The Letter of Forty-Two (russian: Письмо́ сорока́ двух) was an

open letter An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter addressed to an indiv ...

signed by forty-two Russian literati, aimed at Russian society, the president and government, in reaction to the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis. It was published in the newspaper ''

Izvestia ''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in 1917, it was a newspaper of record in the Soviet Union until the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, and describes ...

'' on 5 October 1993 under the title "Writers demand decisive actions of the government."

The letter contains the following seven demands:

Criticism

Communist ''

Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the co ...

'' reacted by publishing a letter by three Soviet dissidents –

Andrey Sinyavsky Andrei Donatovich Sinyavsky (russian: Андре́й Дона́тович Синя́вский; 8 October 1925 – 25 February 1997) was a Russian writer and Soviet dissident known as a defendant in the Sinyavsky–Daniel trial in 1965. Sinyavs ...

, Vladimir Maximov and Pyotr Abovin-Yegides – calling for

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...

's immediate resignation.Mikhail Pozdnyaev
Юлий Ким. Октябрь 93-го до сих пор на дворе.
Новые Известия. It said among other things: ''

Nezavisimaya Gazeta ''Nezavisimaya Gazeta'' ( rus, Независимая газета, p=nʲɪzɐˈvʲisʲɪməjə ɡɐˈzʲetə, t=Independent Newspaper) is a Russian daily newspaper. History and profile ''Nezavisimaya Gazeta'' was first published on 21 December ...

s 2nd editor-in-chief Victoria Shokhina, mentioning

Vasily Aksyonov Vasily Pavlovich Aksyonov ( rus, Васи́лий Па́влович Аксёнов, p=vɐˈsʲilʲɪj ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ ɐˈksʲɵnəf; August 20, 1932 – July 6, 2009) was a Soviet and Russian novelist. He became known in the West as the autho ...

's statement ("It was right those bastards had been bombarded. Should I have been in Moscow, I'd have signed he lettertoo"),В. Л. Шохина — заместитель главного редактора «НГ»: Перешагнув через могилы Уроки Октября 93-го и творческая интеллигенция
/ref> on 3 October 2004, wondered how "all of those 'democratic' writers who were preaching humanism and denouncing capital punishment" all of a sudden "came to applaud mass execution without trial". According to Shokhina, writer

Anatoly Rybakov Anatoly Naumovich Rybakov (russian: Анато́лий Нау́мович Рыбако́в; – 23 December 1998) was a Soviet and Ukrainian writer, the author of the anti-Stalinist ''Children of the Arbat ''trilogy, the novel ''Heavy Sand' ...

, when asked, 'would he have signed it', replied: "By no means. A writer can not endorse bloodshed". "But people like Rybakov are few and far between in our 'democratic' camp, and such people there are being disliked", Shokhina remarked.

Support

A letter entitled "An appeal of the democratic public of Moscow to the President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin" ("Обращение собрания демократической общественности Москвы к президенту России Б.Н. Ельцину") was published on 8 October 1993, echoing key demands of the Letter of Forty-Two.

Signatories

Ales Adamovich Aleksandr Mikhailovich Adamovich ( be, Аляксандр Міхайлавіч Адамовіч, translit=Aliaksandr Michailavič Adamovič, russian: Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Адамо́вич; 3 September 1927 – 26 January ...

# Anatoly Ananyev #

Viktor Astafiyev Viktor Petrovich Astafyev also spelled Astafiev or Astaf'ev (russian: Ви́ктор Петро́вич Аста́фьев; 1 May 1924 – 29 November 2001), was a Soviet and Russian writer, playwright and screenwriter. He was recognized with th ...

# Аrtyom Anfinogenov #

Bella Akhmadulina Izabella Akhatovna Akhmadulina ( rus, Бе́лла (Изабе́лла) Аха́товна Ахмаду́лина, tt-Cyrl, Белла Әхәт кызы Әхмәдуллина; 10 April 1937 – 29 November 2010) was a Soviet and Russian poet, ...

Grigory Baklanov Grigory Yakovlevich Baklanov (russian: Григо́рий Я́ковлевич Бакла́нов) (11 September 1923 – 23 December 2009) was a Soviet and Russian writer, well known for his novels about World War II, and as the editor of the ...

Zori Balayan Zori (), also rendered as zōri ( ja, , ), are thonged Japanese sandals made of rice straw, cloth, lacquered wood, leather, rubber, or—most commonly and informally—synthetic materials. They are a slip-on descendant of the tied-on sandal. ...

