In December 1924, Gaidar left the army due to illness and began writing. Most of all, he wanted to tell people about what he saw and experienced. As a result, his first story was born - “In the days of defeats and victories.” But this was not a story by Gaidar, but by Golikov. But the signature “Ark. Gaidar” appeared and became famous on the pages of the Perm newspaper “Zvezda”. This name stuck so well that it became his surname.