MAX EASTMAN: THE MAN UNDER THE TABLE 23
or openly opposed them.... " Even in the Literary Encyclopedia, says
Eastman, Babel's "sin of being an individualist is consciously set forth."
I have before me the Literary Encyclopedia.
It
was published in
1929, about the time that the RAPP's "literary inquisition," according to
Eastman, was at its height. Here is in part what the Encyclopedia has
to say about Babel: "In Babel our young Soviet literature has acquired a
great artist ... who has lent his talent to the service of the Revolution...."
As to Babel's name being "eliminated from the press," the five editions of
his short stories which have been published by the Gosizdat-State Pub–
lishing House-in 1923, 1926, .1928, 1930 and 1932, tell the tale.
I have mentioned here but two of Eastman's falsifications of the truth.
The whole book reeks with thtm. One would have to write a volume
twice the size of "Artists in Uniform" to refute .each lie in detail.
Now about Eastman's ignorance: Anyone acquainted with Soviet
literature will know that long before the RAPP came into existence,
variou~
literary groups and groupings-Symbolists, Futurists, The Smithy
group, Mayakovski's Lef, Selvinsky's Constructivists, etc.-have at different
times dominated the Soviet literary scene Each one of these groups was
an organic outgrowth of the creative forces set ill motion by the Revolu–
tion. Each one of these groups interpreted the Revolution in its own way
and they all claimed the hegemony over Soviet literature. They quarrelled
among themselves, published manifestos and held protest meetings.
A s
one of the poets expressed it: "There is a Revolution in Russia-all
Russia is a huge meeting . . . "
The Communist Party, abiding by its decision adopted in 1925, did
not participate in any of these squabbles. I"t ' did not favor any gro'up in
particular. Thus it was that the Futurist Lef-Iargely due to Maya–
kovski's great talent and powerful personality-became the most influential
group among Soviet writers. The Na Postu group which eventually be–
came the nucleus of the RAPP and the strongest group within it, was
at that time relatively small and insignificant. But history was on the
side of the N apostovtsi. They were young, energetic and zealous Com–
ll'Iunists. They soon captured the imagination of the younger generation
of Soviet writers. They organized the RAPP and became the guardians
of Marxism on the literary front.
It
was this group that raised the
much disputed and much abused slogan of dialectical materialism in art
and literature.
There is a tendency on the part of some revolutionary writers to sneer
at this slogan of dialectical materialism. This is even true of some of
the so-called Marxist critics who ought to know better. No doubt that
