Literary and historical notes of a young technician. Gaidar stories

At that time we were crossing the Gaichura River. This river itself is not special, just so-so, just for two boats to pass each other. And this river was famous because it flowed through the Makhnovist republic, that is, believe me, wherever you go near it, there are either fires burning, and under the fires there are cauldrons with all sorts of goose and pig meat, or some kind of ataman is sitting, or a man is simply hanging on an oak tree , but what kind of person he was, why he was sentenced - for some kind of offense, or simply to intimidate others - is unknown. Read...

The other day I read in the newspaper a notice of the death of Yakov Bersenev. I had long since lost sight of him, and when I looked through the newspaper I was surprised not so much that he died as at how he could still live, having no less than six wounds - broken ribs and lungs completely crushed by rifle butts. Read...

Our platoon occupied a small cemetery at the very edge of the village. The Petliurists were firmly entrenched on the edge of the opposite grove. For stone wall Because of the lattice fence we were little vulnerable to enemy machine guns. Until noon we exchanged fire quite hotly, but after lunch the shooting subsided. Read...

The guardhouse is quiet. The Red Army soldiers of the next shift, sitting around the table, are talking in such a way as not to interfere with the rest of the comrades who have just been relieved. But the conversation doesn’t go well, because the rhythmic ticking of the pendulum induces sleep, and the eyes stick together against their will. Read...

I had just sat down to a piece of hot bread with milk, served by the kind hostess, when suddenly someone burst into the door noisily and shouted... Read...

It seems that Nemirovich-Danchenko has this picture: a captured Japanese is brought in. For now, this and that, he asked the soldier to wash himself. He rinsed his hair from the pot and began to soap it. He lathered for a long time, snorted, rubbing his face, washed off the soap, scooped up another pot of water, began to rinse his teeth and chest cold water douse Read...

The Red Army soldiers began to argue around the fire while resting after a long march. Read...

Kolka was seven years old, Nyurka was eight. And Vaska is six. Read...

Father was late, and three sat down at the table for dinner: the barefoot guy Efimka, his little sister Valka and his seven-year-old brother nicknamed Nikolashka the Balovashka. Read...

I was thirty-two years old then. Marusya is twenty-nine, and our daughter Svetlana is six and a half. Only at the end of the summer did I get a vacation, and for the last warm month we rented a dacha near Moscow. Read...

There lived a man in the forest near the Blue Mountains. He worked a lot, but the work did not decrease, and he could not go home on vacation. Read...

My mother studied and worked in a large new factory, around which there were dense forests. Read...

There lived a lonely old man in the village. He was weak, he wove baskets, hemmed felt boots, guarded the collective farm garden from the boys, and thereby earned his bread. Read...

The Red Army soldier Vasily Kryukov had a wounded horse, and the White Cossacks were catching up with him. He, of course, could have shot himself, but he didn’t want to. He threw away the empty rifle, unfastened his saber, put the revolver in his bosom and, turning his weakened horse, rode towards the Cossacks. Read...

The spy crossed the swamp, put on his Red Army uniform and went out onto the road. The girl was collecting cornflowers in the rye. She came up and asked for a knife to trim the stems of the bouquet.

At that time we were crossing the Gaichura River. This river itself is not special, just so-so, just for two boats to pass each other. And this river was famous because it flowed through the Makhnovist republic, that is, believe me, wherever you go near it, there are either fires burning, and under the fires there are cauldrons with all sorts of goose and pig meat, or some kind of ataman is sitting, or a man is simply hanging on an oak tree , but what kind of person he was, why he was sentenced - for some kind of offense, or simply to intimidate others - is unknown.

Our detachment forded this wretched river, that is, the water was up to the navel, and for me, as I always stood on the left flank as a forty-sixth incomplete, it almost went straight to the throat.

I raised the rifle and bandoleer over my head, walked carefully, feeling the bottom with my foot. And the bottom of that Gaichura is nasty and slimy. My leg got caught on some snag and I fell headlong into the water.

Seryozha Chumakov said:

After all, if you ask like this: “What is the most important thing for you in battle, that is, how do you defeat the enemy and inflict damage on him?” - the person will think and answer: “A rifle... Well, or a machine gun, a weapon... In general, depending on the type of weapon.”

And I don’t quite agree with this. Of course, no one takes away its qualities from a weapon, but still, every weapon is a dead thing. It itself has no effect, and all main strength in a person lies in how a person poses himself and how much control he can have over himself.

And even if you give another fool a tank, he will abandon the tank out of cowardice, and he will destroy the car, and he himself will never disappear, although he could still fight back with anything.

What I’m saying is that if, for example, you fight off your own people, or run out of ammunition, or are even left without a rifle, this is still no reason for you to hang your head, lose heart, and decide to surrender to the mercy of the enemy. No! Look around, invent something, turn around, just don’t lose your head.

The Red Army soldier Vasily Kryukov had a wounded horse, and the White Cossacks were catching up with him. He, of course, could have shot himself, but he didn’t want to. He threw away the empty rifle, unfastened his saber, put the revolver in his bosom and, turning his weakened horse, rode towards the Cossacks.

The Cossacks were surprised at this, because it was not the custom of that war for the Reds to throw their weapons to the ground... Therefore, they did not hack Kryukov to death on the move, but surrounded him and wanted to find out what this man needed and what he hoped for. Kryukov took off his gray hat with a red star and said:

The other day I read in the newspaper a notice of the death of Yakov Bersenev. I had long since lost sight of him, and when I looked through the newspaper I was surprised not so much that he died as at how he could still live, having no less than six wounds - broken ribs and lungs completely crushed by rifle butts.

Now that he is dead, we can write the whole truth about the death of the 4th company. And not because I didn’t want to do it earlier because of fear or other considerations, but only because I didn’t want to once again cause unnecessary pain to the main culprit of the defeat, but at the same time good guy, among many others, severely paid for his self-will and indiscipline.

I was thirty-two years old then. Marusya is twenty-nine, and our daughter Svetlana is six and a half. Only at the end of the summer did I get a vacation, and for the last warm month we rented a dacha near Moscow.

