How Stalin persuaded Bulgakov to stay in the USSR and why he gave secret gifts to Vertinsky

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Stalin is a Shakespearean hero. The scale of this politician's personality did not leave indifferent artists of the 20th century. They watched as bewitched, and yet surrendered themselves into his hands. Vertinsky and Bulgakov, what do they have in common? - Country and Stalin.

Stalin is a reader

Joseph Stalin can rightfully be considered the most educated leader of the country of the Soviets. He knew German and was fluent in English. Stalin was well acquainted with classical literature and was fond of philosophy. In his official speeches he gladly inserted quotes from Chekhov, Gogol, Griboyedov, Pushkin and Tolstoy. But he did not like Dostoevsky.

After the death of the leader, 10 thousand volumes remained at Blizhnyaya Dacha. His personal library. Nikita Khrushchev will order all the books to be disposed of. Only those on the covers of which Stalin made a lot of notes with his own hand will be preserved. There is no doubt that this head of the party apparatus had a keen taste for art. And in his youth, Joseph Dzhugashvili himself wrote poetic lines. This is how his earlier poem ends:

(with.)

So how did his relationship with the artists of the twentieth century develop? The dictator created difficult conditions for the life of creative people. Censorship, Harassment, Restrictions. Fear served as a pedestal for his authority. But is it only fear? The bourgeois who read Shakespeare often drew parallels with Shakespeare's heroes. Isn't it Richard III? The scale and mystery in this man fascinated the thinking class.

Bulgakov. Dumbfounded

Bulgakov … In recent years, suffering from neurasthenia, afraid to cross the street without his wife's accompaniment, hunted and sick, it seemed, should have hated Stalin, and instead painted his portrait on the pages of his works.

In the 1920s, Mikhail Bulgakov made attempts to immigrate, but the move did not take place due to serious health problems. The writer remains under Soviet yoke. Ahead are years of hardship, fears, lack of demand. According to one version, Bulgakov will write the image of Stalin in the novel The Master and Margarita. And Bulgakov himself perceived the leader as a complex hero, his assessment will appear in the play "Batum". Stalin will be dissatisfied with the description of his youth and will ban this play.

However, Bulgakov wants to show that the devil is already among us. Even though he's not completely evil yet. The scope of Bulgakov's literary misfortune is as follows: the premiere of Days of the Turbins at the Moscow Art Theater was a stunning success. The spectators have hysteria, fainting. People just can't deal with emotions. There is evidence that Joseph Vissarionovich himself watched the performance 10 times. And at the same time, monstrous reviews in the press.

READ ALSO: Alternative illustrations by Rostov artist Alexander Botvinov for Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita"

Lunacharsky ordered to trample and crush the petty-bourgeois author. This will be followed by a search in the apartment, confiscation of the manuscript "Heart of a Dog" and the diary. The play "Running" is strictly prohibited. Bulgakov tore up and burned the first edition of The Master and Margarita. And then he wrote about it to the Soviet government. On March 28, 1930 Bulgakov will ask the "powerful of the world" to leave the country:

On April 18 of the same year, the telephone will ring in the writer's apartment. It is impossible not to recognize the voice. On the other end of the line, Joseph Stalin:

And Bulgakov was at a loss, passed. She will regret her answer all my life. The power of the interlocutor forced him to retreat. He will answer that a Russian writer cannot live without his Motherland, and by this he will decide his fate. He will remain in the Union, will be respected and afraid.

Vertinsky. Personal nightingale

Another artist, or to be more precise a poet, singer and artist Alexander Vertinsky, Stalin will return to the country. Just because he loves his songs. At that time, the artist lived in exile for 25 years. He periodically sent letters of request to return, and in 1943 it was decided to grant his request. The singer, who is very popular abroad, is happy to return home with his young wife and daughter. But the reception will surprise him. Stalin will give him housing and will not interfere with giving concerts, only the radio and newspapers will be silent. Recording new records is out of the question. This means that the artist's family is deprived of royalties. Bread has to be obtained in kind. Vertinsky gave 24 concerts a month and went to the farthest corners of the country.

Vertinsky plaintively spoke of himself as follows:

The paradox is that he has the most influential admirer in the country, and perhaps in the world. The fact that Joseph Stalin was very fond of listening to Vertinsky is a well-known fact.

Only once in the Union did Vertinsky visit a recording studio. The order is to sing. And there are imperturbable armed guards nearby. The only disc with the singer's compositions was recorded specifically for the management team. Per Alexander Vertinsky often they sent a car. The route lay directly to the Kremlin. The singer recalled that he was brought into a spacious office. The table was set for one. HE silently stepped out from behind the curtain. Vertinsky sang, he chose the repertoire on his own. It seemed to the artist that Stalin listened especially favorably to his exotic songs. And in the mysterious office it often sounded:

(with.)

Then the listener silently got up and disappeared from sight - this meant that the concert was over. Vertinsky was not paid for such performances, but once a year the same black car brought expensive gifts, for example, a Chinese service. Stalin enjoyed the talent of the artist alone. And he was not going to share his pleasure with the country. In turn, Vertinsky was proud of himself, but kept quiet about these meetings. Respected and feared.

Continuing the theme of Stalin's relationship with cultural figures, the story of how for which the author of the poem "I asked the ash tree …".