Annihilation of a Writer: Mikhail Bulgakov and the Soviet State

Abstract

Mikhail Bulgakov’s mystifying relationship with the Soviet government, and with Joseph Stalin in particular, has long been understood to be a result of the dictator’s aesthetic appreciation for the writer’s early work. In an era defined by Stalin’s Great Terror, Bulgakov escaped the tumultuous 1930s relatively unscathed in that he was never arrested, let alone executed. This is not to say that Bulgakov did not have a difficult life under Stalin’s regime; pressures put on him by the state almost certainly exacerbated underlying health concerns that led to his early death. Brutal attacks on his work also caused financial and psychological hardship and led to what he referred to as his “annihilation.” However, he was spared more violent persecution (such as that faced by many of his contemporaries) despite the fact that his body of work includes harsh criticism of Communism and the Soviet Union, as well as the fact that Bulgakov was unambiguous in his anti-Soviet politics. While any attempt to assign too much rationale or logic to Stalin’s decisions during the purges is impossible, in this paper I examine several factors that I believe are overlooked in discussions of Bulgakov’s relationship with the Soviet state and may have contributed to his treatment by the state and censorship machines. These factors include the nature of Bulgakov’s satire and interactions with the Soviet state, his status as a political outsider, and his connections with foreigners within and without the Soviet Union.