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On the Birthday of the Writer, Fighter for Peace

Today M.A.Sholokhov, the author of the immortal novel “And Quiet Flows the Don”, is 112. On these spring days he is remembered with kind words by millions readers, millions admirers of his talent. His countrymen, residents and guests of Vyoshenskaya laid flowers to the writer’s tomb and bust monument at the River Don embankment. It was like this before, it is so now and it will always be like this.

It was quite natural of Sholokhov, Deputy and public figure, to take care of an ordinary man, his compatriot, of the environment preservation in any part of the country, of preservation peace in the world.

The writer, who saw the Civil War with his own eyes and took part in the Great Patriotic War, and who bore the brunt of losses, understood the price of peace as a concrete value.

Recently, the well-known Sholokhov scholar, the author of the book “Sholokhov” of the series “The Life of Remarkable People”, Valentin Osipovich Osipov, found in his archives an unpublished appeal of M.A.Sholokhov to the writers of the world who gathered for the conference in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. The literary researcher stressed the topicality of Sholokhov’s word appreciated at that time, in Bulgaria, by the major writers of the world. By the way, V.O.Osipov was a witness of that.

Mikhail Alexandrovich appealed to his colleagues with such words:

“I cordially greet you, my fellows on pen from many countries of the world, who have come to the International conference to declare your desire to fight for peace tirelessly and to promote its life-giving ideas in your work.

My health fails me being among you, but in my heart and soul I am with you, and together with you I strongly oppose and condemn those who still cherish their secret hopes of returning to the gloomy times of “cold war”.

Let your conference be a new step forward in strengthening the community of writers of the planet for the benefit of peace, mutual understanding and security of peoples. I wish you fruitful work and every success.”

To fight tirelessly for peace, to prevent a return to “cold war” is the keynote of the message consonant with the aspirations of the contemporary world community.

During the whole of his life the writer often referred to these objectives and ideas. Even one of his last messages was a direct appeal to the writers of the world, which M.A.Sholokhov entitled: “Let’s Protect Life Before It’s Too Late”. The classic of the world literature, the Nobel Prize winner in literature, appealing to the writers of the world allowed himself to speak resolutely, in Sholokhov’s style: “Now it is not literature we are speaking about. We are speaking about the very existence of the human race…”

Half a year before his death Sholokhov appealed to the contemporary writers to raise their voice for peace, against the continuing insanity, the non-stop nuclear weaponry.” Nowadays this Sholokhov’s appeal acquires a significant relevance again: “LET’S PROTECT LIFE BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE”.

The work of the great writer is imbued with humanism, search for a dialogue and desire for peace. Peace in the whole world was his everlasting priority. This birthday of the great writer is another reason to remember about it.

Alexey Kochetov