The Orange Circle Literary Brigade and the Literary Movement of Chelyabinsk in the Late 1930s

Abstract

This article considers the short period of existence of the Orange Circle literary brigade in Chelyabinsk (1939–1940). Sharing the belief in building communism, the team developed outside the Union of Soviet Writers and relied on the aesthetics of the Silver Age in their work. This was probably due to the influence of its leader Alexey Bykov, a writer who began his career in St Petersburg in the early twentieth century and published the novel Thistle (1907). Unfortunately, the lack of publications and the loss of manuscripts, as well as the scarce number of archival materials make it difficult to reconstruct the social and literary practices of the group. However, the very fact of the appearance of such an “alternative” association in the era of early Stalinism in a provincial town with a meager sociocultural base which received an impulse for development only during the first five-year plans gives rise to scholarly reflection. The birth of the literary brigade took place during a difficult period in the history of the USSR, which had embarked on an unprecedented path of building socialism. The inconsistency of the process of institutionalisation of the new system gave rise to previously unfamiliar conflicts at all levels, which were especially acute in the artistic environment. The author demonstrates that over many years, the Chelyabinsk branch of the Union of Soviet Writers was able to organise full-fledged work. This was due to the frequent change of leadership, including due to the repression of many members, the reorganisation of the management system of the Union’s branches, the predominance of non-professional authors, the shortage of “old” personnel, including editors, the lack of interaction between writers and regional authorities, the scarcity of the pre-revolutionary literary tradition, the poverty of prose writers and poets, especially beginners who often used this artistic structure for selfish purposes.