Mayakovsky's cause of death is official. Perhaps it was like this

Death of Mayakovsky.

There is hardly a person in Russia who has not read or heard about the tragic end of Mayakovsky. Since our school years, we have been instilled and are still instilling in our children only one thought about the naturalness of the poet’s suicide on the basis of his confused love relationship, complicated by creative failures, nervousness, and long-term ill health. Many of the poet’s friends supported the meager official version, which considered the motive for suicide to be “personal reasons.”

Announced on the day of the poet’s death, it actually turned the investigation onto the formal path of stating this conclusion, leading him away from answering numerous questions. The detailed development and “maintenance” of this version was practically taken up by literary historians, who were under the vigilant supervision of censorship, introduced by the authorities a few hours after the shot and operating behind the scenes to this day.

The writers' arguments boiled down to a list of facts, the totality of which allegedly led Mayakovsky to suicide: in the fall of 1929, the poet was denied a visa to France, where he was going to marry T. Yakovleva; at the same time he received news of the marriage of T. Yakovleva herself; the painful condition was aggravated by the rejection of his “Bath” by criticism; in April 1930, the poet’s personal relationship with V. Polonskaya, whom the poet loved and with whom he wanted to start a family, broke down; and most importantly Mayakovsky left a suicide letter, where he explained the reasons for his voluntary death.

Did Mayakovsky really want to go to Paris?

Skoryatin’s doubts regarding the poet’s voluntary death began with the absence of any serious evidence of his refusal to obtain a visa for a trip to Paris, which was supposed to end in marriage with T. Yakovleva. Here it is necessary to note not only the special role of Lily Brik in the dissemination of this version, but also the special goal that she pursued in doing so. The fact is that living together with the poet completely satisfied the Briks, since it gave many noticeable material advantages. Therefore, the Briks did not want to let Mayakovsky go from them - after all, his intention to start his own family would lead to a mandatory departure. Therefore, when Mayakovsky goes to Nice in October 1928 on a date with his two-year-old daughter Ellie and her American mother Elizaveta Siebert (Ellie Jones), the sister of the alarmed L. Brik (Elsa) introduces Mayakovsky to the beautiful emigrant from Russia Tatyana Yakovleva. She is not going to return to her homeland, and Mayakovsky will never stay abroad either. And flirting with T. Yakovleva, according to L. Brik, will distract the poet from his father’s worries.

But as soon as the poet falls in love seriously and he has a firm intention to connect his life with T. Yakovleva, Briki, after Mayakovsky’s arrival in April 1929 from Paris to Moscow, introduces him to the 22-year-old spectacular V. Yablonskaya, an actress of the Moscow Art Theater. Mayakovsky’s sudden passion, writes Skoryatin, seemed to relegate T. Yakovleva to the background and precluded marrying her. This turn suited the Brikovs quite well. Polonskaya in Moscow. If something unexpected happens, there is an opportunity to hint at the possible publicity of her relationship with the poet.” After all, V. Polonskaya was married to actor Yanshin.

Mayakovsky begins to understand that his love for T. Yakovleva has no future, and on October 5, 1929, he sends his last letter to Paris. The trip to Paris lost its meaning for Mayakovsky for another reason. On October 11, 1929, L. Brik received a letter from his sister Elsa, which said that “Yakovleva is marrying a viscount.” Let us note two details: Lily Brik’s intention in bringing this information to the poet and the fact that V. Polonskaya and her husband were in the room at the time, as well as the fact that Elsa in the letter is significantly ahead of the events.

Therefore, when Skoryatin checked the archival documents, he was not surprised by what he discovered: Mayakovsky did not write an application for a visa and did not receive any refusal. This means that this situation in no way could influence the poet’s mood in the spring of 1930 and did not give him a reason for serious experiences, which, as it was believed, led him to the tragedy of April 14.

In the spring of 1930, Mayakovsky was upset by an ideological disagreement with the REF, a boycott of his former comrades-in-arms at his exhibition, and experienced a failure with “Bathhouse”. And then there’s a severe sore throat, possibly the flu. He does not hide his discomfort, striving to be in public more often in order to overcome his sad mood. At that time, he seemed gloomy to some, broken to others, and lost faith in his strength to others. Skoryatin notes that “these fleeting observations, later combined with speculation and rumors, turned into a strong support for the official report of suicide.”

At this time, Mayakovsky becomes more and more attached to Veronica Polonskaya and connects his entire future with her. This was not the first time he decided to “build a family,” but he always encountered stubborn resistance from Lily Brik, who used feminine tricks, tricks, and hysteria—and Mayakovsky retreated. It was a strange life for the three of us In the spring of 1930, he decides to separate from the Briks at all costs, feeling a huge craving for a normal family of his own. After all, with the Briks he was, in essence, lonely and homeless. Relations with V. Polonskaya force him to act. On April 4, he contributes money to the housing cooperative RZHSKT named after. Krasin (after the poet’s death the Briks will move there) asks V. Sutyrin (from FOSP) for help with an apartment in order to leave the Briks before they return from abroad. But I didn't have time

On the evening of April 13, Mayakovsky went to visit V. Kataev. Polonskaya and Yanshin were also there. We left late, at three o'clock. It's Monday, April 14th. Mayakovsky appeared at V. Polonskaya’s at 8.30. They left by taxi to the fateful apartment in Lubyanskoye. There Polonskaya warned that she had an important rehearsal at 10.30 and she could not be late. When she reassured Mayakovsky, who, according to her, demanded that she stay with him now, she said that she loved him, would be with him, but could not stay. Yanshin will not tolerate her departure in this form. "I left. Walked a few steps to front door. A shot rang out. I screamed. I rushed along the corridor I probably entered a moment later. There was still a cloud of smoke in the room from the shot. Vladimir Vladimirovich was lying on the floor with his arms outstretched"

Skoryatin notes that “at that time, none of those present heard Polonskaya talk about the revolver in the hands of the poet when she ran out of the room.” This important detail would immediately explain everything: Polonskaya runs out Mayakovsky immediately shoots in the heart. And no doubt about suicide. Maybe by that time the investigators had not yet managed to force Polonskaya to agree with the “everything explaining” version?

Skoryatin drew attention to the fact that everyone who came running immediately after the shot found the poet’s body lying in one position (“with his feet towards the door”), and those who came later found him in another (“with his head towards the door”). Why did they move the body? Maybe, in that turmoil, someone needed to imagine such a picture: at the moment of the shot, the poet was standing with his back to the door, and then a bullet hit him in the chest (from inside the room) and knocked him over, head to the threshold. Definite suicide! What if he was facing the door? The same blow would again have knocked him over backwards, but with his feet towards the door. True, in this case, the shot could have been fired not only by the poet himself, but also by someone who suddenly appeared at the door The head of the secret department of the GPU, Ya. Agranov, who arrived first, immediately took the investigation into his own hands. L. Krasnoshchekova recalled that she persuaded Agranov to wait for Lilya, but he said that the funeral would be “tomorrow or the day after tomorrow” and they would not wait for the Briks. Then, apparently, Agranov realized (or someone told him) that such a hasty funeral would undoubtedly cause unnecessary suspicion.

In the evening, the sculptor K. Lutsky arrived and removed the mask from Mayakovsky’s face. On June 22, 1989, in the Leningrad television program “The Fifth Wheel,” the artist A. Davydov, showing this mask, drew the attention of viewers to the fact that the deceased had a broken nose. This means that Mayakovsky fell face down, he suggested, and not on his back, as happens when he shoots himself. Then dissectors arrived to remove the poet's brain for scientific research at the Brain Institute. The fact that Mayakovsky’s name was among the “selected” seemed to Skoryatin “ a sure sign that the course of tragic events is controlled by almighty forces.” “Around midnight,” recalls E. Lavinskaya, Agranov’s voice was heard from the dining room. He stood with papers in his hands and read aloud Vladimir Vladimirovich’s last letter. Agranov read and kept the letter."

And the autopsy of the body, as required by investigative laws, was never carried out if not for V. Sutyrin, who demanded an autopsy on April 16, when he heard rumors about Mayakovsky’s incurable venereal disease, which allegedly led him to suicide (“Swift Disease” this was said even in the official obituary of “In Memory of a Friend” in Pravda, signed by Y. Agranov, M. Gorb, V. Katanyan, M. Koltsov, S. Tretyakov, L. Elbert and others). The autopsy results showed that the malicious gossip had no basis. But this conclusion was not published.

Agranov also took the photograph that E. Lavinskaya saw in his hands when he showed it at the FOSP club to a group of Lefovites: “It was a photograph of Mayakovsky, stretched out as if crucified on the floor, with his arms and legs outstretched and wide open in a desperate cry mouth They explained to me: “They filmed it immediately when Agranov, Tretyakov and Koltsov entered the room. I never saw this photograph again.” (Skoryatin thinks that the photograph was taken before the arrival of the investigative team.) The Briks arrived, visiting, as many knew, the mother of Lily Yuryevna E. Kagan, who worked at the Soviet trade mission in London. Brik never talked about who and how found her and her husband abroad.

The Briks alone were probably not surprised by anything. For them, the death of the poet never presented any mystery. K. Zelensky recalls how Osip Brik convinced him: “Reread his poems and you will see how often he talks about his inevitable suicide.” Lilya Brik cited other motives for the poet’s supposedly inevitable suicide: “Volodya was a neurasthenic. With a temperature of 37 degrees, he felt seriously ill. As soon as I recognized him, he was already thinking about suicide. He wrote dying farewell letters more than once.” L. Brik everything was clear.

Let's follow the thoughts of Valentin Ivanovich Skoryatin, the only person who seriously thought about the so-called “suicide letter” of Vladimir Mayakovsky. Maybe something will become clear to us too - and not only about the poet, but even about Lilya Brik herself.

