The House of Writers in Petrograd, 1919–1921

“The October Revolution of 1917, which proclaimed the liquidation of the bourgeoisie, also included within it people in the so-called free professions—indeed, the entire stratum of educated intellectual labor. As a result, it was precisely they, during this ‘liquidation,’ who came under attack far more fiercely than the capitalist bourgeoisie itself—against which, after all, a merciless campaign of the proletariat was declared. I’ll even say more: if we speak honestly, it was they who truly suffered. The capitalists only lightly touched upon the trials in Petrograd, whereas we drank this bitterness to the very end…”