started burning Kaplan's disfigured corpse. Bedny amassed one of the largest private libraries in the Soviet Union (over 30.000 volumes), from which Stalin was known to borrow books on occasion. According to Nikita Khrushchev's memoirs, Bedny was his favourite poet. Sources External links and references Demyan Bedny. Poems Several biographical sketches (in Russian) Biography (in Russian) 1883 births 1945 deaths People from Kirovohrad Oblast People from Aleksandriysky Uyezd Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Old Bolsheviks Expelled members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Book and manuscript collectors Ukrainian poets Soviet poets Ukrainian male poets Soviet male writers 20th-century male writers Soviet propagandists Ukrainian atheists Russian military personnel of World War I Saint Petersburg State University alumni Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery 20th-century pseudonymous writers