Suicide letter: document or fake?

Here is his text, always quoted to prove the poet’s intention to commit suicide (and Skoryatin’s commentary):

Everyone
Don’t blame anyone for the fact that I’m dying and please don’t gossip. The deceased did not like this terribly.
Mom, sisters and comrades, forgive me, this is not the way (I don’t recommend it to others) but I have no choice. Lilya love me.

Comrade government, my family is Lilya Brik, mother, sisters and Veronica Vitoldovna Polonskaya. If you give them a tolerable life thank you. Give the poems you started to the Briks, they will figure it out. As they say, “the incident is ruined,” the love boat crashed into everyday life. I’m at peace with life, and there’s no need for a list of mutual pains, troubles and insults. Stay happily.

First of all, let us turn to the line where the poet lists the composition of the “family.” He mentions his family twice. But where the appeal is purely emotional in nature, they are named first, and in the place where, in fact, the heirs are listed, the relatives for some reason end up after L. Brik. (Later, the right to inheritance will be secured by the Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR: 1/2 part was assigned to L. Brik, 1/6 to the mother and sisters, V. Polonskaya, in violation of the will of the poet, will not get anything). But, in fact, it is not this truly unjust decision that causes bewilderment, but the very moral meaning of such a “list.” It is well known that Mayakovsky, who allowed harshness in public polemics, was extremely noble with people close to him. Why, when addressing “Comrade Government,” does he so carelessly cast a shadow—no, not on L. Brik (in the official opinion, she has long been known as the poet’s unofficial wife to her official husband), but, above all, on a married young woman? Moreover, having made his connection with her public, he immediately humiliates her once again with the exclamation: “Lilya - love me.”

And it would be okay if the letter was compiled hastily, in the mortal languor of the last minutes, but on the double sheet of paper from the ledger there is the date April 12. Another thing is striking: why, preparing for the decisive conversation with his beloved, Mayakovsky in advance, already on April 12, predetermines the outcome of the conversation with her that has not yet taken place - “the love boat has crashed”? But it didn’t crash, in general: as we know, the poet’s proposal was accepted by Veronica Vitoldovna

However, the poems did not apply to Polonskaya. They were written by the poet back in 1928. The sketch was transferred by the poet from one notebook to another. And so it came in handy for appealing to the government. It turns out that Mayakovsky, without straining either his mind or his heart, took his old preparations and incorporated them into his suicide letter, disorienting everyone about the addressee? Not to mention the financial calculations at the end of the letter. What does a person think about in the face of eternity? What taxes, what GIS! Like it or not, you have to agree with V. Khodasevich on something.

I have to, but something gets in the way. I just can’t wrap my head around what, frankly, this vain letter came from the poet’s pen. However, it’s just not from the pen. According to the newspapers that reprinted the letter, readers did not understand that the original was written in pencil.

It is known that to get a poet's pen even for a short time it was quite difficult. And it’s almost impossible to fake someone else’s handwriting with a fountain pen. But all these difficulties are eliminated if you use a pencil. And the handwriting itself is a mere trifle for the professionals from Agranov’s department. And if we accept this assumption, then all the distressing bewilderments about the pencil text will disappear. The letter, like many other pieces of evidence, was “taken” by Agranov. It is known that even members of the government, when dividing Mayakovsky’s inheritance, were guided not by the original, but by its newspaper reprint (an unprecedented fact!).”

The notes of film director S. Eisenstein, found by Skoryatin, say that he, noting in his suicide letter the “closeness of the rhythmic structure” to the “thieves’ Odessa poetry”, as well as the “foolish folklore” of the times civil war(thus hinting at the impossibility of Mayakovsky being the author of the letter), makes an unambiguous conclusion: “Mayakovsky never wrote anything like that!” And one more thing: “He should have been removed. And he was removed”The offensive tone of the letter towards his mother and sister, as well as the unprecedented violation of their inheritance rights, prove that the poet did not write anything like that.

Mayakovsky spent the most tragic year with Polonskaya and wanted to bring her into his new house like a wife. Mentioned in Mayakovsky's suicide letter as a member of his family, she was cleverly removed from any rights to the poet's inheritance. All she got was painful conversations with Syrtsov and Agranov, gossip, a quick divorce from her husband and an ambiguous position in society, when L. Brik for some reason was considered the “widow of Mayakovsky”, being not divorced from O. Brik, and she, Polonskaya, essentially the poet’s “illegal” lover. And in nightmare The young actress could not have dreamed of what a thankless role was destined for her in this Brikov theater of the absurd.

Considering that from 1930 to 1958 the letter was in the top-secret archives of the OGPU, and then in the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, it can be argued that it was a fake, compiled by the OGPU and designed to convince everyone as the main evidence of Mayakovsky’s suicide.

"Criminal case No. 02-29"

Several years ago, after numerous searches, Skoryatin managed to obtain in the secret archive “Criminal Case No. 02-29, 1930, People’s Investigator 2nd case. Baum. district of Moscow I. Syrtsov about the suicide of V.V. Mayakovsky.” Here are just a few facts from the police report that caused serious confusion:
the report does not mention a suicide letter;
the calendar reported by V. Polonskaya is not mentioned. Now there is a calendar in the Mayakovsky Museum; the calendar sheets dated April 13 and 14, torn out by Mayakovsky, have disappeared;
the “book peddler” was not found and interrogated (did a person participating in the preparation of the murder come under the guise of him?); an examination of Mayakovsky’s shirt was not carried out. L. Brik took the shirt and donated it to the museum only 24 years later. It is impossible to guarantee that she was not “worked on” in such a way that she corresponded to the version of suicide.

This protocol, conveying the strange and undeniable interference in the case of Agranov and his “colleagues,” was then, for some reason, transferred along with the case to investigator I. Syrtsov, who was in charge of another participant in the district. Syrtsov was apparently more accommodating to Agranov. The contradictions between V. Polonskaya’s memoirs and her testimony to the investigator, in Skoryatin’s opinion, are explained by the fact that she wrote them eight years later and not for the general public, and it apparently seemed to her that the damned interrogation pages had forever sunk into obscurity.

As for the protocol testimony (“she was annoying”, “she didn’t intend to leave her husband”), this is exactly the version that investigator I. Syrtsov wanted to get from her. On April 14, I. Syrtsov, after interrogating V. Polonskaya at Lubyanka, declares: “Suicide is caused by personal reasons,” which will be published in the press the next day. On April 15, Syrtsov takes a sudden “unreasonable” break in the investigation, which Skoryatin explains by the fact that on that day Syrtsov received at the Lubyanka necessary instructions for further action. There is a document in the case that speaks of acute interest in the death of the poet on the part of two OGPU divisions at once: counterintelligence (Gendin) and secret, which was led by Agranov, in whose hands all the threads of the case later ended up. Probably, the GPU was confused by the phrase in the recording of the interrogation: “I went out the door of his room.” It turns out that the poet was left alone for some time, and this could give rise to all sorts of rumors.

“The fears of the GPE officers were not in vain,” V. Skoryatin develops his guess, “for the question of where Polonskaya was at the time of the shot caused a lot of misunderstandings. Y. Olesha wrote to V. Meyerhold in Berlin on April 30, 1930: “She ran out shouting “Save”, and a shot rang out.” And the poet’s sister Lyudmila Vladimirovna believed that Polonskaya not only “went out the door of his room”, but was already “running away from the stairs." In her notebook she wrote: “When P. (Polonskaya) was running down the stairs and a shot rang out, Agran was immediately there. (Agranov), Tretyak. (Tretyakov), Koltsov. They came in and didn’t let anyone into the room.”

The case materials did not answer the question: did Polonskaya manage to run out of Mayakovsky’s room or apartment, or did the shot occur in her presence? They didn’t give it because, apparently, such an answer was simply not needed. All the haste and incompleteness, Skoryatin believes, is explained by the fact that Syrtsov was clearly “pushing” the case, and already on April 19 he closed it, issuing a resolution where the suicide letter “note” is mentioned for the only time.

The prosecutor's office adds another document to the case: “Receipt. I received money in the amount of 2,113 rubles from P.M.O., Comrade Gerchikova, found in the room of Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky. 82 kopecks and 2 gold rings. Two thousand one hundred thirteen rubles 82 k. and 2 gold. I received the rings. L. Brik. 21.4.30.”

“Lilya Yuryevna,” comments V. Skoryatin, “who was not (while her husband was alive!) in any official family relationship with Mayakovsky, for no apparent reason receives money and things found in his room, and then that’s all.” his legacy lies both in material values ​​and in priceless archives, which are essentially public property. The special cynicism of this situation is this. In a letter from the poet’s sister Olga Vladimirovna, sent to relatives a few days after the tragedy, it is said: on the 12th I spoke to him on the phone Volodya ordered me to come to him on Monday the 14th, and, leaving home in the morning, I said that I’ll go see Volodya after work. This conversation on the 12th was the last. It is clear that “Volodya” prepared an envelope for his sister with fifty rubles as an ordinary, ordinary help to the family. And this benefit is given out in the case materials almost as a final, supposedly dying settlement between the poet and his loved ones! Not to mention the fact that this fact best demonstrates: the poet had no thought of leaving this life of his own free will.”

Let us add to the words of V. Skoryatin that Brik’s entire behavior is the best evidence of the numerous areas of personal interest of L. Brik and her husband in this matter, of her extensive connections with the KGB circles, which she developed thanks to her husband’s work in the Cheka since 1920 (first in the speculative department, and then “authorized by the 7th department of the secret department”). As Skoryatin discovered, Lilya herself was an agent of this department. Her Chekist ID number is 15073, and Osip Brik’s is 25541. It is clear which organization helped the Briks urgently leave Moscow in February 1930 to leave the poet alone. In connection with this reasoning by Skoryatin, it becomes clear why Lilya Brik organized the transfer of her letter through Agranov to Stalin in 1935. Stalin’s resolution (“Mayakovsky was and remains the best, most talented poet of our Soviet era”) was supposed to force Soviet publishers to publish Mayakovsky’s works in huge editions, in which Lilya Brik, as an heiress, was directly interested.

