During life, not every writer receives honor and glory as they came to Maxim Gorky. The date of birth and death of this extraordinary person is of interest to many compatriots. After all, he himself witnessed the renaming of his hometown, Nizhny Novgorod, in his honor. Then he was named after a street in Moscow, two major theaters, an airplane, a cruiser, a ship. In the Soviet years, the popularity of Gorky was at the peak of fame. Today, not even the little streets of his name are left.
Many do not know at all the date of the death of Maxim Gorky and its cause. Well, let’s go through the main pages of the writer's biography with you. Let's try to understand the causes of Gorky's death. His death was very mysterious, and creativity causes mixed feelings among readers. And now, first things first.
Children and teenagers
Dates of Gorky's life and death: March 16, 1868 - June 18, 1936. Russian and Soviet writer, public figure, founder of the style of socialist realism, Maxim Gorky, was born in glorious Nizhny Novgorod. The real surname and name of Maxim Alekseevich is Aleksey Peshkov. His family was poor, his father died when the boy was three years old, and after another 8 years his mother died. The fate of the boy was "bitter", perhaps that is why he later took such a pseudonym for himself. Little Alyosha was raised by his maternal grandfather - Kashirin, who owns a dyeing workshop.
In the family of a mean grandfather, the boy did not have a easy life, very early he "went to people", began to get various jobs. He had to master the profession of dishwasher, baker, assistant seller in the store. All of his childhood ordeals, he later was able to display in the first part of his autobiographical work, "Childhood." Aleksey's grandmother, unlike his grandfather, showed kindness, care, told him interesting stories. When she died, the young man even tried to commit suicide. He shot himself and a bullet damaged his lung, causing further health problems.
In 1884, Alexei had an unsuccessful attempt to enter Kazan University. The young man began to attend N. Fedoseyev's Marxist circle, for which he was arrested for a short time. His favorite pastime was wandering around Russia. Working as a loader, a night watchman, Alexey was engaged in self-education. At the age of 24, he tried himself as a journalist in some small publications. Then he took the pseudonym Yehudiiel Chlamyda, but then changed it to Maxim Gorky, hinting at the difficult Russian life.
Literary undertakings and first political steps
The year 1892 was marked by the appearance of Gorky's first story - Makar the Miracle. Then came "Chelkash" and "Old Woman Izergil." They were followed by "Song of the Falcon" and "Former People". They noted not so much artistic features as an exaggerated-pompous pathetic inspired by new political trends in the country. Marxism gained more and more popularity in radical circles. In Gorky's stories, the main characters were the lumpen tramp, which was very welcomed by society.
In 1898, Alexei Maksimovich released his first collection, Essays and Stories. This served to take off his public and creative career. The writer greatly exaggerated the life of the poor, their difficulties, defended the interests of the working class. His works were endowed with the simulated pathetics of "humanity", which was praised by intellectuals and "class-conscious workers." Despite the ambiguous attitude to his work, Tolstoy and Chekhov made friends with him. After that, he wrote the novel "Three."
Gorky defended the interests of Marxist Social Democracy, which was hostile to tsarism. Soon he released his famous revolutionary "Song of the Petrel." The writer was suspected of calling for the overthrow of the autocracy, was arrested and forced to leave his hometown.
Soon he became friends with many revolutionaries, including Lenin. In 1902, the government annulled the election of Gorky as a member of the Imperial Academy for the category of fine literature. Chekhov and Korolenko, in solidarity with the writer, also resigned.
Since 1905, his works have become more optimistic. Gorky wrote several plays on public topics. The play “At the Bottom” was very popular not only in Russia, but also in the USA and Europe. The writer was close to the political views of the opposition. For the publication of the play "Children of the Sun" and his participation in the 1905 revolution, he was imprisoned in the St. Petersburg Peter and Paul Fortress. Gorky's lover in those years was the former actress Maria Andreeva.
