Bulat Zakirovich Ishemgulov

Born Feb. 16 (29), 1900, in the village of Chebenli, present-day Zianchurinskii Raion, Bashkir ASSR; died in 1938. Soviet Bashkir writer. Member of the CPSU from 1920.

Ishemgulov began to publish in 1917. He wrote poems, stories, and sketches about the struggle of young people for a new life (the collection Komsomol Songs, 1925), satirical dramatizations, feuilletons, and chastushkas (rhymed verse on topical themes), attacking vestiges of the past and condemning the reactionary essence of Islam. Outstanding among his works are the stories “Mullah Sabir’s Letter From the Grave” (1924), “Prayer on Contract” (1926), and “The Atheists’ Decree” (1927) and the collection Godless Laughter (1930). In the 1930’s, Ishemgulov published the poems Tractor Operator Aikhylu (1933), Roads (1933), and Zianchura (1934).