The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-26


ings, had been in the hands of a
revolutionary committee which also
might very well have been of the
opinion that art could be replaced
by bigger and better" things.
Lunacharsky did not take his
task lightly. He issued another
public declaration asking for the
solemn cooperation of all loyal
Russians. Upon me rests the re-
sponsibility Of protecting the en-
tire artistic wealth of the people,"
he said, "and / cannot fulfill my
duty without your help"
II will not be known for a long
time against what strong and
subtle forces he had to battle to
guard that trust. There was
movement after movement to sell
such treasures as the Rembrandt
Collection in the Hermitage at
Petrograd or the historic paint
ingS and tapestries in Moscow. But
Lunacharsky, ever on the alert. de-
feated every one of these at
tempts. He often fought bitterly
battles in his own party. Every
possible sort Of intrigue was manu-
featured against him. remember
times when he had to appear in
public and defend himself against
atrocious SANDER. Yet up to the
present day he has saved abso-
lutely everything except the pearls
and diamonds Of the royal family
which, after all, were never of
any particular artistic value. He
saved even the Czarist statues
from the mobs that would have
destroyed them, and stored them
away in buildings for a calmer mo-
ment. He never lost his artistic
perspective, art was always art
and he "could look with a lust
regard upon the shattered corpse
Of shattered king" provided that
the monument was executed by a
talented artist.
Fights False Accusations.
Nikolai Lenin has the genius to
read men we'll; he recognized in
stantly that man who could be
SO affected by the rumored loss Of
a single historic building that he
could scarcely bear to face life,
would be the very man to defend
passionately the art of the ma
ton. And Lenin has continued to
defend Lunacharsky against every
charge brought by his enemies.
These charges have often been SER
iouS because they were brought by
revolutionists who claimed that
Lunacharsky was partial to the
bourgeoisie in his efforts to get
extra rates for scientists and art
lists; that he was not a real Com
munist because he put art before
political propaganda. There was a
terrible period when the loyalty Of
all men was questioned whose allie
giance was not wholly given to the
defense from military attack at
whatever cost to art or personal
life. It was thru that period that
Lunacharsky had to guide Rus
sian culture.
"Think what vitality the theater
had to possess" said Chaliapin, "to
maintain itself thru the revoh-
tion." "Think what hunger the
Russian masses had for learning"
said Madame Lenin, "that they
could grasp even this hard moment
to learn to read and study" Both
these assertions are true, but in
spite of that hunger and that vital
ity both forces might have gone
down for some years, had it not
been for the splendid leadership
of Lunacharsky.
Even those ardent revolutionists
who could see no further than the
immediate moment are beginning
to realize that the very fact that
the Soviets have kept intact their
national art gives them a prestige
which money could never buy; it
is an indisputable evidence of their
faith in civilization. And it is
Lunacharsky who has managed to
save for them this evidence of
faith when hotheads would have
cast it aside.
1t always seems a pity that we
are aware now of only the promi-
nent political figures in Russia. If
VIC NdI DoNh vi bAC
guillotine days and the burning
Of libraries, the mad destruction
of art, the saclking of palaces by
angry mobs, we can understand
that if there had. been men in
France in those days who could
have held those mobs in check and
made them want to read the books
they were burning. made them
turn the palaces into museums,
Napoleon might never have worn
a crown. In Russia the influence
of the men who hold the political
reins would be so much slighter
and so much less significant if
they were not backed up by men
like Lunacharsky.
Creates Revolutionary Museum.
He had the art galleries heated
in the most bitter of the fuel fam
inc days and the immense crowds
going in partly to keep warm
strolled all day under historical
canvases and came to know all
the great pictures of Russia. The
Winter Palace became a Revolu-
tionary Museum, one of the most
unioue museums in the whole