Two letters by Anna Shimaite from Dielo Trouda-Probuzhdenie
DTP 19 (Oct.-Nov. 1946), p. 32
Paris, August 29 1946
Dear comrades and workers of DTP! Around a month ago I received from you five copies of DTP No. 18. I sent one copy to the municipal library, as usual, and the rest distributed to French provinces. By the way, the Toulouse library is short DTP No. 17. Could you please send at least one copy of No. 17 so they will have a complete set of Nos. 1-18. I ask you to keep sending me new issues as they are published. Really this is our only ideological journal, which is very close to my heart and does a lot of good for me. It’s great that you are sending it to me. For the time being I can only offer you my sincere gratitude and will distribute the journal among my comrades in misfortune who shared my ordeal in the concentration camp.
When A. Nikolayev’s book “First Among Equals” is published, don’t forget to send me a copy. This is very important to me.
In the article “Vlasovshchina” (a remarkable article!) there is mention of a book by Ève Curie: “Journey Among Warriors.” In France, no matter whom I ask, no one knows anything about this book. Was it really published in America? It would be wonderful if someone wrote a few words to me about this book. I’m very interested in everything that comes from the pen of Ève Curie.
With friendly greetings to the journal and all its workers, and with the wish for the widest possible circulation of those ideas that are dear to us, [I am]
Anna Shimaite
Translator’s comments: Alexei Nikolayev (1891-1938) took part in the Makhnovist movement. His documentary novel “First Among Equals” was based on his own experiences plus interviews with Makhno’s wife Galina Kuzmenko. The book was published posthumously in 1947 by Profsoyuz, an organization of Russian-American anarchists in Detroit. In 2000 a Ukrainian translation was published in Dniepropetrovsk, Ukraine.
In her almost forgotten book “Journey Among Warriors,” Ève Curie unwittingly scored a coup by interviewing General Andrey Vlasov while he was still a Soviet hero and before he became a traitor. G. P. Maximoff, author of the article about the Vlasov movement in DTP No. 18, thought Curie had interviewed a different General Vlasov since she wrote that he was a major general while the traitorous Vlasov was a lieutenant general. But Maximoff didn’t realize that Vlasov had received a promotion from Stalin before switching sides – there was only one General Vlasov.
DTP 51 (May – Sep. 1956), p. 22
In the notes to the verses of the author of the Internationale, Eugène Pottier, “Selected Works,” (Moscow, 1950), we find the following explanation: in 1879-1880 “the labour movement in France was disorganized by small anarchist groups.” — Bravo! So Bolshevistic!
In a note accompanying a poem about Louise Michel, we read: “Participant and poetess of the Commune.”
Bolshevistic hacks, of course, can’t bring themselves to write “anarchist” because the Bolsheviks respect Louise Michel and consider her one of their own.
A. Sh.
Translated by: Malcolm Archibald.