Svetlana and I thought about fishing, swimming, picking mushrooms and nuts in the forest. And I had to immediately sweep the yard, fix dilapidated fences, stretch ropes, hammer in crutches and nails.

We got tired of all this very soon, and Marusya comes up with new and new things one after another for herself and for us.

Only on the third day, in the evening, was everything finally done. And just when the three of us were getting ready to go for a walk, her friend, a polar pilot, came to Marusya.

They sat for a long time in the garden, under the cherry trees. And Svetlana and I went into the yard to the barn and, out of frustration, began making a wooden turntable.

There lived a lonely old man in the village. He was weak, he wove baskets, hemmed felt boots, guarded the collective farm garden from the boys, and thereby earned his bread.

He came to the village a long time ago, from afar, but people immediately realized that this man had suffered a lot of grief. He was lame, gray beyond his years. A crooked, ragged scar ran from his cheek across his lips. And therefore, even when he smiled, his face seemed sad and stern.

My mother studied and worked in a large new factory, surrounded by dense forests.

In our yard, in apartment number sixteen, there lived a girl, her name was Fenya.

Previously, her father was a fireman, but then he immediately learned at a course at the plant and became a pilot.

One day, when Fenya was standing in the yard and, raising her head, looking at the sky, an unfamiliar boy thief attacked her and snatched candy from her hands.

At that time I was sitting on the roof of the woodshed and looking to the west, where beyond the Kalva River, as they say, in the dry peat bogs, the forest that had caught fire the day before yesterday was burning.

Either sunlight It was too bright, or the fire had already died down, but I didn’t see the fire, but only saw a faint cloud of whitish smoke, the acrid smell of which reached our village and prevented people from sleeping that night.

Our platoon occupied a small cemetery at the very edge of the village. The Petliurists were firmly entrenched on the edge of the opposite grove. Behind the stone wall of the lattice fence we were little vulnerable to enemy machine guns. Until noon we exchanged fire quite hotly, but after lunch the shooting subsided.

It was then that Levka said:

Guys! Who's with me on the melon-growing for the kavuns?

The platoon commander swore:

I’ll give you so much melon that you won’t even recognize your own!

But Levka was cunning and headstrong.

“I,” he thinks, “will only be there for ten minutes, but at the same time I’ll find out why the Petliurists fell silent - nothing other than preparing something, and from there it’s clear to see.”

In those distant, distant years, when the war had just died down throughout the country, there lived Malchish-Kibalchish.

At that time, the Red Army drove far away the white troops of the damned bourgeoisie, and everything became quiet in those wide fields, in the green meadows, where rye grew, where buckwheat blossomed, where among the dense gardens and cherry bushes stood the little house in which Malchish, nicknamed Kibalchish, lived. , yes, Malchish’s father, and Malchish’s older brother, but they didn’t have a mother.

Father works - mows hay. My brother works, hauling hay. And Malchish himself either helps his father or his brother or simply jumps and plays around with other boys.

The spy crossed the swamp, put on his Red Army uniform and went out onto the road.

The girl was collecting cornflowers in the rye. She came up and asked for a knife to trim the stems of the bouquet.

He gave her a knife, asked her name, and, having heard enough that people had fun living on the Soviet side, he began to laugh and sing funny songs.

The stories of Arkady Gaidar are a real treasure trove for children all over Russia. The reason for this popularity is simple - the main actors in his works are ordinary street children. They are the ones who do good deeds, help people, and accomplish great feats. Therefore, for Soviet children, such heroes as Timur and his team, Chuk and Gek, as well as Malchish-Kibalchish were the main role models! The main qualities possessed by the protagonists of Gaidar’s stories were devotion, honesty and courage. And the antagonists, as usual, did nothing but betray and play dirty tricks.

The reality that surrounded them was difficult and harsh: the October Revolution and the Civil War forced the parents of the heroes to go to war, and as a result, the head of the family was left to the children, who quickly realized the fullness of responsibility. They blamed their problems, which were not at all childish, and yet successfully defeated the bad guys and their leaders, took patronage over the weak and helped improve their homeland. And even now, when a child begins to read Gaidar’s stories, the brightest feelings awaken in his soul.

At that time we were crossing the Gaichura River. This river itself is not special, just so-so, just for two boats to pass each other. And this river was famous because it flowed through the Makhnovist republic, that is, believe me, wherever you go near it, there are either fires burning, and under the fires there are cauldrons with all sorts of goose and pig meat, or some kind of ataman is sitting, or a man is simply hanging on an oak tree , but what kind of person he was, why he was sentenced - for some kind of offense, or simply to intimidate others - is unknown.

Our detachment forded this wretched river, that is, the water was up to the navel, and for me, as I always stood on the left flank as a forty-sixth incomplete, it almost went straight to the throat.

I raised the rifle and bandoleer over my head, walked carefully, feeling the bottom with my foot. And the bottom of that Gaichura is nasty and slimy. My leg got caught on some snag and I fell headlong into the water.

Seryozha Chumakov said:

After all, if you ask like this: “What is the most important thing for you in battle, that is, how do you defeat the enemy and inflict damage on him?” - the person will think and answer: “A rifle... Well, or a machine gun, a weapon... In general, depending on the type of weapon.”

And I don’t quite agree with this. Of course, no one takes away the qualities of a weapon, but still, every weapon is a dead thing. It itself has no effect, and all the main strength in a person lies in how a person poses himself and how much he can control himself.

And even if you give another fool a tank, he will abandon the tank out of cowardice, and he will destroy the car, and he himself will never disappear, although he could still fight back with anything.

What I’m saying is that if, for example, you fight off your own people, or run out of ammunition, or are even left without a rifle, this is still no reason for you to hang your head, lose heart, and decide to surrender to the mercy of the enemy. No! Look around, invent something, turn around, just don’t lose your head.

The Red Army soldier Vasily Kryukov had a wounded horse, and the White Cossacks were catching up with him. He, of course, could have shot himself, but he didn’t want to. He threw away the empty rifle, unfastened his saber, put the revolver in his bosom and, turning his weakened horse, rode towards the Cossacks.

