Volodymyr Hadzinsky — author of poetry, prose, criticism, journalism, and scholarly works.

Early years and education

Volodymyr Antonovych Hadzinsky was born on August 21, 1888, in Krakow (then part of Austria-Hungary) into a Jewish family. In childhood, around the age of five, he moved with his family to Stanislaviv (now Ivano-Frankivsk). There he completed a Polish secondary school (1906) and then studied at the Lviv Higher Polytechnic School (1907–1909). From 1909 to 1910, he served in the military, after which he enrolled in the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at the University of Vienna, graduating in 1913.
War, Revolution, and Political Activity

With the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Hadzinsky voluntarily joined the Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen. From 1915 to 1916, he fought in the Ternopil region, where he was captured by Russian forces.

After the revolutionary events of 1917, he joined the Galician Army but later switched to the Red Army. In 1918, he became a member of the Communist Party of (Bolshevik) Ukraine and actively participated in both party and public life.

In 1920, he worked in Tarnopol at “Vsehalvidav,” after which he moved to the Dnieper region of Ukraine.

Literary activity

In the early 1920s, Hadzinsky became actively involved in the literary scene. In 1921, in Moscow, he became one of the founders of the literary group “Village and City” and also joined the organizations “Hart” and VUSPP. He worked as editor of the journal Proletarian Education (1920), organized publishing activities, and was the initiator of the Ukrainian journal Neo-LEF in Moscow. During this period, his poetry collection From the Road (1922) was published.

In 1923, he spoke out against formalist methods in literary studies. As a publicist, he actively participated in the literary debates of 1925–1928, publishing numerous articles in journals.

Odessa: Scientific poetry

From 1925, Hadzinsky’s life and work were closely connected with Odessa. He taught at higher educational institutions, edited the journal Blysky (1928–1929), and headed the Odessa branch of the State Publishing House of Ukraine.

Hadzinsky was one of the most prominent members of the literary group “Hart” and is considered one of the founders of so-called “scientific poetry” in Ukrainian literature. In his works, he experimented with language, combining poetic imagery with technical and industrial vocabulary (for example, images like “Pegasus on a tractor” and “rebellious cast iron”).

Among his most famous works are:
Poems: USSR (1925), Einstein (1925), Earth (1925), The Call of the Red Renaissance (1926), Reason (1929)
Poetry Collections: From the Road (1922), Non-Abstractions (1927)
Prose and Criticism: the science-fiction novella The End (1927), Fragments of the Elements (1927) — a collection of articles and reviews, the journalistic book On the Bloodless Front

In manuscripts, there remain a trilogy-novel The Liberation of Ukraine and Notes on the History of Ukrainian Literature, which later disappeared.

He also worked under pseudonyms including Yosyp Hrih, Oskar Reding, Trylskyi, and Stefan Trypilskyi.

Final years

Volodymyr Hadzinsky died on August 11, 1932, in Odessa. The circumstances of his death remain unclear: according to some sources, he died of heart disease or tuberculosis; according to others, he may have committed suicide, disillusioned with communist ideals or under threat of arrest.