WHAT THE FAMOUS SOVIET WRITER WANTED TO SAY, YET DIDN’T (M. A. SHOLOKHOV’S SPEECH AT THE SECOND NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE SOVIET WRITERS)

Abstract

This article is yet another contribution to the history of the Second National Congress of the Soviet Writers, held in December 1954. In 2018, the first collection of articles on this topic was published, followed by several other papers that presented the results of further archival research. This contribution focuses on one of the most significant events that took place at the Congress, i. e. on Mikhail Sholokhov’s speech. Comparing various versions of Sholokhov’s speech, both published and unpublished, I seek to trace how it was gradually evolving before and after delivering.