Vladimir Mayakovsky, one of the brightest stars of Russian Futurism, wholeheartedly supported the ideas of the October Revolution and composed poetry that glorified it. However, he believed that the Futurist movement was his alma mater. Mayakovsky’s death in 1930 relieved him from witnessing the consequences of Stalin’s forceful proclamation of Socialist Realism as the only acceptable style in art and literature. The obliteration of various avant-garde movements, including Futurism, demonstrated how impossible it was for artists and writers to work in such a stringent political milieu. Mikhail Bulgakov, Mayakovsky’s contemporary, was one of the writers who continued to produce literature that did not obey the Soviet canon under Stalin. Mayakovsky as a Futurist and Bulgakov as a representative of the intelligentsia are polar opposites in terms of their backgrounds, political views, literary styles, and status as writers during their lifetime. Bulgakov in Master and Margarita and Mayakovsky in The Bedbug inject criticism of each other into their works through thinly veiled but oftentimes openly aggressive and mutually offensive attacks. While it is important to consider the apparent tension and literary rivalry between Bulgakov and Mayakovsky that landed them in each others’ works, it is also paramount to investigate these authors’ corresponding effort to expose and uproot bureaucracy that plagued Soviet society by examining their similar approaches to the themes of death, resurrection, and immortality.
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