After what Skoryatin said, a natural conclusion suggests itself: L. and O. Briks could not help but know that Mayakovsky would soon be killed. All their behavior proves this.

How many bewilderments, violations, and questions this case of such a simple and ordinary suicide “for personal reasons” caused, surrounded, however, by the strictest secrecy. But all questions and problems disappear or are explained if we assume that the poet was killed. Skoryatin also makes the same conclusion. And then the last question really remains: why was this done and by whom? Skoryatin admits that until the end of his life “the poet was faithful to the romantic ideals of the revolution. But more and more often notes of tragic disappointment burst into his “party books,” and he sang of reality more and more strained. But the satirical denunciation of “trash” grew stronger. As the rejoicing over his successes grew, the poet’s voice began to sound dangerously dissonant. Formidable warning signals also appeared: performances based on the plays “The Bedbug” and “Bathhouse” were defamed, a portrait from a magazine was removed, the persecution in the press became more and more vicious.”

Reflecting on how quickly the circle of security officers around the poet narrowed last month, Skoryatin believes this is not accidental. (Immediately after Brikov’s departure, L. Elbert, who in 1921 worked in the Cheka as deputy head of the information department and special representative of the foreign department involved in espionage and international terrorism, moved to his apartment, often, the family of security officers Volovich, and finally came Y. Agranov, about whom Roman Gul writes: "Under Dzerzhinsky, and under Stalin, the bloodiest investigator of the Cheka, Yakov (Yankel) Agranov, was a member of the Cheka, who became the executioner of the Russian intelligentsia. He destroyed the flower of Russian science and the public. This same bloody nonentity is the actual murderer the wonderful Russian poet N.S. Gumilyov") Mayakovsky, apparently, did not understand “with what all-consuming fire he was playing” when he came into contact with some secrets of the GPU. And therefore there are the most serious grounds for the conclusions about the murder of the poet. Analysis last days The poet says that the murder was being prepared under the leadership of the GPU on April 12, but for some reason it fell through. (Skoryatin’s brilliant guess, explaining why this date is on the poet’s supposed suicide letter.) The influx of GPU employees on April 14 (from the secret department, counterintelligence and the operational department involved in arrests, searches, provocations, terrorist attacks), Skoryatin believes, on the one hand, throws a shadow on the reputation of the proletarian poet, forcing us today to suspect him not only of creative collaboration with the regime, but on the other hand, it can become evidence of the authorities’ distrust of the poet.

Skoryatin established that on the day of Mayakovsky’s death the activity of GPU officers was clearly higher than on other days. Apparently, having discovered the surveillance long ago, the poet was constantly upset about it. From the testimony of V. Polonskaya it follows that when she ran out into the street after the shot, “a man approached her and asked for my address.” The same thing happened with the bookseller, whose interrogation protocol was kept in the deepest secrecy for decades. And the bookseller Loktev was probably in the apartment only a few minutes before the shot, because he accidentally saw how “Mayakovsky was standing in front of her (Polonskaya) on his knees.” From the protocol of the examination of the poet’s body, it is clear that the shot was fired from top to bottom (since the bullet entered near the heart, and was felt near the last ribs in the lower back) “and it seems,” Skoryatin concludes, “at the moment when Mayakovsky was on his knees.” This is the last thing he came up with in his investigation.

Skoryatin did not find who the killer was. But with his research he proved that the Soviet official myth about the suicide of the poet Mayakovsky no longer exists, that the secret of this tragic event was revealed by him - the poet Mayakovsky was killed.

The killer's name is unknown. But we know who benefited from it, who was interested in it, who didn’t like his plays, the desire to write the poem “Bad,” and much of what was already born inside him and was just looking for a way out. Hence his desire to free himself from the yoke of the Briks, who had long become spiritually alien people to him, to break with the Chekist environment, the desire to speak “out loud” what was born in his heart. It is no coincidence that on one of his visits to Paris, he tells Yu. Annenkov with amazing frankness, “that communism, the ideas of communism, its ideal, is one thing, while the “Communist Party”, very powerfully organized and led by people who use all the benefits of “full power” and “freedom of action”, this is a completely different thing.”

It is no coincidence that his faith wavers. Late in the evening of April 13, 1930, “he exclaimed: “Oh, Lord!” Polonskaya said: “Incredible! World turned upside down. Mayakovsky calls on the Lord. Are you a believer? And he replied: “Oh, I myself don’t understand anything now what I believe in!”

If Mayakovsky wanted to adapt, he would have written the poem “Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin.” The poet did not agree to this, although he was probably persistently prompted. But the main mistakes he made in life and in poetry (getting up artistic words on the side of those who needed to be deprived of this word), they were sincere. And like any person who is sincerely mistaken, he is very slow to see the light. But when he begins to see clearly, such a steel will is born in him, such colossal power, given to him by the very truth of his life, then this person can no longer be controlled. He will do anything and do what needs to be done. And this is how Mayakovsky was born.
I know the power of words
I know the words alarm.
They are not the same
which the lodges applaud

Isn’t this colossal spiritual power audible, just supported in unclear lines, just emerging from the soul of his heart, but already announcing that old Mayakovsky with his countless volumes of his “party books” will never exist again, even if for this it will be necessary for him not to be himself. Mayakovsky, being born again, does not want to put up with what he put up with before, no longer wants to listen to those whom he listened to before, no longer wants to bow to anyone, but wants to BE, no matter what it costs him. He challenges Death itself and it accepts it.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.

Love and death

Having heard about the suicide of Sergei Yesenin (other versions of what happened were not considered at that time), Vladimir Mayakovsky quite categorically condemned the poet, calling his act cowardice. Only five years passed, and Mayakovsky could not find any other way out but to commit suicide.

Many examinations were carried out and a very definite conclusion was made: it could only be suicide. But why did the poet, always speaking out against such death, write in his last note: “... this is not a way (I don’t recommend it to others), but I have no choice.”

Many consider the reason for his suicide to be unrequited love for Veronica Polonskaya, but in fact she responded to Mayakovsky’s feelings. Others cite an unsuccessful exhibition as the reason. But in reality internal conflict was much deeper than domestic or love failures.

When Yesenin died, the whole country instantly believed in his suicide. On the contrary, Mayakovsky’s suicide was not believed for a long time, and those who knew him well did not believe it. They argued that he always sharply condemned such actions, that Mayakovsky was too strong, too great for this. And what were his reasons for committing suicide?

When Lunacharsky received a call and was informed about what had happened, he, deciding that he was being played, hung up. Many, upon hearing that Mayakovsky shot himself, laughed and said: “A wonderful April Fool’s joke!” (the tragic event actually happened on April 1, old style). After the publications in the newspapers, people began to think about what had happened, but even then no one believed in suicide. We were more likely to believe in murder, in an accident. But Mayakovsky’s suicide note left no doubt: he shot himself, and did it deliberately.

Here is the text of the note:

I don’t blame anyone for the fact that I’m dying, please don’t gossip. The deceased did not like this terribly.

Mom, sisters and comrades, I’m sorry - this is not the way (I don’t recommend it to others), but I have no choice.

Lilya, love me. Comrade government, my family is Lilya Brik, mother, sisters and Veronica Vitoldovna Polonskaya.

If you give them a tolerable life, thank you.

Give the poems you started to the Briks, they will figure it out.

As they say -

"the incident is ruined"

love boat

crashed into everyday life.

I'm even with life

and there is no need for a list

mutual pain,

Happy stay.

Vladimir Mayakovsky.

Comrades Vappovtsy, do not consider me cowardly.

Seriously - nothing can be done.

Tell Yermilov that it’s a pity that he removed the slogan, we should have a fight.

I have 2,000 rubles in my desk - add them to the tax bill.

You will receive the rest from Giza.

One could only guess what was the reason for such an act. And indeed, the most incredible assumptions soon began to be made. For example, writer and journalist Mikhail Koltsov argued: “You cannot ask a real, full-fledged Mayakovsky for committing suicide. Someone else shot, randomly, temporarily taking possession of the weakened psyche of the poet-social activist and revolutionary. We, contemporaries, friends of Mayakovsky, demand that this testimony be registered.”

The poet Nikolai Aseev wrote a year after the tragedy:

I knew that I was carrying lead to my heart,

Lifting the hundred-ton weight of the trunk,

You didn’t press the trigger yourself,

That someone else's hand was guiding you.

However, not everyone was so categorical in their judgments. For example, Lilya Brik, whom Mayakovsky loved very much and who knew the poet well, upon learning of his death, calmly said: “It’s good that he shot himself with a big pistol. Otherwise it would have turned out ugly: such a poet shoots with a small Browning.” Regarding the causes of death, she stated that the poet was neurasthenic and that he had “a kind of suicidal mania and fear of old age.”

And yet it is not easy to understand Mayakovsky’s actions. In order to form a definite opinion, you need to try to understand what kind of person he was, how he lived, who he loved. And the most main question, which worries everyone who loves his work: could it have been saved?

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky was born in 1893 in the Caucasus. Despite his noble origin, his father was a forester. On my mother's side there were Kuban Cossacks in the family.

As a child, Mayakovsky was not much different from his peers: he studied at the gymnasium, and at first he did very well. Then interest in studying disappeared and the A's on the certificate were replaced by D's. Finally, the boy was expelled from the gymnasium for non-payment of tuition fees, which did not upset him at all. This happened in 1908, when he was 15 years old. After this event, he plunged headlong into adult life: he met revolutionary-minded students, joined the Bolshevik Party and finally ended up in Butyrka prison, where he spent 11 months.

It was this time that Mayakovsky later called the beginning of his creative path: in prison he wrote a whole notebook of poems, which, however, was taken away from him upon release. But Mayakovsky already had a clear idea of ​​his future: he decided to “make socialist art.” Did he think then that it would lead him to such an end?

Vladimir was always interested in literature and read a lot while still studying at the gymnasium. In addition, he was seriously interested in painting, for which he had good abilities. Therefore, in 1911 he entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. There he met David Davidovich Burliuk, an artist and poet, a follower of the futurist movement.

Futurism (from the Latin futurum, which means “future”) is a literary and artistic movement that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in Italy and became popular in other European countries, including Russia. Its essence was the denial of artistic and moral values traditional culture. However, in Russia, the term “futurism” most often denoted all leftist movements in art of that time. The most striking expression of this trend was considered to be the work of poets and artists who were part of the Gileya group, among whom was Burliuk. They “identified the poetic word with a thing, turned it into a sign of a self-sufficient physical reality, a material capable of any transformation, of interaction with any sign system, any natural or artificial structure. Thus, they thought of the poetic word as a universal “material” means of comprehending the foundations of being and reorganizing reality” (TSB).

Mayakovsky became interested in the new movement, read Burliuk’s poems and showed him his own. Burliuk said that the young man has talent, that he is a wonderful poet. Being already famous by that time, he asked every acquaintance: “What do you think of Mayakovsky’s work? How come you haven't heard anything about him? This is a famous poet! My friend!" Mayakovsky tried to stop him, but Burliuk was unstoppable. “Brilliant, brilliant!” he shouted and said more quietly to his new friend: “Write, write more, don’t put me in a stupid position.”

From that time on, Mayakovsky abandoned painting for some time, sat and wrote. Burliuk came to him, brought books and gave him 50 kopecks a day so that his friend would not die of hunger. What Mayakovsky wrote differed significantly from his first poetic experiments during his prison period. Mayakovsky himself later said that those poems were rather weak, but still made attempts to find the selected notebook.

At the end of 1912, Mayakovsky made himself known. He received an invitation to come to St. Petersburg to participate in the exhibition of artists “Youth Union”. Among other works, it displayed a portrait by Mayakovsky. A few days later, his first public performance took place at the Stray Dog club. Three days later he performed at the Trinity Theater, where he read a report “On modern Russian poetry.” A few weeks later, in the same year, his poems “Night” and “Morning” were published in the anthology “A Slap in the Face of Public Taste.” In the same issue of the almanac, a futurist manifesto was published, which proposed to abandon the classics of Russian literature - A. Pushkin, L. Tolstoy, F. Dostoevsky and others, and also to ignore modern authors - M. Gorky, A. Kuprin, F. Sologub , A. Blok, who, in their opinion, pursued only material gain. The manifesto was signed by D. Burliuk, A. Kruchenykh, V. Khlebnikov and V. Mayakovsky.

For another two years, Mayakovsky continued to paint, but did not give up literature, and was also active in social activities. It consisted in the fact that he gave lectures on futurism, participated in discussions about modern literature, read poetry. Often it social activity took on a scandalous connotation. So, one day he, among other poets, was supposed to speak at the “Second Dispute on Contemporary Art.” Not paying attention to the program of the debate, according to which he was supposed to speak seventh, Vladimir loudly declared to the whole hall that he was a futurist and on this basis he wanted to speak first. They tried to reason with him, to which the young man, raising his voice even more, said, addressing the audience: “Gentlemen, I ask for your protection from the tyranny of a handful smearing drool on the jelly of art.” Of course, after these words a terrible scream arose in the room. Some shouted: “Great, let him talk!”, “Down with it!” - others demanded. The noise continued for 15 minutes, the dispute was, one might say, disrupted. Finally Mayakovsky was allowed to speak first. One can imagine what his speech was like after such opening words. After this, the speeches of the remaining participants, of course, could not make a strong impression.

Of course, the next day all the newspapers described the scandal that broke out at the lecture on modern art. This is how most of the rest passed public speaking young poet.

Due to the scandals surrounding Mayakovsky's name, he was expelled from the art school in 1914. Burliuk was expelled along with him. Vladimir (he was 21 years old at the time) said about the expulsion: “It’s the same as kicking a person out of a latrine on fresh air" Well, he didn’t turn out to be an artist, so much the better, he will be a poet! In addition, he has already published his first collection of poems, and this is just the beginning.

Indeed, Mayakovsky published his first collection in 1913, which included only four poems, which was boldly and simply entitled “I”. It happened as follows: Mayakovsky copied four poems by hand into a notebook, his friends V.N. Chekrygin and L. Shekhtel illustrated them. The collection was then lithographically reproduced. A total of 300 copies were produced, which were mostly distributed to friends. But this did not bother the young poet. The future seemed bright and cloudless to him.

The year was 1915. Mayakovsky wrote his famous poem “A Cloud in Pants” and read it wherever he could, not only at literary evenings, but also when visiting his friends. On that hot July evening, he, yielding to the persuasion of his friend Elsa Kogan, agreed to visit her sister. Elsa was an old friend of Vladimir; they had known each other for many years. The girl was madly in love with him, Mayakovsky, having become briefly infatuated with Elsa, quickly cooled down, but they still remained friends, and Elsa, in spite of everything, hoped that she could regain the affection of the famous poet. So they came to visit.

Mayakovsky introduced himself, looked around at those gathered, not fixing his gaze on anyone. Then he habitually stood up doorway, opened the notebook and, without asking anyone’s permission, without paying attention to anyone, began to read.

Soon everyone fell silent and began to listen carefully. The poem really made a strong impression, which was further enhanced by the fact that the author himself read it. As soon as he finished, everyone began to applaud and admire. Mayakovsky raised his eyes and met the gaze of a young dark-haired woman. She looked at him defiantly and a little mockingly. Suddenly her gaze softened, admiration was evident in it.

Mayakovsky suddenly heard Elsa say: “My sister, Lilya Brik, and this is her husband, Osip,” but did not even turn his head in her direction. The whole world ceased to exist for him, he saw only Lilya. Then he moved from his place, walked up to Lila, said: “Can I dedicate this to you?” - and, without waiting for an answer, he opened the notebook, took out a pencil and carefully wrote it under the title “Lila Yuryevna Brik.” At that moment Elsa realized that the poet was forever lost to her.

About four years passed, during which a stormy romance developed between Lilya and Vladimir. They met, then separated, then wrote mountains of letters to each other, then ignored each other. However, Mayakovsky was mostly ignored by Lilya, he bombarded her with notes, begging her to answer, otherwise he would die, shoot himself... The young woman did not pay any attention to this, calmly reporting in another letter that she was tired of Petersburg, that she and her husband were leaving to Japan, but will soon return and bring his Volodya a robe, and so that he does not forget it, he continues to write.

But one day, according to Lily, Mayakovsky actually almost shot himself. This happened in 1916. Early in the morning Lilya was awakened by a telephone call. She picked up the phone and heard Mayakovsky’s voice: “I’m shooting myself. Goodbye, Lilik." The young woman was confused, but only for a second. She didn't take it as a bad joke, Lately Volodya often spoke about death. She didn't doubt for a minute that he was capable of doing this. Shouting into the phone: “Wait for me!” - She, throwing on a robe and a light coat over it, ran out of the house, took a cab and hurried to Mayakovsky’s apartment. Having reached the apartment, she began pounding on the door with her fist. Mayakovsky himself opened it to her, alive. He let her into the room and calmly said: “I shot, it misfired. The second time I didn’t dare, I was waiting for you.”

After this, Lilya began to pay more attention to Mayakovsky, because he was an extraordinary person, a famous poet.

In other words, a typical love triangle has formed: Lilya, her husband and lover. However, the outcome was completely unexpected and far from typical. Lila was tired of such a relationship, and she invited Mayakovsky to live with them. Mayakovsky was in seventh heaven. Lily's husband also had nothing against it.

They decided to live in Moscow and found a small apartment without amenities. They hung a sign on the door: “Briki. Mayakovsky." So the three of them began to live together.

Rumors spread throughout Moscow. Everyone began to discuss this unusual “family of three.” Lilya called Mayakovsky her husband, and he called her his wife. Osip took this completely calmly. He was absolutely sure that, despite her temperament (she always had many admirers), she loved him alone. Lilya really loved him very much, or assured him that she did. So, despite her many hobbies, she remained with her first husband until his death, and when he died, she admitted: “When Mayakovsky shot himself, he died great poet. And when Osip died, I died.”

But even after the death of Osip Brik, Lily’s character and temperament did not change at all: she still had many admirers, then she again married the literary critic Vasily Abgarovich Katanyan, whom, they say, she also loved dearly, and who loved her very much, despite her advanced age.

Having settled in the same apartment with her husband and lover, Lilya in every possible way denied rumors about “threesome love.” This is how Lilya herself described such a life (she made this confession many years after Mayakovsky and Osip died): “I loved making love with Osya. We then locked Volodya in the kitchen. He rushed towards us, scratched at the door and cried.”

Mayakovsky was forced to put up with Osip's presence: he could not live without Lily. He had an excellent relationship with her husband. But when Lilya began to start new romances, Mayakovsky could not stand it and began to arrange scenes of jealousy for his beloved. Osip tried to calm him down with the words: “Lily is an element, we must take this into account. You can’t stop the rain or snow at will.” But Volodya did not want to listen to anything, he continued to demand that Lilya belong, if not to him alone, then at least to both of them. One day, in a fit of rage, he broke a chair, but Lilya did not pay any attention to his jealousy. When her friends started talking to her about her second husband, she blithely replied: “It is good for Volodya to suffer. He will suffer and write good poetry.” Lilya was not mistaken in this: she knew perfectly well Mayakovsky’s character and that love suffering is the best incentive for creativity. And indeed, Volodya wrote a lot. It was during this period that he created the poem “150,000,000” and the premiere of his “Mystery Bouffe” took place.