Tatyana Bek Tatyana Alexandrovna Beck (russian: Татья́на Алекса́ндровна Бек; April 21, 1949, Moscow — February 7, 2005, Moscow) was a Russian poet, literary critic and literary scholar. She was a member of the Union of Soviet Writer ...

Alexander Borshchagovsky Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

Vasil Bykaŭ Vasil Uladzimiravič Bykaŭ (often spelled Vasil Bykov, be, Васі́ль Уладзі́міравіч Бы́каў, russian: Василь Влади́мирович Быков) (19 June 1924 – 22 June 2003) was a prolific Soviet and Belarus ...

# Boris Vasilyev #

Alexander Gelman Alexander Gelman (born December 21, 1960), born: Aleksandr Simonovich Gelman (russian: Алекса́ндр Си́монович Ге́льман) is an American theater director and the current Producing Artistic Director of Organic Theater Comp ...

Daniil Granin Daniil Aleksandrovich Granin (russian: Дании́л Алекса́ндрович Гра́нин; 1 January 1919 – 4 July 2017), original family name German (russian: Ге́рман), was a Soviet and Russian author. Life and career Granin st ...

# Yuri Davydov # Daniil Danin # Andrei DementyevIn an interview on Echo Moskvy radio on September 30, 2012, Andrei Dementyev said that he had not signed the lett

/ref> #

Mikhail Dudin Mikhail Aleksandrovich Dudin (russian: Михаил Александрович Дудин; – 31 December 1993) was a Soviet poet.Mikhail Aleksandrovich Dudin (November 7 0 1916, Klevnevo village, Nerekhtsky district, Kostroma province, Russia ...

# Alexander Ivanov # Edmund Iodkovsky #

Rimma Kazakova Rimma Fyodorovna Kazakova (russian: Ри́мма Фёдоровна Казако́ва; 27 January 1932 – 19 May 2008) was a Soviet and Russian poet and translator. She was known for writing many popular songs of the Soviet era. Biography Kazako ...

# Sergey Kaledin # Yury Karyakin # Yakov Kostyukovsky # Tatyana Kuzovlyova #

Alexander Kushner Alexander Semyonovich Kushner (russian: link=no, Алекса́ндр Семёнович Ку́шнер) is a Russian poet from Saint Petersburg. Biography Kushner was born in Leningrad into a Russian-Jewish family; his father was a naval en ...

Yuri Levitansky Yury Davidovich Levitansky (russian: Ю́рий Дави́дович Левита́нский; January 22, 1922, Kozelets, Chernigov Oblast, Ukrainian SSR — January 25, 1996, Moscow, Russia) was a Russian- language poet and translator from th ...

# Dmitry Likhachov # Yuri Nagibin # Andrey Nuykin #

Bulat Okudzhava Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava (russian: link=no, Булат Шалвович Окуджава; ka, ბულატ ოკუჯავა; hy, Բուլատ Օկուջավա; May 9, 1924 – June 12, 1997) was a Soviet and Russian poet, writer, musici ...

# Valentin Oskotsky # Grigory Pozhenyan #

Anatoly Pristavkin Anatoly Ignatovich Pristavkin (russian: Анато́лий Игна́тьевич Приста́вкин, 17 October 1931, Lyubertsy — 11 July 2008, Moscow) was a Russian writer and public figure. His mother died when he was nine and his father ...

Lev Razgon Lev Emmanuilovich Razgon (russian: Лев Эммануи́лович Разго́н; 1 April 1908 – 8 September 1999) was a Soviet journalist, a prisoner of the Gulag from 1938 to 1942 and again from 1950 to 1955, a Russian writer and, latterly ...

# Alexander Rekemchuk #

Robert Rozhdestvensky Robert Ivanovich Rozhdestvensky (russian: Ро́берт Ива́нович Рожде́ственский; 20 June 1932 – 19 August 1994) was a Soviet-Russian poet and Songwriter who broke with socialist realism in the 1950s–1960s during ...

# Vladimir Savelyev # Vasily Selyunin # Yuri Chernichenko # Andrey Chernov # Marietta Chudakova #

Mikhail Chulaki Mikhail Ivanovich Chulaki (russian: Михаи́л Ива́нович Чула́ки, also transliterated as Tchulaki and Tschulaki) ( in Simferopol – January 29, 1989 in Moscow) was a Soviet Russian composer and teacher. He studied under the c ...

Footnotes

{{reflist Open letters 1993 Russian constitutional crisis Works originally published in Russian newspapers 1993 documents

Contents

Criticism

Support

Signatories

Footnotes