Maksim Gorky (1868-1936) (born Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov) From very poor urban class; father a carpenter; fascinated with learning, self-taught. Very much championed the Social Democrat cause. Romantic-proletarian writer, second rate in terms of classical Russian literature: Heart of Danko , Mother. Distrusted the intelligentsia, like Lenin, he called them the excrement of the nation. Felt that his victim status earned him a new type of nobility. Fled abroad lived on the Isle of Capri in the Mediterranean returned in 1913 but left again in 1921 out of dissatisfaction with the Bolshevik terror. Lured back by Stalin to head the Soviet Writers Union in 1928; secretly poisoned on Stalin's orders in 1936. Enshrined as one of the greatest Soviet writers.
Immigrants who fled the Revolution: Writers Ivan Bunin (1870-1953) and Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), and cubist artist Marc Chagall (1887-1985) as well as many other writers, artist, and intellectuals immigrated; this left room for the rise of the so-called second tier of Russian writers--writers of humbler origins and, often, of inferior talents.
Isaak Babel' (1894-1941?) Jew from Odessa, sympathetic with the Bolsheviks and with the Reds during the Civil War and the fight against the Poles in 1920. Publishes The Red Cavalry in 1926 (We will discuss My First Goose). Shows a keen, realistic portrayal of the savagery and kindness of that terrible struggle. Also published the Odessa Stories, humorous anecdotes about life in the Jewish mafia of Odessa. Eventually arrested by Stalin and shot.
Aleksandr Blok (1880-1921) Lyrical, symbolist poet, wrote poems about love, later about the Revolution (The Twelve: views the Revolution as an apocalyptic event like the return of Christ.) Believed the Revolution was a prelude to an new era of Christian mysticism, where western influence would be thrown off and Russia would find her soul. Early idealism is replaced by disillusion, by the time of the Civil War he finds himself no longer able to write; dies "from lack of air".
Sergei Yesenin (1895-1925) From a family of peasants in Riazan. Wrote emotional, lyrical poetry filled with echoes of the Russian countryside. Called an imaginist. Believed the revolution would result in a return to the ideals of the peasant commune. Looked to the revolution as a way of realizing these goals. Became disillusioned with War Communism, the forced requisition of grain from peasants. Could not stand the idea of rapid industrialization and the destruction of the traditional Russian countryside. Took his own life in 1925 when he realized that the Bolsheviks would exploit the peasants and transform their lives in order to build their regime.
Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930) Also a symbolist, writer of lyrical poetry. Became very much caught up in the Bolshevik Revolution and welcomed the NEP as the new order of the future. Futurist poet and dramatist; wrote agit-prop for the new regime; wrote The Bedbug (1928). Saw the revolution as a fast way to modernize Russia. Russian Association of Proletarian Writers formed in 1928. Became disillusioned with the increasing suppression of creative freedom after NEP. Committed suicide in 1930, saying that he had "stepped on the throat of his own song". News of his suicide was covered up from the public and he became a hero among Soviet writers.
Revolutionary Artists: Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin (1878-1939)lyrical painter, painted Soviet icons of virgin and child; Kasimir Malevich (1878-1935) avant-garde artist, moved from impressionism to cubo-futurism to abstract expressionism; Vasily Kandinsky (1866-1944) another earlyabstract expressionist; Vladimir Tatlin (1885-1953)constructivist sculptor and architect; constructivism sought to take art from the studion and put it on the street; attempted to remove bourgeois individualism from art; famous for his Monument to the Third International
The period of experimentation in art and literature was ended in the late 1920's as Stalin consolidated the Party's hold over all aspects of life in the country and forced the adoption of socialist realism (using realistic technique to express life as it allegedly was or would be under socialism) as the only acceptable medium of artistic expression. In the 1930's many artists and writers were imprisoned or shot. Socialist realism remained the only officially accepted and encouraged form of Soviet art up to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.