This couldn't go on for long. Mayakovsky was completely exhausted, but he could not leave “his Lilichka”, not imagining life without her. In addition, living with Lilya and Osya, he accepted the conditions of living together that Lilya offered him: during the day everyone has the right to do what they want, and at night all three gather in their apartment and enjoy communicating with each other.

The Briks left for Riga. Mayakovsky had no choice but to write letters. Lilya, tired of his jealousy, suggested breaking up for a while. But Mayakovsky did not agree to this. However, he had no choice: he was forced to obey Lily’s decision to separate for exactly three months, during which time he made no attempts to see each other, did not call each other, did not write letters.

Mayakovsky sat in the room completely alone. He did not allow his friends to visit him, although they, having heard that Lilya had driven him away, came to support the poet. Despite the condition, he saw Lilya every day: he came to the entrance of the house where she lived and waited for her to go outside, but did not dare to approach her. Then he returned home and began to write her letters with assurances of eternal love, fidelity, asked him to forgive him for his jealousy. Here is an excerpt from one of these letters: “It has never been so hard for me - I must really have grown up too much. Previously, driven away by you, I believed in the meeting. Now I feel that I have been completely torn away from life and that there will never be anything more. There is no life without you. I always said this, always knew, now I feel it with all my being, everything I thought about with pleasure now has no value - disgusting.

I can't promise you anything. I know there is no promise that you would believe in. I know there is no way to see you that would not make you suffer.

And yet I am unable not to write and ask you to forgive me for everything. If you made the decision with difficulty and struggle, if you want to try the latter, you will forgive, you will answer.

But if you don’t even answer, you’re my only thought: how I loved you seven years ago, so I love you this very second, no matter what you want, no matter what you tell me, I’ll do it right now, I’ll do it with delight. How terrible it is to break up if you know what you love and it’s your own fault for the breakup.

I’m sitting in a cafe and the saleswomen are roaring and laughing at me. It’s scary to think that my whole life will continue to be like this...”

Three months passed like this. Mayakovsky ran to the station: there they agreed to meet with Lilya so that together, just the two of them, they could go to Petrograd. In his bag he carried a gift for his beloved - the poem “About This,” which he wrote in “exile.”

Seeing Lilya, he immediately forgot about all his torments and forgave her for all his betrayals. She also missed him, was glad to meet him, and after reading the poem, she forgave him everything. Peace was restored, Volodya returned to the Briks’ apartment, and everything went as before. But could this continue indefinitely?

Another seven years passed. Outwardly, his life seemed quite successful. He achieved universal recognition; he had no conflicts with the authorities. After Lenin’s death, which deeply shocked him, the poet wrote the poem “Vladimir Ilyich Lenin,” which was well received and was soon published in a separate edition. He repeatedly gave reports that were no longer as scandalous as in his youth. His other works were also published, his plays were staged in theaters.

Mayakovsky made several trips abroad. The first trip took place in 1922, he visited Riga, Berlin, and Paris. In 1925 he traveled to Europe again and also visited Mexico and the United States. In 1928, the poet once again traveled to Berlin and Paris.

In 1930, it was decided to celebrate Mayakovsky’s unique anniversary: ​​20 years of creative activity, or, as they wrote on the posters then, 20 years of work. The time has come to sum it up, and Mayakovsky thought: what has he done in these 20 years? This year he turned 37. He had long abandoned his futuristic views on art, which was manifested in his recognition of the works of Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and other classics of Russian literature.

Over the years of creative activity, he managed to do a lot, and not only in literature. On February 1, an exhibition of his works opened, and soon after this the premiere of the play “Bath” took place.

But his personal life did not bring him joy. Everyone, and especially Lilya, laughed at his desire to have a normal family and children. She assured that while he was suffering, he was a real poet, but if she gave birth to a child, he would never give birth to a single talented verse. Mayakovsky himself had long come to terms with Lily’s betrayals. Why does he need a normal family, children, if he doesn’t live long? According to eyewitnesses, he himself repeatedly said: “I’ll shoot myself, commit suicide. 35 years is old age. I'll live to be thirty. I won’t go any further.”

And yet he tried, desperately tried to find a woman who would understand him as Lilya did, but would not cause him so much torment. But Lilya was well aware of this and was on her guard. It all started with the fact that one of his novels unexpectedly ended with the girl’s pregnancy. This happened in 1926, when Mayakovsky was traveling around America. There he met Ellie Jones.

Volodya, having learned about what had happened, was stunned. Yes, of course, he will not love anyone as much as Lilya, but the child... Of course, Mayakovsky takes full responsibility and will send money. Perhaps it would have come to marriage, but Lilya did everything so that Volodya would forget about this woman as soon as possible. She used a method that had been tried and tested more than once: she threatened to break up. This was the only thing Mayakovsky still could not fight: he could not live without Lily, for her sake he was ready to give up the whole world.

There was no more talk about marrying Ellie. Mayakovsky, like a faithful knight, continued to follow Brik everywhere, but became sadder and sadder. He realized that this couldn’t go on any longer, it was a dead end. Lilya has control over him unlimited power. And he began to make attempts to free himself from this power at any cost. Soon he met the librarian Natalya Bryukhanenko and fell in love with her. After some time, the two of them went on vacation to Yalta, and Lilya was torn and torn. She sent him letters in which she never stopped asking if Volodinka still loved her? In Moscow, everyone is lying that he wants to get married, has he really stopped loving his Lilichka? Mayakovsky answered wearily: yes, he wants to marry and live with Natalya. Perhaps this time Mayakovsky would have the strength to leave Lily. In addition, Natalya was very smart woman and understood him perfectly internal state, but she did not have enough strength to fight such an element as Lilya.

Brik came to the station to meet Volodya from Yalta. She stood on the platform cheerful and confident. Volodya was the first to leave the carriage and rushed to kiss Lilya. Then Natalya appeared... met Lilya's gaze... That was enough. She turned around and went to her apartment. Alone, without Volodya.

Mayakovsky increasingly began to talk about suicide as the only way out. He was tired of perceiving the whole world through Lily's eyes. She noticed his depression, became worried, began to organize evenings, tried to entertain him, offered to read poetry. He read, everyone clapped and admired, and Lilya loudest of all. Weeks passed, Mayakovsky became more menacing than a cloud, Lilya did not know what to do. Finally, she decided that a trip abroad would help him unwind. He went to Paris, where he soon met the beautiful Tatyana Yakovleva. The girl was really incredibly beautiful and worked as a model for Coco Chanel. She had many fans, among whom was the famous opera singer Fyodor Chaliapin.

Lilya, of course, knew about Mayakovsky’s new hobby. Moreover, it was she who planned their acquaintance: her sister Elsa lived in Paris, who helped her arrange everything. Lilya thought that a light affair would help Mayakovsky feel the taste of life again. Elsa informed her sister about Mayakovsky's every move in Paris. It also happened before, when he came to France, and usually Elsa wrote to her sister about all Volodya’s hobbies: “Empty, don’t worry.” But this time Mayakovsky, taking advantage of the fact that Lilya was far away, made another attempt to break this connection that was destroying his soul: he proposed to Tatyana.

Elsa immediately reported this to Lila, who sounded the alarm. Mayakovsky returned to Moscow calm, cheerful and got to work. With Lily he was very attentive and caring. The poet looked confidently into the future. Brik didn’t know what to do, but Tatyana was far away, in France, and Volodya was here in Moscow... Soon she showed him a letter from her sister from Paris: among other things, Elsa wrote that Mayakovsky’s friend, Tatyana Yakovleva, accepted the marriage proposal and hearts from the Viscount de Plessis.

There was a terrible noise: it was Mayakovsky who threw a glass at the wall, overturned his chair and ran out of the room. He could not believe the betrayal, he assured himself that there was something else here. He rushed for a visa, but the Briks, who had been collaborating with the Cheka for several years, used their influence. Mayakovsky was denied travel abroad.

Mayakovsky furiously hung a piece of paper on the Briks’ door with the words: “Brick lives here - not a researcher of poetry. Brik, a Cheka investigator, lives here,” but he couldn’t do more. Another attempt to gain freedom ended in failure.

Mayakovsky was no longer happy with anything. Speeches on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his work became torture for him. It seemed to him that they were no longer interested in his work, they weren’t going to the exhibition of his works, and the production of “Bathhouse” was unsuccessful. He has nothing left, so why live? More and more often he complained of severe headaches. He was dying slowly and he was well aware of it.

Not only the Briks, but everyone around, both Mayakovsky’s friends and strangers, began to notice this. Yes, his exhibition was boycotted by the writers he was most looking forward to. But those who came noted the condition of Mayakovsky himself. Lunacharsky, having visited the exhibition, spoke about it something like this: “Perhaps, it is becoming clear to me why I have an unpleasant aftertaste from today’s exhibition. The culprit for this, oddly enough, is Mayakovsky himself. He was somehow completely different from himself, sick, with sunken eyes, overtired, voiceless, somehow extinct. He was very attentive to me, showed me, gave explanations, but all through force. It is difficult to imagine Mayakovsky so indifferent and tired. I had to observe many times when he was out of sorts, irritated by something, when he raged, was indignant, struck right and left, and sometimes hurt “his own” in a big way. I prefer seeing him like this compared to his current mood. It had a depressing effect on me.”

