Editing Jaroslav Hašek (section)

== Contradictions and points of interest ==
In the Czech and Slovak public imagination Jaroslav Hašek is fixed as a bohemian, perhaps even the prototypical bohemian of the early twentieth century. In fact, this is largely a legend and represents Hašek's self-stylization. An internally disciplined author, Hašek was very productive. From his works it is also apparent that he had an extensive (perhaps a little unsystematic) humanistic education.

It is most instructive to consider Hašek's work in Russia during 1916 to 1920. He has never been and still is not perceived as a mere bohemian or humorist writer in Russia, but, on the contrary, as a very responsible Bolshevik army official and a respected intellectual.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.russofile.ru/articles/article_131.php |title=Заславский Д. Ярослав Гашек - Русофил - Русская филология {{!}} Образовательный ресурс<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=1 December 2019 |archive-date=24 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224064802/http://www.russofile.ru/articles/article_131.php |url-status=live }}</ref> He was also a relatively skilled soldier. In 1918 he distinguished himself as a courageous commander of the Czechoslovak Red Army troops in the defense of Samara.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Archivovaná kopie |url=http://www.edc.samara.ru/~volga/ch7/gashek/index.htm |access-date=27 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202082455/http://www.edc.samara.ru/~volga/ch7/gashek/index.htm |archive-date=2 December 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Samara was at that time threatened from the direction of Lipyagi station by the Czechoslovak legions, which were fighting alongside the White troops to restore the imperial regime, although the legionnaires tried to maintain essential neutrality and fight against the Bolsheviks only when inevitable. On 8 June 1918, Samara was conquered by the legions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Archivovaná kopie |url=http://www.pamatnik.valka.cz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=41%3Adobyti-samary-1918&catid=11&Itemid=11&lang=en |access-date=26 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111092438/http://www.pamatnik.valka.cz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=41%3Adobyti-samary-1918&catid=11&Itemid=11&lang=en |archive-date=11 November 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It is possible that at this time, Jaroslav Hašek met with Czech "brothers" and may have encouraged them to leave the White-Russian party. After the fall of Samara, he was in hiding in a territory controlled by White troops (and Czechoslovak legions) for several months.<ref name="interesniy">{{Cite web |title= Дуализм Ярослава Гашека: пером и штыком (The dualism of Yaroslav Hasek: pen and bayonet)|url=http://www.interesniy.kiev.ua/old/7137/7140/21197 |access-date=27 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091219035604/http://www.interesniy.kiev.ua/old/7137/7140/21197 |archive-date=19 December 2009 |url-status=dead |language = ru }}</ref>

It is possible that in specific revolutionary Russian conditions, Hašek was given the opportunity to assert those aspects of his character that could not manifest themselves in stabilized and essentially small-town Czech conditions. It was also important that Hašek was banned by his Party organization from drinking alcohol.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://it.pedf.cuni.cz/~suchanko/mff/kolman.pdf |title=Kdo nám taky přednášel marxák aneb stručný výtah z pamětí Arnošta Kolmana |access-date=1 December 2019 |archive-date=5 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305183007/http://it.pedf.cuni.cz/~suchanko/mff/kolman.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> He was basically sent to Czechoslovakia with the aim of organizing the communist movement, which also supports the thesis that he had to be perceived as a responsible person and a capable organizer in Soviet Russia.

A subject of debate and speculation is how Hašek behaved in the Red Army, especially at a time when he was a Commissioner – and deputy commander – of Bugulma.

Hašek had close contact with a number of revolutionaries including [[Lev Trotsky]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pytlík |first=Radko |chapter-url=http://radkopytlik.sweb.cz/hasek_ke_x.html |chapter=Rudá Evropa |language=cs |title=Toulavé house |author-link=Radko Pytlík |access-date=1 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191128080803/http://radkopytlik.sweb.cz/hasek_ke_x.html |archive-date=28 November 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> Hašek's closest collaborators in Russia – Nikolai Ivanovich Kochkurov ("[[Artyom Vesyoly|Artem Vesely]]") or Vladimir Yakovlevich Zazubrin – later became victims of [[Great Purge|Stalin's repression]].<ref name=desetiletí>{{cite book
| first1 = Oleg
| last1 = Malevič
| title = V perspektivě desetiletí
| date = December 2015
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=T4DXCwAAQBAJ&q=Ha%C5%A1ek+v+Bugulm%C4%9B&pg=PA131
| publisher = Charles University in Prague, Karolinum Press
| isbn = 9788024628448
| language = cs
| type = monograph
| access-date = 2 October 2020
| archive-date = 14 September 2021
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210914060735/https://books.google.com/books?id=T4DXCwAAQBAJ&q=Ha%C5%A1ek+v+Bugulm%C4%9B&pg=PA131
| url-status = live
}}</ref>

There is also speculation about Hašek's mysterious mission to Mongolia, which he probably undertook in Soviet service. The writer Pavel Gan claims that he was there in conjunction with the Chinese revolutionary Chen Chang-Hai, alias Vanya Chang, and was going to go with him to China, for which reason he probably learned solid Chinese.<ref name=desetiletí/>

A not-well-known aspect of Hašek's biography is that after returning to his homeland he found himself somewhat isolated. He was uncomfortable from left to right. After he left communist politics, for example, [[Stanislav Kostka Neumann]] described him as a "traitor to the proletarian revolution". For the poet [[:cs:Karel Toman|Karel Toman]] he was branded a "traitor of the nation" by his red arm band and refused to shake his hand when he met him in a café after the war.<ref name="Suchomel"/> There were more such hostile reactions. Hašek's departure to Lipnice, where he wrote ''Švejk'', was motivated by the hostile atmosphere he met in Prague.<ref>{{Cite journal
| title = Jaroslav Hašek
| journal = Vltava
| url = https://vltava.rozhlas.cz/jaroslav-hasek-5874175
| language = cs
| access-date = 1 August 2017
| archive-date = 1 August 2017
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170801201405/https://vltava.rozhlas.cz/jaroslav-hasek-5874175
| url-status = live
}}</ref>