A GIFT TO LEO TOLSTOY

In May of 1906, the Wallings came to Tula. The next morning, having accepted Tolstoy's invitation, they came to Yasnaya Polyana (to Leo Tolstoy's Estate) where they remained all day. A photographer, who was with them, took a picture of Tolstoy and of some people from the village of Yasnaya Polyana.

On their way to the house they passed a pond. It smelled of lime trees and fresh grass. The day was bright, and the walk was pleasant. Soon, the two-storied stone building, bathed in sunlight, distinctively appeared on the horizon among the trees. Tolstoy met the Americans on the patio. To Anna, he was an embodiment of everything Russian, humane. She admired his vast knowledge. While visiting, they talked about war and Socialism, about the condition of people in the country and, of course, about the revolution. The writer asked many questions about his friends and acquaintances in America. Walling shared his intention to spend several years in Russia to observe the development of the Revolution. In response, Tolstoy offered his opinion on the Revolution. In his view, the Russian Revolution was a drama in several acts. To start with, Duma was the first scene of Act I which, as with every first scene, was somewhat comical. Anna told Tolstoy about the book of letters that she wrote together with the American writer Jack London, who was not yet widely known in Russia at that time. Leo Nikolayevich showed sincere interest in this book. Strunsky presented him the first edition of The Kempton-Wace Letters.

In her notes, Strunsky wrote about the humility of the peasants in Yasnaya Polyana, their content way of living. They had a school in the village as well as medical assistance. The influence of Tolstoy's ideas was evident everywhere. His followers were also living there, sharing food and shelter with the peasants. Tolstoy tried to resolve the problems of society through simplicity of life, where the key to existence was self-sacrifice and labor, both physical and mental. This, in his opinion, filled the gap that separated the classes of society.

As an opposition to Tolstoy's theories, Anna presented Gorky's ideas. “Gorky,” she wrote, “is an individual, who discovered common people, and all his books reveal history of this miracle. He discovered common people in a different sense than did Tolstoy. Gorky found not the humbleness of people, but their fighting spirit. He uncovered their striving to leave the state of silent suppression and to find the riches of life. Gorky, probably, was the first person in Russian literature to be a speaker for the organized socialist movement.”

In Wallings' book, Russia's Mission, the interview with Gorky was mentioned, with an excerpt from his novel Foma Gordeev. In that interview, Gorky shared his view of the Tsar as the one responsible for the chaos in Russia. In her notes, Strunsky presented a detailed portrayal of Gorky as a writer, but did not mention anything about meeting him. I asked Anna to tell me anything she could remember about her meetings with Gorky.

Soon, I received her response. "The first time I met Gorky was in St. Petersburg, in 1906. I needed his signature under the International Memorial Manifest devoted to the commemoration of the Gapon tragedy, about which I wrote a year earlier. Gorky signed the manifesto with eagerness and gratitude. Later, English and I saw him a few more times, also in St. Petersburg. At the time, English was organizing Gorky's trip to America to speak about the Russian Revolution. You know, of course, that he and his wife came to New York and were warmly welcomed. A committee was organized to work on Gorky's visit in the United States. Among its members were two of the most significant figures in the American literary world: Mark Twain and William Dean Howells. Later on, in 1907, when we were spending the winter in Sorrento, Italy, we used to eat dinner with the Gorkys every Sunday at their villa on Capri. Gorky was blessed with distinctively Russian hospitality. Among the guests, were usually Leonid Andreev and about 8 to 10 significant figures who had to flee from the Tsarist Russia."

It was known that A.M. Gorky left for America in April 1906 on an assignment from the Social Democratic Party to raise funds for the party's mission. His other goal was to unmask the tsarist regime and convince the public not to support a loan to Tsar Nicholas II. While in Poltava, Wallings visited V.G. Korolenko and talked to him about the situation of peasants in the Poltava Province. They also visited Sorochintsy. There, the governmental advisor Philonov and the head of a few hundred Cossacks invaded several settlements and tortured the peasants. In the book Russia's Mission, Walling quoted Korolenko's letter, in which he revealed the cruelty of tsarist soldiers.

