Novy LEF

[2] Novyi LEF consistently showcased photography (often by the constructivist Alexander Rodchenko, who also designed many of the journal’s covers), literary theory and criticism, poetry, editorials, and occasionally creative prose.

The journal’s contributors often polemicized against competing literary groups, including RAPP (The Russian Association of Proletarian Writers) and Pereval (“Mountain Pass”).

Mayakovsky and his affiliates argued that a return to factography and zhiznestroenie – two key planks in the Novyi LEF platform – would rejuvenate a truly revolutionary workers’ literary and cultural production.

Writing in 1929, Tretyakov maintained: “Our epos is the newspaper…What the Bible was to the medieval Christian – a pointer for all the contingencies of life; what the moralizing novel was to the Russian liberal intelligentsia, that is the newspaper for the Soviet activist of our times.

Mayakovsky discusses his pre-writing for a screen play entitled “Kak pozhivaete?” (“How Do You Do?”) in a question-and-answer format, while also publishing a portion of his storyboard skeleton of the film’s plot.

Their poetic contributions included “Literaturnyi fel’eton” ("Literary Feuilleton", Aseev), “Puteshestvie po Moskve” ("Travels Around Moscow", Neznamov), “Moia imeninnaia: Poema” ("My Name's Day: A Narrative Poem", Kirsanov), and “Oktiabr’” ("October", Mayakovsky).

One particular form of reader-editor interaction occurred frequently in the first few issues in 1928: beginning poets eager for feedback on their verse would submit their poems accompanied with a note asking for an evaluation of their poetry.

[15] The eventual founding director of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, Alfred H. Barr Jr., became acquainted with multiple members of the LEF group during his visit to Moscow in 1928.