Maxim Gorky Dies At Moscow Villa

June 19, 1936

OBITUARY

Maxim Gorky Dies At Moscow Villa

Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES

MOSCOW, June 18.–Maxim Gorky, most famous of contemporary Russian novelists, died shortly before noon today of heart disease, the result of pulmonary congestion following grip. He had been ill for two weeks. His heart weakness had already given rise
to anxiety, which was greatly accentuated yesterday. He died in his country villa, about thirty miles from Moscow, at the age of 68.

Gorky had become one of the most popular figures in the U.S.S.R. in recent years as he gradually passed from a sympathizer to one of the warmest supporters of the Soviet regime. He played a leading role at the International Writers Congress in Moscow
in the Summer of 1934. His photograph in the congress hall was nearly as large as Stalin’s.

Although he did not participate in politics directly and was not a member of the Bolshevist party, he championed the Soviet cause unequivocally. Tverskaya Street, one of the leading thoroughfares of Moscow, was named Gorky Street in his honor.

There will be a great public funeral on Saturday or Sunday and the body will lie in state in Moscow for twenty-four hours previously.

Tribute From London

Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES

LONDON, June 18.–The Times of London in an appreciation of Maxim Gorky says:

“If any of his works survive as literature and not merely as documents in the stages of the Russian Revolution, they may be not his novels and short stories for which he became famous in early life, but the odd, unchronicled volumes of reminiscence
on which he worked when his health permitted after the downfall of the old regime. Collectively called ‘My Universities,’ they make as fascinating a gallery of curious portraits and pictures
of outlandish ways of life as can be found in the works of Dickens at his most fantastic.

“The success of his plays was probably due more to admirable presentation by the Moscow Art Theatre than to intrinsic merit.”

Comment From Shaw

By The Associated Press

LONDON, June 18.–George Bernard Shaw, informed of the death of Maxim Gorky, said today:

“I dare say it’s time for all us nineteenth century writers to clear out. You’d better prepare my obituary. You never know.”

Triumphal Return to Russia

Maxim Gorky’s return to Russia in 1928 was something in the nature of a triumphant parade. Honors–more honors than for any other man in Soviet Russia–were showered upon the author. The ancient city of Nizhni Novgorod lost its old name and was called
Gorky in 1932. The largest airplane in the world at the time was named after the author of “Chelkash.” It was wrecked in 1935. The main literary institute in the U.S.S.R. has been called
the Maxim Gorky Institute.

Gorky’s more recent writings include plays like “Dostigayev” and “Yegor Bulevitch” and novels or historical works like “Other Fires,” “Bystander” and “The Magnet.” Although his influence on the mass
of the Russian people has been enormous, the new school of Soviet writers has rebelled to a certain extent against his somewhat ponderous writings of later years. His fame, at the turn of the century,
was international. In later years he has been more of a semi-political figure in Soviet Russia.

Gorky opened the first congress of Soviet writers in Moscow in August, 1934. It was estimated in 1933 that his books had a circulation of 10,000,000 copies in Russia.

Alexis Maximovitch Pleshkov took the name of Maxim Gorky, meaning “Maxim the Bitter,” or “The Bitter One,” when he started to write. He was born in Nizhni Novgorod, Russia, March 14, 1868, the son of a journeyman upholsterer.

His rise in the world of literature was in every way extraordinary, as will be seen from the chronology which Gorky once submitted to an editor who asked for his autobiography. This is what he sent to the editor:

1868–Born at Nizhni Novgorod. 1878–Shoemaker’s boy. 1879–Apprentice to a designer, painting ikons. 1880–Cabin boy on a Volga steamer (where the ship’s cook taught him to read). 1883–Worked in a biscuit factory. 1884–Porter. 1885–Baker’s
boy. 1886–Dummy in a village theatre. 1887–Fruit seller. 1888–Attempted suicide. 1889–Railway employe. 1890–Clerk to an advocate (where he learned to write). 1891–Operative in a salt mill;
later vagabond. 1892–Wrote his first novel, “Maker Chudra.” 1903–Celebrity and riches.

Abandoned by His Parents

When only 5 years old Gorky was abandoned by his parents and was cared for by his grandfather, described as a miserly and brutal old man. The lot of the nomad, which he immortalized in later years, appeared to be his destiny. Desperate struggles with
cold and hunger, neglect and misery were his lot from his earliest days. He was compelled to leave school when he was taken down with cholera and he never returned. His father contracted the same
illness and died, and upon Gorky’s recovery he found that his mother had died of consumption. The grandparent informed his convalescent boy that he had lost his hoarded wealth and that he must
go to work.

Long and dreary days followed as the shoemaker’s apprentice. He decided that the life of a drudge, with its weary hours and slums, dark cellars and otherwise sordid environment, could be forsaken forever by running away, and this he did:

Tramping about the Volga region, he chanced upon Captain Mikail Samouir, an old seafaring man, who liked the bright and companionable vagabond. The captain, an educated man, offered to teach the youth to read, but at first Gorky hated books, and it took
him a long time to acquire an appreciation of the beauties stored in the books the captain offered him. At first he read the Bible, then the Arabian Nights, and at length became fascinated with the
works of the Russian masters of the day. When he realized how ignorant he was he sought an education.

