„See inimene oskab näha! Oskab kirjutada!”
“THE MAN CAN SEE! CAN WRITE!”

Summary/Abstract: The Stalin Prize (established in 1939) was awarded in two broad fields: for (1) groundbreaking scientific achievements and inventions, and (2) outstanding literary and artistic achievements. The procedure for selecting and nominating the candidates and making the final decision was overseen by the party apparatus and by Joseph Stalin personally. The prize was an instrument of exerting control over intellectual life as well as an important link in the system of social etiquette (recognition, perks and privilege) of the time. Especially noteworthy was the prize’s role in the introduction of the creative mode (so-called socialist realism) favoured by the regime. The prize bestowed for literary and artistic achievements received particular attention across the society. In the Estonian SSR, the Stalin Prize was awarded 55 times (to 42 people in total) between 1946 and 1952. In the field of literature, August Jakobson (1947, 1948), Hans Leberecht (1949) and Juhan Smuul (1952) received the prize. On 18 January 1949, the leaders of the Baltic Soviet Republics met with Stalin in the Kremlin, where a decision was made to carry out a large-scale deportation. The work notebook of the Estonian SSR party leader Nikolai Karotamm reveals that during the meeting Stalin heaped praise on Hans Leberecht’s recently published novella “Light in Koordi” (Valgus Koordis) (1948): “The man can see! Can write!” For Stalin, what mattered was not the literary value of the work, but its ideological suitability, in this case given the context of the fracture awaiting Estonian villages and the society as a whole – the deportation and mass collectivization. Stalin’s endorsement changed the fate of Leberecht as a Soviet writer – the novella was awarded the Stalin Prize and overnight he became one of the Estonian SSR’s most prestigious regime-friendly authors. The article analyzes the working principles of the Stalin Prize at the Soviet Republic level on the example of Leberecht’s case. It discusses, among other things, the backstory, the institutional framework (the procedure for candidate submission, the role of the creative union and the party apparatus, and the later penitence), the intrigues arising in the literary circle from the nomination of candidates, the discovery of Leberecht’s literary “talent”, as well as the hurried translation and publication of his novella.

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