In Yaroslavl, a survey was conducted on whether residents know the famous song "In the dugout." People of different ages with pleasure picked up the text, almost without mistakes in words. But not everyone could name the author. The Soviet poet Aleksey Surkov, whose biography is forever connected with the Yaroslavl region, is the author of famous lines that came out of his pen at the beginning of World War II. What is known about this outstanding person?
"In people"
Born before the revolution (October 1, 1899) in the small village of Serednevo (Rybinsk district of Yaroslavl province) in a peasant family, Alexei Surkov began his studies at a local school, absorbing the beauty of nature and the simplicity of rural life. Having shown a desire for study, at age 12 he goes to St. Petersburg, where he has to live in a master's house and earn extra money. Such a residence was called "in people", but it allowed a teenager to read newspapers and develop. A career biography began with the work of a student in a printing house, furniture store, carpentry workshop. He met the revolution in the commercial port, where he worked as a weigher.
In 1918, Krasnaya Gazeta published poetry by a certain A. Gutuevsky. At first, Alexey Surkov chose such a pseudonym for himself, a photo of which in these years can be seen in the article. This was his first attempt at writing. Eighteen-year-old young man, he enlisted in the Red Army, serving as a machine gunner and horse reconnaissance until 1922.
"Singing"
In peacetime, the future poet returns to his small homeland, where he is engaged in enlightenment. Until 1924, in a neighboring village, he worked in a hut-reading room, becoming a village correspondent for a local county newspaper. The profession of a journalist soon became the main one for A. Surkov. Already in 1924, the newspaper Pravda published his new poems, and in 1925 he became a member of the congress of writers of the province. In the same year, joining the CPSU (b), Aleksey Surkov was at the Komsomol job, at the same time being a correspondent for the newspaper Severny Komsomolets, newly created in the province. For three years (1926-1928), he headed it as editor-in-chief, increasing the circulation by 2 times and creating the Literary Corner, where young poets and prose writers could be printed.
In May 1928, he was delegated to Moscow at the First Congress of Writers, after which he would not return to Yaroslavl Oblast after being elected to the RAAP. The beginning of this poetic work was laid by the first collection published in 1930. It was called "Chorus." The poems were distinguished by political acuteness and a sense of patriotism, which was very in demand. During these years, the poet Alexey Surkov was truly born.
Biography: family of the master of the word
Having become a regular in literary meetings, the poet meets Sophia Antonovna Krevs, his future wife. The couple has two children: son Alex, born in 1928 and daughter Natalia, born in 1938 During the war years the family will be evacuated in Chistopol, it is there from the front that Alexei Surkov will write his letters. In the future, the daughter will choose the profession of a journalist, doing musicology. The son will become a military engineer, colonel engineer of the Air Force.
The 30s were marked by the fact that A. Surkov had to make up for the lack of education: he would not only graduate from the Institute of the Red Professor, but also defend his dissertation, becoming a teacher of the Literary Institute. He will not leave the editorial work, collaborating with M. Gorky in "Literary studies", a journal of that time. While working at LOCAF, he continues to write poems and songs about the heroes of the civil war: “Peers”, “Offensive”, “Homeland of the Courageous”. Some works become songs: “Chapaevskaya”, “Konarmeyskaya”.
War correspondent
“Combat Onslaught”, “Krasnoarmeyskaya Pravda”, “Red Star” - these are the publications in which military commander Aleksey Surkov has been published since 1939. The poet participated in two military conflicts on the eve of World War II: the Finnish campaign and the campaign in Western Belarus. Despite the unapproachable age, from the first day of the war he goes to the front, having risen in 1943 to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Here he will meet with many poets of war. Konstantin Simonov will devote the famous lines to him: “Do you remember, Alyosha, the roads of Smolensk ...”.
As the editor-in-chief of the New World, he publishes poems, feuilletons, and songs of a heroic time. He will have published several poetry collections: “Poems about hatred”, “Offensive”, “Soldier’s heart”. In 1942, he almost died under Rzhev, later writing piercing lines:
“And we’re safe from bullets, and we don’t burn heat,
I walk along the edge of the fire.
Seen mother exorbitant suffering
She bought me from death ... "
But the most popular in his work will be songs. Among them: "Song of the Bold", "Song of the Defenders of Moscow" and, of course, the famous "Dugout".
The history of the birth of "Dugouts"
The song was born in November 1942 in the vicinity of Istra (Kashino village, Moscow region), where he had to leave the encirclement along a minefield. Then he really felt that there were only a few steps to death. When the danger was over, the whole greatcoat was cut with fragments. Already in Moscow, the lines of the famous poem sent to his wife Chistopol were born. When the composer Konstantin Listov appeared in the editorial office, Alexey Surkov handed him manuscript lines, and a week later the song was first performed by his friend Mikhail Savin.
With her first appearance, she immediately went to the front, becoming the favorite work of soldiers. It was performed by Lidia Ruslanova, and at first they even released records with a record. But then they were completely destroyed, for political workers saw decadence in the lines of the poem and demanded to change the words. But the song has already gone to the people. There is evidence that the soldiers went into battle, shouting: “Sing, harmonica, blizzard!” A monument was erected to the famous song near the village of Kashino. This is a real recognition to the author, who was awarded the State Prize for the cycle of works in 1946.
Last years
After the war, Alexei Surkov, whose biography became associated with party and state activities, did a lot to discover new talents as the chief editor of Ogonyok and the rector of the Literary Institute . He published Anna Akhmatova, defending her name in front of I. Stalin. At the same time, being a convinced communist, he does not recognize the work of B. Pasternak, will oppose A. Solzhenitsyn and A. Sakharov. For several years the poet will head the Union of Writers of the USSR.
In 1969, the government will celebrate his services with the Hero Star for his labor achievements. After the death of a man in 1983 for many, he will remain a wonderful poet who glorified the Yaroslavl land.