* * * Yevgeny Yevtushenko on Soviet poetry

We are including in abridged form Yevgeny Yevtushenko's statement on Soviet poetry, printed in the magazine "Young Communist", vol. 10, 1962, under the title "We are the heirs of great poetry". We are omitting the entire part of the statement dedicated to Russian classical poetry, in which one finds brilliant, penetrating characteristics of Russian poets. Yevtushenko is undoubtedly the most generously gifted, the brightest representative of the young generation of Soviet poets that took shape in the years after the 20th Congress of the CPSU. His poetry is characterized by a keen sensitivity to the civil and moral problems of socialist society, youthful intransigence to any Falsehood, dead ossification and bureaucratic arrogance. In it, the pure voice of incorruptible truth, deep sincerity and frankness, the civic excitement of a person inspired by the greatness and holiness of the communist ideal sound. His latest poems "Fears" and "Stalin's Heirs" testify to the civic maturity and manliness of the poet, to his keen eye, to his ability to see things in their essence and depth and not to be afraid to show them to us. It is precisely these qualities of his poetry that always gather full audiences and make Yevtushenko a favorite post of today's Soviet youth. Yevtushenko's article is directly related to the conversations about young Soviet poetry and to the All-Union Conference of Young Writers in Moscow in December of this year.