Afzal Tagirov

Born Oct. 25 (Nov. 6), 1890, in the village of Abdrakhmanovo, in what is now the Tatar ASSR. Died 1938. Soviet Bashkir writer and government and public figure. Member of the CPSU from 1913.

Tagirov fought in World War I (1914–18) and in the Civil War (1918–20). In 1927 he completed a course of study at the Communist Academy in Moscow. He was chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Bashkir ASSR from 1931 to 1937 and a member of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR from 1932 to 1937.

Tagirov began publishing in 1907. His novella The Tramps (1915–16), influenced by M. Gorky, was devoted to the life of seasonal workers. The dramas Alatau (1921–22, staged 1932–36) and In a Transitional Period (1923) and the novellas The First Days (1927; published 1929) and Channels of a Mighty River (1928) reflected revolutionary events in the Volga Region and Middle Asia. Tagirov’s novellas The Grain Factory (1929; Russian translation, 1930) and The Komsomol (1928, published 1929; Russian translation, 1931) dealt with collectivization; the novella The Blood of Machines (1932–33, Russian translation, 1935) was about the discovery of Bashkir petroleum.

Tagirov helped establish the genre of the novel in Bashkir literature. His trilogy consisting of Soldiers (parts 1–2, 1932–33; Russian translation, 1933), Red Guards (1934–35; Russian translation, 1935), and Red Army Men (1937; Russian translation, 1961) depicted the revolutionary upsurge among the people and the struggle to consolidate Soviet power. Tagirov’s works have been translated into many national languages of the USSR.