People in the Soviet Union still have a nineteenth-century allegiance to the printed word. Authors are major public figures.
Poets recite to packed soccer stadiums.
Classic works of Russian literature are available, and their lack of Marxist ballast makes them seem vividly energetic and relevant. You can get a license for it, and join the Writer's Union, and the State will pay you a salary. Chingis Aitmatov, a Kirghiz national born in 1928, is a highly prominent, established Soviet literateur. His Marxist-Leninist credentials are impeccable. And he is wildly popular.