Literature of the Americas Literature of the Americas 2541-7894 2542-243X IWL RAS Articles Maurice Hindus and American Reporting from the Soviet Russia in the 1920–30s 2017 Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 M. Hindus (1891–1969) was born within the Pale of Settlement in Imperial Russia,M. Hindus (1891–1969) was born within the Pale of Settlement in Imperial Russia,at fourteen emigrated to the US, got degrees in Russian literature and History ofRussian peasantry from Colgate and Harvard. In the 1920s he started revisiting Russiaas freelancer, with the advantage of having no language barrier in contacting ordinaryRussians. Hindus published 17 books about Russia and a novel («Under MоscowSkies», 1936). The paper reveals his approach to Soviet Russia in the context of themainstream pro-Soviet American reporting during the 1920–30s. On the whole sympathetic,Hindus honestly covered the facts the others chose to ignore: he wrote aboutthe famine and koolak’s tragedy during collectivization, about the questionable aspectsof the Bolshevik morality, about the shortages in everyday life. He rightly foresawthat the long-term outcome of the Russian Revolution depended on its ability tocope with agrarian problem. 1. Allen, Robert C. Farm to Factory: A Reinterpretation of the Soviet Industrial Revolution. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2003. 2. Engerman, D.C. Modernization from the Other Shore: American Intellectuals and the Romance of Russian Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003. 3. Dennen, Leon. “The Human Consequences of the Five-Year Plan.” The Nation (Dec. 27, 1933). 4. Grierson, Philip. Books on the Soviet Russia, 1917–1942: A Bibliography and Guide to Reading. Twickenham, UK: Methuen, 1943. 5. Hindus, Maurice. The Great Offensive. N.Y.: Harrison Smith, 1933; L.: Victor Gollanz, 1933. 6. Hindus, Maurice. Red Bread: Collectivization in a Russian Village. Bloomington, ID: Indiana UP, 1988. 7. Hoover, Calver B. “Russia Fights for Peace. Rev. of: Maurice Hindus. ‘The Great Offensive’.” The Saturday Review (Nov 4, 1933). 8. Hunter, Holland; Szymer Janusz M. Faulty Foundations: Soviet Economic Policies, 1928–1940. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1992. 9. 10. Kunitz, Joshua. “All-Russian Symphony.” The New Republic (Dec. 13, 1933). 11. Libbey, James K. Alexander Gumberg and Soviet-American Relations: 1917–1933. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 1977.