Alexander Yakovlevich Shumsky or Oleksandr Yakovych Shumskyi (, ; 2 December 1890 – 18 September 1946) was a Ukrainian communist and activist. He was one of the leaders of the

national communism National communism is a term describing various forms in which Marxism–Leninism and socialism has been adopted and/or implemented by leaders in different countries using aspects of nationalism or national identity to form a policy independent ...

movement in Ukraine and actively supported

Ukrainization Ukrainization or Ukrainisation ( ) is a policy or practice of increasing the usage and facilitating the development of the Ukrainian language and promoting other elements of Ukrainian culture in various spheres of public life such as education, ...

. He was one of the victims of the

Stalinist Stalinism (, ) is the totalitarian means of governing and Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1927 to 1953 by dictator Joseph Stalin and in Soviet satellite states between 1944 and 1953. Stalinism in ...

regime, being arrested and killed by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

in 1946. He was rehabilitated in 1958, during the period of

De-Stalinization De-Stalinization () comprised a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, and Khrushchev Thaw, the thaw brought about by ascension of Nik ...

Biography

Early life and 1905 Revolution

Shumsky was born in the village of Turchynka,

Volhynian Governorate Volhynia Governorate, also known as Volyn Governorate, was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Southwestern Krai of the Russian Empire. It consisted of an area of and a population of 2,989,482 inhabitants. The governorate ...

(today

Zhytomyr Oblast Zhytomyr Oblast (), also referred to as Zhytomyrshchyna (), is an Administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in northwestern Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Zhytomyr. Its population is approximately H ...

) in a family of

forester A forester is a person who practises forest management and forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Fores ...

s.Papakin, H.
Alexander Shumsky (ШУМСЬКИЙ ОЛЕКСАНДР ЯКОВИЧ)
'. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine. The State Archives of Zhytomyr Oblast identify his parents as Yakiv Danylovych and Yeva. Shumsky himself wrote that he was born in a family of "batrak" (poor farmer-serfs).Yuriy Shapoval.
His mysteries (Його таємниці)
'. Newspaper "Den". 19 November 2010Alexander Shumsky (Александр Яковлевич Шумский)
Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University. Yuriy Shapoval indicates that Shumsky was not fully truthful about his origins, possibly due to the practice of characterising oneself in early Soviet history as coming from the lower class. In reality Shumsky's father Yakiv Danylovych, who worked as a forester for the landowner Mikhail Muravyov, had noble origins. Shumsky's grandfather Danylo Yakovych was a second generation priest, who had been assigned to the village of Turchynka in 1862. He finished school in 1906, either at a village school or a two-year church parish school. After school, he worked at a sawmill and from 1908 as a land surveyor's assistant in the land reclamation commission. In 1908 he joined the workers' movement and the Ukrainian Social Democratic League ("Spilka"). In 1909, he participated in a strike at a local sawmill. In 1911 Shumsky began night school at the

Shanyavsky Moscow City People's University Shanyavsky Moscow City People's University () was a university in Moscow that was founded in 1908 with funds from the gold mining philanthropist Alfons Shanyavsky. The university was nationalized in 1918 after the Russian revolution and merged in ...

, but never finished. During that period he participated in the Ukrainian socialist club in Moscow and later became a member of the Ukrainian Party of Socialist Revolutionaries (UPSR). In 1915 he received the certificate of

matura or its translated terms (''mature'', ''matur'', , , , , ', ) is a Latin name for the secondary school exit exam or "maturity diploma" in various European countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech ...

through expedited testing and enrolled in the Moscow veterinary school, but his studies were interrupted by

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

after he was arrested for spreading "revolutionary literature" and sent to serve military duty at the South Western Front.

Ukrainian revolution and war with Soviet Russia

At the frontlines Shumsky continued his revolutionary activity. After the 1917

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

in Russia, he was elected as a delegate to the soldiers' congress at various levels: corps, army, and front. In April 1917 Shumsky already was in Kyiv, where he became a member of the

Kyiv Governorate Kiev Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire (1796–1917), Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–18; 1918–1921), Ukrainian State (1918), and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1919–1925 ...