The exhibition opened on February 1, but its work was extended until March 25. All this time Mayakovsky was sad and depressed. On March 16, the premiere of “Bath” took place. The play was not bad, but the production was considered unsuccessful. The audience greeted the performance rather coldly. But the saddest thing were the reviews of him that appeared in the newspapers. The first article appeared seven days before the premiere. The critic who wrote it, by his own admission, did not see the production, but still wrote a rather harsh review. The writers who boycotted Mayakovsky's exhibition reacted the same way to the play, launching a campaign in the newspapers to persecute the poet. The poet tried to fight back, but practically no one supported him. The conflict with the writers was serious and deep, and began a long time ago. Mayakovsky was once a poet of the revolution, but it has long since ended. Some kind of misunderstanding arose between him and other writers; they did not understand his art, and he did not understand theirs. He quarreled with many of his contemporaries, with those with whom he once worked, for example with Boris Pasternak, and with others, such as Yesenin, he never found common ground.

But now it was too late to fix all this, and no one needed it. However, he did not want to leave the attacks on “Banya” unanswered. He was especially outraged by an article by the critic Ermilov, entitled “On the mood of bourgeois “leftism” in fiction.” It was she who was published a week before the premiere. In response to the article, Mayakovsky hung a slogan in the theater hall that read:

do not evaporate

swarm of bureaucrats.

Will not be enough

and no soap for you.

bureaucrats

pen helps

Critics -

Like Ermilov..."

Mayakovsky was forced to remove the slogan, and he was forced to comply. It was this incident that he mentioned in his suicide note.

Apparently, at that time he had already decided to take the fatal step, but he delayed it, put it off for a day, for a week. And yet he could not talk about anything else except his imminent death. So, on April 9, his speech took place at the Institute National economy named after Plekhanov. Those present were amazed that he spoke of himself as a person who knows that he will soon die: “When I die, you will read my poems with tears of tenderness. And now, while I’m alive, they say a lot of nonsense about me, they scold me a lot...” (according to the memoirs of V.I. Slavinsky). The poet began to read the poem “At the top of his voice,” but he was interrupted. Then Mayakovsky suggested writing notes with questions that he would answer. The first note was handed to him, and he read loudly: “Is it true that Khlebnikov genius poet, and you, Mayakovsky, are scum in front of him?” But even here the poet showed willpower and answered politely: “I don’t compete with poets, I don’t measure poets by myself. It would be stupid." This is how the whole performance went. If at the beginning of his creative career he himself did not hesitate to stir up a scandal, now he tried to stop it, but he did not succeed, and the scandal flared up not only at the performance, but also around Mayakovsky’s entire life and work.

But could this have been a reason for suicide? The poet was always indifferent to attacks on his work; there were always people who did not understand him, but there were also many admirers of his talent. Of course, he was not afraid of the attacks; fear could not influence his decision to take his own life. The anger that little by little took possession of him could affect his state of mind. Eyewitnesses claimed that at the speeches there were people who reminded him that he had repeatedly said that he was not going to live to old age, that he would shoot himself, and asked when this would happen, how long to wait? Now is the time, he has written himself out, his work is not understandable or interesting to anyone.

Of course, this was not the case. If Mayakovsky’s poems were uninteresting, irrelevant, if they were not understood, then they would simply stop publishing him, they would simply stop going to his speeches, they would forget about his existence. He, on the contrary, was the center of attention as never before, but negative attention.

Lilya was sure that if she had been in Moscow at that time, Mayakovsky would have survived. But she was not there: she and her husband were in London.

Taking advantage of her absence, Mayakovsky made an attempt to arrange his personal life for the last time in his life, this time with actress Veronica Polonskaya. Veronica was married, but fell deeply in love with Mayakovsky. This was not enough for him, he demanded more and more proof of her love, insisted that she leave the theater for him and belong to him undividedly. In vain Veronica tried to explain that theater is her whole life.

Mayakovsky did not want to understand this. Her whole life should have been just him, the rest of the world should not exist for her.

So, without noticing it, Vladimir tried to impose on Veronica the same style of relationship that he had with Lily, only this time he played the role of Lily. Knowing how to forget about everything in the world for the sake of the woman he loved, he now demanded the same attitude from Veronica. Veronica loved Mayakovsky, but she had no intention of leaving the theater. Mayakovsky also loved her, but his love was more like an obsession, he demanded: “All or nothing!”

It was already April. Mayakovsky increasingly turned into a living corpse, he was scolded everywhere, many friends publicly renounced him, he avoided meeting people, continued to maintain relationships only with those closest to him, but he was already tired of communicating with them.

On April 12, he wrote a suicide letter. The day ended, night came, then another day. Mayakovsky did not shoot himself and did not destroy the letter. On the evening of the 13th, he went to visit Kataev, having learned that Polonskaya and her husband Yanshin would be there.

Those present made fun of Mayakovsky, sometimes quite cruelly, but he did not respond to the attacks, not paying any attention to them. He hoped to sort things out with Polonskaya and spent the entire evening throwing notes at her, which he wrote right there. Polonskaya read and answered. Both did not say a word to each other, their faces first cleared up, then became gloomy again. Kataev called this correspondence a “deadly silent duel.”

Finally, Vladimir got ready to leave. Kataev subsequently claimed that the guest looked sick, was coughing, and probably had the flu. The owner, sensing something was wrong, insisted that Volodya stay overnight with him, but the poet categorically refused, accompanied Polonskaya with Yanshin, then went home to the Brikovs’ apartment. He spent the night alone, and on the morning of April 14 he went to Polonskaya and brought her by taxi to his apartment. What happened between them next, Polonskaya told more than once, including to the investigator:

“Vladimir Vladimirovich quickly walked around the room. Almost ran. He demanded that I stay with him here, in this room, from that very moment. Waiting for an apartment is absurd, he said.

I must quit the theater immediately. I don’t need to go to rehearsal today. He himself will go into the theater and say that I won’t come again.

I replied that I loved him, I would be with him, but I couldn’t stay here now. I truly love and respect my husband and cannot do this to him.

And I will not give up the theater and could never give up... So I must and must go to the rehearsal, and I will go to the rehearsal, then go home, say everything... and in the evening I will move in with him completely.

Vladimir Vladimirovich did not agree with this. He kept insisting that everything be done immediately or nothing at all. Once again I answered that I couldn’t do that...

I said:

“Why don’t you even see me out?”

He came up to me, kissed me and said quite calmly and very affectionately:

"I'll call. Do you have money for a taxi?

He gave me 20 rubles.

“So will you call?”

I walked out and walked a few steps to the front door.

A shot rang out. My legs gave way, I screamed and rushed along the corridor. I couldn't bring myself to enter.

It seemed to me that a very long time passed before I decided to enter. But, obviously, I entered a moment later: there was still a cloud of smoke in the room from the shot. Vladimir Vladimirovich was lying on the carpet with his arms outstretched. There was a tiny bloody spot on his chest.

I remember that I rushed to him and just repeated endlessly: “What did you do? What have you done?

His eyes were open, he looked straight at me and kept trying to raise his head. It seemed that he wanted to say something, but his eyes were already lifeless...”

But even after the tragic death, attacks on Mayakovsky did not stop immediately. 150,000 people came to the funeral, held in Moscow, to say goodbye to the poet.

A funeral meeting took place in Leningrad. The atmosphere of scandal was maintained for some time, but after some time it completely dissipated, like night fog carried away by the fresh morning wind.

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85 years ago, on April 14, 1930, MAYAKOVSKY shot himself on Lubyansky Proezd in Moscow. This was the official version: the poet himself brought the gun to his chest, exhausted by problems with women, creative failures and syphilis (the obituary said: “swift disease,” although tests were later done and the disease was not confirmed).

“Many classified documents and vexing unanswered questions suggest that the real truth has been distorted and hidden. Outstanding work done by a Russian researcher Valentin Skoryatin, makes us look at the version of Mayakovsky’s suicide in a new way,”- spoke at a conference on Mayakovsky American professor Albert Todd.
The more materials Skoryatin found about the poet’s death, the more inconsistencies and oddities he noticed.
Several people testified that Mayakovsky did not intend to consider April 14 the last day of his life. On April 10 or 12, the poet promised that he would help make May Day slogans for the Central Committee, but asked to postpone the work for several days due to the flu.

A little earlier, on April 4, he contributed money to the housing cooperative RZhSKT named after. Krasina. And he asked his friends to help him rent a house before the fall, while the house was being built. Life with three Bricks weighed heavily on Mayakovsky, he wanted to have a normal family, he proposed Veronica Polonskaya.
After the poet's death in new apartment The Briks moved.
Lilya did not hide from her Puppy that she had become a mistress Agranova, head of the Secret Department of the OGPU. The bloody investigator, who was called the executioner of the Russian intelligentsia and who personally authorized the execution Gumilyov, Agranov was not at all jealous of his predecessor. I even gave him a revolver. Mayakovsky was left-handed, but for some reason he took the pistol in his right hand, which was uncomfortable for him, before firing... Years later, while studying the investigation report, Skoryatin noticed that the weapon had been replaced. Instead of Mauser No. 312045, recorded in the protocol, Browning No. 268979 was found.

Mayakovsky’s suicide letter also left many questions. Why did the poet write it with a pencil and not with a pen? It is known that Mayakovsky was terribly disgusted and would not give his pen to a stranger. In addition, it is almost impossible to forge handwriting with a fountain pen, but a professional from Agranov’s department made a pencil forgery without difficulty.
And the contents of the letter look strange. How could it happen that Mayakovsky, who was very decent towards his close people, when determining his heirs, placed his mother and sister after Lily? The right to inheritance was secured by the Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR: 1/2 part - to Lilya, 1/6 - to the mother and sisters. V. Polonskaya, in violation of the will of the poet - nothing. Interestingly, Agranov immediately took the original letter. When dividing the inheritance, government members were guided not by the original, but by newspaper reprints.

