Poet Demian Bedny has come a long way from a peasant from a poor village to a recognized classic of literature. At the same time, his personality is unique in its own way – in fact, he was a writer of the Soviet government, intolerant of the old, pre-revolutionary culture, and the debate about whether he could be included in the ranks of the creative intelligentsia is still ongoing.
The future poet was born on the territory of modern Ukraine, not far from Kherson. At birth, he was called Pridvorovym Efim Alekseevich. Demian Bedny wrote his first poems while he was still studying in a rural school. After school, the poet served in the army, but he devoted all his free time to self-education. Even before the revolution, Demian Bedny was imbued with Bolshevik ideas, and began to create poetry dedicated to revolutionary themes. Bedny’s first collection of fables was published in 1913.
During the civil war, Demian Bedny took part in the hostilities at the front, simultaneously writing leaflets and poems of a communist orientation. In the 20s of the last century, Bedny, having gained the approval of the Soviet authorities, received even a personal car for traveling in the USSR. In 1933, Demian Bedny was awarded the Order of Lenin for his work, the post of the very first Soviet poet who received this award. For a long time, the poet lived in an apartment in the Kremlin, but later the party, which condemned his further work, evicted him from there and even closed his access to the Stalinist library.
In 1938, under pressure from the ruling party, Demian Bedny was expelled from the Soviet Writers Union. After the start of the Second World War, the poet actively wrote poems praising Lenin and Stalin, trying to regain the favor of the authorities, but did not succeed in this endeavor. At the end of his life, the poet also signed the pseudonym “D. Combat”. Demian Bedny died on May 25, 1945, almost immediately after the official end of the war.
