Abstract
In September 1966, the Dahomean poet Richard Dogbeh travelled to the Soviet Union following an invitation from the Union of Writers of the USSR. He visited Moscow and Leningrad and took part in the International Conference of Solidarity with the Vietnamese People organised in Baku by the Writers' Union. He met with leading figures of Soviet letters, including the writer Constantin Simonov and the poet Evgeny Yevtushenko.
In his travel diary Journey to Lenin's Land, Richard Dogbeh relates his impressions of cultural, artistic, social and political life in the USSR. Touched by the human warmth and impressed by the cultural and educational institutions, he nevertheless remains very critical of the ideological constraints imposed by the regime. Richard Dogbeh, who was not a communist, but not an anti-communist, was able to see clearly how Soviet socialism could be a source of inspiration for Africa's social and cultural development, but also how Africa should guard against it. His account is an extraordinary historical source of the concerns of African intellectuals in the aftermath of decolonisation, and also allows us to understand why the USSR was an essential reference point.
A critical edition introduced and annotated by Constantin Katsakioris.
Constantin Katsakioris holds a doctorate from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and is a researcher at the Institute of World History at Charles University in Prague.