[A SOVIET AGITATIONAL PLAY] ROST [i.e. GROWTH]

Moscow: Tea-kino-pechat', 1927. 112 pp.: ill. 18x13,5 cm. In original publisher's illustrated avant-garde cardboards by Roman Usov. Spine repaired, light soiling of the back cover, Soviet public club's stamps and marks on the title page, p. 17, and p. 112. Otherwise very good.

Scarce. First edition. 1 of 2,000 copies.
Constructivist wrapper design by the Soviet artist Roman Dmitrievich Usov (1889-?). The edition includes 1 black and white photograph of the 9th scene from the production of the play at the Theater of Revolution in 1927.
An agitational play in 5 acts written by the Soviet writer and playwright Anatoly Glebov (1899-1964). The play tells a story of the confrontation between Communists and non-party workers, which results in a strike at a Soviet factory. The play premiered on the stage of the Theater of Revolution on January 27, 1927. The performance was directed by the Soviet director Vladimir Lyutse (1903-?) and designed by the Soviet stage designer and noted avant-garde artist Grigory Miller (1898-1963). The play was a resounding success, going down in history as the first production dedicated to the issues of Soviet industry.
A member of the Union of Soviet Writers, Anatoly Glebov studied at the Japanese department of the Faculty of Oriental Languages at Saint Petersburg University. At different times, Glebov worked as editor of the newspaper Svobodnaya shkola [i.e. A Free School] and the organizer of an agricultural movement in Krestyanskaya gazeta [i.e. A Peasant's Newspaper]. He wrote his first play titled Nashi dni [i.e. Our Days] in 1919. Glebov penned over 20 plays, mostly dedicated to the topics of class struggle and socialist construction. Some of his plays were translated into the languages of national minorities and staged in national theaters.

Worldcat shows 2 copies of the edition at Harvard and Columbia Universities.