The Cossacks were surprised at this, because it was not the custom of that war for the Reds to throw their weapons to the ground... Therefore, they did not hack Kryukov to death on the move, but surrounded him and wanted to find out what this man needed and what he hoped for. Kryukov took off his gray hat with a red star and said:

The other day I read in the newspaper a notice of the death of Yakov Bersenev. I had long since lost sight of him, and when I looked through the newspaper I was surprised not so much that he died as at how he could still live, having no less than six wounds - broken ribs and lungs completely crushed by rifle butts.

Now that he is dead, we can write the whole truth about the death of the 4th company. And not because I didn’t want to do it earlier out of fear or other considerations, but only because I didn’t want to once again cause unnecessary pain to the main culprit of the defeat, but at the same time a good guy, who, among many others, had cruelly paid for their self-will and indiscipline.

I was thirty-two years old then. Marusya is twenty-nine, and our daughter Svetlana is six and a half. Only at the end of the summer did I get a vacation, and for the last warm month we rented a dacha near Moscow.

Svetlana and I thought about fishing, swimming, picking mushrooms and nuts in the forest. And I had to immediately sweep the yard, fix dilapidated fences, stretch ropes, hammer in crutches and nails.

We got tired of all this very soon, and Marusya comes up with new and new things one after another for herself and for us.

Only on the third day, in the evening, was everything finally done. And just when the three of us were getting ready to go for a walk, her friend, a polar pilot, came to Marusya.

They sat for a long time in the garden, under the cherry trees. And Svetlana and I went into the yard to the barn and, out of frustration, began making a wooden turntable.

There lived a lonely old man in the village. He was weak, he wove baskets, hemmed felt boots, guarded the collective farm garden from the boys, and thereby earned his bread.

He came to the village a long time ago, from afar, but people immediately realized that this man had suffered a lot of grief. He was lame, gray beyond his years. A crooked, ragged scar ran from his cheek across his lips. And therefore, even when he smiled, his face seemed sad and stern.

My mother studied and worked in a large new factory, surrounded by dense forests.

In our yard, in apartment number sixteen, there lived a girl, her name was Fenya.

Previously, her father was a fireman, but then he immediately learned at a course at the plant and became a pilot.

One day, when Fenya was standing in the yard and, raising her head, looking at the sky, an unfamiliar boy thief attacked her and snatched candy from her hands.

At that time I was sitting on the roof of the woodshed and looking to the west, where beyond the Kalva River, as they say, in the dry peat bogs, the forest that had caught fire the day before yesterday was burning.

Either the sunlight was too bright, or the fire had already died down, but I didn’t see the fire, but only saw a faint cloud of whitish smoke, the acrid smell of which wafted into our village and prevented people from sleeping that night.

Our platoon occupied a small cemetery at the very edge of the village. The Petliurists were firmly entrenched on the edge of the opposite grove. Behind the stone wall of the lattice fence we were little vulnerable to enemy machine guns. Until noon we exchanged fire quite hotly, but after lunch the shooting subsided.

It was then that Levka said:

Guys! Who's with me on the melon-growing for the kavuns?

The platoon commander swore:

I’ll give you so much melon that you won’t even recognize your own!

But Levka was cunning and headstrong.

“I,” he thinks, “will only be there for ten minutes, but at the same time I’ll find out why the Petliurists fell silent - nothing other than preparing something, and from there it’s clear to see.”

In those distant, distant years, when the war had just died down throughout the country, there lived Malchish-Kibalchish.

At that time, the Red Army drove far away the white troops of the damned bourgeoisie, and everything became quiet in those wide fields, in the green meadows, where rye grew, where buckwheat blossomed, where among the dense gardens and cherry bushes stood the little house in which Malchish, nicknamed Kibalchish, lived. , yes, Malchish’s father, and Malchish’s older brother, but they didn’t have a mother.

Father works - mows hay. My brother works, hauling hay. And Malchish himself either helps his father or his brother or simply jumps and plays around with other boys.

The spy crossed the swamp, put on his Red Army uniform and went out onto the road.

The girl was collecting cornflowers in the rye. She came up and asked for a knife to trim the stems of the bouquet.

He gave her a knife, asked her name, and, having heard enough that people had fun on the Soviet side, began to laugh and sing funny songs.

The stories of Arkady Gaidar are a real treasure trove for children all over Russia. The reason for such popularity is simple - the main characters in his works are ordinary courtyard children. They are the ones who do good deeds, help people, and accomplish great feats. Therefore, for Soviet children, such heroes as Timur and his team, Chuk and Gek, as well as Malchish-Kibalchish were the main role models! The main qualities possessed by the protagonists of Gaidar’s stories were devotion, honesty and courage. And the antagonists, as usual, did nothing but betray and play dirty tricks.

The reality that surrounded them was difficult and harsh: the October Revolution and the Civil War forced the parents of the heroes to go to war, and as a result, the head of the family was left to the children, who quickly realized the fullness of responsibility. They blamed their problems, which were not at all childish, and yet successfully defeated the bad guys and their leaders, took patronage over the weak and helped improve their homeland. And even now, when a child begins to read Gaidar’s stories, the brightest feelings awaken in his soul.

During his lifetime, Arkady Petrovich Gaidar became a legend Soviet era: at the age of fourteen he entered communist party and went to the front Civil War; at the age of seventeen he commanded a regiment, dealing with bandits; then he became a writer, whose books were read by more than one generation of Soviet pioneers.

Countless streets, squares, and alleys in central and not-so-central cities are named after Gaidar. Houses of Pioneers, children's libraries, detachments and squads of Soviet schools bore his name. Biography of the writer, how fascinating work of art, read out at “Leninist” lessons and pioneer gatherings. A portrait of young Gaidar in the famous Kubanka, with a saber on his belt, hung in almost every “cool corner”. It seemed that there was no brighter and more heroic personality than the author of “Timur” and “The Fate of a Drummer.” Gaidar escaped the skating rink of Stalinist repressions, persecution and oblivion. He died in battle with the fascist invaders, being at the peak of his literary fame. It was impossible to suspect or accuse such a hero of anything.

