Anna Mikhailovna Pankratova (, 16 February 1897 – 25 May 1957) was a leading Soviet historian, educator and member of the

Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991. It united the country's leading scientists and was subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (un ...

. A widely published author, she was editor in chief of the influential Russian historical journal ''

Voprosy Istorii ''Voprosy Istorii'' (Russian: ''Вопросы истории'', translated ''Questions of History'') is a Russian academic journal for historical studies. It is published monthly by the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Scienc ...

'' and headed the National Committee of USSR Historians. A member of the Communist Party, she became an elected member of the

Presidium of the Supreme Soviet The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet () was the standing body of the highest organ of state power, highest body of state authority in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).The Presidium of the Soviet Union is, in short, the legislativ ...

Early life and education

Anna Mikhailovna Pankratova was born in

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

. Her father, a soldier, died when she was nine. Her mother worked as a laborer. Despite growing up in poverty, she completed school and graduated in history from

Odesa University The Odesa I.I.Mechnykov National University (), often referred to as Odesa National University ( ONU, ), located in Odesa, Ukraine, is one of that country's major state-sponsored universities, named after the scientist Élie Metchnikoff (1845- ...

in 1917. In her teens, Pankratova joined the

Socialist Revolutionary Party The Socialist Revolutionary Party (SR; ,, ) was a major socialist political party in the late Russian Empire, during both phases of the Russian Revolution, and in early Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia. The party memb ...

, and when the party split in 1917, joined the

Left SRs The Party of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries-Internationalists () was a revolutionary socialist political party formed during the Russian Revolution. In 1917, the Socialist Revolutionary Party split between those who supported the Russian Provis ...

, who supported 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 ...

, and worked for them underground in Odessa during the civil war. She switched to the Bolsheviks in 1919. She left Odessa in 1920 to work for the communist party, and in 1922 began a three year course at the

Institute of Red Professors The Institute of Red Professors of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) () was an institute of graduate-level education in the Marxist social sciences located in the Orthodox Convent of the Passion, Moscow. History It was founded in February 1 ...

. At the Institute, Pankratova met and married a fellow student, Grigory Yakovin, whom the writer

Victor Serge Victor Serge (; born Viktor Lvovich Kibalchich, ; 30 December 1890 – 17 November 1947) was a Belgian-born Russian revolutionary, novelist, poet, historian, journalist, and translator. Originally an anarchist, he joined the Bolsheviks in Janu ...

described as "a sporting enthusiast with a constantly alert intelligence, good looks, and a spontaneous charm". They had a daughter, Maya, born in 1925, the year they both graduated. They traveled abroad together on a scientific mission in Germany and France. In 1927, she ended her marriage and denounced her husband as a supporter of the left opposition, led by

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 ...

. He was expelled from the communist party and arrested. She visited Yakovin in prison in Tashkent, in 1929, in the hope of persuading to renounce the opposition, but he refused. He was later shot.

Career

From 1926, Pankratova taught at a variety of high-level institutions, including the Soviet Academy of Social Sciences, the

Sverdlov Communist University The Sverdlov Communist University (Russian language, Russian: Коммунистический университет имени Я. М. Свердлова) was a school for Soviet activists in Moscow, founded in 1918 as the Central School for Sovi ...

, the

Lenin Political-Military Academy Russia has a number of military academies of different specialties. This article primarily lists institutions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation rather than those of the Soviet Armed Forces. Russian institutions designated as an "aca ...

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

Saratov State University Saratov Chernyshevsky State University (, СГУ, transcribed as SGU) is a higher education and research institution in Russia. In 2023 it was ranked #1,156 in the world by ''US News & World Report''. Named for Nikolay Chernyshevsky, the univer ...

Moscow State Pedagogical University Moscow State Pedagogical University or Moscow State University of Education is an educational and scientific institution in Moscow, Russia, with eighteen faculties and seven branches operational in other Russian cities. The institution had under ...

and at the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. In August 1936, after the first of the Moscow Show Trials, which marked the start of the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

, Pankratova was expelled from the Communist Party and the Institute of Red Professors because of her past association with Yakovin and other Trotskyites. She made a fulsome expression of guilt, accusing herself of "rotten liberalism" and "not being able to expose the enemy in disguise." Sacked from her academic post, she was unemployed for several months, and contemplated suicide, before being given a post in Saratov University, which meant three years' separation from her mother and her daughter, who remained in Moscow. She was reinstated in the party in 1938, and permitted to resume publishing as a historian. Previously, Pankratova had considered herself to be a pupil of

Mikhail Pokrovsky Mikhail Nikolayevich Pokrovsky (; – April 10, 1932) was a Russian Marxist historian, revolutionary and a Soviet public and political figure. One of the earliest professionally trained historians to join the Russian revolutionary movement, Pokr ...

, the Soviet Union's leading historian, who was her teacher at the Institute of Red Professors. When he died, in 1932, she recalled how "we, his pupils, considered his historical conception not only completely Marxist, but without forerunners." But she radically changed her mind after

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 ...

had ruled that Pokrovsky had been wrong in believing that the Russian Empire was a "prison of nations", in which the non-Russian minorities were enslaved, and that he had failed to understand how great leaders such as

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (; – ), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible,; ; monastic name: Jonah. was Grand Prince of Moscow, Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1533 to 1547, and the first Tsar of all Russia, Tsar and Grand Prince of all R ...

and

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

changed history. In 1939, she wrote that: Pankratova joined the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union's Institute of History in 1939. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, she was evacuated with a number of other eminent historians to

Alma-Ata Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population exceeding two million residents within its metropolitan area. Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains in southern Kazakhstan, near the border wi ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. In 1942, they published a collection of essays, ''Twenty Five Years of Historical Scholarship in the USSR'', which she edited, which again comprehensively renounced Pokrovsky's view of history. Under her leadership, they also wrote ''The History of the Kazakh SSR''. Published in 1949, the work was the first of its kind, describing the history of a Soviet Republic from its origins to the start of the Second World War. Edited by Pankratova, it inspired further research into the history of pre-Soviet and Soviet peoples. From 1953 to 1957, Pankratova was the editor of the Soviet historical journal ''Voprosy istorii''. Throughout her career, Pankratova attended international congresses, including those in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

(1934),

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

(1953) and

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

(1955). She also chaired the Soviet branch of the Association for Cooperation with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

(1955–57). She was elected a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union at the

19th 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics Nineteen is the eighth prime number. Number theory 19 forms a twin prime with 17, a cousin prime with 23, and a sexy prime with 13. ...

and 20th Congresses in 1952 and 1953.

Publications

The histories written by Pankratova document in particular the development of the Russian workers' movement and of Soviet society in general. In addition to their appearance in Russian, several of her works were translated, especially into German. The three volumes of ''A History of the U.S.S.R.'' were first published in English in 1943 and reprinted in 1970. Anna Pankratova died of a heart attack in Moscow on 25 May 1957.

Awards

Pankratova's awards include the Stalin Prize (1946),

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

, and two Orders of the Red Banner of Labour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pankratova, Anna 1897 births 1957 deaths 20th-century Russian historians Writers from Odesa Academic staff of Moscow State Pedagogical University Academic staff of Saratov State University Academicians of the Byelorussian SSR Academy of Sciences Academicians of the RSFSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences Corresponding members of the Romanian Academy Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Institute of Red Professors alumni Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin Odesa University alumni Presidium of the Supreme Soviet Fourth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Members of the Central Committee of the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Members of the Central Committee of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Stalin Prize Voprosy Istorii editors Russian women editors Russian women historians Soviet editors Soviet women historians Soviet historians Soviet women in politics Soviet women writers Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery