Russian novelist, born in
1901 near Kalinin. He became a
communist in
1918 and fought in
Siberia. Deeply influenced by
Tolstoy, his most acclaimed work is The Young Guard (
1946).
As General Secretary of the Soviet Writers' Union at the height of Stalin's rule he ruthlessly and mercilessly exposed any literary "deviationism" from the party line, but after becoming a target himself he committed suicide in Moscow in 1956.