Ivan Rodionov: biography and literary activity

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:53

Russian writer Ivan Aleksandrovich Rodionov left a mark in history not only as the author of literary works, but also as a monarchist and a member of the White movement. He was a political and public figure of the Russian emigration. The life and work of this extraordinary person will be discussed in the article.

Biography

Ivan Rodionov was born on 1866-20-10 in the village of Kamyshevskaya, which was then part of the Don Army region (now belongs to the Rostov region). His father was a landowner, a native of the Don Cossacks. In 1881-1884. Ivan was trained at the Elisavetgrad Cavalry School. Then, in 1884-1886, he was brought up in the Novocherkassk cadet Cossack school. He graduated from it in the first category and was released by a cornet.

Further, Ivan Rodionov served in the first and tenth Don Cossack regiments. As commander of the Cossack Hundred, he took part in the suppression of the workers' revolt in Borovichi. After retiring, he became a zemstvo chief in the city and struck up friendship with a neighbor on the estate of Mikhail Rodzianko, Bishop Hermogenes and Hieromonk Iliodor. Was introduced to the royal family.

Ivan Alexandrovich was a staunch monarchist. He advocated the complete expulsion of the Jewish people from the territory of Russia. He considered people's drunkenness to be the worst evil for the country. He said that Russia was dying for two reasons: because of the Jews and alcohol.

During the First World War

Ivan Rodionov was a combatant as a Cossack officer. From October 1915 he served at the headquarters of General Brusilov, commander of the Southwestern Front. Participated in the operation "Brusilovsky breakthrough", was awarded four military orders. At the same time, he was engaged in journalism, until October 1916 he was the editor of the "Army Bulletin" - the daily newspaper of the South-Western Front.

In 1917, Ivan Rodionov did not swear allegiance to the Provisional Government. In August, he took part in the Kornilov demonstration, for which he was later sent to prison in the city of Bykhov, Mogilev Region.

Civil War 1918-1922

When the Kornilovites were released, Rodionov returned to the Don and became a member of the Volunteer Army, in which he participated in the first Kuban campaign. In the same period, Ivan Alexandrovich published the newspapers Donskoy Krai and Sentry in Novocherkassk. In the latter, in January 1919, he published the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.

In November 1918, Ivan Rodionov participated in the monarchist congress, which was held in Rostov-on-Don. As a result, the man was elected a member of the South-Eastern Monarchist Committee, created with the aim of further promoting monarchist ideas and restoring the monarchy in Russia. At the request of General Wrangel in1920 Rodionov organized printing business in the south of the country.

Having ended the Civil War with the rank of colonel, Ivan Aleksandrovich emigrated from Russia.

Literary creativity

As a writer, Ivan Rodionov became known in 1909, after the publication of the story "Our Crime", which went through five editions during 1910. This work, on the initiative of Anatoly Koni, was even nominated for the Pushkin Prize. In 1911, Ivan Alexandrovich wrote the satirical epic Mother Moscow, in which he demonstrated the view of the Cossacks on Russian history. This work received negative reviews in the press.

In 1922, Rodionov created the story of the Ice Campaign "Evening Sacrifices". In it, he described the cruelty of the Russian uprising and spoke of the people as "evil beasts" worthy only of "hedgehogs, a whip and a stick."

In 1937, the work "The Kingdom of Satan" was published, in which Ivan Rodionov called himself an anti-Semite and expressed admiration for Hitler's activities.

Family

The writer was married twice. The first wife, Nina Vladimirovna Anzimirova, was a theater artist. In marriage with her, Rodionov had two sons: Yaroslav in 1903 and Vladimir in 1905. The youngest son later became a monk.

The second wife of Ivan Alexandrovich was Anna Alekseevna Kovanko. She bore him three children: son Svyatoslav born in 1909, son Hermogenes born in 1912. and daughter Sophia born in 1916

In exile

Having emigratedfrom Russia, the writer first lived in Yugoslavia, then moved to Germany, to Berlin, where he continued active monarchist work. In 1923, Rodionov was assistant to the chairman of the monarchist association in Berlin. In April 1926 he was a delegate to the Russian Foreign Congress in Paris. In May 1938, he organized a meeting of Russian monarchists in Belgrade, at which he delivered a speech about the “monarchism of everything Russian.”