Zeinalabidin Batyrmurzaev

Born 1897 in the village of Aksai, Dagestan; died Oct. 10, 1919, in Bataiurt. Kumyk writer and revolutionary. Son of the writer N. Batyrmurzaev.

Batyrmurzaev was a teacher. After the establishment of Soviet power in Dagestan, he edited the newspaper Ishchi Khalk (Working People). In 1918 he was one of the organizers of the partisan movement in Khasaviurt Okrug. He was shot by Denikin’s followers.

Three poems by Batyrmurzaev published in Tang Choi-pan (Morning Star), a magazine organized by him (1917–18), have been preserved. In the poem, Batyrmurzaev advocated the struggle for a new life. In the plays Daniialbek, A Mullah Came to the Madrasa, and In Defiance of the Mullahs, written in 1916–17, he criticized the religious leaders and spoke out against the blood feud and social inequality. Batyrmurzaev was also a well-known publicist.