Romain ROLLAND / Signed Autograph Letter / Humanity / Communism / Doumer

  

Autographed letter signed "Romain Rolland" to Francis Jourdain Villeneuve (Vaud), Villa Olga [Switzerland], May 13, 1932, 2 p. 1/4 in-8° on pale green paper Watermark: "Römerturm / Sack Linen". Outraged by the abusive use of his name in a call published by L'Humanité, Romain Rolland sends a vigorous protest to Francis Jourdain. In L'Humanité of Thursday, May 12, page 3, I read a 'Call to the friends of the Soviet Union - to all workers for the defense of the U. This call, which is signed with my first name 'For the National Committee of Friends of the U.

was not submitted to me, and I only learned of it through the newspaper. I vigorously protest against this abuse, I forbid it to happen again. Your call was not so urgent that you could not consult with me before publishing it. Had you done so, I would have told you that I approve the protest against the scandalous phrase of Paul Reynaud and the call for the defense of the U.

But I would not have allowed grotesque expressions to pass, like the first words: 'In the blood of its victims, French imperialism.' which seriously compromise and, worse still, foolishly undermine the cause we defend. It is absurd to imply that French imperialism had Doumer assassinated. And if someone assumes this, they must, under no circumstances, attribute the assumption to others. I cannot believe that it was you who took the responsibility for publishing this Call without my name, without asking for my consent.

I ask you to tell me who did it, and to convey an unreserved protest to them. Yours sincerely, Romain Rolland P. The consequence of this abuse is that I now absolutely refuse the use of my name for any writing that has not received, beforehand, my consent.

A partial copy of this letter can be found in the Journal of Romain Rolland, which specifies the name of the recipient. He further copies the text of the incriminating Call, which appeared the day before in L'Humanité: 'Call of the Friends of the Soviet Union to all workers for the defense of the U.

In the blood of its victims, French imperialism wants to create the sacred union: witness this phrase by Paul Reynaud, Keeper of the Seals, Vice President of the Council, published in the Intransigeant of May 5: 'A tremendous sorrow grips all French people. They deeply feel that this mourning brings them closer. On the eve of war, the blood of Jaurès cemented the sacred union. May the blood of Paul Doumer have the same virtue.' Current circumstances give full value to the phrase 'sacred union' in the mouth of a French minister and open the same tragic horizons that the world proletariat faced in 1914, which it only discovered when it was too late, due to the betrayal of the socialist party. The crushing of the only Patriotic Proletariat, a crushing that the French government wants to make you the instrument and unconscious victim of, would leave the bourgeoisie with every opportunity to reduce you to slavery and would worsen your living conditions to the point of famine.

You will not allow this crime to be committed! Stand up against your own imperialism, instigator of the intervention against the Soviet Union! For the National Committee of Friends of the U. Romain Rolland, Francis Jourdain, Gaston Aubert. Son of the architect and art critic Frantz Jourdain, Francis Jourdain is himself a painter, renowned interior architect, and art critic, anarchist militant, and later communist.

The newspaper L'Humanité recognizes him as one of the first French decorators producing inexpensive furniture specifically aimed at the working class. 745 (June 1972), piece No. 35038 Sotheby's, November 17, 1988, No. 288 Collection "The Alphabet of Genius". Autographs of Romain Rolland, ed.