Poet and playwright, born in Bagdadi, WC Georgia. He began writing at an early age, and was regarded as the leader of the Futurist school. During the Russian Revolution (1917) he emerged as the propaganda mouthpiece of the Bolsheviks. His plays include Misteriya-Buff (1918, Mystery-Bouffe), and the satirical Klop (1929, The Bedbug) and Banya (1930, The Bath-House). Towards the end of his life he was severely castigated by more orthodox Soviet writers and critics for his outspoken criticism of bureaucracy and his unconventional opinions on art, and this appears to have contributed towards his suicide.