The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-08-12
Recent Fiction IN
the Soviet Union
Reviewed by ALAN CALMER.

CIIIlC, III ulSCuSSlllS JIl6 Problems
of proletarian literature in his
country, remarked: zone important
task for us is the creation of a mass
literature portraying not only the
immediate struggle of the revolu-
tionary proletariat, but also COM
batting the pernicious influence of
bourgeois literature. There must
be literature of this kind ef-
ficiently combating the flood of
unWholeSome, thrilling fiction turn
ed out by the bourgeois publishers"
If this is true of Germany, it APP
plies even more directly to the
America scene, where the publica-
ton of dime novels and magazine
thrillers is still major industry
Although the economic crisis has
reduced the number and the cir
culation of these periodicals, they
still remain the literature of the
masses. They are still devoured
by factory hands and by the chill
dren Of the bourgeois mass
eS.
THE bulk of these tales still deal
with the old themes of adven-
ture, mystery, and love. More than
ever before these stories serve the
function Of drug-and- dream litera-
ture for the disillusioned masses.
In addition, the economic crisis has
created new field of popular fic-
ton, in which unemployed in the
breadlines are represented as buns
and racketeers and in which white
collar heroes and heroines daunt-
lessly brave and conquer the ode
preston" Finally. number of
serialized novels, choked with OBJ
scene vilifications of the Soviet
people, are being fed to the Amer
lean masses in the cheap maya
zines.
The American revolutionary lit
erary movement has built up no
protection against this casing of
the American masses.
In one field. however a counter
offensive has been launched. The
Cooperative Publishing Society of
Foreign Workers in the U.SSR.
has started to issue cheap, paper
backed TRANSACTIONS of stories and
novels dealing with the struggles
and triumphs of the Soviet people.
The three booklets under review
are examples of this good work.
White Stone is a novelette, by
worker correspondent who has de-
veloped into a talented fictionist.
1t is an excellent character sketch
of competent Russian worker,
veteran and hero of the Civil War,
who is possessed with an individ-
ualistic theology. Under the pres
sure of responsibilities at white
Stone" a backward region where
phosphorites are mined, he realizes
that "aS time went on, 1t would be
more difficult to go on living as an
individual, as a naked man on a
barren island"
Commissar of the Gold Express
is novel dealing with the adven-
turous years Of the Civil War. 1t
is a thrilling story Of courageous
Bolshevik, Rebrov, who outwits the
SO CT l-Revolutionaries and the
Jzeehs in the UralS.
The Ferry is a bookful of stories
dealing with the struggles of the
Oyrats in the A1tai Mountains, near
Mongolia. In it we witness episodes
is the rise of backward nomadic
people to the stage of the build
ing of socialism. One Of the most
interesting sketches is The Grave
OF Urmat, story of how native
Komsomolets defies the supersti-
ton of generations to build a col
lective farm at the foot of the
hill on which Urmat, the sorcaress,
is buried. In another, Den the
KOms0m0lets, we are given a fine
psychological picture of the clash
between individual antagonism and
social duty.
HOWEVER, these booklets repre-
III sent only the beginning of an
attempt to counterfeit the vile
stories about the Soviet Union.
Many more of these stories must be
made available to English readers.
Moreover, their circulation must be
extended. Ways and means must
be devised to make them reach as
many people as the capitalist mass
publications, which are sold in mill
lions of newsstands, drugstores, and
confectionery shops on every Main
Street and ponk Ctroat in Ar,orico