alexander esenin-volpin, together with physicist valery nikolsky, artist yuri titov and titov's wife elena stroeva, began to plan a gathering in pushkin square, across the street from the office of the newspaper "izvestia". the date chosen was 5 december, the official holiday celebrating the ratification of the 1936 "stalin" constitution by the congress of soviets. the meeting itself was to exemplify strict obedience to the constitution, which guaranteed freedom of assembly and meetings. the participants were to restrict themselves to the single demand for an open trial for sinyavsky and daniel, as per article 111.