However, during the period of so-called “perestroika,” a stream of negative assessments of the recent past, accusations and sensational revelations literally rained down on the heads of our fellow citizens. Arkady Gaidar did not escape this fate. By then conscious Soviet people the image of the children's writer and hero was so idealized that some facts from his real life, deliberately and without evidence inflated by false historians and zealous scribblers, produced not just an unfavorable, but rather a disgusting impression. It turned out that the seventeen-year-old regiment commander proved himself to be a merciless punisher during the suppression of anti-Soviet uprisings in the Tambov region and Khakassia in 1921-1922. At the same time, he did not fight with whites or bandits armed to the teeth, but with the civilian population who were trying to protect themselves from tyranny and violence local authorities. The famous children's writer taught the younger generation goodness, justice, loyalty to the Motherland, but he himself abused alcohol, did not have his own home, did not have a normal family, and in general was a mentally ill, deeply unhappy, half-insane person.

As it turned out, most of these accusations turned out to be deliberate lies.

Gaidar is a man of his heroic-romantic, but also tragic time. Today it’s hard to believe that it was creativity that saved famous writer from complete internal discord, illness, fear of the reality in which he, a dreamer and romantic, had to survive. In his imagination, Gaidar created a happy country of the pioneer Timur, Alka, Chuk and Gek, the little drummer Seryozha. Gaidar himself firmly believed in this country, believed in the reality of the great future of his heroes. His faith inspired thousands, even millions of Soviet boys and girls to live according to the fictitious, but most beautiful and fair laws of the “country of Gaidar.” As V. Pelevin wrote in his famous book“The Life of Insects,” even the image of a child killer created by a children’s writer, free from the Christian commandment “thou shalt not kill” and the throwings of the student Raskolnikov, has a right to exist. This image does not look so disgusting if only because Gaidar was truly sincere when he drew it from himself, a non-fictional hero and victim of a cruel revolutionary era. In fact, he was one of the book’s ideal heroes, from whom they took their example and whom entire generations sought to imitate. This is the whole truth about Gaidar. It makes no sense to look for some other truth...

Parents and childhood

Arkady Petrovich Golikov was born in the small town of Lgov, Kursk region. His father - school teacher, Pyotr Isidorovich Golikov, was from a peasant background. Mother - Natalya Arkadyevna, nee Salkova, a noblewoman of a not very noble family (she was the sixth great-great-niece of M.Yu. Lermontov), ​​worked first as a teacher, later as a paramedic. After the birth of Arkady, three more children appeared in the family - his younger sisters. The parents of the future writer were no strangers to revolutionary ideas and even took part in the revolutionary events of 1905. Fearing arrest, the Golikovs left Lgov in 1908, and since 1912 they lived in Arzamas. This is the city future writer Arkady Gaidar considered his “small” homeland: here he studied at a real school, from here at the age of 14 he went to the front of the Civil War.

Pyotr Isidorovich Golikov was drafted into the army in 1914, after February Revolution soldiers of the 11th Siberian Regiment elected him commissar, then former warrant officer Golikov headed the regiment. After October 1917, he became commissar of division headquarters. Pyotr Isidorovich spent the entire Civil War at the fronts. He never returned to his family.

Natalya Arkadyevna, Gaidar’s mother, worked as a paramedic in Arzamas until 1920, then headed the county health department in the city of Przhevalsk, and was a member of the county-city revolutionary committee. She died of tuberculosis in 1924.

It is obvious that a boy from an intelligent family, such as Arkady was at the beginning of the Civil War, could perceive the unfolding events as a kind of game. He might not care on whose side he would realize his desire to accomplish a feat. However, the “revolutionary past” and the beliefs of his parents had an impact: in August 1918, Arkady Golikov submitted an application to join the Arzamas organization of the RCP. By the decision of the Arzamas Committee of the RCP (b) dated August 29, 1918, Golikov was accepted into the party “with the right of an advisory vote in his youth and until the completion of party education.”

In his autobiography, Gaidar writes:

According to the most authoritative “Gaidar expert” B. Kamov, Arkady’s mother brought him to the headquarters of the communist battalion. She was unable to feed four children alone, and Natalya Arkadyevna asked to take her son into the service. Battalion commander E.O. Efimov ordered that the literate and tall, precocious teenager be assigned as an adjutant to the headquarters. Arkady was given a uniform and put on allowance. The family began to receive rations. A month later, Efimov was suddenly appointed commander of the security forces railways Republic. The commander took the smart boy, who had an excellent understanding of documents and was efficient, with him to Moscow. Arkady was not yet 15 years old at that time.

The Red Army soldier Golikov successfully served first as an adjutant, then as head of the communications team, but constantly “bombed” his superiors with reports of transfer to the front. In March 1919, after another report, he was sent to command courses, which were soon transferred from Moscow to Kyiv.

The situation in Kyiv did not allow the cadets to study calmly: they were continually created into combat detachments, sent to eliminate gangs, and used on internal fronts. At the end of August 1919, early graduation took place at the courses, but the new painters were not distributed in parts. Of these, the Shock Brigade was formed here, which immediately set out to defend Kyiv from the Whites. On August 27, in the battle near Boyarka, platoon commander Arkady Golikov replaced the killed half-company Yakov Oksyuz.

The years 1919-1920 pass for the newly made commander in battles and battles: the Polish Front, Kuban, North Caucasus, Tavria.

“...I live like a wolf, I command a company, we fight with bandits with might and main”, - Arkady Golikov reported to his comrade Alexander Plesko in Arzamas in the summer of 1920.

He is not yet seventeen, but not a boy: combat experience, three fronts, wounded, two shell shocks. The last one was on the attack, when the battalion occupied the Tuba Pass. Life path elected - career commander of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.

