Ekaterina Pavlovna Peshkova-Volzhina is an amazing woman whose name is most often mentioned when a biography or stories from the life of Maxim Gorky are told. However, not many people know that she was one of the founders of the organization known as the Political Red Cross, which from 1918 to 1937 was engaged in helping prisoners in the prisons of Soviet Russia and the USSR.
Peshkova Ekaterina Pavlovna: biography
Children from noble families in the early 19th century, as a rule, were hostages of their origin. However, by the end of the century, the situation had changed, since many representatives of this estate were impoverished, and their offspring were no easier than the children of the bourgeois or workers, who barely made ends meet.
Among these noble children from ruined families belonged to Katya Volzhina (after the marriage of Peshkova, Ekaterina Pavlovna). She was born into a noble family in the city of Sumy. For an unknown reason, documents of different years indicate 3 dates of birth. However, it is officially accepted that Katya Volzhina was born in July 1876. After some time, her family moved to Samara, since her father, deceived by creditors, lost all his fortune. There, the family began to live in furnished rooms for the salary of the mother, which was barely enough to pay for the apartment. Already from the 4th grade of the gymnasium, Katya began to give lessons, since her father was seriously ill. In addition, she helped her mother, who managed a free dining room for the hungry.
In 1895, Catherine graduated from high school with a medal and immediately decided to get a job. She succeeded very quickly, so a couple of months after receiving the certificate, the girl was already an employee of the Samara newspaper and performed the duties of a proofreader.
Acquaintance with young Gorky
At the editorial office of Samara Newspaper, Ekaterina Volzhina met with Alexei Peshkov, who from time to time published in this publication. Between the young people began a stormy romance. It took almost a year for the girl’s parents to come to terms with their daughter’s choice. They even sent her to Kronstadt, hoping that her love for the rebel writer would not withstand a long separation. However, fate decreed in a different way: Pavel Volzhin did not live to see the girl return from the trip, and the widow did not interfere with her daughter. With her blessings, in the summer of 1896, Catherine and Maxim got married. After that, Ekaterina Volzhina changed her surname to Peshkova and did not change her until the end of her life.
Married
In 1897, the couple had their son Maxim, and then the daughter Katya, who died of meningitis when she was barely 5 years old.
This sad event occurred shortly after the young family moved to Nizhny Novgorod. The girl’s death caused a sharp cooling between the spouses, and at the end of 1903 the Peshkovs dispersed by mutual agreement, especially since Gorky had another woman. At the same time, they have maintained a very warm relationship for life. There is evidence that Alexei Maksimovich and Ekaterina Pavlovna Peshkova did not officially file their divorce. This statement is supported by the fact that Gorky no longer entered into any registered marriages, although he more than once agreed with women.
Life abroad
In 1907, Ekaterina Pavlovna went abroad with her 10-year-old son, Maxim Peshkova . There they lived mainly in Paris. Soon, Gorky's ex-wife decided to continue her education and began attending French language courses and lectures on social sciences at the University of Sorbonne. In parallel with this, she was attracted to the work of the Circle for the Help of Hard Labor and the exile organized by V.N. Figner. Abroad, Peshkova, Ekaterina Pavlovna (photo in her youth, see above) joined the Socialist-Revolutionaries, and also worked in the emigrant office, which was intended to organize material assistance to Russian political emigrants.
During the first world war
In 1914, Peshkova led the Children's Assistance to War Victims commission and organized a volunteer squad to search for minors who remained behind the front line. In this work, I. N. Sakharov, the grandfather of A. D. Sakharov, helped her.
Having decided that she could be of great benefit in her homeland, Ekaterina Pavlovna Peshkova returned to Russia with her son. Their journey was full of adventure, because due to the political situation that then created in the world, they had to go from Italy by boat to Constantinople and from there get to Odessa.
Activities in the Red Cross
Those who closely knew Ekaterina Peshkova called her a man of philanthropic nature, since most of her life was devoted to people who, for one reason or another, fell into situations where they could not help themselves. Even while she was abroad, the young woman began to collaborate with the Red Cross and continued to search for prisoners even after returning to her homeland.
During the Bolshevik terror, Peshkova Ekaterina Pavlovna continued to work in the Red Cross. The Bolsheviks did not need this organization, but the authorities of the young Republic could not ignore it, since it included such respected personalities as Korolenko, Kropotkin, Veresaev and Figner. At the same time, a new wave of political prisoners appeared, now disagreeing with the policies of the RSDLP (b).
“Cooperation” with the Cheka and the NKVD
The Moscow Committee of the Red Cross instructed Peshkova to visit prisons. The Cheka did not resist this and looked at her activities through her fingers. There is even evidence that Gorky's ex-wife brought a mouthpiece to F. Dzerzhinsky from one of his trips abroad. There is an opinion that the reason for such a relationship was Lenin’s desire to kindly caress Gorky in order to enlist his support.
Nevertheless, in 1919 an investigation was opened against Ekaterina Pavlovna. She was charged with membership in the Socialist Revolutionary Party. During the investigation, a woman was searched in the house, but she was not arrested, and in 1922 the case was closed.
Pompolit
In 1922, Ekaterina Peshkova (Gorky's wife) created a new organization. The people called her Pompolit, because her employees tried to make life easier in prison cells for thousands of people who were victims of political repression. Very often, a woman visited prisoners during the search for prisoners, initiated by the Polish Red Cross. In addition, Ekaterina Peshkova (Gorky’s wife) repeatedly went abroad to raise funds for the starving Volga region. Her merit is also invaluable in saving the Jews accused of Zionism, many of whom she helped to leave for Palestine.
Although in 1938, Pompolit was closed by order of the NKVD, Ekaterina Pavlovna continued to help all those who turned to her. In 1941, she was evacuated to Tashkent, where she lived until the end of the war.
In the last years of life
Peshkova Ekaterina Pavlovna, whose biography is already known to you, worked for many years as a consultant to the archive of A. Gorky at IMLI. She died after a long illness in 1965. She was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery, next to her son and daughter.
Son
As already mentioned, the Peshkovs' firstborn, Maxim, was born in 1897. He spent most of his childhood with his mother abroad. Upon returning to his homeland in 1917 he joined the ranks of the RSDLP. Almost immediately after that, he began to work in the Cheka, where he was involved in resolving issues related to the food supply of the capital. In 1922 he left for Italy. He lived in Berlin. Often met with M. Gorky. In 1932, he returned to the USSR with his father and wife. It is known that he was often invited to his place and soldered by the People's Commissar of the NKVD Yagoda. Once, upon returning from another feast, in severe frost, he remained in the courtyard of the house, became very cold and soon died of pneumonia.
Now you know who Ekaterina Pavlovna Peshkova was. The memories of those who witnessed her activities in the Red Cross and Pompolit characterize her as a person who devoted his life to charity - helping people who find themselves in a difficult life situation.