The visit to Korolenko gave Anna food for thought about the role of a writer and about civilian and national aspects of Russian literature. She highly valued the words of Korolenko in the Russian Revolutionary Movement. “He writes for the peasants and about peasants. His famous story ‘Makar's Dream’ is a great example of this.” Like all Russian writers, he did not think much of his literary achievements. During the days of revolution, he even stopped his literary work altogether to devote himself entirely to the common cause of the people. Vanity and career were things too worthless and naive. In the opinion of the Russian people, success could not be personal and private. It depended entirely on the success of the movement with which the writer associated himself. Usually, such writers were prominent and bright artists, whose creations were full of the lyrics of their lives. The lyrics fit their art very naturally, as a necessary part of the whole and derive from it the richness of their experience. These artists were the voice of strength, which was above the personal, and which resounded from overtones of the movement. They wrote, drew, and sang because they lived the life of the entire humanity. Humanity's poetry, music, and views were reflected and introduced in and through them. Nekrasov's muse of ‘vengeance and sadness’ turned for Korolenko into a muse of sadness and struggle, because he happened to be born in the latter years of the world's history and therefore was able to face the revolutionary movement. Now, he faced the revolution itself.

The Wallings’ visit came to an end. During the visit, they gathered some very valuable materials: numerous documents, transcribed interviews and impressions, lots of books and pictures. Some American magazines like the radical Independent, which became famous for its attacks on monopolies, had already published some of English's articles. Even some liberal bourgeois magazines showed interest in his opinions and accepted his essays, which gave English a possibility to persuade influential levels of society. Among articles that were published were: “Civil War in Russia,” “Peasant Revolution,” “Sinister Hunger in Russia,” “The State Of Things With Russian Revolution.” Some articles, for example “Village Against the Tsar” and “Russian People — What Are They Like?” were later included in English's book on Russia.

The tsarist police had long been suspicious of foreigners. The Wallings' frequent meetings with suspicious people, especially with those under special police watch, worried national security. Gorky and Korolenko were among those to whom police paid special attention. The content of the published articles revealed the reasons of the Wallings’ visit to Russia. Those articles contained truth about poverty and tyranny and about the hatred of the Russian people for the tsarist regime. After the articles were published, the police established a strict watch over the Wallings.

By then, they were getting ready to return. English came back to St. Petersburg from Moscow after meeting with one of the October Revolution leaders, Guchov. Everything was packed; the tickets were ready. They had to leave the country on October 9th, 1907. However, on October 7th, police arrested Strunsky's sister, Rose, and the wife of one of the Finnish professors. Just the night before, Anna and Rose had met this professor while walking along Nevsky Prospect. He had escaped from Siberia, where he was sent for organizing the Peasant Union. Right then and there, they decided to help him. Having found out about the arrest of his sister-in-law, English filed a protest with the American Embassy. Then, together with Anna, they went to speak to a lawyer. By the time they returned to their hotel, a group of tsarist police was searching their room. “Where do you keep your weapon?” asked one of the guards. English showed him a pencil and answered: “The pen is our weapon.”

Both Anna and English were arrested and sent to different prisons. Nothing incriminating was found on them during the search. However, such action of security forces was sure to resonate loudly. By the next day, the news about the Wallings' arrest was covered by almost every Russian newspaper. The sensational news reached the Untied States. It was a stunner: a well-to-do American, grandson of a candidate for Vice President and famous journalist, was being detained in a Russian prison without any evidence. With him in prison were two American women, one of whom, his wife, was a famous Socialist and writer. Their arrest almost became an international scandal, which would have been detrimental to the Tsarist government. The government also clearly understood that this incident would lower the prestige of Russia even more, not only in the United States, but in Europe as well.

The next day police released them. This was the end of their trip to Russia. It was October of 1907. The peak of revolutionary movement had passed, replaced by a time of reaction and years of terror and persecution. Among the documents Anna sent to me, I found clips from an American newspaper. "Miss Anna Strunsky and Miss Rose Strunsky were leaving San Francisco tomorrow for Geneva, Switzerland. There, they will join Russian revolutionaries fighting against the tsar. On Saturday night, the young ladies were present at the banquet. Some famous people attended the banquet, among them was Jack London. The young ladies will get instructions in Geneva on their further actions, and, quite possibly, go to Russia.  . . .”

Obviously, the last sentence was added either to get a reaction or to express a malicious attitude. It is doubtful that even if both sisters were going to receive instructions in Geneva, they would tell a reporter about it. However, the fact that the special farewell banquet was organized for them, and that Jack London attended it, was very believable.

Up until October 1905, Jack London lived in Glen Ellen, not far from San Francisco. At the end of October, he went on a lecture tour across America to talk about revolution and Socialism. Not long before that, Anna left on her long and dangerous journey. Jack knew about her trip and it worried him.

Jack's relationship with Anna was complicated. They were united by their common goals, by their work together. Jack London was won over by the purity and sincerity of the young woman. He was close to marrying her in 1900; that's evident from their correspondence. Anna told me she loved Jack, but wasn't sure that the feeling was mutual. Jack then married Bessie Maddern, the fianc� of a friend who had died. Two years later, in May 1902, Jack proposed to Anna, but this time she refused. Another year later, he left his family. The press immediately suspected Strunsky to be the reason for his leaving. It was plausible. Strunsky was a frequent visitor of the Londons. Until 1903, Jack and Anna had worked together writing The Kempton-Wace Letters, which only fueled rumors. By the fall of 1904 their relationship was smeared by the newspapers, which blamed Anna for Jack's divorce.

In November 1905, having finalized the long-desired divorce from Bessie, Jack married Charmian Kittredge. By then, Strunsky was already on her way to Russia, to Walling, who would soon become her husband. During the first weeks in her native country, Anna completely immersed herself in the novelty around her. She greedily absorbed everything she experienced. Her first note to Jack was very short. The next one, however, was rather substantial, judging by the copy of the letter that I found in Anna's package. Here is the text of that letter:

St. Petersburg,

24th of March 1906

Dear Jack,

Rose has just run into the room, shouting: "The strike of railroad workers is scheduled 017 this Saturday. We better go to Moscow this Thursday. " Imagine our joy! The time had come long ago for the strike and/or the Whole thing. The government has gone completely stark mad — the reaction is in full swing. When God wants to extinguish someone, he takes away their sanity from them first. Durnovo and Vitte are retiring. Jack, I can just hear you laughing and screaming at this chaos.

I have not recovered from my surprise that I am in Russia. It is somewhat terrifying to see a dream come true. All my life I had my face turned to this country, but it seemed unapproachable. Sometimes, I would even doubt if I had any right to have such ardent interest in this country. I cursed myself for plans and dreams, but still continued to dream and make plans. And now I am here and the time for which we longed is here, too. Everything has come our way—and it is too good to be true! I just do not know what to do, — I am overfilled with happiness and excitement.

English and I are coming to America as soon as the revolution will let us, probably in September. In my last letter, I did not tell you that a person I love, and who loves me, is English Walling. We will stay in America for about two months, and then will come here again for another year, to study international upheaval. Of course, if the coal-miners’ strike turns into something more, he will have to leave earlier, and then just stay here longer another time!

I could send you some wonderful materials—proclamations, stories, and rumors. This material can compare to the ones you got from being in Klondike; it's just as original. At the same time, it is far more delicate and sharp. English and I think that you need Russia, just as the International Plan needs you. Just imagine, Jack, this is the only place alive in the world right now! You can find everything here: melodrama and tragedy, heaven and hell, despair and hope. This is the Revolution of Revolutions, the beginning of the wonderful end. Where else could you find something like this? English liked our book. We bought several editions in English and have already presented a few. [Two months later, she would present a copy of this book to Leo Tolstoy. — V. B.] I feel ashamed when I think that Russian censors allowed our book!

You have to meet Gorky. He is coming to America with a lecture tour. I promised him your review on “Foma Gordeev” published in “Impressions”. He wants to meet you. He is a great person! You can sense great pain in his face and his voice. The impression from a two-hour meeting with him lasted the whole week afterwards. It was English who persuaded him to write the address to the workers around the world.

English's mother and father are coming in about a month and a half. Then, at the end of summer, we will come back home for two months (Rose may meet us in Paris), and then go again to Russia, France, and Germany for another year. In New York, we will live on Fifth Avenue, in house # 3, which is being rented by eight socialists. [This is the very same house where Gorky would come in April. — V B].

You see, how my love brings me closer and closer with the world. We decided not to have a house, ever. We will not tie ourselves to any sect, nor will we prevent life from taking its course with us. We will never stay in each other's way. This is not a theory; this is reality. This is the character of a man who loves me. He is even less material than me, and I am not material at all. He is my closest friend, my heart. Our lives, my beloved friend, will prove to you how strong this love is!

With friendly wishes,

Anna.

Evidently, Jack received this letter in April. It is not known whether or not he actually received the materials on the Russian Revolution. However, it is known that, in August, he started furiously working on his novel The Iron Heel. By the end of that year, the book was completed. It was the first book on the Proletarian Revolution published in America. The book was American and it took place in America, but the entire book was filled with that vigorous excitement that Anna experienced in a far away Russia unknown to Jack.

It was only three or four times that Jack mentioned Russia in the book. Nonetheless, even those few references are significant. In Chapter XVI, he mentioned that while organizing action groups, the revolutionaries referred to the experience of the Russian Revolution (an active force of revolution), and the reaction created something similar to “black walls,” used by the autocracy (active force of counter-revolution). In Chapter XX, talking about a son of one member of the oligarchy switching to the side of the Revolution, the author gave an example of the Russian nobility.

The bloody measures taken by the Tsarist government in response to the people's rebellion persuaded London that it was a false hope to think that the government would peacefully turn the power over to the workers. He realized that an armed rebellion was inevitable. This was what Edmund Peluzo, a close friend of the writer, wrote about in his memoirs: “When the news of the December rebellion reached the Pacific coast, Jack sided with the Bolsheviks.”

London talked about Russia and the heroism of its people in his lectures and articles. He looked down on the press for making fun of his declaration about Russian Revolutionaries being his brothers. London read Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Gorky. He collected materials for the story on the Russian Revolution of their time. Maybe he did so following Anna's advice. In his papers kept in The Henry Huntington Library, I found a folder inscribed “Russian Revolution Short Story.” Inside the cover were two clippings: one of them, from the magazine, was a three-page long description of a strike in St. Petersburg; the other clipping was from a Socialist newspaper dated 1906, entitled “Maxim Gorky Responds to Some Bourgeoisie Reporters.” These, obviously, were not the materials sent by Anna. Jack London found them in American publications. These documents, even with the ones Anna had sent him, were not enough for the book. The writer had to see for himself what he was going to write about. This was the way he usually wrote.

In a short time, Jack built his yacht, Snark. While working out a route for his trip around the world, he included Russia. He would sail to the Finnish Gulf, anchor in one of the ports of St. Petersburg and spend a winter in Russia. However, Jack was unlucky. The earthquake in San Francisco delayed the building of the yacht for six months. While sailing in the South Seas, he fell ill with some unknown tropical disease and had to interrupt his voyage, making a temporary stop in Australia. It was the end of 1908. The Wallings retuned to New York. In the spring of 1909, Jack returned from Australia. Anna and Jack lost touch with each other.

By that time, Russia was not the central theme in the press any longer. The Tsarist government had managed to deal with the revolutionary movement. Russian affairs had faded into the background, but the American writer did not forget about the Russian Revolution and its lessons.

As he was not able to visit Russia, he did not risk creating Russia as the setting of his story. However, London used Russians in his new novel, set in America. Dragomilov and his daughter, Dunya--native Russians--were the main characters of his unfinished novel, The Assassination Bureau. The prototype figure for Hall, Dunya's beloved, was English Walling.

The novel had a curious history. London based it on the plot given to him by Sinclair Lewis. At the time, Lewis was an unknown journalist who later became a famous American realist writer. London wrote twelve chapters, but the work, for some unknown reason, was postponed. Ultimately, the book remained unfinished. After London's death, Charmian London was going to finish the novel using London's notes. However, her idea was never realized. The novel was kept in the archives for half a century. In 1963, an American writer Robert Fish, with the help of London's notes, completed the book.

The novel was about a company whose business is murder. People who worked there were ready to kill anyone, even a king or a president. Contrary to ordinary gangster groups, the bureau demanded a valid reason for the death penalty; it had to be proven that a certain person was causing enough damage with his or her actions to deserve death. In other words, the death had to be "socially justified."

One time, the bureau received an order to kill a chief of police whose actions against anarchists were unfair and cruel. Another time, they had to kill a railroad magnate, or execute miners who sold themselves out to the leader of the Federation. The head of the bureau, Ivan Dragomilov, and its members lived according their own moral code, which justified their actions. The chief of the bureau was so devoted to the basic principles that, having realized his wrong doings, he gave an order to execute himself. Not only did he make such an order, but he also convinced the bureau members of the necessity of such tactics. Then, having given the order, he escaped with the goal to destroy the bureau.