The Bolsheviks' folk-verse satirist of the Civil War, housed in the Kremlin and later cast out
Born Yefim Pridvorov to a poor family in Kherson Governorate, he published fables and satirical verse in Bolshevik papers from about 1911 and joined the party in 1912. His folk-style agitational verse was widely read in the revolution and Civil War; from March 1918 he lived in the Kremlin and enjoyed Stalin's favour. The Central Committee censured his satires in 1930, his play The Bogatyrs was banned in 1936, and in July 1938 he was expelled from the party and the Writers' Union for "moral degeneration". He was not arrested and was allowed to publish again once the war began. He died in a sanatorium in 1945 and was reinstated in the party in 1956.
Also known as: Demian Bedny · Yefim Pridvorov
Activities and affiliations
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1912–1938
Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
Literature and arts -
1918–1938
Soviet Union state institutionsAgitational poet of the Soviet governmentMain
Literature and arts
Career Timeline
- 1912Joins the Bolsheviks; publishes fables and satirical verse in Pravda and other papers
- 1918.03Moves to Moscow with the Soviet government and lives in the Kremlin
- 1930.12.06The Central Committee Secretariat censures his satires "Get Down from the Stove" and "Without Mercy"
- 1936.11.14His play The Bogatyrs is banned
- 1938.07Expelled from the party and the Writers' Union