From the autobiography of A. Gaidar:

Accepted to the junior squad of company commanders, Arkady Golikov graduates from “Vystrel” in the senior, tactical, squad. During his studies, he undergoes a short internship as a battalion commander and regiment commander, in March 1921 he took command of the 23rd reserve rifle regiment of the 2nd reserve rifle brigade of the Oryol Military District, then was appointed commander of a battalion that acted against two rebel “armies” Antonov in the Tambov province. At the end of June 1921, the commander of the troops in the Tambov province M.N. Tukhachevsky signed an order appointing Arkady Golikov, who was not yet 18 years old at that time, as commander of the 58th separate anti-banditry regiment.

Regimental Commander

Started with regimental command new stage Arkady Gaidar's life is perhaps the most controversial. According to some biographers, during this period Golikov showed himself to be a decisive, talented commander who defended his conquests Soviet power. Others will say: a cruel executioner and murderer.

We should not forget that in civil struggle there is neither right nor wrong. Still a very young man, formerly an intelligent boy, Arkady Golikov, like many of his peers, scorched by the Civil War, was hardly psychologically prepared for the activities that he had to conduct when he led the combat sector in the fight against banditry. The newly appointed commander of the Red Army tried as best he could to live up to the role imposed on him, but in reality he turned out not to be an executioner, but only a victim of the bloody military era and his own delusions.

After the defeat of the “Antonovschina” in the fall of 1921, commander Arkady Golikov received personal praise from Tukhachevsky for the work done. They wanted to send him to Moscow, giving him a recommendation for admission to the General Staff Academy. However, the “experienced” commander had to lead one of the battalions of units special purpose(CHON) and go to Bashkiria, where the need arose to fight kulak and nationalist gangs. The Chonovites failed to fight in Bashkiria: the battalion participated only in a few minor skirmishes, but already at the end of September 1921, Gaidar was transferred to Khakassia. Here, large gangs of the Cossack Solovyov intensified their activities.

The social basis of the rebel movement in Khakassia was discontent local population the policies of the bodies of the communist regime (surplus appropriations, mobilizations, labor duties, seizure of pastures necessary for the Khakass herders). New power, disregarding the real interests and objective capabilities of the “wild” population, tried to suppress by force the centers of spontaneous resistance, destroying the way of life that had developed over centuries.

Under these conditions, Solovyov’s “criminal gang,” pursued by punitive detachments, acquired the status of protector of the Khakass population. Gang size in different times ranged from two squadrons to twenty people.

Finding himself with small forces in an area where, in his opinion, half of the population supported the “bandits,” Golikov informed the commander of the provincial CHON about the need, based on the experience of the Tambov region, to introduce harsh sanctions against the “semi-wild foreigners,” up to the complete destruction of the “bandit” uluses. Among the Khakasses, indeed, there were many people who sympathized with the bandits, so the Chonovites quickly adopted such methods of struggle as the capture and execution of hostages (women and children), forced expropriation of property, and executions (flogging) of everyone suspected of having connections with the rebels.

No real documents have been preserved confirming the direct participation of Arkady Golikov and his subordinates in the listed atrocities.

What is known is that the representative of the military authorities failed to establish relations with the local Soviets and with the representatives of the provincial department of the GPU. In his opinion, the “GPE” officers monitored the behavior of Chonov’s commanders more and wrote denunciations against them, but did not engage in their direct responsibilities - creating a local intelligence network. Golikov had to personally recruit spies for himself. He acted as any Red Army commander in his place would have acted: he arrested those whom he suspected of having connections with the gang, and then forced them to work as his intelligence officers. The young commander had no experience, and he was guided only by the combat situation and the laws of war, because he did not know other laws. Naturally, numerous reports and complaints to higher authorities rained down on Golikov.

On June 3, 1922, a special department of the provincial department of the GPU began case No. 274 on charges against A.P. Golikova for abuse of official position. A special commission headed by battalion commander J. A. Wittenberg went to the site, which, having collected complaints from the population and local authorities, concluded its report with a demand for execution former boss combat site.

However, on June 7, the resolution of Commander V.N. was transferred from the headquarters of the provincial CHON to the special department. Kakoulina: “Under no circumstances arrest, replace and recall.”

On June 14 and 18, Golikov was interrogated at the OGPU in Krasnoyarsk. By that time, four departments had opened criminal cases against him: the ChON, the GPU, the prosecutor's office of the 5th Army and the control commission under the Yenisei provincial party committee. Each authority conducted its own investigation. During interrogations, the accused claimed that he shot without trial only bandits who themselves admitted to their crimes. However, no one in his unit carried out “legal formalities”, such as keeping an interrogation record or registering a death sentence. Gaidar explained this by saying that there was no competent clerk at the headquarters, and he himself was too busy to bother with unnecessary papers. During the investigation, it was nevertheless found out that most of the crimes attributed to Golikov were the work of other people or simply inventions of the informers themselves.

On June 30, the provincial department of the GPU transferred Golikov’s case to the control commission of the Yenisei provincial committee for consideration along party lines. The rest of the cases were also transferred there. On August 18, the party body considered this matter at a joint meeting of the presidium of the provincial committee and the CC of the RCP (b). Almost all charges, except for illegal expropriations and the shooting of three bandit accomplices, were dropped against Golikov. According to the decree of September 1, 1922, he was not expelled from the party (as some “researchers” now claim), but only transferred to the category of subjects for two years, with deprivation of the opportunity to occupy responsible positions.

As a result of the unrest, old traumas began to take their toll. Three years earlier, a fifteen-year-old company commander was wounded and at the same time seriously concussed by a nearby shell that exploded. The shock wave damaged the brain. In addition, the young man fell unsuccessfully from his horse and hit his head and back. In peacetime, this injury might not have had such severe consequences, but during the war, Gaidar quickly developed a traumatic neurosis. Some eyewitnesses of his actions in the Tambov region and Khakassia claimed that commander Golikov, despite his youth, actively abused alcohol. People who knew Gaidar closely already in the 1930s recalled that he could often look and act like he was drunk, although in fact he did not drink. This is exactly how the writer’s attacks of neurosis began. After the trial in Krasnoyarsk, Gaidar was immediately scheduled for a psychiatric examination.

