Ivan Yulianovych Kulyk ( uk, Іван Юліанович Кулик; born Izrail Yudelevich Kulyk; January 14, 1897 – October 10, 1937) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, translator, diplomat and

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

activist. He also wrote under the names "R. Rolinato" and "Vasyl Rolenko".

Biography

Kulyk was born in the city of Shpola, in the

Kiev Governorate Kiev Governorate, r=Kievskaya guberniya; uk, Київська губернія, Kyivska huberniia (, ) was an administrative division of the Russian Empire from 1796 to 1919 and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1919 to 1925. It wa ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(now in

Cherkasy Oblast Cherkasy Oblast ( uk, Черка́ська о́бласть, Cherkaska oblast, ), also referred to as Cherkashchyna ( uk, Черка́щина, ) is an oblast (province) of central Ukraine located along the Dnieper River. The administrative center ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

) into the family of a Jewish teacher. He finished fourth-grade college in

Uman Uman ( uk, Умань, ; pl, Humań; yi, אומאַן) is a city located in Cherkasy Oblast in central Ukraine, to the east of Vinnytsia. Located in the historical region of the eastern Podolia, the city rests on the banks of the Umanka River ...

where he moved with his parents. There his first poem was published in the Uman newspaper ''Provincial voice'' ("Провинциальный голос"), in Russian. In 1911 he enrolled into the Odessa Art academy. In 1914, together with his parents, he emigrated to the United States. There he worked in the factories and mines in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. He began publishing his poems in the local Russian newspaper ''New world'' ("Новый мир"). In 1914 he became a member of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). In spring 1917 Kulyk travelled through the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admin ...

and

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

, returning to

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

where he joined the local

revkom {{no footnotes, date=May 2016A revolutionary committee or revkom (russian: Революционный комитет, ревком) were Bolshevik-led organizations in Soviet Russia and other Soviet republics established to serve as provisional gove ...

. He actively participated in the Kiev Bolshevik Uprising that led to the establishment of the Soviet government in

. In December 1917 he was elected to the Central Executive Committee of Soviets and the first Soviet government of the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

(heading the

People's Secretariat The People's Secretariat of Ukraine was the executive body of the Provisional Central Executive Committee of Soviets in Ukraine. It was formed in Kharkiv on December 30, 1917 as a form of the Soviet concept of dual power by the Russian and other ...

of the Foreign Affairs). In summer of 1918 together with Vitaliy Primakov participated in the formations of the Red Cossacks military units. From May 1921 to May 1922 he was a secretary of the Kamyanets-Podilsky branch of the

Communist Party (Bolshevik) of Ukraine The Communist Party of Ukraine ( uk, Комуністична Партія України ''Komunistychna Partiya Ukrayiny'', КПУ, ''KPU''; russian: Коммунистическая партия Украины) was the founding and ruling ...

. There he edited the local newspaper ''Red Truth'', simultaneously teaching history in the Institute of the People's Education. At this time he published his poem the ''Green heart'' (1921, uk, Зелене серце). In 1924–1926 he was consul of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in Canada. From September 15, 1930 to June 1932 he returned to Kamyanets-Podilsky as secretary of a

raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is co ...

committee. He was one of the leaders of the All-Ukrainian Association of the Proletarian Writers (VSPP), and after 1934 became the leader of the Ukrainian Association of Soviet Writers. Along with those duties he also was head of the State Political Publishing house, edited in the ''Literary newspaper'' ("Літературнa газетa") and the journal ''Soviet Literature'' ("Радянська література"). He was married to the Ukrainian writer Luciana Piontek (1899–1937), an ethnic German. He was arrested during the

Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secret ...

in 1937, charged with "spying against the

" and executed by shooting on October 10, 1937. Earlier, on September 25, 1937, his wife was executed as well for "supporting her husband in anti-state activities".

External links

Ivan Kulik
at the Ukrainian literature.

at the Ukrayinski Pisni (Ukrainian songs) * Kryzhanivsky, S.
Ivan Kulik
'.

Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia'' ( uk, Українська радянська енциклопедія, ''Ukrayinska radyanska entsyklopediya'') was a multi-purpose encyclopedia of Ukraine, issued in the USSR. First attempt Following th ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kulyk, Ivan 1897 births 1937 deaths People from Shpola People from Zvenigorodsky Uyezd (Kiev Governorate) Ukrainian expatriates in the United States American coal miners Jews from the Russian Empire Ukrainian Jews Old Bolsheviks Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Communist Party of Ukraine (Soviet Union) politicians Members of the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee Jewish Ukrainian politicians Jewish socialists Jewish Ukrainian poets Ukrainian translators Ukrainian diplomats People of the Russian Civil War Great Purge victims from Ukraine Jews executed by the Soviet Union Soviet rehabilitations 20th-century translators

Biography

Further reading

External links