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[RUSSIAN TRANSLATION OF A PROTOTYPE FOR THE AMERICAN PROLETARIAN NOVEL] Yevreyskaya bednota [i.e. Jews without Money]

Gold, M.

Item #2685

[Moscow]: Gos. izd-vo khud. lit-ry, 1931. 214, [1] p. 17,5 × 11 cm. Original illustrated wrappers. Good condition. Spine is chipped and two small fragments are missing from the edges. Minor soiling of the covers.

Scarce. 1 of 5,000 copies. First edition. Second edition followed the next year. Original English version published in 1930. Translated from English by the Soviet translator Mark Volosov (1895-?). The book design by Leonid Zusman (1906—1984). At different times, Zusman attended private art studios of F. Rerberg and A. Miganadzhian in Moscow, the workshop of I. Mashkov, etc. In 1924—1926, he studied at the Higher Art and Technical Institute in Leningrad under K. Petrov-Vodkin, and in 1927—1929 at the Higher Art and Technical Institute in Moscow under D. Shterenberg. Zusman’s work was closely connected to the illustration of children’s books, design of various newspapers and magazines. Some of his most famous works in book design include: Thousand and One Nights (1958—1960),Oleshi’s Zavist’ [i.e. Envy] (1979), etc. The Russian translation of a semi-autobiographical novel by the Jewish American writer and lifelong Communist Mike Gold (1894- 1967). The only novel written by the author, Yevreyskaya bednota [i.e. Jews without Money] became a manifestation of the American proletarian spirit of the 1930s. The novel is set in a slum populated mainly by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. The father of the hero is a painter who suffers from lead poisoning. When he falls from a scaffold, he is disabled and can no longer work. His business fails and the family is pushed into poverty. Although he is a bright boy, young Michael decides he must leave school. On the final page of the book, the poor Jewish boy prays for the arrival of a Marxist worker’s revolution that will emancipate the working class. Born in New York to Romanian Jewish immigrant parents, American writer Mike Gold was an ardent supporter of the Bolshevik Revolution. In 1921—1922, Gold became Executive Editor of the magazine The Liberator on the pages of which the journalist wrote: The Russian Bolsheviks will leave the world a better place than Jesus left it. They will leave it on the threshold of the final victory - the poor will have bread and peace and culture in another generation, not churches and a swarm of lying parasite minister dogs, the legacy of Jesus. Three years later, Mike visited Moscow where his fascination with Communism reached its peak. Throughout the 1920s, Gold worked on his only novel, Jews Without Money. Published in 1930, it was an immediate success and was translated into over 14 languages. The popularity of Jews Without Money made Gold a national figure and cultural commissar of the Communist Party.

The Russian society got acquainted with the writings of Mike Gold in the mid-1920s. In the period from 1925 to 1931, Mark Volosov, who was the classic translator of the American writer, issued 3 Russian translations of Mike’s works: Proklyatyy agitator [i.e. The Damned Agitator] (1925), 120 millionov [i.e. 120 Million] (1930), and this title (1931; 1932). With the gradual introduction of the anti- semitic campaign in the Soviet Union, works by Mike Gold and other Jewish authors vanished from the print. At the age of 19, Volosov was drafted into WWI and taken prisoner by the Nazis. After escaping from captivity, Volosov fled to Norway and then to the United States, returning to the USSR only in 1923. Knowledge of English allowed him to start translating fiction. With his help, Soviet readers got acquainted with such authors as Theodore Dreiser, Michael Gold, Grace Lampkin, etc. Volosov was reported missing during WWII.

Worldcat shows only one copy in NYPL.

Price: $750.00