From Arkady’s letter to his sister Natasha:

This diagnosis was made to a nineteen-year-old boy! The young “veteran” was treated for a long time in Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, and Moscow. Attacks of traumatic neurosis occurred less frequently and were not so acute. But the doctors’ conclusion crossed out the dream of an academy. In fact, Arkady Golikov was deprived of the opportunity to continue his service in the Red Army. The only way out for a disabled victim of the Civil War was writing.

Writer

Konstantin Fedin recalled:

Previously there was a regimental commander - understandable. I decided to become a writer - that’s also understandable. But who was he then when he appeared in the editorial office of the almanac in a tunic and an army cap, on the faded band of which there was a dark trace of a recently removed red star?

This question is answered by registration sheet No. 12371 of the Moscow City Military Commissariat, compiled for A.P. Golikov. in 1925. In the column “Are you in service and where?” Answer: “unemployed.”

It is known that from the end of 1923 until his appearance in Leningrad in 1925, former regimental commander Arkady Golikov wandered around the country, doing odd jobs, leading the life of a half-traveller, half-tramp.

The work submitted to the editor did not at all resemble a novel. It was the story “In the Days of Defeats and Victories,” which was published in the almanac, but it went almost unnoticed by the reader. Critics spoke unflatteringly about the story, considering it a weak and mediocre work. But failures do not stop Gaidar. In April 1925, his story “RVS” was published. It also did not bring wide fame to the author, but was liked by young readers.

Arkady Golikov again spends the summer of 1925 wandering, and in the fall he ends up in Moscow, where he meets his Arzamas friend Alexander Plesko, who at that time was “well established”: he worked in Perm as the deputy executive editor of the newspaper of the district party committee “Zvezda”. Alexander Plesko advised Arkady to go to Perm. The newspaper is good, the staff is young and friendly, and in addition, Nikolai Kondratiev, their mutual friend from Arzamas, collaborates with Zvezda. Friends willingly accepted Arkady into their circle. Already on the eve of the 8th anniversary October Revolution his material appeared in the holiday issue of Zvezda. Here the pseudonym “Gaidar” appears for the first time. Arkady Golikov signed his story about the civil war “Corner House” with it.

Nickname

Writer A. Rozanov in 1979, in his essay “Read and Think,” recalls the story of A.P. Gaidar on the origin of the pseudonym:

Arkady Petrovich continued further - “... In the twenty-first year, our unit knocked out bandits from one village in Khakassia. I’m riding slowly down the street, suddenly an old woman runs up, strokes the horse and says to me in her own language: “Gaidar! Gaidar! This seems to mean “daring, dashing horseman.” And this coincidence struck me so much that later I signed one of the first printed feuilletons - Gaidar...”

The writer’s son Timur Gaidar also began to adhere to this version.

Subsequently, one of the biographers interpreted the translation of this word from Mongolian as follows: “Gaidar is a horseman galloping ahead.”

Sounds nice. But it was worth doing simple thing- look through dictionaries to make sure: neither in Mongolian nor in two dozen other eastern languages ​​such a meaning of the word “gaidar” or “haidar” simply does not exist.

In the Khakass language, “khaidar” means: “where, in which direction?” Perhaps, when the Khakass saw that the head of the combat area for combating banditry was going somewhere at the head of a detachment, they asked each other: “Haidar Golikov? Where is Golikov going? Which way?" - to warn others about impending danger.

Permian period

In Perm, Gaidar worked for a long time in local archives, studying the events of the period of the first Russian revolution in Motovilikha and the fate of the Ural resident Alexander Lbov. Helped him in everything by the dark-haired, mischievous, mobile, like mercury, girl Rachel (Liya) Solomyanskaya - an active Komsomol member, organizer of the first printed pioneer newspaper in Perm "Miracle Ant". She was seventeen, Gaidar was 21. In December 1925 they got married. For Arkady Petrovich this was already the second marriage. In 1921 he was married to Maria Plaksina. Their son Evgeniy died in infancy. In December 1926, Rachel also gave birth to a boy. This happened in Arkhangelsk, where Rachel temporarily went to stay with her mother. From Perm, Gaidar sent a telegram to his wife: “Name your son Timur.”

With son Timur

While living in Perm, Gaidar worked on the story “Lbovshchina” (“Life for nothing”), which was published with a sequel in the regional newspaper “Zvezda”, and then came out as a separate book. A good fee was received. Arkady Petrovich decided to spend it on traveling around the country without vouchers or business trips. He was kept company by his peer, also a journalist, Nikolai Kondratyev. First Central Asia: Tashkent, Kara-Kum. Then crossing the Caspian Sea to the city of Baku.

Before arriving in the capital of Azerbaijan, they didn’t count their money, but here, at the eastern bazaar, it turned out that the travelers couldn’t even pay for a watermelon. Friends quarreled. Both had to travel with hares to Rostov-on-Don. The clothes were worn out, and the holey trousers had to be sewn onto the underwear. In this form you will not go either to the editorial office of the Rostov "Hammer" or to the book publishing house, where children's writer could help with money. The travelers went to the freight railway station and worked for several days in a row loading watermelons. No one here cared about their clothes, since the others were no better dressed. And no one, of course, had any idea that the watermelons were being loaded by a writer, a former regiment commander. The journey, full of romantic adventures, ended with the creation of the story “Riders of the Impregnable Mountains” (published in Moscow in 1927).

Gaidar soon had to leave Perm. Because of the topical feuilleton published in Zvezda under his signature, a flare-up broke out. big scandal. The writer was brought to court for libel and insult to personality. The charges of libel against him were dropped, but for the insult that took place on the pages of the newspaper, the author of the feuilleton was sentenced to a week's arrest. The arrest was replaced by public censure, but the editors of the publication had to answer for the insult. Gaidar’s feuilletons were never published in Zvezda. Scandalous journalist moved to Sverdlovsk, where he briefly collaborated with the Ural Worker newspaper, and in 1927 he left for Moscow.

The first works that brought Arkady Gaidar fame were the fascinating stories for youth “On the Count's Ruins” (1928) and “ Ordinary biography"(published in the Roman Newspaper for Children in 1929).