Land Committee in anticipation of upcoming land reform. At the Third Congress of the UPSR in November 1917 he was coopted to the Central Committee of UPSR as one of leaders of the party's left wing. He entered the Ukrainian Central Council, the Ukrainian parliament, on the party list of the UPSR. In the parliament he advocated left radical views on social and agrarian matters similar to those of the Bolsheviks. In 1918 Shumsky was elected to the

Ukrainian Constituent Assembly The Ukrainian Constituent Assembly () was a planned All-National Congress which was supposed to confirm the Constitution of the Ukrainian People's Republic and establish a new political system. The Assembly was supposed to be the supreme state p ...

from the

. He also became one of authors of the law relating to land adopted by the Ukrainian Central Council on 18 January 1918. On Shumsky was arrested after he, with a group of left Ukrainian SRs and Social-Democrats, attempted a coup d'état to dissolve the parliament, but was freed as Red Russian detachments of Muravyov's troops descended on, and eventually sacked, Kyiv. At the Fourth Congress of UPSR in May 1918, after his active support, the party's left wing announced liquidation of the party and transferring it underground. Shumsky defended this strategy in order to pursue the struggle against

Hetman ''Hetman'' is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders (comparable to a field marshal or imperial marshal in the Holy Roman Empire). First used by the Czechs in Bohemia in the 15th century, ...

Pavlo Skoropadskyi Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi (; – 26 April 1945) was a Ukrainian aristocrat, military and state leader, who served as the Hetman of all Ukraine, hetman of the Ukrainian State throughout 1918 following a 1918 Ukrainian coup d'état, coup d'éta ...

, and later the

Direktoria The Directorate, or Directory () was a provisional collegiate revolutionary state committee of the Ukrainian People's Republic, initially formed on 13–14 November 1918 during a session of the Ukrainian National Union in rebellion against th ...

, rapprochement with the Bolsheviks, and establishing a Ukrainian state that was Soviet in its form, but nationalist in its composition. During 1918 he headed the

Land Committee, was a member of the UPSR gubernatorial committee, and member of underground revolutionary committee that was preparing an anti-Hetman uprising in Zhytomyr. In the beginning of 1919 after his speech at the Labor Congress of Ukraine, Shumsky was arrested again, sentenced to death, but escaped.

Soviet regime and Russian civil war

From Spring of 1919 to March 1920 Shumsky was a leader of the Ukrainian Communist Party (

Borotbists The Borotbists () were a left-nationalist political party in Ukraine that existed from 1918 to 1920. It is not to be confused with its Russian affiliated counterparts – the Ukrainian Party of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries ( Borbysts) and th ...

). His attempt to create a national communist party that would have been associated with the Russian

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

through the

Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...

and become alternative to the Party-Soviet system that was developing failed because of its rejection by the leadership of the RKP(b) and personally by

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

. Following establishment of the

Soviet regime The political system of the Soviet Union took place in a federal single-party soviet socialist republic framework which was characterized by the superior role of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the only party permitted by the C ...

in Ukraine, Shumsky was added to collegium of People's Commissariat of Education of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic (headed by Hnat Mykhailychenko). Soon in the summer of 1919, after the occupation of Ukraine by the

Armed Forces of South Russia The Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR or SRAF) () were the unified military forces of the White movement in southern Russia between 1919 and 1920. On 8 January 1919, the Armed Forces of South Russia were formed, incorporating the Volunteer Ar ...

, he had taken part in underground struggle against the Russian Whites and was a member of the Galician Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (of Bolsheviks) of Ukraine. Under pressure from the Bolsheviks, the Ukrainian Communist Party (Borotbists) was dissolved and in March 1920 Shumsky was added to the Central Committee of the Communist Party (of Bolsheviks) of Ukraine as well as its Political and Organizational bureaus, where he headed the department concerned with rural affairs. In March 1920 he also was added to the

Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

. In May – June 1920 Shumsky was a governor of the Poltava region, serving as head of Poltava gubernatorial committee and presidium of Poltava gubernatorial executive committee; in July – August 1920 he was a head of the Odessa gubernatorial

revkom A revolutionary committee or revkom ({{langx, ru, Революционный комитет, ревком) were Bolshevik-led organizations in Soviet Russia and other Soviet republics established to serve as provisional governments and temporary S ...

