Excerpt:
Gorky did not simply observe the poorest of the poor in Czarist Russia, he lived among them for many years.
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| Gorky with Stalin |
Gorky (1868 to 1932-Russia) was orphaned at age 12. He went to live with his grandparents. His grandfather beat him regularly. He ran away from the jobs he was given as soon as he could. From age 21 to 26 the "tramped" all over eastern Russia, working at the roughest of jobs and sleeping where he could and eating what he could. This experience radicalized Gorky and by age 30 he was supporting the causes of Marxist revolutionaries. Gorky was taught to read by a cook he met and became an extreme autodidact in the literature of Russian and in anti-Czarist political writings. Gorky became a journalist and ended up being arrested numerous times. In 1902 he met and became a life time friend of Lenin. He led a tumultuous personal and professional life, scandalizing even his fellow revolutionaries with his womanizing. He left Russia for a time to seek a warmed climate for health reasons but returned when Stalin invited him back. He became kind of a pet of Stalin (a dangerous position!). Stalin endorsed him as the voice of the people. Long story short, he died under clouded circumstances, some say killed by the head of the Russian Secret Service because Stalin feared what he might say about him...
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