Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-01-01


from the West, Of the tedious
imprisonment. and haggling over
ruthless editing, it can provide
an excellent opportunity for
.damning America out Of one OF
its own mouths.
The case of Walt Whitman
Illustrates the point.
The Tooth anniversary Of the
publication of his first volume
of poetry. Leaves Of Grass" was
celebrated with great flourish in
the Soviet Union. From news
paper reports and other sources,
it is plain that the Russians
spared no effort to praise Whit
man at our expense.
On June Is, the anniversary
date. a mass meeting in honor
of the good gray poet of the
Civil War was held at the Acad-
envy Of the Soviet Union. 1t had
Iimpeccable party sponsorship:
the Soviet Committee for the
Defense Of Peace, the Union OF
Soviet Writers and the All-Union
Society for Cultural Relations
with Foreign Countries. The
Moscow papers, which fully re-
ported the event. said that the
occasion was held at the behest
Iof the World Peace Council. that
Iperipatetic Soviet group which
has met in Vienna, Stockholm
and Warsaw.
''Poet Of The Workers"
The meeting, to which men,
!bers of the United States En-
bassy were invited. celebrated
Whitman as "the poet Of the
farmers and the workers. OF
liberation and Of peace and
friendship among peoples"
First Secretary Srukov Of the
Union of Soviet Writers gave the
welcoming address. Soviet Hist
orian M. Mendelsohn and Critic
TX. Chukovsky spoke on "One
Hundred Years Of Leaves Of
Grass" The second half Of the
meeting, which was held in a
flower banked hall dominated
Iby a 50-foot high portrait Of
Whitman, was devoted to the
singing Of American folksongs.
The line taken in the rash OF
articles that appeared at the
time in leading Soviet news
papers was, in effect. that Whit
man is too good for us. that the
Russians discovered him earlier.
appreciate him more. understand
him better and interpret him
more accurately.
whitman and The Lilliputs"
! In Soviet Culture, a leading
literary periodical. Mendelsohn
wrote of walt Whitman and the
lIilliputs'-the Lilliputs being
American critics. He particularly
criticized Leslie Fielder and
David Daiches. both Of whom
contributed to an anniversary
volume on Whitman, for trying
to misrepresent him as a con-
servative poet.
Mr.. MendelSon also attacked
critic Richard Chase for leav-
ing out of consideration "the
Question Of the anti-slavery
views of Walt Whitman" and for
forgetting that his poetry Is fun
Iof the spirit Of struggle against
the exploiters and the bour-
geoisie."
| Soviet literary critics have cut
Whitman's poetic output in two.
The first half is devoted to his
celebration before and during the
Civil War Of the farmer and the
worker. and is replete with unex-
ceptionable proletarian state
|ments. The second half to them
represents the Whitman who saw
with dismay the capture OF the
victory OF the North by material
list and bourgeois elements" All
this, according to one critic
caused Whitman Ito become dis
appointed In bourgeois demo-
cratic illusions,
! A Russian Discovery
The Russians, one gathers
from q study of such papers as
Pravda, Izvestia, and the Literary
Gazette of the Union Of. Soviet
Writers, discovered Whitman
much earlier than his fellow
Americans. Turgenev in the
1905 was translating "this re-
markable and striking poet" and
Tolstoy. who particularly adj
mired Whitman's Leaves OF
Grass" recommended translation
of all his works.
After the October Revolution.
says one article, "the poet en-
. tered our literature as our own
man."
The papers also reported that
Whitnan's antislavery senti-
ments as a Journalist in the
1850s alienated newspaper edi-
tors and that their hostility
forced him to 60 back TO his