Having freed himself, Aleksei Maksimovich continued to continue his writing, became rich, and began to financially support the Russian Social Democratic Party. Bloody Sunday in 1905 made the writer even more radical. In most matters, he shared the views of the Bolsheviks and Lenin.
Escaping from arrest, Gorky hid in Finland, and then in the United States. There he raised funds to support the Bolsheviks. This trip prompted him to write the novel "Mother". It was first published in London in English. Among the acquaintances of Alexei Maximovich was Theodore Roosevelt and Mark Twain himself. The "bourgeois spirit" of America, the writer also did not like, he condemned him.
Gorky's stay in Capri
Fearing arrest for participating in the Moscow uprising, Maxim Gorky after America went to the Italian island of Capri. He continued to support the Russian Bolsheviks with his novels and essays. With two more emigrants, Lunacharsky and Bogdanov, he formed a philosophical system called "god-building".
It was intended to develop new moral values in humanity for getting rid of evil, suffering and poverty. Lenin rejected this philosophical search for a writer. But Gorky believed that, nevertheless, spiritual values were very important for revolutionary success. He put them above political and economic events. The Confession novel written in 1907 is dedicated to spiritual values.
Return to Russia
In 1913, Gorky returned through an amnesty to Russia and became an active public and literary figure. He trained young writers from the people. In 1915, the writer became a member of the publication of the journalistic collection "Shield". His goal was to protect the oppressed Jews in Russia. The Bolsheviks often gathered in Gorky's apartment, but before the revolution of 1917, the writer changed his attitude towards them. He foresaw that Lenin would conduct a cruel experience over the Russian people, doomed to failure. After that, the Bolsheviks began to persecute Gorky's New Life newspaper. Now in the Bolsheviks he saw talkers and loafers.
In 1918, a series of critical notes to Leninist authorities, "Untimely Thoughts." In Russia, these notes were introduced only after the collapse of the Soviet Union. There he criticized Lenin for the repression of freedom of thought.
Over the years, the Bolshevik regime grew stronger, and Gorky criticized less. Alexei Maksimovich was very worried when he heard about the attempt on Lenin in 1918. When he recovered, Gorky even visited him and realized his mistakes. He joined the society of Bolshevik writers in the publishing house "World Literature". The best classical works were published there, but only on a small scale. Here Alexey Maksimovich met and met with Maria Benkendorf.
Emigration to Italy
In 1921, a friend of the writer, the poet Nikolai Gumilev (husband of Anna Akhmatova), was shot by the KGB. Gorky personally asked Lenin not to do this. This event prompted Alexei Maximovich to leave Bolshevik Russia. Living in German resorts, M. Gorky finished writing his autobiography "My Universities." In 1924, the writer moved to Italy to treat tuberculosis. He lived for nine years in the Italian city of Sorrento, and visited the Soviet Union several times. In 1932, Stalin personally invited Alexei Maximovich to move to his homeland. The writer still had sympathies for the Bolsheviks, and he decided to return.
Mature views of the writer
Communist propaganda made extensive use of the writer’s departure from Nazi Italy. Now Gorky's works were more like laudatory speeches of the Soviet system. In the style of Leninist-Stalinist propaganda, he wrote an article "With whom are you, masters of culture?" In it, he called on artists, artists, and writers to serve the communist movement with their work. Alexei Maksimovich was awarded the Order of Lenin for this and allowed to dominate the Union of Soviet Writers.
Maxim Gorky was given a luxurious mansion in Moscow and a summer house nearby. All the holiday demonstrations could not do without going to the rostrum of the Gorky Mausoleum together with Stalin. The writer's work fully supported the Stalinist propaganda. His writings contained the belief that Soviet correctional camps successfully reforged the enemies of the proletariat. Only for this lie Alexei Maksimovich paid with considerable mental torment. Stalin knew about the writer's hesitation. In 1934, after the assassination of Kirov, Alexei Maximovich was placed under house arrest. The Stalinist Great Terror began. In 1934, in an incomprehensible situation, 36-year-old Maxim Peshkov , the son of Gorky, dies. The writer then had to live another 2 years.
