«Bourgeois Mire`: why Soviet censorship banned Chukovsky's “Mуха-Цокотуха” One of the most popular children's poems, which every child knows by heart today, was suspected by Soviet officials and educators at the moment of its birth. Chukovsky's “Mуха-Цокотуха”, written in 1923, did not simply fail to reach the reader immediately — it was officially banned by censorship and subjected to destructive criticism from the highest authorities. Why did such an innocent story about a fly finding money and throwing a party provoke such anger in the party circles? And how did this little masterpiece survive in the face of ideological pressure? The first publication and immediate scandal In 1923, Korней Chukovsky first read his new story to friends and acquaintances. The audience was delighted: rhythmic lines, vivid images, resounding rhymes — it seemed that this was the ideal reading for babies. However, the first attempt to publish “Mуха-Цокотуха” encountered an insurmountable obstacle. The Provincial Department of Literature and Publishing (Gublit), performing the functions of censorship, categorically refused to grant permission for publication. In Chukovsky's diary, there is a record of a conversation with the employee of Gublit Lyudmila Byストrova, who explained to the writer that the illustrations to the story were “improper”: the mosquito is standing too close to the fly, they “flirt”. “As if there is a child so decadent that the closeness of the fly to the mosquito would provoke licentious thoughts,” Chukovsky wrote with bitterness. But this was only the beginning. In 1924, the story finally saw the light — but under the changed title “Muhina svadba” and with cuts. However, this version did not give peace to the ideological guardians. The real campaign against “Mуха-Цокотуха” was launched later, and it involved not ordinary censors, but the most influential figures in Soviet pedagogy and politics. The attack of Krupskaya: “chukovщина” as an ideological enemy The ma ... Read more