Liham sa isang Nagsisimulang Manunulat - N. Krupskaya

Letter to a Budding Writer

Liham sa isang Nagsisimulang Manunulat

July 3, 1936

Hulyo 3, 1936

Dear Comrade!

Mga Kasama!

It seems to me that you are not on the right road. If you wish to become a real poet, a writer, whom the masses would love and appreciate, you have to work a great deal on yourself. Here no universities, no writers' unions will help.

Tingin ko, wala ka sa tamang landas. Kung nangangarap kang maging tunay na makata, manunulat, na mamahalin ng mga tao at pararangalan, dapat mong pagsikapan ito. Dito’y walang unibersidad, walang unyon ng manunulat na makakatulong sa inyo.

I cannot see from your letter what grieves your heart, what--apart from your own literary career--disturbs you. He who looks with indifference on life all round him "from the writer's carriage window" will never become a real writer. You have been in the Mining Institute, but have you any idea about the life of the miners, about their state of mind? They are one of the leading sections of the proletariat, and you are not interested in them ... so far, I hope.

Hindi ko makita sa iyong mga liham kung ano ang nagpapalumbay sa iyong puso, ano – bukod sa iyong sariling bokasyon sa panitikan – ang gumugulo sa iyo. Ang sinumang tumitingin ng iba sa buhay na nasa paligid niya “mula sa durungawan ng karwahe ng manunulat” (o mula sa durungawan ng toreng garing) ay hindi magiging manunulat. Ikaw ay nasa Paaralan ng Pagminina, ngunit may alam ka ba hinggil sa buhay ng mga minero, kung paano sila nag-iisip? Isa sila sa mga pangunahing pulutong ng manggagawa, at hindi ka interesado sa kanila... sa ngayon, umaasa ako.

In my opinion, you will not make an engineer, that needs a different make-up, a different training.

Sa palagay ko, hindi ka magiging inhinyero, kinakailangan nito ng naiibang pag-aayos, isang naiibang pagsasanay.

I would advise you to go to work in a pit, to make use of the knowledge you have acquired, to work side by side with ordinary workers, to take a look at the way they live, their home conditions. Then the themes for poems will come true to life, and there will be something that would stir you.

Pinapayuhan kitang magtungo’t magtrabaho sa isang hukay, gamitin mo ang iyong mga napag-aralan, ang magtrabaho kasabay ng karaniwang manggagawa, masdan ang paraan kung paano sila nabubuhay, ang kalagayan ng kanilang tahanan. Pagkatapos, ang tema ng mga tula ay magiging totoo sa buhay, at may bagay doong makaaantig sa iyo.

There is often a great deal of snobbish conceit in budding writers--and even frequently in workers' children, but [it] has to be thoroughly washed away.

Kadalasang maraming mapangmatang kahambugan sa mga baguhang manunulat – at madalas maging sa mga anak ng manggagawa, ngunit ang mga ito’y dapat lubusang mawala.

With comradely greetings,

May kasamang pangungumusta,

N. Krupskaya

Krupskaya, Nadezhda K. (1869-1939) - An early leader of the Bolshevik Party and the companion of Lenin. Worked in Commissariat for Education in the Soviet government. briefly aligned herself with the Left Opposition in 1926, but then broke with and condemned it before its leaders were expelled. The Stalinists, in turn, politically isolated her as much as possible.