A Summary of Theodore Dreiser’s "Dreiser:
A Russian Diary"

This book contains the travel notes of American novelist Theodore Dreiser, chronicling events from October 1927 to January 1928 during his two-month trip across the USSR. The writer arrived in the country at the invitation of the Soviet authorities for the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution. The manuscript, long preserved in an archive, was first published in English in 1996, and in Russian in 2018. The notes were created with the active assistance of American journalist Ruth Epperson Kennell, who served as secretary and translator. Kennell typed the diary entries every evening on Dreiser’s behalf, after which the author personally revised and supplemented them with his own texts.

This work is published as part of the University of Pennsylvania’s academic series dedicated to the writer’s archival legacy (which previously published Dreiser’s American Diaries, 1902–1926 and the autobiographical volume The General Worker), and the Russian translation of the book was released in the From the Personal Archive series.

Preparation and the road to the USSR

In early October 1927, representatives of Soviet organizations in New York conveyed to Dreiser an official invitation to attend the festive celebrations in Moscow. The writer declined the role of a banal wedding general at the week-long celebration and set strict conditions: freedom of movement throughout the country, funding for an extended visit, and the opportunity to independently visit the Volga region, Siberia, and Ukraine. After receiving cables guaranteeing his participation from Maxim Litvinov and Olga Kameneva, the author departed the United States on the liner Mauritania on October 19, 1927.

During the sea voyage, Dreiser engaged in extensive discussions about art and collectivism with the Mexican artist Diego Rivera. Upon arriving in Europe, the writer made brief stops in Paris and Berlin. In Berlin, due to a bout of bronchitis, the writer consulted German doctors, who diagnosed aortic dilation and categorically advised him against traveling to frigid Russia. Doctors Felix Boenheim and E. Ostwald billed him $20 for an X-ray and $25 for the visit, which Dreiser viewed as a blatant attempt to profit from the American. Ignoring the doctors’ orders, the writer crossed the Soviet border at Negoreloye Station on November 3, 1927.

Staying in Moscow and getting to know the new government

Arriving in Moscow on November 4, 1927, Dreiser checked into a rococo suite at the Grand Hotel. He was immediately visited by literary critic Sergei Dinamov and economist Scott Nehring, who recommended Ruth Kennell as his secretary. The writer’s first days were spent visiting Taganka Prison, where a murderous barber and an old agent provocateur were held, as well as exploring the streets and observing the parade on Red Square on November 7, 1927. Dreiser observed the march of Caucasian and Asian delegations with great interest, but also noted the poor dress of the participants and the squalid state of public transportation.

The writer began a series of meetings with Soviet leaders and cultural figures. At the Women’s Department of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), he discussed family law, the rights of unmarried women, and maternity leave with Kachilina. At the Academy of Artistic Sciences, Dreiser held a discussion with its director, Pyotr Kogan, about whether science could analyze art. At a reception at the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, the author spoke with diplomats Alexandra Kollontai and Ivy Litvinova, discussing freedom of the press and Soviet morality.

Due to organizational confusion and departmental rivalry between the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (VOKS) and International Workers’ Aid, the writer found himself temporarily unnoticed and threatened an immediate departure for New York. VOKS director Olga Kameneva personally visited the hotel, fully funding the trip and organizing meetings with top government officials.

After the conflict was resolved, Dreiser visited the Krasny Oktyabr confectionery factory, where he studied the work of the factory committee and the factory crèches for 2,600 workers. In a modest room in a communal apartment, he met with director Sergei Eisenstein, who shared his idea for a film adaptation of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital. At the hotel, the writer received Karl Radek, who discussed Vladimir Lenin and his disagreements with Leon Trotsky. The author managed to secure a contract with Gosizdat (State Publishing House) to publish his books with a $1,000 advance and met with Vladimir Mayakovsky, director Alexander Tairov, and People’s Commissar of Trade Anastas Mikoyan. A conversation with Konstantin Stanislavsky about staging the play An American Tragedy ended in a rejection due to censorship concerns.

In late November, Dreiser traveled to Yasnaya Polyana for the seventeenth anniversary of Leo Tolstoy’s death. At the estate, he toured the museum rooms, visited the writer’s modest grave in a birch grove, listened to peasant speeches, and had a detailed conversation with Alexandra Tolstaya about educational work.

Trip to Leningrad

In late November 1927, Dreiser arrived in Leningrad with Ruth Kennell and guide Sergei Trivas. Staying at the Hotel Europe, he noted the former capital’s urban elegance. The writer toured the Hermitage, St. Isaac’s Cathedral, the Peter and Paul Fortress, and the Tatar Mosque, and also visited Detskoye Selo, where he critically assessed the last tsar’s residence in the Catherine Palace, calling it a model of bad taste and hoarding.

In Leningrad, the writer discussed unemployment and the housing program with Ivan Kondratyev, Deputy Chairman of the Leningrad Soviet, and inspected new workers’ housing and the "Red Triangle" rubber factory, which employed 16,000 people. His conversation with the factory’s director, Yanen, led to a debate about individualism and collectivism. Dreiser also interviewed Archbishop Nikolai Platonov, a leader of the Renovationist movement, and toured the Pushkin House, the Public Library, and the Young Spectator’s Theater under the direction of Alexander Bryantsev.

Tour of the regions and conclusion of the visit

Returning to Moscow, Dreiser interviewed Deputy People’s Commissar of Posts Lyubovich about the development of communications and Deputy People’s Commissar of Agriculture Svidersky about the taxation of kulaks. On December 9, 1927, he departed for Nizhny Novgorod. There, the writer toured the Krasny Oktyabr factory, the peasant village of Blizhne-Borovskoye, where he spoke with local residents and a priest, and a telephone factory. The route then took him through Kyiv and Kharkov. In Kyiv, Dreiser toured the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, and in Kharkov, he examined the work of an electromechanical plant with 4,000 workers and its exhibition halls.

In mid-December, the writer arrived in Donbas. In the city of Stalino, Dreiser inspected a state farm, mining settlements, and workers’ clubs, and also descended into a coal mine to a depth of 140 meters, where he observed miners at work and coal deliveries. Afterwards, his journey passed through Rostov-on-Don, Mineralnye Vody, and Kislovodsk, where the author took Narzan baths and toured sanatoriums for workers.

On December 26, 1927, Dreiser arrived in Baku. In the capital of Azerbaijan, he explored the oil fields and refineries in the Black City, visited the Ali Bayramov Muslim Women’s Club, and the ancient fortress. From there, via Tiflis and Batumi, the writer set sail on the steamship Pestel across the Black Sea, stopping in Sukhumi, Gagra, Sochi, Novorossiysk, Feodosia, Yalta, and Sevastopol.

On January 8, 1928, Dreiser arrived in Odessa. Due to bureaucratic delays in processing exit documents and permits for the export of manuscripts, the writer spent several days in the city. Struggling with a cold and domestic insecurity, he dictated his final statement for the American press on January 13, 1928. In it, the writer praised large-scale housing construction and the eradication of illiteracy, but criticized the unsanitary conditions, the slow pace of work, and the problem of homeless children. On January 13, 1928, the writer received an exit visa and left the USSR through Shepetovka station.