Alexei Nikolayevich Count Tolstoy (1883-1945) was a popular Russian writer. In the 1930s and 1940s, he unhesitatingly glorified Stalin in works such as the novel Bread (1937) and provided the Soviet government with the propaganda literature it desired. This led to his being elected chairman of the Soviet Writers' Union in 1936. His most famous creation is Burattino, a fairy-tale character modeled on Pinocchio that is still loved by millions of Russian children today.