The reason why Lin Zixuan quoted this famous quote from Paul Kochagin was because the book "How Steel is Made" made a deep impression on him, and it was one of the few Soviet novels he had read.

In later generations, this passage and Gorky's "Haiyan" became the last memory of the Soviet Union by the Chinese.

Moreover, the story of Ostrovsky, the author of "How Steel is Made", is extremely inspiring.

At the beginning of 1927, at the age of 22, Ostrovsky was completely paralyzed and bedridden, and he began to lose sight in both eyes.

In this difficult time, he was determined to use literature to show the face of his time and his personal life experience.

It was a very arduous process, and he overcame all kinds of difficulties to write, and finally completed the novel "How Steel is Made" in 1933, but the publication process did not go well.

In the end, it was published after being introduced by a friend, but it was unexpectedly an unprecedented success, and it became a god in the Soviet Union.

After that, he lived in a villa built for him by the Soviet government, where he was cared for by special personnel and medical personnel.

He began to write "Born of the Storm", a novel that often had to be revised according to the meaning of "above" in the process of writing, in order to ensure the correctness of the novel's creative line.

Ostrovsky had a feud with the French writer Gide.

Gide was a French novelist who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1947.

He visited the Soviet Union in 1935 and wrote "Returning from a Visit to the Soviet Union" after returning home, which was soon translated into many languages and published in other countries, causing great repercussions.

The main text of "Returning from a Visit to the Soviet Union" is only 30,000 words. But it is a true description of what he saw and heard in the Soviet Union.

Precisely because it is true, and expresses disillusionment with the USSR. and the conclusion that the Soviet Union was bound to go bankrupt caused an uproar in the world literary circles.

The reaction of the Soviet authorities to the book was extremely strong. Supporters of the Soviet Union were mobilized through various channels to launch a fierce attack on Gide and his "Return from a Visit to the Soviet Union."

The Soviet press accused Gide of being a "wolf in sheep's clothing" and a "fascist spy".

Because Gide declared himself a communist and had a vision of the Soviet Union, but after the visit, he changed his opinion.

During his time in the Soviet Union, Gide criticized the realist works in the Soviet Union as mediocre, and no one dared to write unconventional works, and literary creation was routine.

He had a meeting with Ostrovsky.

At that time, the conversation between the two was friendly, but when "Return from a Visit to the Soviet Union" was published, Ostrovsky accused Gide of being a vile and shameless liar who deceived the feelings of the Soviet people.

Romain Rolland, who was also a French writer with Gide, criticized Gide's "Return from a Visit to the Soviet Union".

Romain Rolland was the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1915 for his winning novel Johann Christopher.

In 1935 he was invited by Gorky. visited the USSR.

Because he was a Nobel Prize winner in literature and had a very high status in the Western cultural circles, Romain Rolland received a high-level reception in the Soviet Union and had contacts with Stalin and other high-level Soviet officials.

He saw that the Soviet Union, which was thriving, did have all sorts of problems.

For example, the cult of personality against Stalin, the style of bureaucracy, the impoverished life of the vast majority of peasants and ordinary people.

After returning home, Romain Rolland wrote the Moscow Diary, which recorded what he saw and heard in the Soviet Union. Including the impression of Stalin and other top leaders of the Soviet Union, it also pointed out the weakness of Gorky's character.

It's just that he made a statement that the Moscow Diary had been sealed for 50 years.

"Without my special permission, before the expiration of the 50-year period from October 1, 1935. It is not possible to publish this diary - either in its entirety or in fragments. I myself do not publish this note, nor am I allowed to publish any fragments. ”

It is said that because his wife is Russian. His wife's family still lives in the Soviet Union.

Both Romain Rolland and Gide saw the problems of the USSR and wrote about it. But they took a different attitude.

Gide thought that the Soviet Union was not saved, and Romain Rolland felt that the Soviet Union could still be saved. We should help it.

This is probably the reason why Romain Rolland criticized Gide's "Return from a Visit to the Soviet Union".

During this period, many Western scholars visited the Soviet Union, such as the British philosopher Russell and the British dramatist George Bernard Shaw.

In May 1920, Russell visited the Soviet Union as an unofficial member of a delegation of the Labour Party, where he met with Lenin and Gorky, and he was disappointed and even frightened by the rule of the Soviet government.

He wrote The Theory and Practice of Bolshevism, which expounded his views.

George Bernard Shaw visited the Soviet Union in 1931, and upon his return, he gave speeches and wrote articles praising the remarkable achievements of the Soviet people, and repeatedly publicly declared that the future world belonged to socialism.

There were more people from the Chinese cultural circles who came to the Soviet Union, and they also wrote a lot of travelogue articles, recording what they saw and heard in Moscow.

For example, Xu Zhimo's "European Travel Manlu" and Qu Qiubai's "History of the Heart of the Red Capital".

Everyone came to different conclusions about the USSR based on their own observations and perceptions.

Some people praise vigorously, some people criticize it vigorously, and only after many years can we really judge right and wrong.

As Gide puts it, "Visitors with conviction are often sensitive to the light and the dark. Friends of the USSR were often reluctant to see the dark side of the USSR or, at least, to admit it. Therefore, there are too many cases where people who hate the Soviet Union tell the truth, and those who love the Soviet Union tell lies. ”

Lin Zixuan was also a visitor, but he was a visitor from later generations.

In his world, the Soviet Union has long since collapsed and has become a memory in history, and right and wrong have long been judged.

This time, he just wanted to complete the task, and more importantly, he accompanied Feng Chengcheng to see the Soviet Union during this period.

Although Lin Zixuan is famous in China, he has not yet reached the point where he has attracted Stalin's attention, and if he can win the Nobel Prize for Literature, he may be able to meet Stalin.

Even Gorky, the founder of Soviet literature, could not be seen.

Because Gorky had been recuperating in Italy since 1921 and did not return to the Soviet Union until 1928.

It is precisely because he is not taken seriously that Lin Zixuan has a more free itinerary.

According to the introduction of the management of Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow, except for some necessary places to visit and welcome meetings, Lin Zixuan can move around Moscow at will, without restrictions.

That's good, Lin Zixuan doesn't want to be watched anytime and anywhere.

To tell the truth, the demonstrations in Moscow to denounce the atrocities of the Duan Qirui government were just a formality, expressing everyone's indignation, and had little impact on the situation in the country.

Therefore, the parade ended in the morning, and Lin Zixuan and Feng Chengcheng returned to their residences to rest.

In the afternoon, when the two of them wanted to wander the streets of Moscow, someone came to visit, a young man of fifteen or sixteen, who spoke Shanghainese.

He said that Song Ziwen arranged for him to receive Lin Zixuan, and took out Song Ziwen's letter.

Lin Zixuan read the letter, it was indeed Song Ziwen's handwritten letter, which showed that the identity of this young man was not simple.

"My surname is Jiang, and Mr. can call me Jingguo." The young man introduced himself. (To be continued.) )