Who is Vanya the bum from The Endless Steppe; Growing Up in Siberia and what is their importance?

Vanya the bum, whose real name is Ivan Petrovich, is assigned to live with the Rudomins. He is from the Ukraine, where he worked as a shoemaker. Well read, Vanya talked too much or too carelessly or been misunderstood and as a result was sent to this prison in Siberia. He disappears one day and never returns to the Rudomins.