Khabarovsk

In 1931, Gaidar’s wife Liya Lazarevna left for someone else and took her son with her. Arkady was left alone, homesick, unable to work, and went to Khabarovsk as a correspondent for the Pacific Star newspaper.

In the fifth issue of the almanac "The Past", published in Paris in 1988, the memoirs of journalist Boris Zaks about Arkady Gaidar (B. Zaks. Eyewitness Notes. pp. 378-390), with whom they worked together and lived in Khabarovsk, were published.

According to B. Sachs, after the divorce from his wife, Gaidar’s illness became especially worse. At times his behavior resembled violent madness: he rushed at people with threats of murder, broke glass, and pointedly cut himself with a razor.

The events described in the memoirs allow the doctor to qualify Gaidar’s actions as “replacement therapy”: the physical pain from the cuts made it possible to distract himself from the terrible mental state that his illness caused. Those around him could perceive this as a suicide attempt, and therefore in Khabarovsk the writer again ends up in a psychiatric hospital, where he spends more than a year.

From the diary of Arkady Gaidar:

Children's writer Arkady Gaidar

Gaidar returns to Moscow in the fall of 1932. Here the writer has no permanent housing, no family, no money. This is how Gaidar describes his first impressions of his stay in Moscow:

But his works for youth are published in central magazines. Books are published and republished in the capital's publishing houses. Gradually fame, high fees, fame, success come...

Many people who knew the writer Arkady Gaidar in life considered him a cheerful, even reckless, but in his own way a very strong and integral person. In any case, outwardly he gave just such an impression. He himself believed in what he wrote and could make others believe. Real, resounding success came to Arkady Petrovich after the publication of the autobiographical story “School” (1930). This was followed by the stories “ Distant countries"(1932), "Military Secret" (1935), which included famous fairy tale about Malchish-Kibalchish. In 1936, the magazine “Children's Literature” published a story “The Blue Cup”, remarkable for its lyricism, which caused a lot of discussion. In the end, the story was banned from further publication personally by the People's Commissar of Education N.K. Krupskaya. During the author’s lifetime, “The Blue Cup” was no longer published, but, in our opinion, this is the most talented and deeply psychological work of Arkady Petrovich. Gaidar was one of the first in children's literature to present the child as not just a unifying and reconciling factor in the family. Having made the child a full participant in “adult” relationships, the author provides his parents with the opportunity to look at the situation with different eyes, reconsider their actions, and evaluate them differently.

According to the recollections of Timur’s son, his father always very much regretted that he had to part with army service. Remaining true to the era of the Civil War that raised him, Gaidar always wore semi-military clothes, never wore suits and ties, and opened the window in any weather if some military unit was marching down the street singing. Once he bought a huge portrait of Budyonny, which did not fit in the room, and Arkady Petrovich had to give his wardrobe to the janitor in order to place the image of his beloved military leader on the wall.

Apart from writing, Gaidar did not find any other occupation in peacetime. He devoted himself entirely to literature, without reserve, grasping at war memories as the most important and precious thing in life. Creativity obviously helped the writer fill the inner emptiness and realize his failed dreams and aspirations. It is no coincidence that in his works almost all adult characters (male fathers) are military men, officers of the Red Army, and participants in the Civil War.

In 1938, Arkady Gaidar for some reason left Moscow for Klin. Why exactly in Klin is a “military secret” for all his biographers. It is difficult to follow the logic of a sick person, but it was in this town that Arkady Petrovich decided to “put down roots.” He rented a room in Klin and almost immediately married the daughter of his landlord, Dora Matveevna Chernyshova, and adopted her daughter Zhenya.

Zhenya recalled how one day her dad took her and two girlfriends for a walk around Klin. And he told them to be sure to take empty buckets with them. He brought the girls to the city center, blindfolded them with ribbons and filled them with ice cream in buckets... to the top!

Arkady Petrovich wrote his famous story “Timur and His Team” in Klin in 1940. True, at first it was a script for a film. In the issues with the continuation it was printed “ Pioneer truth" Each issue of the newspaper was discussed at a debate - with the participation of writers, professional journalists and, of course, pioneers.

In Klin, the writer worked as if he was striving with creative effort to save himself from attacks of mental illness. Literally “bingely”, in a few years “The Fate of the Drummer”, “Chuk and Gek”, “Smoke in the Forest”, “The Commandant of the Snow Fortress”, “Winter of 41” and “Timur’s Oath” were written.

Reading the memoirs of people close to Gaidar and his works, full of optimism and faith in the bright future of the Soviet country, it is difficult to believe that almost the entire period of 1939-41 Gaidar was haunted by a serious illness. He spent a lot of time in psychiatric clinics, often suffered and did not believe in himself.

From a letter to the writer R. Fraerman (1941):

In this letter, in our opinion, Gaidar’s attitude to the reality around him is clearly manifested. He could not help but understand that everyone around him was lying, that he himself was stooping to previously impossible lies: he did not believe himself, he was deceiving himself, inventing unrealistic circumstances in the lives of his heroes. Perhaps in everyday life he goes against his convictions and principles, tries to arrange his personal life, knowing that his first wife was repressed, creates the illusion of a never-formed family with Chernyshova, and again plunges headlong into saving creativity.

By 1941, Gaidar's talent and fame reached their apogee. It was in the early 40s that his most famous works were published. Perhaps Gaidar would have written more than one wonderful book, but the Great Patriotic War began.

Death

In June 1941, Arkady Petrovich Gaidar turned only 37 years old. There was not even a hint of gray in his light, light hair; he looked quite healthy, young, full of strength, but the medical commission refused to allow the writer, as a disabled person, to be called up for active military service.

A.P. Gaidar, 1941

Then Gaidar went to the editorial office of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper and offered his services as a war correspondent. On July 18, 1941, he received a pass from the General Staff of the Red Army to the active army and left for the Southwestern Front. In military uniform, but with plastic buttons on his tunic. Civilian and unarmed.