He had read somewhere that Leo Tolstoy got his education at the University of Kazan, so, at the age of 15, he bade the captain good-bye and set out for Kazan. He was destined to disappointment at the end of his journey, for, to his chagrin, he learned
for the first time that an education such as he desired had to be bought. He therefore went to work in a bakeshop, earning the sum of 3 rubles per month–$1.50 in the coin of the United States.

Immortalizes Dingy Bakeshop

In his short story “Twenty-one and One Other,” he immortalized the miserable and dingy bakeshop, with its ceaselessly toiling bakers and fiery tongues leaping from the bake oven. Fantastic pictures set his imagination aglow, for he had heard
of the city of Tiflis, with its semi-barbaric inhabitants. He left the bakeshop bound for the Crimea, but apparently on this attempt he did not get far. A stranger stopped him as he lounged about
the university preparatory to taking his departure. The man was a lawyer, who, after hearing the story of the impetuous boy, offered him employment. Gorky became a clerk in the law office, and then
followed long days of hard study.

Finally he parted from his benefactor and arrived in Tiflis in 1892, where he found employment in a railroad shop. There he wrote his first short story, but his best work in this line was not done until some years later, when he met Vladimir Korolenko,
the famous Russian short-story writer. Unlike most Russian writers, Gorky was received with great enthusiasm. He found an echo within the hearts of the multitude. All over the world his work began
to meet with approval, as it was translated into many languages.

Following his first story Gorky attracted wider attention by his tale called “Chelkash.” This was followed by a series of stories in which he sketched with realistic success the life of the bosniakl, or tramp. His favorite type, however, was
the man in revolt against society. Through his years of association with that class he wrote from personal knowledge and easily enlisted the sympathy of his readers. He also produced some plays with
high ideals, such as “At the Lowest Depths,” which met with great success in Moscow.

An Exile for Eight Years

While Gorky cultivated the art of expressing revolutionary ideas in his books without actually giving the censor an excuse to suppress them, he fell into disastrous conflict with the authorities when, later, he engaged actively in socialistic anti-government
propaganda. Several times he was cast into prison because of his seditious utterances, and after incarceration at Riga in January, 1905, he virtually became an exile for eight years.

He came to America in the Spring of 1906. When it was learned that the “Mme. Gorky” with whom he was travelling was in reality Mlle. Andreieva, an actress, and not legally married to the revolutionist, a revulsion of sentiment set in and society
refused to have anything more to do with him, despite the explanation that under the Russian laws it had been impossible to obtain a divorce from his wife, with whom he had not lived for years. Admission
to New York hotels was refused him, and, finally, after a period of seclusion, he left America, bitterly denouncing the country. In 1907, while living in the shadow of death from tuberculosis at
Capri, Italy, Gorky married the actress.

In 1913 he was included in an amnesty conceded by the Czar, but at first declined to avail himself of it. In 1914, however, he returned to Russia. Soon thereafter the World War started. Although 46 years old, with health undermined, and a supposedly confirmed
pacifist, Gorky enlisted in the Russian Army as a private and served at the front in Galicia. He said a European disaster would be brought about if Germany won the war, and he was willing to sacrifice
his principles to avert such a catastrophe.

Attacked Bolsheviki

When the revolution broke out in 1917 Gorky was as ardent a revolutionist as any, and was active in politics as editor of his revived organ, Svobodnaia Zhizn (Free Life), which had been previously suppressed because of its revolutionary tendencies. When
Kerensky was overthrown, Gorky found himself in bitter disagreement with the Bolsheviki and attacked them almost daily in editorials and bulletins issued over his name. His opposition did not last
long, however, and he was soon won over to the Bolshevist cause.

His adherence to the Soviet cause was questioned at various times, due to temporary quarrels with the powers that be, but, generally speaking, he never wavered in his support of the principles for which the Bolsheviki stood. In 1918 he was appointed chief
of the Soviet Bureau of Propaganda, and early the next year he was elected a member of the Petrograd Soviet. His wife became an official of the Department of Education.

Gorky’s political connection with the Soviet ended in 1924, when, either because his health was bad or because he felt himself temporarily out of sympathy with the regime, he left Russia for Germany, France and Italy.

Faithful to Soviet Creed

As a matter of fact, Gorky was to show himself by his later actions and statements to be heartily in accord with Soviet principles. When the tenth anniversary of the Bolshevist regime was celebrated, Gorky sent a letter of greeting to the Soviet Government.

While in Russia Gorky abandoned his literary work, only to take it up again when he was abroad. For a year or two after leaving Russia he was believed to be slowly dying of his tubercular trouble, but, after purchasing a villa in Sorrento, Italy, and
taking up his residence there, he recovered his health completely. His most important literary work, composed at Sorrento, was his autobiography, written in the form of a diary, but he also wrote
several novels and plays, considered by critics to be as fine as any of his early work. On his sixtieth birthday, which occurred in March, 1928, the Soviet Government honored him by issuing a special
set of postage stamps bearing his portrait. Gorky was the first writer so honored in Russia.