Mammad Said Ordubadi (24 March 1872-1 May 1950) was Azerbaijani writer, poet, playwright and journalist. He was well-known for his enlightenment activity in Russian Azerbaijan and the rest of Caucasus in the beginning of the 20th century. He first started writing in the 1890s and had his first work published in 1903, in "Shargi-Rus" (Oriental Russia) a newspaper in Tbilisi, Georgia. In his early publications Ordubadi criticised ignorance, backwardness and religious fanaticism. In 1906 he published his poetry book (Ignorance) and in 1907 (Fatherland and Freedom). He wrote for several Azerbaijani publications, including "Molla Nasraddin", "Irshad", "Sada" and others. Ordubadi covered various political, social and educational issues. He firmly stood for the necessity of the enlightenment of the Azerbaijani society under the Russian rule. In 1911, Ordubadi published a book (Bloody years) - a collection of first-hand accounts of the Armenian-Tatar massacres in 1905-1906, which has now for the first time been translated into English. In 1915, Russian authorities arrested him and exiled to Tsaritsyn. In 1918, he joined the Communist Party and returned to Baku in May 1920, after the Bolshevik conquest of Azerbaijan.
