PUSHKIN’S JUBILEE OF 1937 IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA

The article is devoted to the characteristics of the celebrations dedicated to the hundredth anniversary of death of A.S. Pushkin, which took place not only in the USSR, but also in the Russian exile. According to the decree of the Soviet government in 1935, the All-Union Pushkin’s Committee was established under the chairmanship of A.M. Gorky. The Committee was allocated significant funds for various events, which made it possible to publish a scientific collection of Pushkin’s works. The Russian émigré organizations also took an active part in the preparation of the festive events, organized own committees and began implementing its own publishing program. The analysis suggests comparison of the activities of the committees in Paris and Prague, while emphasizing that they were not related to the work of the Soviet committees created both in the USSR and abroad under the auspices of the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. Documents are cited confirming that in Czechoslovakia, in the conditions of the establishment of diplomatic relations with the USSR and the signing of a Mutual Assistance Agreement, local authorities, yielding to the insistence of the Soviet side, refused to support the émigré celebrations. As a result, the Union of Russian Writers and Journalists in Prague was forced to abandon its broad program of Pushkin’s celebrations. Thereby, in 1937 parallel celebrations were held in Prague, as in Paris, not comparable in scale, but nevertheless equally important for perpetuating the heritage of Pushkin and popularizing his work abroad.