Important Russian/Soviet author and activist (1868–1936). Though his criticism of the Communist government led to a relationship marked by conflict and unease, he was ultimately embraced (though closely monitored) by the Stalinist regime, and Stalin himself was a pallbearer at Gorki’s funeral. LS in French, signed “M. Gorki,” one page, lightly-lined, 8.5 x 11, no date. Letter addressed to “Cher ami,” Italian journalist Ugo Ojetti. In full: “Zanotti has not informed you precisely enough concerning the museum. The Capri ethnographic museum initiative is not mine. I have only promised to obtain interesting Russian ethnographic things for this museum and to give part of my ethnographic collections. I am sending you ‘Certosa’ photography. It is all what we could find here. I do not feel good enough; the provocative Beïlis affair upsets me. Thanks to our government Russia is exposed again to Europe’s pillory.” In fine condition, with bisecting mailing folds, and a slight separation along horizontal fold.
The stance taken by Gorki was indeed a dangerous one, as few who questioned Russian or Communist authority were ever heard from again. The referenced “Beïlis affaire” pertains to the trial of Menahem Mendel Beilis, a Ukrainian Jew accused of the murder of a 13-year-old boy in 1911. In the period between his arrest and trial two years later, the Russian press launched an antisemitic campaign against the Jewish populace in Russia. Gorki was one of the scholars who led protests against the trial, which may have played a role in Beilis’ eventual exoneration—but did little to quell the Russian Empires’ anti-Semitic policies that continued until the 1917 Russian Revolution. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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