Fairy tales were written by Aleksandr Grin (Scarlet Sails, (1923)) and Yury Olesha. The
latter’s Three Fat Men (1928) illustrated the class struggle and revolution using fairy tale
figures. The first professional Russian writer of science fiction was Aleksandr Belyaev,
who revealed an extraordinary ability to combine exciting plots, scientific knowledge and
political orthodoxy.
In the 1930s the struggle to create a Soviet children’s literature was brought to
fruition. It was preceded by a violent debate about fairy tales. Many influential critics
advocated strict realism, based upon a materialistic world view and almost all leading
children’s writers became the target of attacks, when even antropomorphism was
perceived as a suspect device.
In 1932 the Union of Soviet Writers was formed with a special section for children’s
literature. In the same year a critical monthly, Detskaya literatura [Children’s Literature]
was set up, followed a year later by a publishing house with the same name. At the first
congress of Soviet writers in 1934, socialist realism was made the obligatory method for
all creative work. A major problem, often to be discussed but never to be solved, was
how to unite ideological demands with an acceptable literary standard. Books were
again published at around 1,000 titles a year, but the number of copies had risen
decisively. On the other hand, children’s literature had now also become the concern of
the security police, and many a writer’s career was cut short in the purges.
Industrialisation and the collectivisation of farming, solidarity with the international
communist movement, and military readiness were popular themes in the children’s
literature of the 1930s. Biographical literature about Russian revolutionaries, especially
Lenin, was encouraged, and Pavel Morozov, a country boy who denounced his own
father for resistance against Soviet power, was made into a hero.
Marshak and some of the Oberiuts adjusted their poetry to the demands of the time.
Marshak’s famous Mister Twister (1933) was directed against American racism. A new
name was Agniya Barto, an ideologically committed poet who also wrote satirical
portraits of children and scenes from the nursery. Sergei Mikhalkov’s hyperbolically
depicted, always helpful adult hero Uncle Styopa (1936) became a favourite among small
children, and during his long career, Mikhalkov added several sequels.
Classic realistic works of prose were written by Valentin Kataev (A Lone Sail Gleams
White, 1936) and Venyamin Kaverin (Two Captains, 1938–1944). Ruvim Fraerman’s
girl’s story Wild Dog Dingo; or, A Story about First Love (1939) initially met with criticism,
as young love was not considered a suitable subject for Soviet youth. More typical of the
period were the books by Arkady Gaidar, a veteran from the civil war: Military Secret
(1935), The Fate of a Drummer (1939) and Timur and his Team (1940) have the qualities
of adventure stories, but the ideological aspects always remain dominant. The bonds
between the world of the children and the norms of Soviet society are perpetually
stressed.
As the official attitude to fairy tales grew more liberal, there appeared in the 1930s
three books which have remained favourite reading ever since: Aleksei Tolstoi’s The Little
Golden Key, or the Adventures of Buratino (1935–1936), Lazar Lagin’s The Old Man
Khottabych (1938) and Aleksandr Volkov’s The Wizard from the Emerald Town (1939). All
were adaptions of foreign literature, a fact which reflects both the increasing isolation of
762 THE WORLD OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE