The Road to Lotus: Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s Magazine Proposal to the Soviet Writers Union

Abstract

Over the last decade, a hitherto forgotten literary magazine, Lotus: Afro-Asian Writings (1968–1991), has become an object of ever-greater scholarly attention. Indeed, whether seen as an instantiation of the Third World project in literature, a pre-history of postcolonial studies, or a distinct vision for world literature, Lotus offers a fresh perspective on many old questions. Before the magazine could be launched, however, many practical questions had to be resolved. Where would the resources for such a publication be found? How could it become a representative journal? In which country should such an international magazine be located and how would it operate in practice? Finally, who would edit or otherwise contribute to it? At least, these are the questions that Faiz Ahmad Faiz considered in his October 1963 proposal to the Soviet Union of Writers. In the process of answering them, he also offers the most fascinating of snapshots of Arab literary, intellectual, and political life ca. 1963. We translate it below along with two other documents that accompanied it in the archival file: the formal proposal the Soviet Writers Union leadership sent to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, where, basing themselves on Faiz’s letter, they requested permission and funding to establish and run the magazine, and finally, a brief biography of Faiz written by his Russian translator. Beyond illuminating the specifics of Lotus’s history, the publication of these documents should illustrate the immense utility of the Soviet archive for postcolonial or Global South scholarship. There are thousands of such documents there, waiting for their hour.

Keywords:

• Afro-Asian Writers Association
• Arab socialism and nationalism
• Faiz, Faiz Ahmad
• Lotus
• Soviet Writers Union
• Third-worldism

Introduction

Over the last decade, a hitherto forgotten literary magazine, Lotus: Afro-Asian Writings, has become an object of ever-greater scholarly attention.¹ Indeed, whether seen as an instantiation of the Third World project in literature, a pre-history of postcolonial studies, or a distinct vision for world literature, Lotus offers a fresh perspective on many old questions. With this translation of a file deposited in the archives of the Soviet Writers Union, we aim to shed light on the forces and considerations involved in Lotus’s founding.

The magazine’s first issue (under the title Afro-Asian Writings) came out in March 1968, but plans for it had been in the making for at least a decade. The earliest proposal for such a publication we were able to trace dates back to the first, inaugural 1958 Tashkent congress of the Afro-Asian Writers Association (AAWA), alongside plans for a Permanent Bureau, coordinating the network of national writers committees, and a literary prize, subsequently named the Lotus Prize for Afro-Asian Literature (Tashkentskaia konferentsiia 1960, 532). Presumably, the idea was in the air: How could you have a self-respecting mid-twentieth-century international literary movement without its own organ? Besides, given the Soviet literary bureaucracies’ role in the AAWA, the interwar-era multi-lingual magazine International Literature, around which the Soviet Republic of Letters was anchored, must have been one of the models.

Before the idea could be realized, however, many practical questions had to be resolved. Where would the resources for such a publication be found? How could it become a representative journal? In which country should such an international magazine be located and how would it operate in practice? Finally, who would edit or otherwise contribute to it? At least, these are the questions that Faiz Ahmad Faiz considered in his October 1963 proposal to the Soviet Union of Writers. In the process of answering them, he also offers the most fascinating of snapshots of Arab literary, intellectual, and political life ca. 1963. We translate it below along with two other documents that accompanied it in the archival file: the formal proposal the Soviet Writers Union leadership sent to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, where, basing themselves on Faiz’s letter, they requested permission and funding to establish and run the magazine, and finally, a brief biography of Faiz written by his Russian translator.

While Lotus’s eventual outlines are evident in this proposal, not everything happened according to plan. Cairo became the first base of the magazine rather than the city Faiz had recommended – Beirut (all his warnings against Cairo, however, would prove remarkably prescient and the magazine would eventually migrate to Beirut).² Additionally, although this document treats Faiz as Lotus’s potential editor, it would be one of the people he met on this exploratory trip, Yusuf Sibai, who would eventually be selected for this role. (Ironically, Faiz would claim it after Sibai’s assassination in 1978.)

Beyond illuminating the specifics of Lotus’s history, the publication of these documents should illustrate the immense utility of the Soviet archive for postcolonial or Global South scholarship. There are thousands of such documents there, waiting for their hour.

On the establishment of an Afro-Asian literary magazine (January 16, 1964)³

Part 1: A note by the General Secretary of the Soviet Writers Union to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) about the establishment of an Afro-Asian literary magazine

In light of the anti-communist and anti-Soviet campaigns conducted by imperialist circles through different cultural and press organizations (such as Encounter in England, as well as Thought and Current in India), the question of the founding of a progressive, multilingual literary and political magazine somewhere in Asia or Africa has become particularly pressing.

The importance of such a journal has also been reinforced by the activities of the Chinese schismatics, who have financed different foreign journals, such as Eastern Horizon in Hong Kong and Revolution in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and used them to pursue their interests. These magazines systematically publish writers and journalists from various countries, who criticize the policies of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and other fraternal parties.

Such a progressive magazine, controlled by us and dedicated to the contemporary problems of literature and the arts in the countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, would help attract a large force of writers to our corner and thus balance the schismatic activities of the current pro-Chinese Permanent Bureau of the Afro-Asian Writers Association in Colombo. In the future, the magazine could host writers’ meetings, attracting a wide circle of literary figures genuinely interested in developing progressive national culture.

It would be expedient to get as many writers as possible to contribute to this magazine, even those without a sufficiently clear political worldview. Its quality must be sufficiently high and it must include various polemical texts about philosophical-aesthetic and social-political issues.

One of the founders of such a magazine and possibly its editor could be the famous Pakistani Communist poet, Lenin Peace Prize laureate, and participant in the Tashkent Writers’ Congress Faiz Ahmad Faiz (see attached biographical note).

Last autumn, in coordination with the Soviet Writers Union, he visited Algeria, the United Arab Republic (UAR), and Lebanon, where he examined the practical possibilities of publishing and distributing such a magazine.⁴ As a result of his visit, it became clear that:

1. Many members of the intelligentsia of different countries (Jean Sénac, Muhammad Arabi, Boualem Khalfa, Mustafa Abu Khalfa, and Henri Alleg in Algeria; Yusuf Sibai, Mursi Saad al-Din, [Muhammad] Mandur, Amina al-Said, Muhammad Ali Ahmad, Abd al-Rahman al-Sharqawi, Abd al-Rahman al-Khamisi, R. Qadi, Hassan Atfi,⁵ Assad Ardsh,⁶ Gazbia Sirry, Madiha Kamil in the UAR; Kamal Jumblatt, Antoine Tibet,⁷ George Hanna, Raif Khoury, Nakhle Mutran, Jawal Jabir, and Michel Suleiman in Lebanon) approved of the idea of such a journal, promising their support.

Sibai and Mursi (Cairo) assured Faiz that both the Permanent Secretariat of the Afro-Asian People’s Solidarity Organization and the UAR High Council for the Arts would help the editorial office with translation, collecting materials, and distributing issues to libraries and universities.⁸ The writer Khamisi offered his services in his capacity as the Cairo editorial representative.

1. Nevertheless, according to Faiz, the best location for such a magazine would be Beirut, first because of the favourable geographical location of the country; second, the absence of serious censorship and currency restrictions; third, the presence of good and relatively inexpensive printing facilities and translators; fourth, the readiness of certain publishing houses (al-Malayin, Hourani) to take on the commercial and juridical work; and fifth, the support of Lebanese political leaders such as Kamal Jumblatt – the Minister of the Interior and head of the national Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee.

Jumblatt has assured Faiz that the question of issuing a permit for the magazine lies within the purview of his ministry and the Ministry of Information. He supported the founding of such a journal, but urged Faiz to find a Lebanese citizen who could assume legal responsibility for it. At the same time, our Lebanese comrades Mutran, Jabir, and [Nasim] Majdalani promised to formally vouch for it, prepare the necessary legal documents, and ask Mikhail Naimy, a distinguished writer and public figure, who has studied in Russia and knows Russian, to become its editor-publisher.

En route to Paris, Faiz also met one of the UNESCO directors, N. A. Beg, in charge of Afro-Asian publications, who showed great interest in the idea. He declared that UNESCO would study the possibility of including the magazine in the list of publications approved for worldwide distribution and will possibly lend other forms of assistance.

In case publishing in Beirut turns out to be too complicated, Faiz thinks it is possible to use the country solely as a base for printing and distribution, while the editorial offices could be located in Switzerland.

1. For the purposes of representing the magazine and helping Faiz, it is necessary to include among the list of editors (as co-editor or secretary general) an experienced Lebanese journalist loyal to us. A possible candidate for such a position is Nakhle Mutran – publisher and owner of the al-Nida newspaper (organ of the Communist Party of Lebanon), a lawyer by training and active participant in the national committees of Peace and Afro-Asian Solidarity.⁹ In addition to the Writers Union of the USSR, a representative of the Novosti Press Agency (APN) in Lebanon could be charged with providing practical assistance to the journal: connections, fund transfers, a supply of materials.

2. For the organization of such a journal an initial investment of around 10,000 GBP is needed. This money will cover some of the initial administrative expenses at the press, such as payments of royalties and salaries of editorial workers. In Faiz’s proposal, between sales revenue and publishing advertisements (worth 2,000–3,000 pounds sterling per year), the magazine can eventually become self-sufficient. Nevertheless, it is quite probable that we will have to make a contribution of another 8–10,000 GBP in 1965.

Preparations for the first and second issues (considering the necessity of finding office space, getting legal approval for the journal, collecting and processing the material) would take about a year (six months per issue). Following that, the magazine could become a quarterly publication.

The possible length of the magazine’s issues would be 160 pages, with a circulation of 5,500 copies for the first issue: 3,000 in English and 2,500 in French.

It may be possible to send money directly to Faiz through the Soviet embassies in London or Beirut. In his opinion, as a recipient of the Lenin prize, it would not be difficult for him to explain the origins of his money. Further increases in circulation would not incur further costs, as the price of every issue will be based on printing costs. Faiz tells us that the initial circulation numbers are based on a very conservative estimate and will take little effort to sell.

We therefore propose the following:

Approve of the establishment of an Afro-Asian literary, artistic, and political quarterly in Beirut, Lebanon, in English and French, with a total circulation of 5,000–6,000 copies.

Make a one-time donation of 10,000 GBP to Faiz for the purposes of setting up the journal.

Request this funding (the equivalent to 28,000 roubles) from the Ministry of Finance.

Assign the Soviet Writers Union and APN the task of monitoring the journal and providing practical assistance.

Assign the Soviet Writers Union the task of selecting, together with our Lebanese comrades and the Soviet Embassy in Beirut, a suitable co-editor-publisher for the journal from among Lebanon’s progressive writers and journalists.

These suggestions are agreed upon in coordination with the APN (Comrade B. S. Burkov). Attached: Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s letter. A note on Faiz.

The Secretary of the Soviet Writers Union, January 14, 1964

A. Surkov/G. Markov, Moscow

Part 2: Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s note about his trip to Algeria, the United Arab Republic, and Lebanon and the prospects for an Afro-Asian literary magazine

After our discussions in Moscow about the above-mentioned journal, its relevance, scope, and estimated costs, as conveyed in my previous note, I visited Paris, Algiers, Cairo, and Beirut and met with writers and representatives of writers’ organizations with the aim of clarifying their position on this project, better understanding its chances of success, and choosing the most convenient location for the editorial offices.

Let me now summarize my findings from this trip.

I flew from London on September 14th and spent a day in Paris, where I met friends working for UNESCO. My other goal in stopping in Paris was to find out more about the new journal Revolution in Africa, Asia, Latin America, which was just launched in Lausanne (Switzerland). Its editorial offices are located in Paris. One of the UNESCO directors (N. A. Beg), who works on Afro-Asian print, showed real interest in the idea of a new Afro-Asian journal dedicated to literature and the arts. In his words, UNESCO had already tried to establish a journal of this kind. I was told that UNESCO would be happy to consider the possibility of including such a journal in the list of publications it helps circulate internationally and can likely offer other forms of assistance.

The journal Revolution in Africa, Asia, Latin America initially came out in Algeria and was called African Revolution. Its publisher is the Latin American M. Vergès and its editor is the African-American Tibson.¹⁰ A. M. Kheir distributes the journal to the People’s Republic of China.

I learned from Jean Sénac in Algiers that initially the journal was launched in Algeria by Muhammad Arabi with Chinese financial support. However, when the editorial board quarrelled over political disagreements, M. Vergès, who oversaw the journal’s bank account, took the funds and suddenly moved to Europe. As one can conclude from the attached copies of the journal, it is a publication of grand style and its political orientation is carefully masked. As it is the only such journal in the world, its long-term prospects are quite promising.

I left Paris on September 16th and spent the next week in Algiers. Among the people I met were the following:

Jean Sénac: the General Secretary of the Algerian Association of Writers and Painters;

Boualem Khalfa: a poet and editor of Alger republicain;¹¹

Muhammad Arabi: a writer and editor of Revolucion Africaine;

Henri Alleg: works now for Alger republicain;

The director of the progressive bookstore Library al-Nahda.

We discussed:

The project of publishing the magazine;

The state of the Algerian writers’ organization;

The prospects for organizing an Afro-Asian seminar or festival of poets in Algiers;

The views of Algerian intellectuals on different international problems, as well as their views on the domestic situation in their country.

All my interlocutors were enthusiastic about the idea of an Afro-Asian literary and cultural journal and promised all kinds of help. Jean Sénac offered himself as a local representative and correspondent and promised to help translate African writers. The Library al-Nahda is prepared to distribute the journal in Algiers. However, Algerian writers think that technical conditions in the country are not conducive to the publication of an international journal for now.

• [1] The majority of Algerian books are published in Beirut and Paris. The country has a low literacy rate, and initially at least, it would be difficult to count on a significant number of subscribers.

• [2] In Algeria there is still no national writers’ organization, although one exists on paper. There are multiple explanations for why this is so: the individualism of some leading literary figures, the complex political situation on the eve of the new constitution, the great preoccupation of activist writers with journalistic and administrative work. One of the writers said: “This is year zero for our culture. We are still just beginning.”

Jean Sénac, who tried to create a national writers’ association, is quite active and engaging, but doesn’t have much influence. As an Algerian Frenchman, he is considered an outsider by Arab writers. Without a doubt, the most influential person, both in the government and in literature, is Muhammad Arabi, the editor of Revolucion Africaine, whom we considered until recently a vehicle for dogmatic and extremist ideas. In conversation with me, he promised to bring up the issue of uniting all writers in a national organization before the Algerian government and the readers of his newspaper. “I can assure you that such an organization will be founded towards the end of September,” he told me.

• [3] According to Jean Sénac and Muhummad Arabi, neither of them has received any communication from the Permanent Bureau in Colombo regarding the possibility of hosting a seminar of poets, even though they have heard of the idea from Soviet friends visiting Algiers. I told them that they would have to take the initiative themselves based on the decisions of the Permanent Bureau and the session of the Executive Committee [of the Afro-Asian Writers Association] in Jakarta. They promised to start working on it in October, right after the founding of the national writers’ organization. They said that if the Permanent Bureau agrees, such a seminar could happen in the spring or summer of 1964.

• [4] Regarding the political situation, my impressions are such that the intelligentsia and public of Algeria are of the same opinion regarding the following basic questions:

Peace and peaceful coexistence. After seven years of bloody and destructive war, nobody wants to hear incendiary speeches, and though domestic issues can inflame passions, on foreign relations almost everybody maintains the line of peaceful coexistence.

Nuclear test ban. This is a major question for the Algerians because of the Sahara and the growing conflict with the French government over the nationalization policy of the Algerian government. This is why Algerians enthusiastically support the treaty banning nuclear tests. Any opposition to this treaty is highly unpopular. There is a unanimous belief that there must be pressure put on France to abandon its present policy. The Algerian public considers those condemning the treaty to be in cahoots with de Gaulle. The Chinese opposition to this treaty, as well as the episode with Vergès and his journal, were met with condemnation from the intelligentsia.

Socialist restructuring of the economy. On domestic questions, the majority of politically conscious intellectuals, students, the working class, and the broad peasant masses support Ben Bella’s political course of rapid nationalization.¹²

Opposition is mostly concentrated:

In the new, privileged stratum, which has managed to seize the property abandoned by the French. Among them are a number of prominent participants in the revolutionary movement. Nationalization concerns them directly as the measures it encompasses apply not only to French possessions but also to the property of Algerians.

Among the feudal and tribal aristocracy, especially in Kabylia, which is going to be stripped of its ancestral privileges by Ben Bella’s new programme.

Among the individualist intelligentsia, with its liberal bourgeois values.

Among the pan-Arab and Nasserist religious stratum, which insists on close relations with the UAR and anti-communism.

Despite the inevitability of resistance from the above-mentioned elements, the general opinion is such that it does not pose an immediate danger to Ben Bella’s government, which enjoys broad popular support. However, necessary prerequisites for the success of the government’s policies are the absence of foreign interference and economic assistance from socialist countries, especially in the areas of trade and training experts. The general opinion is that many obstacles have already been overcome thanks to the referendum on the new constitution and the establishment of a new government.

Everybody whom I met was kind and helpful. I would like to single out the cultural attaché of the Soviet Embassy, Viktor Smolin, who was my guide and translator.

United Arab Republic

I arrived in Cairo on September 22nd. There I met the following people:

Yusuf Sibai: head of the High Council for the Arts, Culture, and Social Sciences in the United Arab Republic, as well as of the Permanent Secretariat of the Afro-Asian Solidarity Organization;

Mursi Saad al-Din: his deputy and editor of the journal Middle East Observer;

Dr. [Muhammad] Mandur: editor of the journal al-Sharq;

Amina al-Said: editor of the women’s journal Hawa, writer, and one of the leaders of the women’s movement;

Muhammad Ali Ahmad: writer;

Abd al-Rahman al-Sharqawi: writer, participant in the Peace Movement;

Abd al-Rahman al-Khamisi: prose writer, poet, and playwright;

R. Qadi: critic and journalist, who writes for al-Gumhuriyya;

Dr. Hassan Atfi: leading architect;¹³

Assad Ardsh: theatre director;¹⁴

Gazbia Sirry: well-known painter;

Madiha Kamil: writer and journalist;

Manfia Atfi: writer and journalist.

As well as composers, painters, and journalists. In addition, comrades Latif Maksudov of the USSR and Kalimullah of India from the Permanent Secretariat of the (Afro-Asian Peoples’) Solidarity Organization frequently met and talked with me.

In Cairo, the conversations primarily concerned the following topics:

The project of founding a journal;

The Afro-Asian Writers Association;

The Solidarity Organization and the recent conference in Nicosia;

General political and cultural issues:

I discussed the question of publishing a journal first and foremost with Sibai and Mursi. Without qualification, Sibai agreed that the need for such a journal has now become urgent, but could say nothing about its contents or the concrete help he could offer via the Solidarity Organization. He asked me to send the Secretariat an official proposal, describing the prospective journal and the assistance it would need. Maksudov, Kalimullah, and I decided that at this stage it would be too early to send such a request and that the Permanent Secretariat [of AAPSO] should be informed once the journal begins publication. At the same time, Sibai implied and Mursi directly stated that in the realm of translation, the collection of texts, and the distribution of the journal to libraries and universities, I can count on the help of the High Council for the Arts, in addition to the Permanent Secretariat. (Mursi thinks that UAR can easily take at least 1,000 copies.)

Other writers and journalists with whom I spoke were even more enthusiastic and promised their full support. Khamisi offered his services as the journal’s representative in Cairo. Despite this enthusiasm, however, Cairo doesn’t seem like the best place for such a publication for the following reasons:

There are quite a few presses for publishing a journal in English and French, but they are all quite old and not at the requisite level;

There are strict currency regulations in the country;

There is severe censorship and it would be impossible to avoid government interference in the publication of an international journal;

The UAR’s foreign policy is quite unpredictable vis-à-vis its Asian and African neighbours, which can complicate the journal’s distribution in a number of countries.

I tried to explain to the writers of UAR the situation in the Permanent Bureau and the Executive Committee of the Afro-Asian Writers Association, talked about the schismatic actions of the Chinese and the damage they have done, and insisted on the necessity of cleansing our movement, ideally at its next conference in Jakarta.¹⁵ The UAR writers with whom I spoke agreed.

I discussed with Sibai different ways of activating the Cultural Committee of the Permanent Secretariat [of AAPSO] and emphasized the necessity of using it to counter the USA’s cultural aggression toward newly independent countries, as well as to strengthen cultural exchange between African and Asian countries. For example, I suggested putting together an almanac about important Afro-Asian cultural figures, producing a yearly digest with the most important publications from the two continents, making a number of documentary films about historical monuments and cultural events, arranging collections of Afro-Asian folklore, music, and films. Sibai agreed that there is much work to be done in this vein and promised to raise the issue at the next session of the Permanent Secretariat even before my departure. Unfortunately, this did not happen, as the session was mostly devoted to the conclusion of the Nicosia conference and was therefore quite stormy (see more on this below). Mursi later told me that he and Sibai think that some of the proposals can be implemented without additional approvals from the Permanent Secretariat, as a continuation of its past resolutions. He promised to propose them at the High Council for the Arts.

Regarding the Nicosia conference, its resolutions on the nuclear test ban and the Jakarta labour unions meeting were once again attacked by the Chinese delegation at the Cairo Permanent Secretariat [of AAPSO]. The Chinese delegation demanded that its revisions and amendments be included in the final documents of the conference. The amendments were composed in very strong terms and cast a shadow on the whole Nicosia conference. They caused an uproar among the African members of the Permanent Secretariat, a dispute broke out, the meeting was adjourned, and no decision could be taken. At the next meeting, which took place the day before my departure from Cairo, there was an attempt to reach a compromise by including some excerpts from the Chinese amendments, having cleansed them of some unacceptable formulations. By the time I left Cairo, there was still no agreement.

It is clear that unlike at the conference, where decisions are made by majority vote, Sibai wants the Permanent Secretariat to operate on consensus. As a result, all discussions either end with a compromise or – and this is the more common outcome – reach a dead end. According to Kalimullah, the sessions seem like wars of attrition in which the side that first shows willingness for compromise loses.

Nasser and Nasserism are highly popular in Egypt, which is something that cannot be said of pan-Arabism. I heard several jokes about Nasser supporters in Syria and Yemen. (For example: What were our trade relations with Syria in the years of unity? We exported gold and specialists and imported prostitutes and pimps.) As a whole, the Egyptian intelligentsia looks very negatively upon Ba’athists (“bloody executioners”), is unanimous in supporting the ban on nuclear tests, but is very far from unity in its evaluation of the international communist movement.¹⁶ The left wing of the intelligentsia believes the Algerian example, the sordid affairs of the Ba’athists, and the improving domestic economic situation will force Nasser to adjust his intransigent attitude toward the country’s Left, and they believe it is worthwhile to try to accelerate this process via active collaboration with the regime. Others denounce this line of action as dangerous opportunism, since, in their opinion, Arab chauvinism is the main obstacle to scientific socialism in the Arab world, and the main inspiration for this chauvinism is Nasserism, his ideology and political regime. In the literary world, the government’s position is represented by Sibai and others, who insist:

Egypt “above all.” Hence:

To prove this, it’s necessary to gather in Cairo as many Afro-Asian organizations as possible;

Except when it would be contrary to Egypt’s political interests, it is important to keep those organizations in a state of “restricted activity” and “paralyzed neutrality,” and thus not let them play an active or pivotal role, which could call into question the importance and prestige of the regime as a “disinterested and objective arbiter.”

(Towards my own person I can say I saw nothing other than great attention, good will, and hospitality. This was especially true of Mursi.)

Lebanon

I landed in Beirut on September 30th and remained there until October 7th. In Beirut I met with the following individuals:

General Kamal Jumblatt, Minister of Internal Affairs and President of the Solidarity Committee;

Antoine Tabet of the Peace Movement;

Dr. George Hanna;

Dr. Suhayl Idris;

Dr. Raif Khoury;

Nakhle Mutran;

Jawaz Jabir;¹⁷

Michel Suleiman;

Munir Baalbaki;

[Nasim] Majdalani;

Abbas Khalaf;

Dr. Hussein Muruwwa.

As a matter of fact, all of them are involved in the Peace Movement, as well as the Afro-Asian Solidarity and Writers Movement.

In Lebanon meetings were largely devoted to the practical aspects of issuing a journal and the prospects for establishing a progressive writers association.

At present there is no national writers union in Lebanon. There are only circles around famous names or publishing houses. For example, Suhayl Idris is the leader of the al-Adab¹⁸ circle and Baalbaki of the al-Malayin¹⁹ circle. The ideological views of the writers can be divided into three main groups: the pro-American group of apolitical romantics sponsored by the Congress for Cultural Freedom; the pro-Nasser, Arab nationalist group headed by Suhayl Idris; and the broad-based, left-socialist group led by George Hanna and Raif Khoury. The two latter groups collaborate through the (Afro-Asian People’s) Solidarity Organization and enjoy fairly friendly relations with one another. However, their views on foreign and domestic policy differ. There is also the problem of Muslim–Christian relations. Arab nationalist ideology is popular among Muslims and the Left. They are opposed by factions of the Christian intelligentsia close to the Communist worldview.

The Lebanese intelligentsia is nonetheless united in the belief that it has become necessary to establish a national writers union under the auspices of the Solidarity Movement as an autonomous but adjoining organization. President Jumblatt endorsed this suggestion and promised to convene a session of the committee in the coming days to consider and settle this matter once and for all.

With regard to the journal, already upon first contact it seems that Beirut is the best place for such a publication in Asia and Africa for the following reasons:

It has a favourable geographical location that provides access to many countries;

The government does not engage in any international feuds, and as a result, Lebanese publishers are not at risk of being banned from import to this or that country;

There are no restrictions on currency exchange transactions;

There are superb printing facilities in the country and greater capacity for translation into Arabic, English, and French;

The al-Malayin and Hourani publishing houses are prepared to take on distribution of the journal and other commercial operations.

With the exception of Suhayl Idris, all of the individuals listed above enthusiastically endorsed the idea of a journal. I asked Idris to meet with me immediately upon arrival, but I only saw him on the fourth day. He offered to pass the proposition of publishing a journal on to the Permanent Secretariat of the Solidarity Organization in Cairo for approval. I replied that I do not need anyone’s approval. Then he said that under Lebanese law a journal cannot be owned or edited by a foreigner. In his view, it would therefore be prudent to transfer the publication of the journal to the Lebanese Solidarity Committee. I answered that this was not practical because disagreements might arise within the committee or between me and the committee. After this meeting, Mutran, Dr. Khoury, Dr. Hanna, and I discussed this issue among ourselves before meeting with General Jumblatt. He expressed interest in our idea and suggested a solution of his own, since this matter falls under the purview of his ministry and the Ministry of Information. He said that a periodical can be owned and published by a foreigner. However, law requires that a Lebanese publisher take formal responsibility for its content. Therefore, he suggested that I find a suitable person, a Lebanese national, for this purpose, and then send him – i.e. Jumblatt – an official proposal requesting permission to publish. There is also another option. The journal can be formally based in another location, but printed in Beirut. The proposal for the journal is already being prepared as we speak by my lawyer friends in Beirut: Mutran, Jabir, and Majdalani – who promised to send me the document in London. They will also send me a draft contract with a suitable publisher, printer, and distributor for the journal. Additionally, they will try to convince some famous writer – Mikhail Naimy, for example – to be the official editor-publisher.

To summarize, we can say the following with regard to publishing the journal:

Place of publication

Beirut represents for us the best place to print and publish. As was mentioned above, there is another possibility:

Print, edit, and distribute the journal in Beirut, inviting a distinguished Lebanese writer to collaborate. If this does not pan out:

Print and circulate the journal from Beirut, but base the editorial office elsewhere. In this case, to my mind, Geneva is most preferable. It has a favourable geographical location and a neutral government, there are no restrictions on currency and an abundance of experienced translators and journalists (Headquarters of the International Labour Organization).

Finances

My assessment of costs included in a previous letter still stands. The only thing to take into consideration is that printing costs in Beirut are lower than I expected. As for income, the picture is rather encouraging. Opportunities exist to bring in advertising orders worth about 2,000–3,000 pounds sterling from international travel agencies whose representatives I have already spoken with. Therefore, the deficit will be significantly lower. However, the need for an initial investment of 10,000 pounds remains. If some part is not spent, it can be carried over to the following year.

Circulation

Five thousand copies in English and 2,500 copies in French – this is my proposal for the first issue. These figures can then be adjusted depending on demand. The price of each issue will depend on printing costs, and therefore subsequent print runs will not incur new costs. The above figures represent the minimal demand guaranteed in the countries where the journal should be distributed.

Distribution

Publishers in Beirut are prepared to take on distribution of the journal in the countries of the Middle East on commission. I will go over their final terms upon returning to London. It will be possible to secure the same terms with corresponding agencies in Europe, West Africa, East Africa, India and Pakistan, Southeast Asia, and the Far East.

Timeline for release of the first issue

It would be impractical and senseless to take any further steps until a decision is made on two essential points:

Is the project itself of publishing a journal worthwhile?

Can funds be allocated for it? When and in what form can they be obtained?

With regard to question (a), I have nothing to add on top of what was already written in my previous letter, except that there are already at least two serious competitors being published: Revolution in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and Eastern Horizon. Thus far, the first of these is purely political in nature, but it includes sections on literature and culture which will grow with time.

The publications of the Congress for Cultural Freedom and Encounter have long been active in this area. Therefore, if the basic decision to publish a journal is made, I see no point in giving competitors a big head start.

As for question (b), not a single decision will make sense until the finances are worked out.

General conclusions

The trip was beneficial to me personally because I made many new acquaintances in the countries I visited. I got a sense of the emotional, political, and intellectual climate of these countries. The trip gave me the opportunity to explain to the people I met the prevailing objective situation in the Permanent Bureau of the Afro-Asian Writers Association, to underscore the necessity of augmenting the activities of the national unions, and to emphasize the importance of the upcoming conference in Jakarta, the issues that will undoubtedly be raised there, and the role national writers unions are called upon to play therein.

Faiz Ahmed Faiz

11.10.1963

Proposal of founding an Afro-Asian literary journal

Over the past few years the nations of the capitalist camp – the United States in particular – have waged a continuous, systematic, well-organized and generously financed ideological campaign, which has been particularly powerful in the countries of Asia and Africa. The goal of the campaign is to poison the hearts and minds of these countries’ intelligentsia. It is carried out by an array of organizations: the Congress for Cultural Freedom, the Moral Rearmament Society, the PEN Club, the British Council, the American Friends of the Middle East, the Asia Fund, and many others which operate under the guise of purely literary, cultural, and educational institutions. The campaign is waged through numerous journals, often international in scope (e.g. Encounter) and sometimes of national significance (e.g. Thought and Current in India). These periodicals are accompanied by countless supplements, brochures, and openly propagandistic books. The Franklin Foundation, whose sphere of operation covers India, Pakistan, and Ceylon, pays prominent writers in these countries good money to translate American books about the most diverse aspects of the capitalist system. In addition, American, British, and various other foundations, as well as governmental and semi-governmental organizations, regularly hold conferences, meetings, and seminars with the artist-intelligentsia to promote the spiritual values of the capitalist world: rampant individualism, decadence, and an anarchistic, antisocial manner of thought. This influence is amplified further by the steady stream of films about crime and sex, raunchy musical records, and semi-pornographic literature corrupting the still impressionable minds of the youth.

After decades of struggle against colonial-imperialist oppression, the younger generations of the intelligentsia in the recently liberated nations of Asia and Africa are now faced with a cultural, spiritual and ideological vacuum, which can no longer be filled by the comprehensive desire for freedom that constituted the principal feature of the national liberation movement. As a result, despite the instinctive aversion of the peoples and intelligentsia of Asian and African nations to imperialist-colonial propaganda, the ideological campaign which I spoke of above has to some extent done its damage, poisoning the minds of many, and by no means only those who necessarily emerged as natural allies of ideological reaction (they, I might add, needed no poisoning), but also those who could have become partisans of the internationalist progressive-socialist front – namely, the patriotic national intelligentsia.

In the realm of politics, for many years left-democratic parties in various Asian and African nations have fought vigorously to mobilize national public opinion against imperial-colonial penetration in these countries. The example and achievements of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union have inspired and empowered them in this struggle. Until now, however, at the international level, this hostile ideological-literary campaign has not met with adequate opposition. In the battle for human minds, the enemy still has the upper hand. The need to combat this campaign and assist in establishing progressive leadership of literary, cultural, and intellectual forces cannot be overlooked.

Until now, this could not be done for the following reasons:

We do not have a progressive organization opposing the Congress for Cultural Freedom, Asia Fund, and so on;

We do not have well-organized journals, which we could set against publications like Encounter;

There are great obstacles to distributing publications from the countries of the socialist camp;

Communist and left parties in the non-socialist countries of Asia and Africa possess neither resources, nor technical capabilities – these capabilities are in the hands of their reactionary adversaries;

For some time, we all hoped that the problems before us would be solved with the help of the Afro-Asian Writers Association. So far, this hope has not been realized. This movement has proven useful in bringing together the writers of Asia and Africa, establishing better contacts, and exchanging points of view, but due to organizational weakness it was unable to produce any creative output at all, which could have inspired and drawn in those writers whose interests this movement is supposed to represent. The situation that has arisen in this movement and the sectarian position adopted by the leadership of its Permanent Bureau are no grounds for optimism. The only way out of this situation appears to be organizing the activities of the writers beyond the movement.

One such type of activity could be the publication of a progressive literary journal, devoted primarily to casting light on the literatures of Asia and Africa. The main task of such a journal should be to compete with publications like Encounter, and therefore it would be desirable that it resemble them in form and parlance, wielding their own weapons against them. The journal should appear objective and academic, but in reality, be a militant, ideologically incisive publication. We should attempt to attract the greatest possible number of big-name writers to contribute to the journal, including in this roster even those who do not have clear political views. Following the example of Encounter, the journal may perhaps at times need to publish somewhat disagreeable material or material plainly contrary to its main thrust, provided that an effective response is arranged. The journal must be of a high literary and intellectual calibre and, whenever possible, avoid openly political polemics. It should mainly comprise artistic works by the progressive writers of Asia and Africa, essays of literary criticism, and content on questions of culture and cultural history.

Technical preparations, gathering materials, and setting up contacts and correspondence may take half a year, provided that the financial issues in particular are resolved. Before publishing the first issue it would be preferable to have in hand material for two, or better yet, three issues. A trip to some countries in Asia and Africa may be necessary in order to decide on a place of publication and to establish ties with writers and writers unions.

If the proposal of publishing a journal is accepted, the first issue can come out in the spring of 1964 and the second in autumn of the same year. If the launch is successful, the journal can be published quarterly in 1965. After some time, we can begin to consider publishing a special thematic issue.

The first two issues can contain around 150 pages with approximately 500 words per page and four to five illustrations.

Since publishing costs and royalties depend on the place of publication, a precise estimate of costs can only be put together after it has been decided where the journal will be published. The estimate of costs provided below is approximate and will need revision depending on the location. In any case, however, since this journal must compete with publications like Encounter, which apparently have unlimited resources, its publication costs will be somewhat higher than usual.

Faiz Ahmed Faiz

Translated by Miriam Salganik

Part 3: a note on the Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz

Faiz was born in 1911 in Sialkot (contemporary Pakistan). For thirty years already, he has played a significant role in the work of the All-Indian Association of Progressive Writers. When Nazi Germany attacked the USSR, Faiz joined the army, reaching the rank of a colonel. In 1947, after the founding of the Pakistani state, Faiz became the editor of the two major newspapers in the country: Pakistani Times (in English) and Imiroz (in Urdu), as well as their literary supplements. Besides literary activities, he also participated in politics as one of the leaders of the All-Pakistani Congress of Unions, the leader of the Pakistani Peace Committee.

In 1951 Faiz was arrested in a case that became known as the Rawalpindi affair [an unsuccessful coup attempt by leftist officers of the Pakistani army]. He was accused of overthrowing the existing government and spent five years in prison.