Agranov rushed like a bullet into Mayakovsky’s room and immediately took the investigation into his own hands. Perhaps it was with his help that the investigation “did not notice” the testimony of the people who ran into the room immediately after the fatal shot. They claimed that the poet fell with his feet towards the door. Those who came later saw the body in a different position, with its head towards the door. Someone changed the position of the body so that there would be no thought that the poet had been shot.
While studying the death mask, researchers noticed that the poet had a broken nose. It looks like Mayakovsky fell face down, and not on his back, as happens when a person shoots himself.

APOSTLE OR JUDAS

Michael Bulgakov, who knew Mayakovsky well, did not believe in the official version of suicide. Marina Cherkashina, a researcher of Bulgakov’s work, noted: “Bulgakov was so shocked that he resumed work on the novel he had abandoned about the prince of darkness. A drama of truly biblical proportions played out before his eyes.” Caesar in this drama - Marx and his “omnipotent teaching”, procurator Pilate (Caesar’s governor in the USSR) - comrade Stalin, head of the secret service of Yershalaim Afraniy - head of the Special Department of the OGPU Yakov Agranov(even the last name is consonant!) with Berry. “The preacher of Yeshua was the Master crucified on newspaper pages; finally, a ruddy money changer from Kiriath (who exchanged his soul for 30 coins) - a tall poet from Baghdadi, who exchanged his talent for party agitprop, writes Cherkashina. - It was necessary to have remarkable courage in order to reveal and show in the novel the secret mechanism of such murders in a country where a well-functioning machine of political murders - the OGPU-NKVD - operated. Bulgakov did this using the sad example of Mayakovsky.

And no one was deceived by the biblical setting of the episode. Under the white cloak with bloody lining, under the togas of Afranius and his henchmen, the Chekist jackets with blue buttonholes are clearly visible.”
Bulgakov persistently emphasized: the biblical events of the novel took place on the 14th of the spring month of Nisan. A direct reference to the date of the poet’s death, April 14, 1930. On the 14th, the head of the secret service of Yershalaim, Afranius, talks with the procurator of Judea Pilate. On the same day, Judas dies, having been stabbed in the heart. They dealt with Mayakovsky without a knife. He was shot.
In the novel, Pilate raises a glass of wine red as blood - Caecuba. The name of this brand is very consonant with the familiar abbreviation of the Central Committee (b) - Bolsheviks. And here is Pilate’s toast addressed to Caesar: “For you, Caesar, father of the Romans, dearest and best of people!” In Bulgakov’s times, only one single person was called the dearest and best of people.

From the novel “The Master and Margarita”:
- Yes, Afranius, this is what suddenly occurred to me: did he commit suicide?
“Oh no, procurator,” Afranius answered, even leaning back in surprise in his chair, “forgive me, but this is absolutely incredible!”
- Ah, in this city everything is possible! I'm willing to bet that in no time at all, rumors about this will spread throughout the city.
Rumors that someone had helped suicide actually spread throughout Moscow that same day.
But isn’t it too harsh to imagine a living suffering person, like Mayakovsky, in the image of a biblical traitor? Why, in the eyes of Bulgakov, could the proletarian poet only be Judas?

Quote

Ivan BUNIN:
- I think that Mayakovsky will remain in the history of literature of the Bolshevik years as the lowest, most cynical and harmful servant of Soviet cannibalism in terms of literary praise of him.

REVOLT OF THE UNDERGRADUATE

Mikhail Bulgakov, the son of a professor at the Theological Academy, who came from a religious family, looked with a shudder at Mayakovsky’s fight against God. He could only be Judas in his eyes, exclaiming: “I would throw blasphemies into the sky.” In almost every verse, Mayakovsky voices obsessive thoughts about God, literally leading a personal rivalry with the Almighty, hoping to take his place in the hearts of people.
I, who praise the machine and England,
maybe just
In the most ordinary Gospel
thirteenth apostle
And when my voice
hoots obscenely -
from hour to hour,
the whole day,
May be,
Jesus Christ sniffs
my soul's forget-me-nots.

Back in 1916 - 1917, he wrote the poem “Man”, where he builds his life lyrical hero(whose name without false modesty is Vladimir Mayakovsky) according to the Gospel canon. Speaking about the birth of Mayakovsky, the poet plays on the plot of the Nativity of Christ. The next chapters are “The Passion of Mayakovsky”, “The Ascension of Mayakovsky”, “The Return of Mayakovsky”, “Mayakovsky for the Ages”.
“How come
I can’t sing myself,
if all of me -
completely unheard of,
if every movement is mine -
huge,
an inexplicable miracle."

THEY DIDN'T ACTUALLY ACCUMULATE A RUBLE FOR ME

Marina Cherkashina notes: “In the eyes of Bulgakov, Mayakovsky could only be Judas, because he betrayed his “attacking class”, becoming the new proletarian bourgeois: trips abroad, large fees, foreign currency gifts to his mistress - all this had little to do with the image of the fiery “agitator, loud-mouthed leader.”
“Damn you! - the poet shouts to everyone who is well-fed in the 22nd year of hunger. - Let it be so that every swallowed sip burns your stomach! Let the scissors wrap around a juicy steak, tearing open the walls of the intestines!” "All-Russian Headman" Kalinin Having visited the southern regions, he witnessed facts of cannibalism. And Mayakovsky, traveling around Berlin, orders huge portions in the most expensive restaurants. In Paris, he goes to an expensive studio on Place Vendôme to have his shirts sewn by a dressmaker.

At Lilina’s request, he brings from abroad to Moscow a Ford of the latest production on reinforced balloon tires. The Soviet gentleman wore silk underwear and rested in best houses rest, rented dachas, hired housekeepers.
“Mayakovsky’s statements to the tax office allow us to create an idea of ​​his income. His usual income for six months was about 6 thousand rubles, that is, 12 thousand a year. Let's compare this amount with the worker's annual earnings, which were approximately 900 rubles. Mayakovsky earned almost 13 times more,” writes Swedish literary critic Bengt Youngfeldt.

IN THE COMPANY OF GEPESHNIKS

Once on the door of the apartment where Mayakovsky and Briki lived, an epigram appeared, the authorship of which was attributed to Yesenin: “Do you think Brick, the language researcher, lives here? / Cheka’s spy and investigator lives here.” Osip Brik was officially recruited by the Cheka. Soon, Lily also received a GPU employee ID number 5073. A specific audience gathers in their apartment: NKVD officers, Soviet bankers and government officials.
Parsnip later he would call this house “the Moscow police station.” Later he admitted that it was scary to hear Lilya say: “Wait, we’ll have dinner soon, as soon as Osya comes from the Cheka.”

Mayakovsky looked after women with carelessness, as if considering them to be creatures of a lower order. He could easily describe the girl as a “tasty piece of meat” and loved to talk about his adventures. According to Burliuk, Mayakovsky was “little picky” in his passion. He was content with “the love of bourgeois women who cheated on their husbands at their dachas - in hammocks, on swing benches, or early unbridled passion students." At the same time, he wrote about “the scum clinging to every double bed.”

1. Vera Shekhtel. Mayakovsky evoked disgust and horror among the parents of the girls he knew. When the poet started dating Vera Shekhtel, the daughter of a prominent architect, her father took all measures to end the relationship. But in vain. Vera became pregnant and was sent abroad to have an abortion.
Then she married someone else. In 1932, her son Vadim Tonkov was born. The older generation remembers him in the image of the comic Veronika Mavrikievna.

2. Lilya Brik. From a young age Lile Kagan was characterized by heightened sexual curiosity. At the age of 17, she became pregnant by her music teacher. Lilya was delivered from pregnancy by a doctor she knew at the “dirty bedbug infestation” hospital in Armavir.
Having married Osip Brik Lilya didn’t even think about hiding her adventures from him. The affair with Mayakovsky, whom she called Shchenik, smoothly turned into a strange life for the three of them.
Andrey Voznesensky will later be shocked by Lily's confession: “I loved making love with Osya. We then locked Volodya in the kitchen. He was eager, wanted to come to us, scratched at the door and cried...”
When Lilya left for Riga, Osip and Mayakovsky had the same topic of conversation: “the only person in the world is a kitty.” “I am still your puppy,” Mayakovsky writes to Lila, “I live only thinking about you, I wait for you and adore you. Every morning I come to Osya and say: “It’s boring, brother Kiss, without Liska,” and Oska says: “It’s boring, brother Puppy, without Kisa.”
One day Lilya told Mayakovsky that she loved Osip. This is what happened next, according to the biographer Bengt Youngfeldt: “Mayakovsky sobbed, almost screamed and threw himself onto the sofa as fast as he could. His huge body lay on the floor, and he buried his face in the pillows and clasped his head in his hands. He was sobbing. Lilya bent over him in confusion. - Volodya, come on, don’t cry. You are tired of such poems. - Osya ran to the kitchen for water. He sat down on the sofa and tried to lift Volodin’s head. Volodya raised his face, stained with tears, and pressed himself to Aspen’s knees. Through the sobbing howl he shouted: “Lily doesn’t love me!” - he broke free, jumped out and ran into the kitchen. He moaned and cried there so loudly that Lilya and Osya hid in the bedroom.”

4. Ellie Jones. When Mayakovsky came to America, he, not knowing English, took a note from his pocket when meeting people. He read aloud her apology for not shaking hands. (Mayakovsky was very afraid of infections; he even opened door handles through his jacket pocket or with a napkin.) She volunteered to be his translator Ellie Jones, an emigrant who fled Russia after the revolution. In June 1926, Ellie gave birth to a daughter from Mayakovsky. Together with the girl, she came to Nice in 1928 - this was the first and last meeting father and daughter.

