Pyotr Andreyevich Pavlenko , (born July 11, 1899, in St. Petersburg; died June 16, 1951, in Moscow), was a Soviet writer, screenwriter and war correspondent. He became a member of the CPSU

Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...

 in 1920.

Early life

Pavlenko was born in St Petersburg where his father was an office worker. Pavlenko studied at the Baku Polytechnic

Baku Polytechnicum

Baku Polytechnicum is a defunct technical school that was established in 1887 in Baku, when it was under Russian rule. By 1910 it had integrated a curriculum related to the growing petroleum industry. However, the ratio of Azeris to non-Azeris was so skewed that of the 494 students studying at...

 in 1919/20. In 1920 he began political work in the Red Army

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

 and continued this work later in Transcaucasia.

Career

He was part of the Soviet trade delegation in Turkey from 1924 to 1927. Pavlenko began publishing his works in 1928. His first short stories and essays, among them the collections Asian Stories (1929) and Istanbul and Turkey (1930), dealt with the non-Soviet East.

Pavlenko's travels in the Soviet East in the early 1930s furnished him with material for reevaluating and overcoming the heritage of oriental romanticism, a literary manner characteristic of the Pereval (The Pass) group of writers, with which he was associated. His new approach was reflected in the novella The Desert (1931) and the book of essays Journey to Turkmenistan (1932). In the novel The Barricades (1932), which dealt with the Paris Commune

Paris Commune

The Paris Commune was a government that briefly ruled Paris from March 18 to May 28, 1871. It existed before the split between anarchists and Marxists had taken place, and it is hailed by both groups as the first assumption of power by the working class during the Industrial Revolution...

 of 1871, he attained the realistic technique he'd been working toward. Defense of the homeland is the central theme of the novel In the East (books 1–2, 1936–37; film title In the Far East, 1937, in collaboration with S. Radzinsky) and of the film script for Alexander Nevsky

Alexander Nevsky (film)

Alexander Nevsky is a 1938 historical drama film directed by Sergei Eisenstein, in association with Dmitri Vasilyev and a script co-written with Pyotr Pavlenko, who were assigned to ensure Eisenstein did not stray into "formalism" and to facilitate shooting on a reasonable timetable...

(1938, in collaboration with Sergei Eisenstein

Sergei Eisenstein

Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...

; State Prize of the USSR, 1941). Pavlenko also wrote the film script for Yakov Sverdlov

Yakov Sverdlov

Yakov Mikhaylovich Sverdlov ; known under pseudonyms "Andrei", "Mikhalych", "Max", "Smirnov", "Permyakov" — 16 March 1919) was a Bolshevik party leader and an official of the Russian Soviet Republic.-Early life:...

(1940; in collaboration with B. M. Levin).

Pavlenko was a war correspondent during the Soviet-Finnish War

Winter War

The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...

 of 1939–40 and World War 2. The novel Happiness (1947; State Prize of the USSR) was inspired by his experience during the restoration of the Crimea’s economy. The hero, the Communist Voropaev, is depicted comprehensively and in depth. In collaboration with Mikheil Chiaureli

Mikheil Chiaureli

Mikheil Chiaureli was a Soviet Georgian film director and screenwriter. He directed 25 films between 1928 and 1974. Mikheil Chiaureli was awarded the Stalin Prize six times, twice in 1941, 1943, 1946, 1947, and 1950.-Selected filmography:as actor...

, Pavlenko wrote the scripts for the films The Vow

The Vow (1946 film)

The Vow is a 1946 Soviet film directed by Mikhail Chiaureli. It is considered a representation of Joseph Stalin's cult of personality.-Plot:...

(1946; State Prize of the USSR, 1947) and The Fall of Berlin

The Fall of Berlin (film)

The Fall of Berlin is a 1950 two-part Soviet film directed by Mikhail Chiaureli. The plot revolves around the history of the Great Patriotic War, focusing on the role that Joseph Stalin played in the events...

(1949; State Prize of the USSR, 1950), both of which were oversimplified and glossed over reality. He also wrote three books of essays, American Impressions (1949), Young Germany and Italian Impressions (both 1951). The novella Steppe Sunlight (1949) is clear and graphic in its language and well-defined in its aim. Pavlenko’s novel Toilers of the World (partly published in 1952) was unfinished.

Later life

Pavlenko was a deputy to the third convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He was awarded the Order of Lenin, two other orders, and several medals. He died in 1951 in Moscow and was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery

Novodevichy Cemetery

Novodevichy Cemetery is the most famous cemetery in Moscow, Russia. It is next to the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist site. It should not be confused with the Novodevichy Cemetery in Saint Petersburg....

.

Awards

• USSR State Prize
  USSR State Prize
  The USSR State Prize was the Soviet Union's state honour. It was established on September 9, 1966. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the prize was followed up by the State Prize of the Russian Federation....
  
   (4)
• Order of Lenin
  Order of Lenin
  The Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...
  
  
• Order of the Red Banner of Labor
• Order of the Red Star
  Order of the Red Star
  Established on 6 April 1930, the Order of the Red Star was an order of the Soviet Union, given to Red Army and Soviet Navy personnel for "exceptional service in the cause of the defense of the Soviet Union in both war and peace". It was established by Resolution of the Presidium of the CEC of the...
  
  
• Medal for the Defense of Moscow
• Medal for the Defense of Stalingrad
• Medal for the Defense of the Caucasus
• Medal for the Capture of Budapest
• Medal for the Capture of Vienna

English translations

• Red Planes Fly East, Routledge & Sons, 1938.
• Happiness, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1950.
• Steppe Sunlight, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1953.
• The Voice on the Way: Novelettes, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1954.
• The Lost Son, from Such a Simple Thing and Other Soviet Stories, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow. from Archive.org