Faiz assumed an active role in the Afro-Asian Writers movement from its very beginning. He was a delegate of the writers’ conference in Delhi and in Tashkent. In 1962, after receiving the Lenin Peace Prize, he went to Colombo, to attend a session of the Permanent Bureau of the Afro-Asian Writers Association. He sought to renew his contacts with the movement, which had been severed because the Pakistani government would not give him permission to leave the country. He was also planning to donate a part of his Lenin Prize to the Permanent Bureau. Nevertheless, owing to the Chinese delegate’s intervention, the General Secretary of the Permanent Bureau, Senanayake, did not accept Faiz’s participation.

Faiz nonetheless considers it necessary to contribute in whatever way he can to the success of the Afro-Asian Writers Association and in these questions fully shares the position of the Soviet Writers.

Senior Consultant of the International Commission, Miriam Salganik

[email protected]

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Irina Surkichanova for her help in scanning the above documents and to the archivists at the Russian State Archive for Literature and the Arts (RGALI) for providing them.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Hala Halim’s (2012; 2017; 2019) pioneering work on the magazine was soon followed by Ghouse (2014), Duncan Yoon (2015), Kassamali (2016), Azeb (2019), Popescu (2020), Rossen Djagalov (2020; forthcoming), El Nabolsy (2021), and others. In addition, Tariq Mehmood’s Lotus Project based at the American University in Beirut (AUB) has sought not only to raise awareness of the magazine’s legacy by hosting lectures and events around it, but has also begun the work of creating a comprehensive archive of the magazine and publishing anthologies of texts in Arabic, English, and French that had originally appeared in Lotus. The first of these anthologies, edited by Nesrine Chahine, is forthcoming from AUB Press.

2 According to Elizabeth Holt, CIA operatives working under cover of the Congress for Cultural Freedom produced similar reports on the relative merits of Lebanon and Egypt as Middle East bases of operation in 1959. Although they initially planned to publish their Arabic-language periodical Hiwar in Cairo, by 1962 the Congress was forced to move to Beirut for many of the reasons cited by Faiz for preferring the city to Cairo (Holt 2018, 486–489).

3 Russian State Archive for Literature and the Arts (RGALI). f. 631 (Soviet Writers Union), op. 26 (Foreign Commission), ex. 6164, l. 1–26.

4 The United Arab Republic was a 1958–1961 union between Egypt and Syria. Egypt continued to be called the United Arab Republic even after Syria’s secession, until 1971.

5 This is very like Hassan Fathy (1900–1989), the world famous Egyptian pioneer of vernacular architecture and author of Architecture for the Poor.

6 This is likely the Egyptian stage actor and theatre director Saad Ardash.

7 This is likely a misspelling of Antoine Tabet, whose name is transliterated more accurately in Faiz’s letter.

8 Yusuf Sibai (1917–1978) was an Egyptian writer and minister of culture, who occupied a post at nearly every conceivable cultural association and editorial board in Nasser and Sadat-era Egypt. Between the mid-1960s and his assassination by Palestinian militants in 1978, he was also the General Secretary of the Afro-Asian Writers Association and chief editor of Lotus. Among the institutions Sibai presided over was the Cairo-based Afro-Asian People’s Solidarity Organizations (AAPSO), one of the main institutional forms the Third-World project took. Mursi Saad al-Din – himself a diplomat and translator – was Sibai’s deputy in many of these roles.

9 Here and elsewhere, the Peace movement refers to the Cold-War-era pro-Soviet World Peace Council (1950–) and its national affiliates.

10 In fact, “Tibson” is Richard Gibson, the founder of Fair Play for Cuba Committee (FPCC) and CIA asset. M. Vergès is Jacques Vergès, a Siamese-born French Maoist (1925–2013).

11 An Arabic-language newspaper close to the Algerian Communist Party.

12 Ahmed Ben Bella (1916–2012) was independent Algeria’s first president (1963–1965). While Faiz offers a very accurate account of the opposition against Ben Bella’s socialist programme, he underestimated its strength. In June 1965 Ben Bella’s government was overthrown in a coup led by his defense minister Houari Boumédiène, following which the country’s Third Worldism and socialist developmentalism were blunted.

13 Again, likely Hassan Fathy.

14 Again, likely Saad Ardash.

15 The context against which Faiz wrote this letter was the temporary paralysis of the Afro-Asian Writers Association as a result of the Sino-Soviet conflict, especially as the head of the Association’s Permanent Bureau, the Sri Lankan writer Ratne D. Senanayake, sided with the Chinese. Within a few years, the Chinese writers and their allies would be removed from the Association (or rather, they would continue to operate a smaller, parallel one). Until then, however, the Association was too divided to initiate its own literary magazine.

16 The Ba’ath Party is an Arab nationalist, socialist political party that came to power in postcolonial Iraq and Syria. Although it also preached Arab unity and counted many Nasserists among its ranks, the Syrian Ba’ath party’s relationship with the Nasser regime was strained as a result of Nasser’s efforts to break up the party during the years of unification.

17 This is presumably the same figure listed above as “Jawal Jabir.” Since his name is spelled differently throughout the documents, he is difficult to identify.

18 Dār al-Ādāb was a publishing house established by Suhayl Idris and the home of al-Ādāb, the premier pan-Arab nationalist literary journal of the period. See Klemm (2007) and Di-Capua (2018) for more on Idris and the journal.

19 Dār al-’ilm li-l-malāyīn - Publishing House for the Education of the Masses.