Gorky's disease - the subject of speculation and controversy
The death of Gorky Maxim was unexpected. It all started in May 1936, when he fell ill. He had a high fever, intermittent breathing, an uneven pulse. Doctors recognized pneumonia, but did not tell the writer about it. The condition was aggravated by hiccups, restless hand movements. One by one, doctors and relatives and friends came into his bedroom. He almost did not recognize anyone. Doctors have announced that they are powerless.
One day, Stalin phoned and said that he and Molotov and Voroshilov would come to visit Alexei Maksimovich. It just revived the writer, to meet with the leader he was injected with a large dose of camphor. The encouraged writer was even able to keep up the conversation during the meeting. On that day, he even took a sip of wine and said that he still had a lot to do.
After the improvement, new seizures began. They put on oxygen pads. The death of M. Gorky overtook in the spring, as he wrote to one of his friends. On his last day he whispered faintly: "Let me go."
Suspicions in the murder of a writer
The year of Gorky's death is 1936. The last days the writer could not even lie, he was lifted. Recovering, he said that in delirium he argued with God. Soon, pulmonary edema began. Bags of oxygen did not have time to bring to the writer's house by truck. Soon, Alexei Maksimovich began agony. The date of Gorky's death is June 18, 1936 at 11 a.m.
Doctors immediately began an autopsy. It showed that the lungs were in terrible condition. Thus, suspicion was removed from them. But still they were accused of incompetence, and then of the murder. Most witnesses believed that nevertheless pneumonia was the cause of Gorky's death. This could have been prevented. Therefore, there were suspicions of his poisoning.
Here are some facts about the possibility of poisoning:
- GPU G. G. Yagoda often appeared in the writer's house.
- Physically, Gorky was a hardy person and could cope with pneumonia.
- After the writer’s death, doctors and Yagoda were shot, possibly getting rid of extra witnesses.
- Immediately after death, the doctors "gutted" Gorky's body. Relatives remained convinced that if the writer had not been treated, he would have survived.
- The government decided to cremate Gorky. Berry did not allow relatives to give even a piece of ash for burial.
- During the trial, it was revealed that Yagoda, who was arrested in 1937, had a whole cabinet of poisons, which were developed by a special laboratory.
Conclusions on the causes of the death of Maxim Gorky
So, in the dock were Yagoda, two Soviet ministers and four Kremlin doctors. Trotsky led the investigation process. It was he who put forward the version of the murder. Trotsky accused Yagoda of physically poisoning Gorky on his orders. Why did Stalin need to get rid of the "petrel of the proletariat"?
Trotsky saw in Gorky an intercessor for the offended, sentimental Protestant. Almost everyone protested against the hunger of the first and second five-year plans. And Aleksey Maksimovich had connections with European writers; he shaped public opinion in Russia. It was impossible to make him silent, just like to shoot him. The writer tried to escape abroad, Stalin refused to issue him a passport. Therefore, Gorky was eliminated without shedding blood. But this is just speculation.
Stalin, along with Molotov, carried the coffin as a writer at the funeral. Then Stalin himself announced that Gorky had been poisoned by "enemies of the people." The former head of the OGPU and the NKVD, Heinrich Yagoda, was convicted and accused of conspiring with Trotsky.
Evaluation of the writer's creative searches
Maxim Gorky had different relations with the Bolshevik leaders in different years of his life. It was beneficial for the Kremlin to see him as a major Russian writer of his time, a native of the people, a true friend of the Communist Party and the father of "socialist realism." Portraits, statues and monuments to Gorky spread throughout the country.
In Europe, the writer’s views on the Soviet system and his criticism of the Bolshevik regime were noted. Maxim Gorky in his works not only artistically and aesthetically expressed, but also carried the goal of morally changing the world. On the literary side, his works are not strong enough, but they give a very realistic picture of Russian life at the end of the 19th century. Such, in brief, are Gorky's life and death.