Russian Playwright Mikhail Shatrov Dies at 78

Russian playwright Mikhail Shatrov, whose plays focused on historical subjects such as Stalin and Lenin, died on Sunday at his house in Moscow at the age of 78. According to the RIA Novosti news agency, he died of a heart attack.

According to the NY Times, Shatrov called his plays "dramas of fact" and wrote about the turbulent years of the revolution and the beginning of the Soviet state. With Gorbachev rising to power in 1985, Shatrov enjoyed greater freedom in his work.

Born Mikhail Filippovich Marshak in Moscow on April 3 1932, he changed his last name to Shatroff to separate himself from the children's author Samuil Y. Marshak.

His plays included "Onward...Onward...Onward!," "Dictatorship of Conscience," "The Peace of Brest-Litovsk," "Blue Horses on Red Grass," and "The Bolsheviks." Shatrov's plays argued that the Soviet systems problems were a result of Stalin, and that the solution would be going back to the teachings of Lenin.

Shatrov was a member of the Writers' Union and in 1983 received the State Prize of the USSR for his play, "Thus We Will Win."

According to Russian press reports, Shatrov is survived by his wife, Yulia, and two children.