Grigory Alekseyevich Aleksinsky (Russian: Григорий Алексеевич Алексинский; 16 September 1879 – 4 October 1967) was a prominent Russian

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

activist,

Social Democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

and

Bolshevik 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, ...

who was elected to the Second

Duma A duma () is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were formed across Russia ...

in 1907. Born to middle class parents in

Daghestan Dagestan ( ; ; ), officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Feder ...

, he became politically involved when he was a student at

Moscow University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

, from which he was excluded. He was a member of

Georgi Plekhanov Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov ( rus, Георгий Валентинович Плеханов, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj vəlʲɪnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ plʲɪˈxanəf, a=Ru-Georgi Plekhanov-JermyRei.ogg; – 30 May 1918) was a Russian revolutionary, ...

’s

Yedinstvo Yedinstvo or Edinstvo ( rus, Единство, a=Ru-единство.ogg, p=jɪˈdʲinstvə, "Unity") was a faction within the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) between 1914 and 1917 and then a small independent party in 1917 and 1918. ...

group, when he met Lenin in St Petersburg in December 1905 and joined the

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, ...

. Lenin's wife, Krupskaya recalled going for a pleasant walk in the Finnish countryside with Lenin, Aleksinsky and others in spring 1906. Later, they were neighbours in Finland. In 1907, Alexinsky was elected to the Second Duma, where he proved to be a witty and effective orator. He escaped abroad to avoid arrest when the Duma was dissolved, and settled in Austria. Lenin hoped that he would take charge of smuggling illegal Bolshevik literature into Russia, but he "was quite unfitted for such work". Alexinsky joined Lenin in Geneva, but fell out with him and in 1909 joined the ultra left

Vpered Vpered ( rus, Вперёд, p=fpʲɪˈrʲɵt, a=Ru-вперёд.ogg, ''Forward'') was a subfaction within the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). Although Vpered emerged from the Bolshevik wing of the party, it was critical of Lenin ...

, group, led by

Alexander Bogdanov Alexander Aleksandrovich Bogdanov (; – 7 April 1928), born Alexander Malinovsky, was a Russian and later Soviet physician, philosopher, science fiction writer and Bolshevik revolutionary. He was a polymath who pioneered blood transfusion, a ...

. On the outbreak of war, he veered sharply to the right, becoming an outspoken supporter of the Russian war effort.

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

, who described Alexinsky as a "shrieking orator and passionate lover of intrigue" alleged that he made a practice of accusing opponents of the war of being paid German agents, and was expelled from the Paris Association of Foreign Journalists as a "dishonest slanderer". He returned to Russia in 1917, after the

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 ...

, and in July produced documents to support his contention that Lenin was a German agent. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

he was arrested by the

Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...

but was released on bail. He escaped abroad in 1918, and joined the Russian National Committee, chaired by

Vladimir Burtsev Vladimir Lvovich Burtsev (; November 17, 1862August 21, 1942) was a revolutionary activist, scholar, publisher and editor of several Russian language periodicals. He became famous by exposing a great number of agents provocateurs, notably Yevn ...

. In 1936, he published a story in a Russian emigre newspaper claiming that in 1905, Lenin had had an affair with a wealthy Russian woman named Elizabeth K., which he resumed in France in 1910. This story was taken seriously by one of Lenin's early biographers.

David Shub David Shub (1887 – 1973) was a social democrat arrested for activity in the 1905 Russian Revolution, 1905 Russian revolution and exiled to Siberia in 1906 and escaped to the United States in 1908. In 1930 he wrote the lead article on Stalin, pro ...

, though it has since been dismissed as a fabrication. Alexinsky offered to sell the Soviet government, and then Columbia University, what he claimed were Lenin's letters to Elizabeth K., adding the new detail that she was his wife. He was not able to arrange a sale.

Publications

Modern Russia (1913)

Russia and the great war (1915)

Russia and Europe (1917)

References

Guide to Grigorii Aleksinskii papers, 1895-1913
a
Houghton Library
Harvard University.

Publications

References

Further reading