Vasiliy Kuzmich Averin (russian: Васи́лий Кузьмич Аве́рин; 1884 – 28 December 1945) was a Russian

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 ...

revolutionary, a leading member of the

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

and a member of the

Soviet 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, ...

government in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

Biography

Averin was born in 1884 or 1885 near Rognedino in the

Roslavlsky Uyezd Roslavlsky Uyezd (russian: Рославльский уезд) was one of the subdivisions of the Smolensk Governorate of the Russian Empire. This uyezd was situated in the southern part of the governorate. Its administrative centre was Roslavl. Dem ...

of the

Smolensk Governorate Smolensk Governorate (russian: Смоленская губерния, Smolenskaja gubernija), or the Government of Smolensk, was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Russian SFSR. It ex ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

(today Rognedinsky District,

Bryansk Oblast Bryansk Oblast (russian: Бря́нская о́бласть, ''Bryanskaya oblast''), also known as Bryanshchina (russian: Брянщина, ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Bryansk. As of th ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

) in a poor peasant family. In 1903 he joined the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP; in , ''Rossiyskaya sotsial-demokraticheskaya rabochaya partiya (RSDRP)''), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or the Russian Social Democratic Party, was a socialist pol ...

and in 1904 sided with

Bolsheviks 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 ...

. Averin was uneducated and worked as a mechanic. Averin began his revolutionary career in

Ekaterinoslav Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

, where in October 1905 he headed a factory committee of the RSDLP. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

in 1915 Averin was arrested and exiled to the

Irkutsk Governorate Irkutsk Governorate (russian: Иркутская губерния) was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, located in Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) ...

. He was released in April 1917 on amnesty due to the

February Revolution The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and some ...

in Russia and returned to Ekaterinoslav. Averin was a member of the

All-Russian Congress of Soviets The All-Russian Congress of Soviets evolved from 1917 to become the supreme governing body of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1918 until 1936, effectively. The 1918 Constitution of the Russian SFSR mandated that Congress sha ...

, the

All-Russian Central Executive Committee The All-Russian Central Executive Committee ( rus, Всероссийский Центральный Исполнительный Комитет, Vserossiysky Centralny Ispolnitelny Komitet, VTsIK) was the highest legislative, administrative and r ...

, and the

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 ...

. Along with

Yakov Peters Yakov (alternative spellings: Jakov or Iakov, cyrl, Яков) is a Russian or Hebrew variant of the given names Jacob and James. People also give the nickname Yasha ( cyrl, Яша) or Yashka ( cyrl, Яшка) used for Yakov. Notable people People ...

Felix Dzerzhinsky Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky ( pl, Feliks Dzierżyński ; russian: Фе́ликс Эдму́ндович Дзержи́нский; – 20 July 1926), nicknamed "Iron Felix", was a Bolshevik revolutionary and official, born into Polish nobility ...

and others, he was a member of the original

. In December 1917 Averin was appointed to head the military revolutionary headquarters of the Ekaterinoslav Soviet and actively participated in the Ekaterinoslav Bolshevik uprising. With the advance of the German troops, Averin was placed in charge of the defense of the Ekaterinoslav district. He later was appointed as a chief of political department for the Ukrainian Front (also referred to as the Ukrainian Soviet Army). There is some evidence that he also headed a commissariat of internal affairs of the Soviet Ukraine in the beginning of 1919. In 1919 Averin chaired the Ekaterinoslav council and later was a governor of the Volhynia and Kharkiv governorates. In 1921-23 Averin was a governor and

mayor of Odessa Throughout Odesa, Ukraine's history, the office of Novorossiya Governor and Odesa mayor was closely aligned and often was held by the same leader. List of Mayors See also * Timeline of Odesa References {{Reflist, 2 Odesa Odesa (also spe ...

, while at that time being a member of the Central Committee of the

Communist Party of Ukraine The Communist Party of Ukraine, Abbreviation: KPU, from Ukrainian and Russian "" is a banned political party in Ukraine. It was founded in 1993 as the successor to the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine which was banned in 1991 (accord ...

. In 1923 Averin became the

Left Opposition The Left Opposition was a faction within the Russian Communist Party (b) from 1923 to 1927 headed ''de facto'' by Leon Trotsky. The Left Opposition formed as part of the power struggle within the party leadership that began with the Soviet fou ...

of Bolsheviks (Trotsky's followers). At around that time he also was a member of the

Central Executive Committee of the Ukrainian SSR All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee ( uk, italic=yes, Всеукраїнський центральний виконавчий комітет) was a representative body of the All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets. It was the supreme legislative ...

and the

Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union The All-Union Central Executive Committee (russian: Всесоюзный Центральный исполнительный комитет, Vsesoyuznyy Tsentral'nyy ispolnitel'nyy komitet) was the most authoritative governing body of the USSR d ...

. In 1935 Averin was appointed the chief of the Lena River Shipping Company and transferred to

Yakutsk Yakutsk (russian: Якутск, p=jɪˈkutsk; sah, Дьокуускай, translit=Djokuuskay, ) is the capital city of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one ...

. There in 1937 he was arrested and sentenced to eight years in correctional camps. Averin was released after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

in November 1945. On 28 December 1945, he was strangled to death by an unknown person. On 29 November 1955, Averin was rehabilitated by the Supreme Court of the Yakut ASSR.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Averin, Vasiliy Kuzmich 1880s births 1945 deaths People from Bryansk Oblast Old Bolsheviks Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union members Members of the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee Left Opposition Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Mayors of Odesa Soviet people of the Ukrainian–Soviet War Deaths from choking Russian murder victims Soviet rehabilitations