After the encirclement of units of the Southwestern Front in the Uman-Kyiv region in September 1941, Arkady Petrovich Gaidar ended up in Gorelov’s partisan detachment. He was a machine gunner in the detachment. He died on October 26, 1941 near the village of Leplyavo, Kanevsky district, Cherkasy region. The real circumstances of his death have not yet been clarified. According to official version, a group of partisans stumbled upon a German ambush near a railway embankment near the village of Leplyavo. Gaidar was the first to see the Germans and managed to shout: “Guys, Germans!” - after which he was killed by a machine-gun burst. This saved the lives of his comrades - they managed to escape. The fact that it was Arkady Gaidar who was killed became clear only after the war, thanks to the testimony of two surviving witnesses (S. Abramov and V. Skrypnik). But there are other testimonies from local residents who claim that in the winter of 1941-1942 they hid in their house a man very similar to the writer Arkady Gaidar. In the spring of 1942, this man, introducing himself as Arkady Ivanov, left them, intending to cross the front line. His further fate is unknown to anyone.

Arkady Petrovich Gaidar (January 22 (9), 1904 - October 26, 1941; real name Arkady Petrovich Golikov) - Soviet children's writer.

Born in the city of Lgov, Kursk province, in the family of a teacher. He spent his childhood in Arzamas.

First world war father was taken to the front. Arkady, then just a boy, tried to get to the war. The attempt failed, he was detained and returned home.

At the age of 14 he joined the Red Army. Graduated from the Kyiv Infantry Courses. He fought on the Petliura, Polish, and Crimean fronts. He was a platoon commander (at the age of 15), a company commander (at the age of 16). In February 1921, Arkady graduated from the Vystrel Higher Rifle School. After graduation, he first commanded the 23rd reserve regiment, and from June 1921, the 58th separate anti-banditry regiment (Arkady was 17 years old at that time). The Antonovites themselves, with whom Golikov fought, noted his high moral qualities. After the liquidation of the “Antonovshchina,” Golikov served in Bashkiria, and then in Khakassia, where he searched for Solovyov’s gang. He served in the ranks of the CHON (Special Purpose Units) of Siberia. There are rumors about Golikov’s inhuman cruelty, that he allegedly personally shot the population of entire villages (women and children) on suspicion of hiding Solovyov, and in the winter, saving ammunition, he drowned those suspected of conspiring with Solovyov’s gang in lakes Bolshoye and Chernoye (Republic of Khakassia ) dozens of people. There is no documentary evidence of these atrocities. In 1924, he retired from the army due to shell shock received on the fronts of the Civil War.

The author's mentors in the literary field were M. Slonimsky, K. Fedin, S. Semenov. Gaidar began publishing in 1925. The work "R.V.S." turned out to be significant. The writer became a true classic of children's literature, becoming famous for his works about military camaraderie and sincere friendship.

The literary pseudonym "Gaidar" stands for "Golikov Arkady D" ARzamas" (in imitation of the name D" Artagnan from " Three Musketeers"Dumas).

Most famous works Arkady Gaidar: "P.B.C." (1925), “Distant Countries”, “The Fourth Dugout”, “School” (1930), “Timur and His Team” (1940), “Chuk and Gek”, “The Fate of the Drummer”, stories “Hot Stone”, “Blue cup"… The writer's works were included in school curriculum, have been actively filmed and translated into many languages ​​of the world. The work “Timur and His Team” actually marked the beginning of a unique Timur movement, which aimed at voluntary assistance to veterans and elderly people on the part of the pioneers.

During the Great Patriotic War Gaidar was in the active army, as a correspondent for Komsomolskaya Pravda. Was a witness and participant in the Kyiv defensive operation Southwestern Front. He wrote military essays “At the crossing”, “The bridge”, “At the front line”, “Rockets and grenades”. After the encirclement of the Southwestern Front near Kiev, in September 1941, Arkady Petrovich ended up in Gorelov’s partisan detachment. He was a machine gunner in the detachment. On October 26, 1941, near the village of Lyaplyavaya in Ukraine, Arkady Gaidar died in battle with the Germans, warning members of his squad about the danger. Buried in Kanev

In the mid-1920s, Arkady married a 17-year-old Komsomol member from Penza, Ruvelia Lazarevna Solomyanskaya. In 1926, their son Timur was born in Arkhangelsk. After 5 years, his wife and son left him for another man.

Gaidar's second marriage took place in the mid-1930s. He adopted Zhenya, the daughter of his second wife Dora Mikhailovna.

IN Soviet era Gaidar's books were one of the main means of educating the younger generation. The educational authorities of the USSR set the heroes of his novels and short stories as examples for Soviet children. The groups of children organized by Soviet schools to help the elderly were called “Timurovskys”, and their participants were called “Timurovtsy”, in honor of the main character of Gaidar’s story “Timur and His Team”.

During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Timurov's teams and detachments operated in schools, orphanages, at palaces and houses of pioneers and other non-school institutions, at places of residence; in the RSFSR alone there were over 2 million Timurites. They patronized hospitals, families of soldiers and officers Soviet Army, orphanages and kindergartens, helped harvest the harvest, worked for the defense fund; V post-war period they provided assistance to the disabled, war and labor veterans, and the elderly; looked after the graves of fallen soldiers.

In the 60s Timurov's search work to study Gaidar's life greatly contributed to the opening of the writer's memorial museums in Arzamas and Lgov. With funds raised by Timur members, a library-museum them. Gaidar. In the early 70s Timur's All-Union Headquarters was created under the editorship of the Pioneer magazine.

The traditions of the Timur movement found their expression and development in the voluntary participation of children and adolescents in the improvement of cities and villages, nature conservation, assistance to adult labor collectives, etc.

Timurov teams and detachments were created in the pioneer organizations of the GDR, People's Republic of Belarus, Poland, Vietnam, Czechoslovakia.

Gaidar's name was given to many schools, streets of cities and villages of the USSR. The monument to the hero of Gaidar’s story Malchish-Kibalchish is the first monument in the capital literary character(sculptor V.K. Frolov, architect V.S. Kubasov) - installed in 1972 near the City Palace of Children and Youth Creativity on the Sparrow Hills (in Soviet times - the Palace of Pioneers and Schoolchildren on the Lenin Hills).