. In September 1920 Shumsky was in political administration and the

Revolutionary Military Council The Revolutionary Military Council (), sometimes called the Revolutionary War Council Brian PearceIntroductionto Fyodor Raskolnikov s "Tales of Sub-lieutenant Ilyin." or ''Revvoyensoviet'' (), was the supreme military authority of Soviet Rus ...

of the 12th Army. After the defeat of

Pyotr Wrangel Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel (, ; ; 25 April 1928), also known by his nickname the Black Baron, was a Russian military officer of Baltic German origin in the Imperial Russian Army. During the final phase of the Russian Civil War, he was c ...

, Shumsky was a head of the Kiev gubernatorial revkom and a member of the Soviet delegation at the Riga talks with Poland. From April 1921 through February 1923 he was plenipotentiary representative of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic to Poland, leaving for Warsaw in October 1921. At that position Shumsky was actively requesting liquidation of Ukrainian emigrant organizations and internment camps for the Ukrainian People's Republic Army detachments. He was let go after separate embassies of Ukraine were replaced with one of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Soon after being appointed to the position of ambassador, in May 1921 Shumsky also participated in

show trials A show trial is a public trial in which the guilt or innocence of the defendant has already been determined. The purpose of holding a show trial is to present both accusation and verdict to the public, serving as an example and a warning to ...

that took place in

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

against the Central Committee of Ukrainian Party of Socialist Revolutionaries where he served as a witness.Movchan, O.
1921 process of the Central Committee of the Ukrainian Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries (ПРОЦЕС ЦК УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ПАРТІЇ СОЦІАЛІСТІВ-РЕВОЛЮЦІОНЕРІВ 1921)
'. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine. Since 1922 Shumsky was a member of the Ukrainian Central Executive Committee.

Commissar of Education and conflict with Kaganovich

Following his return to

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

, then the capital of Ukraine, Shumsky was active in party and trade union work. About that time he also served as a chief editor of a political magazine Chervonyi Shlyakh, or ''Red Way''. From 29 September 1924 until February 1927 he served as People's Commissar of Education of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic. In this position he actively implemented reform of the educational system, following the Soviet policy of "

Korenizatsiya Korenizatsiia (, ; ) was an early policy of the Soviet Union for the integration of non-Russian nationalities into the governments of their specific Soviet republics. In the 1920s, the policy promoted representatives of the titular nation, and ...

" that favored recognition of national cultures and languages in educational institutions and state offices, and supported development of Ukrainian culture and literature, particularly writer Mykola Khvylyovy. Shumsky came into conflict with the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine,

Lazar Kaganovich Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich (; – 25 July 1991) was a Soviet politician and one of Joseph Stalin's closest associates. Born to a Jewish family in Ukraine, Kaganovich worked as a shoemaker and joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party ...

, who was appointed back in April 1925, over these issues of Ukrainization. Shumsky sought to replace Kaganovich with

Vlas Chubar Vlas Yakovlevich Chubar (, ; – 26 February 1939) was a Ukrainian Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician. Chubar was arrested during the Great Terror of 1937–38 and executed early in 1939. The top Communist Party official in Ukrai ...

, who had earlier opposed the appointment of

Vyacheslav Molotov Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov (; – 8 November 1986) was a Soviet politician, diplomat, and revolutionary who was a leading figure in the government of the Soviet Union from the 1920s to the 1950s, as one of Joseph Stalin's closest allies. ...

as secretary of the Ukrainian communist party.

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), intervened on the side of his ally Kaganovich in a letter to members of Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine accusing Shumsky of spreading anti-Russian sentiments in Ukraine. In May 1926 at a plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine, Shumsky was forced to officially recognize his mistake, but it did not save him. In 1927 he was removed from office after being accused of engaging in disruptive activities in the People's Commissariat of Education of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic. In February–March 1927 the plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine declared Shumsky guilty of "national deviation", which was labeled "Shumkism". Shumsky's removal was hotly debated in the Communist Party of Western Ukraine, which led to its split into "Shumskists" and supporters of the Stalinist position and the eventual dissolution of the party. After that, Shumsky was forced to leave Ukraine.

