Information about the author:
Lidya A. Spiridonova
Lidia A. Spiridonova (1934–2022), DSc in Philology, Head of the Department for the Study and Publication of M. Gorky’s Creativity, А.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya 25 a, 121069 Moscow, Russia.
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/9567-2021-6221-1220
Abstract:
“The History of the Civil War in the USSR” was Gorky’s first large-scale project after his return to his homeland. It was conceived as part of a multi-volume story desogned for a wide readership. Bearing in mind the multimillion peasantry, which during this period was going through a painful process of collectivization, Gorky wanted to show that in the process of the civil war, which lasted from 1918 to the 1930s, the proletarian fought for socialism, and the peasant fought for sacred private property. However, Gorky’s plan, initially supported by Stalin personally and by other members of the government, did not suit the Soviet leadership, so work on “The History of the Civil War” moved extremely slowly: only one of the 16 planned volumes was published during Gorky’s lifetime.