Religion and Identity in Russia and the Soviet Union: A Festschrift for Paul Bushkovitch

"Russia and the West" in a Soviet Key: Theodore Dreiser’s Russian Diary

Religion and Identity in Russia and the Soviet Union: A Festschrift for Paul Bushkovitch. Nikolaos A. Chrissidis, Cathy J. Potter, David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, and Jennifer B. Spock, eds. Bloomington, IN: Slavica Publishers, 2011, 231–51.       “Russia and the West” in a Soviet Key: Theodore Dreiser’s Russian Diary Michael David-Fox On   7   October   1927,   the   American   writer   Theodore   Dreiser   received   a   tele-­‐‑ phone  call  inviting  him  to  travel  to  Moscow,  at  Soviet  expense,  as  a  delegate   for  the  official  celebrations  of  the  tenth  anniversary  of  the  October  Revolution   exactly   one   month   later.1   The   call   came   from   the   U.S.   representative   of   the   Comintern’s   most  active  organization  involved  in   mobilizing   Western  intel-­‐‑ lectuals   around   a   positive   image   of   Soviet   Union,   Internationale   Arbeiter   Hilfe  (IAH),  also  known  by  its   Russian  acronym  Mezhrabpom.  Dreiser   was   told,   he   recorded,   “The   Soviet   believes   you   to   be   the   outstanding   literary   intelligence  of  America”  and  that  he  would  have  nine  days  to  pack  his  bags.   In  anticipation,  he  had  already  begun  a  “Russian  diary”  of  his  trip  days  be-­‐‑ fore,   when  he  had   only  heard  a  rumor  that  he  would  be  invited.  Yet  in  the   negotiations   that   ensued,   Dreiser,   who   had   no   idea   what   IAH   was   and   wanted  a  seemingly  more  official  and  high-­‐‑level  Soviet  contact,  professed  no   interest   in   “a   pageant,”   that   is   the   official   festivities   to   be   held   in   Moscow   with  almost  a  thousand  other  honored  foreign  guests.  Instead,  he  demanded   an  extended  journey  to  “see  the  real,  unofficial  Russia—the  famine  district  in   the   Volga,   say.”   He   soon   received   the   necessary   assurances   via   cable   from   Maksim  Litvinov,  deputy  commissar  of  foreign  affairs,  and  Ol’ga  Kameneva,   the  head  of  the  All-­‐‑Union  Society  for  Cultural  Ties  Abroad  (VOKS),  a  Bern-­‐‑ educated  Bolshevik   who   was   Lev   Trotskii’s   sister  and  the   wife   of  Politburo   member   Kamenev.   VOKS   took   over   the   arrangements   for   the   writer’s   stay   once   he   arrived   in   Moscow.   Dreiser   then   embarked   on   a   remarkable   three-­‐‑ month  journey  that  took  him  not  only  to  Moscow  and  Petersburg,  but  Nizhnii   Novgorod,   Kiev,   Khar’kov,   Rostov,   south   Russia,   Transcaucasia,   and   the   Crimea  between  4  November  1927  and  13  January  1928.2     Upon  his  arrival  in  Moscow,  Dreiser  met  a  34-­‐‑year-­‐‑old  American  woman,   Ruth  Epperson  Kennell,   who  had  been  living  in  Moscow  for  five  years  and   worked  on  various  literary  affairs  ranging  from  the  Gosizdat  translations  of                                                                                                                             1  An   earlier   version   of   this   paper   was   published   in   Russian   in   Kul’tural’nye   issledo-­‐‑ vaniia,   ed.   Aleksandr   Etkind   and   Pavel   Lysakov   (St.   Petersburg   and   Moscow:   Euro-­‐‑ pean  University  and  Letnii  sad,  2006),  290‒319.   2  Theodore   Dreiser,   Dreiser’s   Russian   Diary,   ed.   Thomas   P.   Riggio   and   James   L.   W.   West  III  (Philadelphia:  University  of  Pennsylvania  Press,  1996),  28‒29.   232 MICHAEL DAVID-FOX Dreiser’s  fiction  to  the  library  of  the  Comintern.  Although  not  a  Communist,   Kennell   was   a   lifelong   leftist   who   at   that   point   was   far   closer   to   orthodox   communist   positions   than   Dreiser.   Culturally,   she   was   far   more   unambigu-­‐‑ ously  enamored  of  Russians  than  Dreiser;  she  later  devoted  her  career  to  writ-­‐‑ ing   children’s   stories   aimed   at   debunking   cultural   stereotypes   about   Rus-­‐‑ sians.3  She  also  knew  the  Russian  language  and  the  Soviet  system  in  a  way   that  few  Americans  did  at  the  time.  However,  in  part  under  the  corrosive  in-­‐‑ fluence  of  Dreiser’s  skepticism,  she  experienced  a  crisis  of  faith  that  brought   her  out  of  the  Soviet  Union  for  good  soon  after  Dreiser’s  own  departure.  (In   Dreiser’s  1929  book  A  Gallery  of  Women,  she  appeared  as  the  doubting  com-­‐‑ munist  sympathizer  Ernita,  who  had  lost  faith  that  communism  could  change   man’s   nature  but  persisted  in  hoping  it   could   improve  social   organization.)   Kennell   later   described   how   Dreiser,   in   a   “belligerent   mood,”   arrived   by   sleigh  at  VOKS’s  headquarters   to  argue   with  Kameneva.  Their   dispute   cen-­‐‑ tered  on  his  plans  to  hire  Kennell  as  his  secretary  rather  than  have  a  VOKS-­‐‑ approved  guide  for  his  long  trip:     The   [VOKS]   director,   Madame   Kameneva,   Leon   Trotsky’s   sister,   at   once   expressed   disapproval   of   his   hiring   a   secretary   without   con-­‐‑ sulting  them.  Understandably,  she  objected  to  a  private  secretary  who   was   not   responsible   to   VOKS.   “Squinting   at   me   out   of   nearsighted   eyes,   she   declared   in   Russian:   ‘Ona   nye   sovsyem   sovietskaya   zhenschena.’”   What’s  she  saying  in  that  blasted  language?  [Dreiser]  demanded.   Before  I  could  respond,  Trevis,  a  VOKS  guide  who  was  favored  by   Kameneva,   eagerly   translated   for   him:   “She   is   not   at   all   a   Soviet   woman.”   “What...