Exile and further persecution

From 1927 to 1933 he was a rector of the Leningrad Institute of National Economy, Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, a deputy head of the mass agitation department of the Central Committee of All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), a head of the Central Committee of Trade Union of Education officials, and a Presidium member of the

All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions The All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (ACCTU; , VTsSPS) was the national trade union federation of the Soviet Union. The federation was established in January 1918. In October 1990, it was dissolved, and replaced by the General Confede ...

. Shumsky expected to return to Ukraine, but he continued to be the object of political attacks in Ukraine. In 1930 at the 11th Congress of the CP(b)U the defeat of "Shumskism" was acclaimed, while at the November 1933 party plenum speakers denounced the anti-party Shumsky group and the "counterrevolutionary" essence of its national deviation. On 13 May 1933 he was arrested on fabricated charges in the 1933 " UVO case" and sentenced to ten years in prison. After spending two years in Solovki prison camp of special assignment, by decision of a Special meeting of the

of the Soviet Union on 10 December 1935 he was sentenced on charges of leadership of a "counterrevolutionary borotbist organization" to ten years exile to

Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yenisey, Yenisey River, and is the second-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk, with a p ...

. In 1936, demanding acquittal, Shumsky announced a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

. In October 1937 he was accused in belonging to another nationalist organization of former

and was arrested in the place of his exile. Only in November 1939 was the case closed due to lack of evidence—but which did not lead to his acquittal. After the end of his sentence on 13 May 1943, Shumsky was left in

because of his ill health. Throughout his time of imprisonment, he did not stop fighting for his public rehabilitation, did not admit to any of allegations, and repeatedly appealed to the Central Committee of the VKP(b). In his letter to

on 18 October 1945 Shumsky sharply criticized the national policy of the

, in particular exaltation of the

Russian people Russians ( ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian, the most spoken Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Orthodox Christianity, ever since the Middle Ages. By total numbers ...

as "senior brother". In the exile he was writing a monograph "Malorosy" ('' Little Russians''), but destroyed it because of the impossibility of publishing it.

After release

In 1946 Shumsky unsuccessfully tried to end his life in suicide twice. In September 1946, on the way from

Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...

to Kyiv, he was killed, allegedly by a special group of the Ministry of State Security of the Soviet Union under the direction of

Pavel Sudoplatov Pavel Anatolyevich Sudoplatov (; ; July 7, 1907 – September 24, 1996) was a senior Soviet official in the intelligence services of the former Soviet Union whose career spanned over 34 years in the different intelligence branches of the Soviet A ...

and

Grigory Mairanovsky Grigory Moiseevich Mairanovsky (, 1899, Batumi – 1964) was a Soviet biochemist and poison developer. Career Mairanovsky was born to a Jewish family in Batumi in 1899. Mairanovsky was the head of several secret laboratories in the Bach Ins ...

, at the hands of the personal orders of Stalin, Khrushchev and Kaganovich. On 11 September 1958 Shumsky was rehabilitated.

Notes

References

External links

Alexander Shumsky (Шумский Александр Яковлевич)
* Papakin, H.
Alexander Shumsky (ШУМСЬКИЙ ОЛЕКСАНДР ЯКОВИЧ)
'. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shumsky, Alexander 1890 births 1946 deaths Ukrainian people in the Russian Empire People from Zhytomyr Oblast People from Volhynian Governorate Ukrainian Socialist-Revolutionary Party politicians Prisoners and detainees of Russia Members of the Central Council of Ukraine Russian military personnel of World War I Deputies to the Ukrainian Constituent Assembly Prisoners sentenced to death by Ukraine Borotbists Soviet people of the Ukrainian–Soviet War Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Soviet Union) members Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Soviet Union) members Ambassadors of Ukraine to Poland Members of the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee Education ministers of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Inmates of Solovki prison camp Ukrainian hunger strikers Ukrainian people executed by the Soviet Union People murdered in the Soviet Union Ukrainian exiles Exiled Ukrainian politicians