Направления, течения >> Эстетические концепции 1920-х гг. >> Экспрессионизм >> Хартия экспрессиониста >> Charter Expressionists

1. «This day is a day of the greatest triumph» (Poprischin’s words).

In the russian literature the silence reigns, as on Schipka, whereas we, the expressionists, are making a heroic sortie.

2. Futurism, presentism, imagism, eufuism* along with symbolism and acmeism are buried in a common grave of poetry.

3. The group of imagists tried to get started the left poetry from the dead point. But the imagism is not a literary school, but only a technique. The imagism is not a contemporary method, but the yesterday’s one. The imagism in 1919 – an anachronism. Its bloom was already in 1913–1915. The classics of imagism – Mayakovsky, Shershenevich, Bolshakov and Tretjakov – achieved such an elevation, that after 1915 it is only possible to copy them, but is not possible to continue (the proof: verses of  the today’s imagists, for example). And what is more: from the point of view of the imagism the today’s group of imagists is a pseudo imagist’s one. They are the pressmen-imaginists: their imagism is no better than imagism of the feuilletonists. They are not the imagists, they are giperbolists. Such an «imagism» speculates on the ignorance of audience. That which the imagists produce as an imagism is in reality a poor futurism. This is the end of the pseudo imagists. The vulgarizers of imagism (ideologically, certainly, but not physically) do not exit now.

4. The great futurism, in Italy leaded by Marinetti, in England – by Ezra Pound, in France – by Guillaume Apollinaire and in Russia – by Vladimir Mayakovsky, is now the great dunghill. Russian futurism died only because it came apart into many little groups during the 9 years of its existence. Each group cultivated only one aspect of the futurism. The thoroughbred marinettists, the classics of the imagism – Mayakovsky, Shershenevich, Bolshakov and Tretjakov – were the Don Quijotes of the one image only. The cubists Kruchyonykh and Khlebnikov for the sake of the future language ruined not only our bawdy syntax and our bawdy etymology. The centrifugists-rhythmists Bobrov and Bozhidar attained perfection in the questions of the rhythm. Echoist-euphonist Zolotukhin became a virtuoso in the sphere of the consonance of endings, it seems, in this technique he reached the level of a charlatan. Every fraction of futurism cultivated only one aspect: the imagists – image; the cubists – new syntax and new etimology; the centrifugists – rhythm and the euphonists – rhyme and assodissonance.

5. We, expressionists, do not deny anybody of our predecessors. But only imagism or only cubism or only rhythmism are very narrow for us. We want to unite a work of an every fraction of the russian futurism. The expressionism is a synthesis of all futurism. But we will be not the new futurists. We treasure not so much the achievments of futurism as its traditions.

6. Our poetic industry needs the revolution of the methods of the production – this is our aim. We are to work hard to clean up poetry from the garbage of old rhythm, old strophes and old euphony.

We want:

a) to annihilate all these principles of old versification, which were considered unshakable from Homer to Mayakovsky, and to come to the new chromatic versification. All old versification was built on the expiratory of a sound but not on its musical hight. The new chromatic versification shall be built strictly  in accordance with the mathematical schemes of 40-notes ultra-chromatic row of sounds i – e – a – o – u not only with sharps and flats but with quartiese and quartmoll (quarter tones were introduced);

b) to create polystrophes and

c) to achieve higest euphony.

Our foreheads had to be good rams to make a hole in the old poetics. We have not to be such revolutionaries, who cries: «Long live Konstantin and his wife Constitution».

7. Only we, expressionists, will do what futurists wanted, but could not realise: dynamics of our perception and dynamics of our thinking.

Only we, expressionists, will find maximum of an expression of our perception.

8. The expressionism god damn it! will have historical meaning not smaller than symbolism or futurism.

9. To themselves: Fear not, little flock, for your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Luke, 12, 32).

The expressionist I. Sokolov

The biographic information: the expressionism was born in the head of I. Socolov; sacrament of christening got in july 11 1919 on the stage of the All-Russian Union of poets.

The revolt of the expressionist.

I. Socolov. 19. Autumn. 19.
________________________________________
*Eufuist – I. Sokolov – the spring of 1919.