Nikolai Aleksandrovich Uglanov (russian: Никола́й Алекса́ндрович Угла́нов; December 5, 1886 – May 31, 1937) was a

Russian 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 peo ...

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

politician and Soviet statesman who played an important role in the government of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

as a

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

leader in the city of

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

during the 1920s. Uglanov was closely associated with the so-called "Right Deviation" associated with Soviet party leader Nikolai Bukharin and he fell from his leadership position during the mass collectivization campaign of 1929. Uglanov was arrested in the summer of 1936 and was executed the following spring during the secret police terror of 1937–38.

Biography

Early years

Nikolai Aleksandrovich Uglanov was born 5 December 1886 to an ethnic Russian

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasant ...

family in the village of Feodoritskoye in

Yaroslavl Governorate Yaroslavl Governorate (russian: Ярославская губерния, ''Yaroslavskaya guberniya'') was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR, located in European Russia in the Upper Volga ...

, located approximately 250 kilometers (160 mi) northeast of Moscow. His father Aleksander Uglanov supplemented the family income by working seasonally in the city of

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and at the age of 12 Nikolai followed him there, working as an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

metal worker.

Catherine Merridale Catherine Anne Merridale, FBA (born 12 October 1959) is a British writer and historian with a special interest in Russian history. Early life and education Merridale was born on 12 October 1959 to Philip and Anne Merridale. She was educated at ...

, ''Moscow Politics and the Rise of Stalin: The Communist Party in the Capital, 1925-32.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1990; pg. 29. Nikolai moved between jobs with some regularity and often returned home to Yaroslavl in between jobs. Uglanov was introduced to radical ideas at an early age, beginning his participation in the revolutionary movement in 1903, distributing illegal literature and storing sensitive documents for underground activists. Uglanov joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party himself in 1907. As a young party activist Uglanov contributed material to the Bolshevik party paper ''

Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the ...

'' as a worker-correspondent. Uglanov was arrested for the first time by the Okhrana early in the summer of 1914 but he was subsequently released from captivity and inducted into the Army and sent to the front lines to fight for the Tsarist regime in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In November 1914 Uglanov was severely wounded and was returned to Petrograd (St. Petersburg), where he recovered and resumed his secret revolutionary activity.

Political career

During the Russian revolution Uglanov was 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 ...

. Uglanov became a

functionary An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...

in the Soviet

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

movement and was selected as the head of the Petrograd Guberniia council of trade unions in 1919.' In February 1921 Uglanov succeeded

Sergey Zorin Sergey Semyonovich Zorin (russian: Сергей Семёнович Зорин, born Sergey Gumberg; 1890 – 10 September 1937), was the party's First Secretary of the Leningrad City Committee, roughly equating to that of mayor. He held the posit ...

as secretary of the Petrograd guberniia committee of the Russian Communist Party KP(b) In this capacity he played a role in the suppression of the Kronstadt uprising, activity for which he was awarded the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of t ...

. He was also made a candidate member of the governing

Central Committee of the Communist Party Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party organizations, the ...

in that year.R.W. Davies, et al. (eds.), ''Soviet Government Officials, 1922-41: A Handlist.'' Birmingham, England: Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham, 1989; pg. 394. Uglanov was sent to the city of

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

in 1922 where he was made the head of the regional party organization. In 1923 he would be elevated to a full member of the Central Committee of the RKP(b). He would remain as head of the Nizhny Novgorod organization until the summer of 1924. In August 1924 Uglanov was called to Moscow, where he was made the second secretary of the Communist Party in the city. He was promoted to first secretary that same October. * 20 August 1924 – November 27, 1928,

First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party The First Secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was the position of highest authority in the city of Moscow roughly equating to that of mayor. The position was created on November 10, 1917, following t ...

* August 1924 - replaced Isaak Zelensky on the

Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee The Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was responsible for managing and directing the day-to-day operations of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, while the Politburo was charged with the p ...

* 1 January 1926 elected candidate member of the

Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (, abbreviated: ), or Politburo ( rus, Политбюро, p=pəlʲɪtbʲʊˈro) was the highest policy-making authority within the Communist Party of th ...

* 29 November 1928 — 1 July 1930, People's Commissar for Labour In 1930 he became associated with

Martemyan Ryutin Martemyan Nikitich Ryutin ( rus, Мартемья́н Ники́тич Рю́тин, Martem'yán Nikítich Ryútin; 13 February, 1890 – 10 January, 1937) was a Russian Marxist activist, Bolshevik revolutionary, and a political functionary of th ...

, whose name was given to the ''Ryutin Platform''. Ryutin was Secretary of the Krasnaya Presnya district Party committee in

. Uglanov was expelled from the Party along with Ryutin in autumn 1932 in what is known as the Ryutin Affair. He was arrested on 23 August 1936, sentenced to death on 31 May 1937 and shot the same day.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uglanov, Nikolai 1886 births 1937 deaths People from Rybinsky District, Yaroslavl Oblast People from Rybinsky Uyezd Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Old Bolsheviks Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union candidate members People's commissars and ministers of the Soviet Union Right Opposition Russian military personnel of World War I Russian people executed by the Soviet Union Great Purge victims from Russia Soviet rehabilitations