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Mikhail Shatrov was a Soviet writer known for several plays and films about the Soviet dictator Vladimir Lenin.
He was born Mikhail Filippovich Marshak, on April 3, 1932, in Moscow, Russia. His father, Filipp Marshak, an engineer, was executed in 1937 for close family relations to prominent anti-Stalinist politician A. Rykov. His mother, Cecilia Marshak, a school teacher, was arrested and exiled in 1949. Young Mikhail Shatrov survived by tutoring his classmates in exchange for bread. Mikhail Shatrov made his writing debut in 1952. Later, Shatrov established himself as a playwright with a series of plays about the Soviet dictator Vladimir Lenin. Shatrov's six plays are focused on Lenin's role in organizing the Communist Party network, then making the Russian Revolution and formation of the Soviet Union. Shatrov's plays about Lenin became the most frequently staged plays during the reign of another Soviet dictator, Leonid Brezhnev.
Mikail Shatrov's plays gained official support in the Soviet Union, where glorification of Lenin and other Soviet leaders were central part of the official Soviet propaganda. Fully subsidized by the Communist state, hundreds of theatre companies across the former Soviet Union produced all six Shatrov's plays on the government budget. During the 60s, 70s, and 80s, Shatrov's plays about Lenin and the Communist party were a staple in repertoire of every theatre, albeit the success came not without a tight control by the Soviet government. Shatrov's depiction of Lenin and Communist party revealed the author's liberal and anti-Stalinist political position that was in line with de-stalinization and cultural liberalization known as the Thaw, initiated by Nikita Khrushchev. But in 1964 Khrushchev was dismissed by the hard-line Stalinist Leonid Brezhnev. At that time the Soviet Union was still healing the wounds of WWII and was also heavily involved in the Cold War. Brezhnev ended the Khrushchev's Thaw and stopped liberalization, so popular expectations for reforms were doomed, causing many liberals and dissidents to speak out in open protests. During the 60s, Shatrov was among those who supported the dissident writers Andrey Sinyavskiy and Yuri Daniel. At the same time, Shatrov's closest friend, director Mikhail Romm, helped him to promote his plays among the Soviet brass. In 1964, Shatrov's play 'Shestoe Iyulya' (The 6th of July) premiered in many theatres of the Soviet Union. It was also adapted into the eponymous film starring Vasiliy Lanovoy as Dzerzhinsky, the founder of KGB. The play was made a staple in the repertoire of hundreds of drama companies across the Soviet Union.
Shatrov's other plays about Lenin and Communist revolution are: "Sinie Koni na Krasnoi Trave' (Blue Horses on the Red Grass, 1979), 'Bolsheviki' (1983), 'Tak pobedim' (So we win, 1982), 'Diktatura sovesti' (Dictatorship of consciousness, 1986), 'Dalshe...dalshe...dalshe!' (aka... Further...further...further! 1988). Leonid Brezhnev and other bosses of the Soviet Communist Party attended Shatrov's plays at Moscow Art Theatre during the 70s and 80s. Although, such political support from the top Soviet communists was not always comfortable for Shatrov, he still joined the official Soviet establishment. In 1982, aging Leonid Brezhnev attended one of Shatrov's plays about Vladimir Lenin and reacted with applause when actor Aleksandr Kalyagin appeared as Lenin. "Look! There is Lenin!" said Brezhnev and instructed other communists in the audience "We shall applaud now." Soon, Shatrov was awarded the State Prize of the USSR (1983) for his cycle of plays glorifying the Soviet dictator Vladimir Lenin and the Communist revolution.
As a member of the Writers Union of Russia, Shatrov taught writing at Higher Courses for film writers, where Yuri Shchekochikhin, Nikolai Andreev, and Aleksandr Buravskiy were among his apprentices. In 1993, Shatrov taught seminars on Russian literature at Harvard University. He was Chairman of the "Krasnye kholmy" International Cultural center in Moscow. He was also Chair at the Academy of Writing, Direction and Television of the Russian Ministry of Culture. Mikhail Shatrov died of natural causes on May 23, 2010, in his home in Moscow, and was laid to rest in Troekurovskoe cemetery, in Moscow, Russia.
