Editing Boris Pasternak (section)

=== Great Purge ===
{{Main|Great Purge}}
According to Pasternak, during the 1937 trial of General [[Iona Yakir]] and Marshal [[Mikhail Tukhachevsky]], the [[Union of Soviet Writers]] requested all members to add their names to a statement supporting the death penalty for the defendants. Pasternak refused to sign, even after leadership of the Union visited him.<ref name="Ivinskaya 1978 pp 132-133">[[#Ivinskaya|Ivinskaya]], pp. 132–133.</ref>
Soon after, Pasternak appealed directly to Stalin, describing his family's strong [[Tolstoyan]] convictions and putting his own life at Stalin's disposal; he said that he could not stand as a self-appointed judge of life and death. Pasternak was certain that he would be arrested,<ref name="Ivinskaya 1978 pp 132-133"/> but instead Stalin is said to have crossed Pasternak's name off an execution list, reportedly declaring, {{qi|Do not touch this cloud dweller}} (or, in another version, {{qi|Leave that [[Foolishness for Christ|holy fool]] alone!}}).<ref>[[#Ivinskaya|Ivinskaya]], p. 133.</ref>

Pasternak's close friend [[Titsian Tabidze]] did fall victim to the Great Purge. In an autobiographical essay published in the 1950s, Pasternak described the execution of Tabidze and the suicides of [[Marina Tsvetaeva]] and [[Paolo Iashvili]].

Ivinskaya wrote, {{qi|I believe that between Stalin and Pasternak there was an incredible, silent [[duel]].}}<ref>[[#Ivinskaya|Ivinskaya]], p 135.</ref>