The fate of the manuscript, “The fortress does not surrender.” or the story of how Andreas Saks headed the “non-party” Communist Party organization of Astrakhan writers (1964 - 1966)

The article offers the first description of a conflict situation which arose in 1965 in the Astrakhan Region Writers’ Organization in connection with the reviewing of the manuscript titled “The Fortress Does Not Surrender.” The latter was a historical novel narrating real historical events taking place in Astrakhan Region in 1917-1918 when the Soviet power was being established and defended. Its author Nikolay Ryumshin, an old communist and journalist, wanted to get a recommendation from the Writers’ Organization for its publication. However, the review was negative: the professional writers came to the conclusion that the manuscript could not be qualified as fiction and refused to give their recommendation for its publication. Meanwhile, as the 50th anniversary of the Soviet power was approaching, the Astrakhan CPSU Regional Committee expressed its interest in the publication of a historical literary work about revolutionary events in Astrakhan. The regional Communist Party officials responsible for ideology resolved the issue this way: the writers’ organization must help Nikolay Ryumshin to improve his text, to refashion it as a work of fiction. This conflict situation turned out to be a serious test for the Astrakhan Writers’ Organization. One of its outcomes was that Russian German writer Andreas Saks who was repressed during the Stalinist terror was elected a secretary of the Communist Party organization of the Astrakhan writers.