5. Tatyana Yakovleva. Lilya Brik was calm about the amorous adventures of Puppy, but Ellie Jones caused her terrible fear. The poet did not hide the fact that he fell in love. This jeopardized the Briks’ financial situation, which Mayakovsky ensured. To eliminate her rival, Lilya asked her sister Elsa, who lived in Paris, to introduce the poet to someone else. Elsa brought Mayakovsky together with Tatiana Yakovleva. And again fatal passion! The poet fell in love so much that when he left, he left a lot of money in a flower shop so that Tatiana would be brought an armful of roses every Sunday.

6. Veronica Polonskaya. Fearing that the amorous Shchen will marry Yakovleva and leave the influence of the Briks, they introduce him to the actress Veronica Polonskaya. Polonskaya was married, but all of Moscow, including her husband, knew about her affair with Mayakovsky. On the eve of the poet’s death, the actress promised that she would move in with him. Maybe this is what infuriated Lilya, who was given strength and omnipotence by her adultery with Agranov?
No one will now answer what happened in the poet’s “boat room” at the time of his death. Yuri Olesha said that Polonskaya, who was there, ran out shouting: “Save me!” And only then a shot rang out.
Polonskaya did not come to the funeral: Mayakovsky’s mother and sisters considered her guilty of the poet’s death. But Lilya accepted Mayakovsky’s death without tragedy. After the funeral, the Briks drank tea, joked, and chatted about everything in the world.

85 years ago, on April 17, 1930, the body of the famous poet Vladimir Mayakovsky was cremated in Moscow.

On April 14, 1930, in his apartment, in house No. 3 on Lubyansky Proezd, the poet committed suicide, leaving a suicide note:

"EVERYONE
Don’t blame anyone for the fact that I’m dying and please don’t gossip. The deceased did not like this terribly.
Mom, sisters and comrades, forgive me - this is not the way (I don’t recommend it to others), but I have no choice.
Lilya - love me.
Comrade government, my family is Lilya Brik, mother, sisters and Veronica Vitoldovna Polonskaya. –
If you give them a tolerable life, thank you.
Give the poems you started to the Briks, they will figure it out.
As they say - “the incident is ruined”, the love boat crashed into everyday life
I am at peace with life and there is no need for a list of mutual pains, troubles and insults.
Happy stay
VLADIMIR MAYAKOVSKY.

12/4-30 years.

“Comrades Vappovtsy, do not consider me cowardly, seriously - nothing can be done. Hello.
Tell YERMILOV that it’s a pity he removed the slogan, we should have a fight.
V.M.
I have 2000 rubles in my table. contribute to the tax. You will get the rest from GIZ
V.M."

On April 15, 16, 17, 150,000 people passed by Mayakovsky’s coffin through the hall of the writers’ club. The photographs taken by Ilya Ilf on April 17 during the funeral have been preserved. On one of them are Valentin Kataev, Joseph Utkin, a very gloomy Mikhail Bulgakov, and a lost Yuri Olesha.

Yuri Olesha tells V. Meyerhold in a letter dated April 30, 1930: “The funeral made a tremendous impression: the entire Povarskaya from Kudrinskaya to Arbat was packed with people, there were people standing on the fences and on the roofs. About 60 thousand, if not more, followed the coffin. They shot into the air at the crematorium to make it possible to carry the coffin through the gate. There was a crush, there were trams waiting - if he had known that they loved and knew him so much, he would not have shot himself...”

Ilf and Petrov in their sketches for the novel “The Great Combinator” (1930) have a note: “Ostap at Mayakovsky’s funeral. The chief of police, apologizing for the chaos:

I had no experience in funerals of poets. When another one like him dies, then I will know how to bury him.

And the only thing the police chief didn’t know was that such a poet comes along once in a century.”

Vladimir Mayakovsky, one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, was among the first Russian people whose bodies were cremated. The procedure took place at the Donskoy Crematorium in Moscow, and later the ashes were transferred to the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Excerpts from newspapers:

“On April 17, at 6:30 a.m., the furnace of the Moscow crematorium will incinerate the body of the poet Mayakovsky with the heat of its thousands of degrees. It will burn the one in whose brain great and hot thoughts were nurtured and born. Perhaps as hot as the flame of the cremation furnace.” . (newspaper "Trud")

"The 942nd day of operation of the crematorium.
April 17, 1930.
Last name, first name, patronymic: Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.
Age: 36 years old.
Time: 7 hours 35 minutes."
(crematorium registration book)

Description of an eyewitness to the farewell:
"...Mayakovsky's funeral took place on the third day after his death... The coffin with the body was lifted onto a truck lined with iron sheets. No flowers, at the coffin there was a single iron wreath of hammers, flywheels and screws with the laconic inscription "An iron wreath to the Iron Poet "...

The commission for organizing Mayakovsky's funeral determined that the poet's body would be cremated in the #crematorium of the Donskoy Monastery, which opened about three years ago and its use was still a novelty in Moscow, a kind of “avant-garde”, which corresponded to the image of the deceased...

An armored truck sails through a crowd of thousands of Muscovites who have come to see off the poet on his final journey. Mounted policemen are trying to restore order to this grand funeral procession, unforeseen and unorganized by anyone. Here is the crematorium of the Donskoy Monastery, from the chimney of which black smoke is pouring..."

“Lilya Yuryevna and Osip Maksimovich walked the whole way with a young acquaintance, Varshavskaya-Krasnoshchekova, who later recalled: “...There were trams on the Arbat, pouring new people, and we found ourselves torn away from the car with the coffin. So, with difficulty keeping at the head of the procession, we reached the crematorium. The gates were closed because the crowd had broken into the yard and there could have been a stampede, but we managed to somehow get into the yard. There was mounted police at the entrance to the crematorium. We sat down on a bench. And then Lilechka said that we would sit here until it was all over. Suddenly a mounted policeman shouts: “Brick! Where is Brick? They demand Brick!” - it turns out that the poet’s mother Alexandra Alekseevna did not want to say goodbye to her son and allow cremation without Lily Yuryevna. ...Osya and Lilya went to the crematorium..."

The last minutes of farewell... The Internationale sounds... The coffin with the poet's body is lowered into the heat of an all-consuming flame. The doors close. It's all over... A few days after the cremation, the Briks, having telephoned the Mayakovskys, went with them to the crematorium of the Donskoy Monastery. There, with them, the urn with Mayakovsky’s ashes was placed on a special raised platform in the columbarium. Here she was to remain for 22 years... Despite the fact that the urn with Mayakovsky’s ashes occupied a place of honor in the columbarium, over time it became clear that such a primitive “burial” of the famous poet did not correspond to his social status and this should be corrected somehow position.

And only on May 22, 1952, the urn with the ashes of Vladimir Mayakovsky was transferred from the columbarium of the crematorium of the Donskoy Monastery to the Novodevichy cemetery.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky is a Soviet poet who achieved success and recognition. He was born in 1893 in the Caucasus. His works can be identified by the emotional nature of the poems and by the well-recognized “ladder” of text presentation, which later became his “calling card.”

In life he was energetic, did not keep his mouth shut, for which he was imprisoned, he was a scandalous person. Vladimir Mayakovsky made a huge contribution to the treasury of Russian culture. But who would have thought that Mayakovsky V.V. such a short line is allotted. He died when he was 36 years old. But why and how did Mayakovsky die?

From the poet's personal life

The mysterious death of Mayakovsky worried experts for a very long time.

His personal life did not please him. Everyone laughed at his desire to have a normal family, especially Lilya Brik, the beloved woman of his life. She said that if she gave birth to a child, he would never give birth to a single talented poem. And he increasingly began to talk about suicide as the only salvation.

Love and death

Trying to free himself from Lily's spell, he tried to start his life from scratch.

His last passion was Veronica Polonskaya, a beautiful actress of the Moscow Art Theater. On April 14, 1930, they were supposed to have a date. He locked the doors and spoke for a long time about how she should divorce her husband and move in with him immediately. But Veronica (Nora) could not decide to leave Mikhail Yanshin, realizing that at any moment their romance could end. He walked out the door, she heard the sound of a shot, ran to her lover and saw blood on his body.

The shot was fired point-blank into the heart. A suicide note dated April 12 was also found.

Versions of Mayakovsky's death

What is the cause of Mayakovsky's death? The woman he loved, or the fact that he was afraid of old age, or his conflicts with poets, whom he no longer understood, just as they did him. He was a revolutionary, but the revolution was already over. There are several versions of the poet’s death, each with its own supporters and opponents.

Murder. Perhaps someone wanted him dead? Opponents of this version say that Vladimir Vladimirovich was preparing to die. After all, he left a suicide note. But the fact that the note was written in pencil is alarming. Since, firstly, handwriting with a pencil can be forged more easily, as graphologists assure. In addition, as V.I. Skoryatin argued, Mayakovsky was sensitive to his fountain pen and, most likely, would have written his last letter with it. And S. Eisenstein notes that Mayakovsky did not write anything like this at all, and the note was the work of his killers. The version of murder is also supported by the fact that Mayakovsky had a broken nose, although he fell on his back. According to Nora, when they found him, Vladimir Vladimirovich was lying on his back with his eyes open and tried to tell her something, but did not have time. Another argument in favor of the fact that Mayakovsky would not kill himself: when he heard the news of Sergei Yesenin’s suicide, he severely condemned him, calling such an act cowardice. As a rule, the Soviet secret services are accused of killing the poet.

Accident. The most unpopular version says that the poet died as a result of a sad coincidence. The fact is that Mayakovsky several times tried extreme sports with one bullet in a seven-shot pistol. And could it be that this time his luck refused him in the game “Russian roulette”?

Suicide. Today this is the official version. Most researchers adhere to it. And according to the memoirs of Liliya Brik, Mayakovsky more than once tried to commit suicide. It is also noted that the poet had sudden mood swings. He was overwhelmed with emotions of joy when he had success, and failures led him into deep depression.

The true cause of the poet's death still remains a subject of heated debate.