, RSFSR commissar of enlightenment, on holiday in Gagra, had written to Stalin asking to be excused; Stalin ordered him to appear. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 44, l. 115.
162. In the play (1931), an old professor makes the accusation that Soviet society is built solely upon fear. Lyons, Six Soviet Plays, 585–9; Lih, “Melodrama and the Myth,” 178–207. On April 2, 1933, Afinogenov asked Stalin to read his new play called The Lie, which depicted how low-level party apparatchiks had to lie, and how their lies worked their way up the system, with consequences. Stalin made voluminous marginal comments, and wrote to Afinogenov that “the idea of the play is rich, the formulation of the idea came out not rich.” The Communists all seemed ugly, physically, morally, politically, Stalin noted, prohibiting its staging in that form. Afinogenov reworked his draft but, strangely, did not follow Stalin’s instructions. Artizov and Naumov, Vlast’, 758n37 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 1, d. 5088, l. 1), 758n38 (d. 4591, l. 4), 192 (d. 5088, l. 118–118ob.); Hindus, Crisis in the Kremlin, 249.
163. Maksimenkov, Bol’shaia tsenzura, 261–8 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 1116, l. 20–7). Feoktist Berezovsky made notes of the Oct. 20 meeting (but would send the text to Stalin only on April 29, 1933). “It is easy to alienate a sympathizer,” Stalin pointed out, “and much harder to win him over.” He also stated: “Poems are good. Novels are even better. But at the moment more than anything we need plays.” RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 1116, l. 29–31.
164. Zelinskii, “Odna vtrecha,” 156–7 (RGALI, f. 1604, op. 1, d. 21, l. 112–46). There would be no press coverage or official transcript of the meeting. Zelinskiy was observing Stalin up close for the first time. See also Maksimenkov, “Ocherki nomenklaturnoi istorii,” 221–4; Maksimenkov, Bol’shaia tsenzura, 521; RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 1116, l. 28. The recollections in old age of Nikolai Nakoryakov (1881–1970), director in the 1930s of the state publishing for belles lettres, of another such meeting in Sept. 1933 are actually of the Oct. 1932 meeting. “Iz vospominanii: vstrecha Stalina s sovetskimi pisateliami v 1933 godu” (arkhiv A. M. Gor’kogo, MoG-10–13–3: Feb. 3, 1966).
