Alexander Petrovich Stein (; born Rubinstein/Rubinshtein/Рубинште́йн, 28 September 1906 – 5 October 1993) was a Soviet

Russian writer Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia, its émigrés, and to Russian-language literature. Major contributors to Russian literature, as well as English for instance, are authors of different ethnic origins, including bilingual ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

scriptwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and

memoirist A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) ...

. Alexander Stein was a recipient of several high-profile state awards, including the

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War () is a Soviet Union, Soviet military Order (decoration), decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to Partisan (military), partisans for heroic deeds in the Easte ...

, the

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...

and the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

(twice), as well as two Stalin Prizes (1949, 1951).

Biography

Alexander Petrovich Rubinstein was born in

Samarkand Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(now

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

) to a middle-class

Jewish family Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. In the early 1920s, as a member of the Samarkand Special Purpose Forces battalion, he took part in fighting the

White Army The White Army, also known as the White Guard, the White Guardsmen, or simply the Whites, was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and Anti-Sovietism, anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. T ...

, for the establishment of the Soviet power in the Central Asia. In

Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...

, he started contributing to a local military paper, then wrote for the newspapers ''Pravda Vostoka'' (1920–1923) and (after a one-year stint at

Petrograd University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...

) ''Leningradskaya Pravda'' (1924–1929). In 1930–1939 Stein (now a

Soviet Communist Party The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

member) edited ''Rabochy i Teatr'' (Worker and Theatre) magazine.

Literary career

In 1929 Alexander Stein published his debut play ''Oil'', co-authored by the Tur brothers. It was followed by ''Utopia'' (1930) and ''The Talent'' (1936). In 1934 he became the member of the

Soviet Union of Writers The Union of Soviet Writers, USSR Union of Writers, or Soviet Union of Writers () was a creative union of professional writers in the Soviet Union. It was founded in 1934 on the initiative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (1932) a ...

. In 1941–1946 Stein worked first as a senior politruk on board the

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

'' Oktyabrskaya Revolyutsya'', then as a battalion

commissar Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English transliteration of the Russian (''komissar''), which means ' commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the political commissars of Soviet and ...

and the editor the Soviet Navy newspaper ''Oktyabrsky Luch'' (October Beam). All through the

Siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad was a Siege, military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the city of Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II from 1941 t ...

he stayed in the starving city, as a special correspondent for the ''Krasny Flot'' newspaper. After the War Stein continued writing, his plays ''Admiral's Flag'' (1950, Stalin Prize in 1951), ''The Ocean'' (1961), ''Applause'' (1967) and autobiographical ''Once There Was Me'' (1977) rated among his best. Some of his works caused controversy. He wrote ''Admiral Ushakov'' and ''

Attack from the Sea ''Attack from the Sea'' () is a 1953 Soviet biographical war film directed by Mikhail Romm and starring Ivan Pereverzev, Gennadi Yudin and Vladimir Druzhnikov.Rollberg p.249 The film is about the career of the Russian naval officer Fyodor Ush ...

'' (1953 films). ''Prologue'' originally featured a scene involving

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

in his youth, which was withdrawn by the author in 1955, after the Soviet leader's death. ''Law of Honour'' (1948, the Stalin Prize) supported the so-called anti-cosmopolitism campaign. ''Between the Showers'' (1964) was criticized in ''

Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most in ...

'' for portraying

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

as a schematic, lifeless figure. In 1957 Stein started editing the ''Teatr'' magazine. In his later years he published several acclaimed books of memoirs, including ''How Plots Come into Life'' (1964), ''The Second Entracte'' (1975), ''Skies in Diamonds'' (1976) and ''Alone With the Audience'' (1982). Alexander Stein died on 5 October 1993. He was buried at the

Vagankovskoye Cemetery Vagankovo Cemetery () is located in the Presnensky District of Moscow, Russia. It was established in 1771, in an effort to curb an outbreak of bubonic plague in Central Russia. The cemetery was one of those created outside the city proper so as ...

in Moscow.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stein, Alexander Soviet writers 1906 births 1993 deaths Recipients of the Stalin Prize Russian dramatists and playwrights Russian male dramatists and playwrights