Nikolai Dimitrovich Avksentyev (russian: Николай Дмитриевич Авксентьев; 28 November 1878,

Penza Penza ( rus, Пе́нза, p=ˈpʲɛnzə) is the largest city and administrative center of Penza Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Sura River, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census, Penza had a population of 517,311, making it the 38th-la ...

– 24 March 1943,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

) was a leading member of the

Socialist-Revolutionary Party The Socialist Revolutionary Party, or the Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries (the SRs, , or Esers, russian: эсеры, translit=esery, label=none; russian: Партия социалистов-революционеров, ), was a major politi ...

(PSR). He was one of the 'Heidelberg SRs' (a group of Russian students at the University of Heidelberg in the 1890s), like

Vladimir Zenzinov Vladimir Mikhailovich Zenzinov (russian: Владимир Михайлович Зензинов; historically, his surname was also transcribed as Sensinoff: 29 November 1880 — 20 October 1953) was a member of Russia's Socialist-Revolutionary P ...

. These SRs were influenced by

neo-Kantian In late modern continental philosophy, neo-Kantianism (german: Neukantianismus) was a revival of the 18th-century philosophy of Immanuel Kant. The Neo-Kantians sought to develop and clarify Kant's theories, particularly his concept of the "thi ...

philosophy and

Marxism Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...

. As Chairman of the

Provisional All-Russian Government The Provisional All-Russian Government (PA-RG), informally known as The Directory, The Ufa Directory, or The Omsk Directory, was a short-lived government during the Russian Civil War, formed on 23 September 1918 at the State Conference in Ufa a ...

, he headed the

Russian state Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries * Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and pe ...

from September 23 to November 18, 1918. He was overthrown and arrested by the Minister of War, Alexander Kolchak, who proclaimed himself the Supreme ruler of Russia.

Biography

Born into the Russian nobility, Nikolai Avksentiev attended school in

, studied at the Law Faculty of Moscow University (in 1899 he was expelled due to student unrest). He was a founder and the first chairman of the

Party of Socialist Revolutionaries The Socialist Revolutionary Party, or the Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries (the SRs, , or Esers, russian: эсеры, translit=esery, label=none; russian: Партия социалистов-революционеров, ), was a major politi ...

, and during the 1905 Russian revolution was elected to the

Saint Petersburg Soviet The Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Delegates (later the Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies) was a workers' council, or soviet, in Saint Petersburg in 1905. Origins The Soviet had its origins in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday, when Nicholas II ...

. Together with other leading figures of the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

, he was arrested. In the fall of 1906 he appeared at an open trial, where he defended the position of his party. Like all the main accused, he was convicted and exiled to

Obdorsk Salekhard (russian: Салеха́рд; Khanty: , ''Pułñawat''; yrk, Саляʼ харад, ''Saljaꜧ harad'') is a town in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia, serving as the okrug's administrative centre. It crosses the Arctic Circle, th ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

, he escaped abroad in 1907. In

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, at the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

, he wrote a doctrinal thesis on

Friedrich Neitszche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his care ...

's concept of the ' Superman'. In exile, he edited the Socialist-Revolutionary newspaper "The Banner of Labor". He was the leader of the right-wing of the Socialist Revolutionaries, a supporter of legal forms of struggle with the imperialist regime and opposed to the terrorist tactics of the

Left SRs The Party of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries (russian: Партия левых социалистов-революционеров-интернационалистов) was a revolutionary socialist political party formed during the Russian Revo ...

. During the First World War Avksentiev was associated with the ' Defencist' wing of the PSR and collaborated closely with Vadim Rudnev,

Avram Gots Abram Rafailovich Gots (Russian: Абра́м Рафаи́лович Гоц; 1882 – 4 August 1940) was a Russian Socialist-Revolutionary leader, active in the Revolutions of 1905 and 1917. Biography Early years Abram Gots came from a wealth ...

and others. He was an active member of the irregular

freemasonic Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

lodge, the Grand Orient of Russia’s Peoples. After the February Revolution, he was elected a member of the

Petrograd Soviet The Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies (russian: Петроградский совет рабочих и солдатских депутатов, ''Petrogradskiy soviet rabochikh i soldatskikh deputatov'') was a city council of P ...

, chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee,

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

of the second coalition

Provisional Government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or ...

, chaired the

All-Russian Democratic Conference 300px, Presidium of the All-Russian Democratic Conference (Petrograd, Alexandrinsky Theater, September 27 – October 5, 1917) The All-Russian Democratic Conference (Democratic Conference) was a meeting of representatives of political parties and ...

and was elected to the

Provisional Council of the Russian Republic Provisional Council of the Russian Republic (, (also known as Pre-parliament) was a legislative assembly of the Russian Republic. It convened at the Marinsky Palace on October 20, 1917, but was dissolved by the Bolsheviks on November, 7/8, 1917 ...

. He was elected to the

All-Russian Constituent Assembly The All Russian Constituent Assembly (Всероссийское Учредительное собрание, Vserossiyskoye Uchreditelnoye sobraniye) was a constituent assembly convened in Russia after the October Revolution of 1917. It met fo ...

from

. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

, he was one of the organizers of the

Committee for the Salvation of the Homeland and Revolution The Committee for the Salvation of the Homeland and the Revolution was a brief counterrevolutionary organ created in Petrograd on the night of November 7–8, 1917, during the storming of the Winter Palace by the Bolsheviks, after the procession ...

, for which he was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress by the new Bolshevik government. As I.I. Manukhin wrote in his memoirs, Avksentiev was released from the Krestov hospital thanks to the intervention of the People's Commissar of Justice, Socialist Revolutionary

Isaac Steinberg Isaac Nachman Steinberg (russian: Исаак Нахман Штейнберг; 13 July 1888 – 2 January 1957) was a lawyer, Socialist Revolutionary, politician, a leader of the Jewish Territorialist movement and writer in Soviet Russia and in ex ...

. In March 1918, he became a leader of the Russian Revival Union. By a decision of the SR Central Committee, he left at the end of May for

, which was considered by the Socialist-Revolutionaries as a potential base of resistance to the Bolshevik regime. In September 1918, he was elected chairman of the

State Meeting in Ufa The State Conference in Ufa (also known as the Ufa State Conference, the Ufa Conference) which took place on September 8–23, 1918, in the city of Ufa in Soutern Russia (now the capital city of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia) was the most ...

and headed the new

, which united the fragmented anti-Bolshevik governments of eastern Russia. On November 18, Alexander Kolchak launched a '' coup d'etat'' that dissolved the provisional government and established a military dictatorship in its place. Avksentiev was briefly arrested by Kolchak's forces and fled Russia via

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, c ...

, with the assistance of the British military. He settled in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and was active in émigré circles and in

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

.DL North Star
/ref> After the

Nazi invasion of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...

, Avksentiev and his wife Berthe escaped to the United States, with an emergency visa provided by the

Jewish Labor Committee The Jewish Labor Committee (JLC) is an American secular Jewish organization dedicated to promoting labor union interests in Jewish communities, and Jewish interests within unions. The organization is headquartered in New York City, with local/re ...

and the American Federation of Labor, where he published the magazine "For Freedom". Avksentiev died on March 4, 1943, in New York City. His daughter, Alexandra became an accomplished painter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Avksentiev, Nikolai 1878 births 1943 deaths People from Penza People from Penzensky Uyezd Socialist Revolutionary Party politicians Ministers of the Russian Provisional Government Russian Constituent Assembly members People of the Russian Revolution Members of the Grand Orient of Russia's Peoples Russian revolutionaries