Vladimir Mikhailovich Kirshon () ( – July 28, 1938) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

playwright, poet, publicist and screenwriter.

Biography

Born in

Nalchik Nalchik (, ; ; ) is the capital city of Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia, situated at an altitude of in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains; about northwest of Beslan (Beslan is in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania). It covers an area of ...

in the Caucasus into the family of a lawyer, Kirshon served in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

during the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

and in 1920 joined the Communist Party, which sent him to the

Sverdlov Communist University The Sverdlov Communist University (Russian language, Russian: Коммунистический университет имени Я. М. Свердлова) was a school for Soviet activists in Moscow, founded in 1918 as the Central School for Sovi ...

. As a young idealist, he was upset by the

New Economic Policy The New Economic Policy (NEP) () was an economic policy of the Soviet Union proposed by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 as a temporary expedient. Lenin characterized the NEP in 1922 as an economic system that would include "a free market and capitalism, ...

, and this is reflected in his early plays. He was an organizer of the Association of Proletarian Writers in

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

and in the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...

, and from 1925 was one of the secretaries of the

Russian Association of Proletarian Writers The Russian Association of Proletarian Writers, also known under its transliterated abbreviation RAPP () was an official creative union in the Soviet Union established in January 1925. and both pro and anti-Bolshevik writers were targeted, notab ...

(RAPP) in Moscow. He was among the most radical literary functionaries of the day, and was one of the most relentless persecutors of

Mikhail Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( ; rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐfɐˈnasʲjɪvʲɪdʑ bʊlˈɡakəf; – 10 March 1940) was a Russian and Soviet novelist and playwright. His novel ''The M ...

. His ideological fervor recommended him to

Joseph 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 ...

, to whom he sent his work for approval. "When he was in favour, he could do no wrong: 'Publish immediately,' Stalin scrawled on Kirshon's latest article when returning it to ''Pravdas editor." His early plays ''Konstantin Terekhin'' (1926) and ''Rel'sy gudyat'' (Rails are Humming, 1927) "caused a sensation," but ''Khleb'' (Bread, 1931) "had but an ephemeral success." His later ''Chudesny splav'' (Miraculous Alloy, 1934) was still popular in the 1960s. At the beginning of 1937, however, Kirshon fell out of favour due to his close association with

Leopold Averbakh Leopold Leonidovich Averbakh (Russian: Леопо́льд Леони́дович Аверба́х; 8 March 1903 – 14 August 1937) was a Soviet literary critic, who was the head of the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers (RAPP) in the 1 ...

, former head of RAPP and brother-in-law of

Genrikh Yagoda Genrikh Grigoryevich Yagoda (, born Yenokh Gershevich Iyeguda; 7 November 1891 – 15 March 1938) was a Soviet secret police official who served as director of the NKVD, the Soviet Union's security and intelligence agency, from 1934 to 1936. A ...

. At a public meeting he was relentlessly attacked by

Vsevolod Vishnevsky Vsevolod Vitalyevich Vishnevsky (, – 28 February 1951) was a Soviet and Russian writer, screenwriter, playwright and journalist. Early life He was born in 1900 in Saint Petersburg and educated at a Petersburg gymnasium. During World War I ...

for associating with an "enemy of the people" and criticizing decisions of the

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

; he attempted to defend himself, but was expelled from the Party and the Writers' Union and soon disappeared from Moscow. In August 1937 he was arrested along with other former RAPP leaders as

Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

sympathizers, and the next year he was executed at

Butyrka prison Butyrskaya prison (), usually known simply as Butyrka ( rus, Бутырка, p=bʊˈtɨrkə), is a prison in the Tverskoy District of central Moscow, Russia. In Imperial Russia it served as the central transit prison. During the Soviet Uni ...

in Moscow. He was posthumously rehabilitated in 1955 and his plays were performed again.Vladimir Kirshon
at Find a Grave.

References

1902 births 1938 deaths People from Nalchik Russian dramatists and playwrights Russian male dramatists and playwrights Soviet dramatists and playwrights Soviet male writers Great Purge victims from Russia Soviet rehabilitations {{Russia-writer-stub