4 - The Soul's Practical Dream (1928–1932)

Summary

On 19 October 1928 Vallejo left for Moscow; his planned itinerary was Paris–Berlin–Moscow–Budapest–Berlin–Nice–Paris. One of the first articles Vallejo wrote about his impressions of the Soviet Union shows that he was gradually being drawn into a foreign world, and, indeed, enjoying the experience: ‘Se puede distinguir, en detalle, la topografía del terreno bajo un cielo claro y transparente. El tren avanza con lentitud y el viento de la estepa arroja hacia atrás y muy bajo el humo sonrosado de la locomotora' (The topography of the land beneath a clear, transparent sky can be seen in detail. The train advances slowly and the wind from the steppe blows the pink smoke of the locomotive backwards and low across the ground). His companion is unable to contain himself when they finally cross the border into the Soviet Union: ‘¡Mire usted! Me dice, con vehemencia incontenible, mi amiga comunista. Allí está la bandera internacional … ¡Viva el Soviet!' (Look! My Communist friend says to me, unable to contain her vehemence. There's the Soviet flag! Long live the Soviet Union!). In a later article Vallejo does make it clear that he is not politically aligned: ‘Yo no pertenezco a ningún partido. No soy conservador ni liberal. Ni burgués ni bolchevique. Ni nacionalista ni socialista. Ni reaccionario ni revolucionario' (I do not belong to any political party. I'm neither conservative nor liberal. Neither bourgeois nor Bolshevik. Neither nationalist nor socialist. Neither reactionary nor revolutionary).