The French Worker about the Soviet Union: Historical Experience and Literature
The article talks about the experience that Robert Guiheneuf, young French worker and the member of the French Communist Party received during his stay in the USSR from 1923 through 1933. Guiheneuf came to the Soviet Russia with intension to dedicate his skill and knowledge to help the builders of socialist society. He also wanted to become an eyewitness of the new State of working people. His disappointment in the outcome of the October revolution Guiheneuf expressed in his two books published in Paris under the pen name Yvon: “What has become of the Russian Revolution” (1936) and “USSR as it is” (1938). The prefaces to the books have been written by Pierre Pascal and André Gide correspondingly. They both agreed that the world should open its eyes to the truth about the USSR. The second of these books has motivated Paul Claudel to discover the truth about the Soviet Union and to write his essay “A Season in Hell” (1938).