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- activist because of his candidacy in California on the socialist
ticket, did not respond. Among the French, Jules Romains and
Montherlant stayed away in spite of blandishments. George
Duhamel is reported to have said, "I cannot take part in a Congress
along with Gide, and with men who might, one day, be responsible
for the death of my three sons." One wonders if someone like
Lukacs, at that date in Moscow, was even invited. In addition to the
organizers listed above, here are a few names from the 230 delegates
from 38 countries who did attend: E. M. Forster and Aldous Huxley
from England; Heinrich Mann, Bertolt Brecht, Anna Seghers, and
Lion Feuchtwanger from Germany - all in exile; Michael Gold and
Waldo Frank fresh from the Congress in New York which had or–
ganized the League of American Writers and abolished the earlier
John Reed Clubs; Pasternak, Babel, Ehrenburg, Alexis Tolstoy
from the USSR. Though Valle-Inclan from Spain had been put on
the program, he did not appear. French writers were legion. In addi–
tion to Gide, Malraux, and Aragon, the following made speeches of
some magnitude or significance: Benda, Guehenno, Cassou, Cham–
son, Nizan, Jean-Richard Bloch, Tzara, and Eluard (representing
Breton and the surrealists).
The style of the Congress, judging by newspaper accounts and
photographs, was that of a popular assembly prepared to honor its
culture heroes, responding generously to the spoken word, and im–
patient with any profound content. The newspapers, naturally,
loved the anecdotal and sartorial side. Both Huxley and Mike Gold
wore funny hats. Everyone on the platform kept his jacket on in spite
of the heat. But the
Depeche de Toulouse
reported that "Monsieur
Vaillant-Couturier walked up to give his speech in a beach costume
with a huge scarf tied in a bow around his neck." Delegations of
children were brought up in track suits and bare feet to present
flowers to foreign writers. Books were sold in the foyer, with the
authors to autograph them. People sketched the speakers. Photog–
raphers prowled. The talks went on and on. Enormous quantities of
beer were drunk. The management of the Mutualite had to turn the
lights off to drive away the knots of people arguing late into the
night. The main headquarters for the celebrities and insiders was the
Closerie des Lilas, floating on its fifty-year history of banquets and
literary battles. Most reporters enjoyed themselves and shared the
excitement. "A scene of high drama to which the modern world, hun–
gry for enchantments, is now treating itself ... And what a crowd!
The young and the not so young, activists, partisans, outlandish
