''Les Lettres Françaises'' ( French for "The French Letters") is a French literary publication, founded in 1941 by writers Jacques Decour and Jean Paulhan. Originally a clandestine magazine of the French Resistance in German-occupied territory, it was one of the many publications of the National Front resistance movement. It received contributions from

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (; 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the Surrealism, surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littératur ...

François Mauriac François Charles Mauriac (; ; 11 October 1885 – 1 September 1970) was a French novelist, dramatist, critic, poet, and journalist, a member of the'' Académie française'' (from 1933), and laureate of the 1952 Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Pr ...

, Claude Morgan, Édith Thomas, Georges Limbour,

Raymond Queneau Raymond Auguste Queneau (; ; 21 February 1903 – 25 October 1976) was a French novelist, poet, critic, editor and co-founder and president of Oulipo (), notable for his wit and cynical humour. Biography Queneau, the only child of Auguste Que ...

and Jean Lescure. After the Liberation and until 1972, ''Les Lettres Françaises'', managed by Aragon, was financially supported by Soviet government and the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

. Originally supportive of

Stalinism Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...

, the paper became critical of the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

regime during the 1960s, and ceased publication after losing communist support. It was revived in the 1990s as a monthly literary supplement of the

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

newspaper ''

L'Humanité (; ) is a French daily newspaper. It was previously an organisation of the SFIO, ''de facto'', and thereafter of the French Communist Party (PCF), and maintains links to the party. Its slogan is "In an ideal world, would not exist." History ...

''.

History

Lysenkoism

The newspaper frequently served as a reflector of Soviet state propaganda, in late 40's engaging in defense of pseudo-scientific

Lysenkoism Lysenkoism ( ; ) was a political campaign led by the Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko against genetics and science-based agriculture in the mid-20th century, rejecting natural selection in favour of a form of Lamarckism, as well as expanding upon ...

. Pierre Daix wrote "French scientists recognize superiority of Soviet science" article which was then reprinted in Eastern Bloc newspaper, intending to create an impression that Lysenkoism was already accepted by the whole progressive world.

Kravchenko case

In 1949, Soviet dissident Victor Kravchenko sued the newspaper in a polemical and a sensational trial. After the publication of his book '' I Chose Freedom'', which denounced the Soviet

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

camps, ''Les Lettres Françaises'' accused him of being an agent of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and backed this claim with false documents written by journalist André Ulmann (who worked for Soviet intelligence). The truth about the origin of these documents were not known until the late 1970s. Kravchenko filed a complaint for defamation against the newspaper, which was defended by counsel Joe Nordmann. The trial, dubbed "the trial of the century", held in 1949 brought together a hundred witnesses. The Soviet Union presented Kravchenko's former colleagues and his former wife to denounce him. Kravchenko's legal team enlisted testimonies from the survivors of Soviet prison camps. Among them was Gulag survivor Margarete Buber-Neumann (widow of the German Communist leader Heinz Neumann). At the time of

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and also known as the Hitler–Stalin Pact and the Nazi–Soviet Pact, was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Ge ...

, she had moved to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and was again imprisoned. Her experience helped

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

groups in stating that there was a close similarity between the Soviet and the Nazi regimes. The trial was won by Kravchenko in April 1949, and he received a nominal sum for

libel Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

Disappearance and reemergence

''Les Lettres Françaises'' was edited by Aragon between 1953 and 1972. During this interval, it supported

De-Stalinization De-Stalinization () comprised a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, and Khrushchev Thaw, the thaw brought about by ascension of Nik ...

and

liberalization Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used ...

efforts, looked with sympathy toward the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring (; ) was a period of liberalization, political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected Secretary (title), First Secre ...

, and, in August 1968, criticized the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. The latter decision proved problematic, as the Soviet government decided to withdraw its subsidies, as did the French Communist Party. Consequently, the review was stripped of its financial lifeline and eventually ceased publication. Since the 1990s, the literary magazine is published on the first Saturday of each month, with the newspaper ''

''. It has columns on Letters, Arts, Cinema, Theater and Music, and publishes the works of debuting prose writers and poets. Its new head editor is

Jean Ristat Jean Ristat (1 June 1943 – 2 December 2023) was a French poet and writer. Life and career Jean Ristat founded the magazine collection ''Digraph'' in 1974 in literature, 1974, as suggested by his professor of philosophy, Jacques Derrida, whic ...

References

External links

LesLettresFrançaises.fr site officiel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lettres Francaises, Les 1941 establishments in France Communist magazines French Communist Party French-language magazines Literary magazines published in France French resistance publications France–Soviet Union relations Magazines established in 1941 Newspaper supplements