Avis (Avetis) Soghomoni Nurijanyan (; 3 December 1896 – 16 September 1938) was a

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, ...

revolutionary and

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

politician of

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

origin who served as the People's Commissar for Military Affairs of the

Armenian SSR The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (ArSSR), also known as Soviet Armenia, or simply Armenia, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union, located in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Soviet Armenia bordered the Soviet republics ...

from 1920 to 1921 and

People's Commissar for Internal Affairs The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) secre ...

in 1921. He is infamous for his role in carrying out mass repressions immediately following the Sovietization of Armenia.

Biography

Avis Nurijanyan was born in 1896 in the village of Vachagan (now a part of the city of

Kapan Kapan ( ) is a town in southeast Armenia, serving as the administrative centre of the Kapan Municipality and also as the provincial capital of Syunik Province. It is located in the valley of the Voghji (river), Voghji River and is on the norther ...

) to a peasant family. He graduated from the Shusha Real School, then studied at the faculty of economics of the Kiev Commercial Institute from 1913 to 1917. He abandoned his studies after his fourth year at the institute and participated in revolutionary activities. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he served in the Russian Army on the Caucasus front. Nurijanyan was a member of the

Armenian Revolutionary Federation The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (, abbr. ARF (ՀՅԴ) or ARF-D), also known as Dashnaktsutyun (Armenians, Armenian: Դաշնակցություն, Literal translation, lit. "Federation"), is an Armenian nationalism, Armenian nationalist a ...

(ARF) in 1917. In 1918, he joined the

Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

. He took part in revolutionary activities in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

and the creation of the Baku Commune in 1918. He was elected a member of the

underground committee of the Russian Communist Party, but was arrested and expelled from

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

in the summer of 1919. He then held a leading position in the Bolshevik organization in

Alexandropol Gyumri (, ) is an urban municipal community and the List of cities and towns in Armenia, second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th centur ...

(modern-day Gyumri,

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

). In January 1920, he was elected a member of the Armenia Committee (Armenkom) of the Russian Communist Party. While in

, he took part in the organization of the failed

May Uprising The May Uprising () was a failed coup d'état by the Armenian Bolsheviks that started in Gyumri on May 10, 1920. It was eventually suppressed by the Armenian government on May 14 and its leaders executed or exiled. Although the revolt failed, Ar ...

of 1920 against the ARF-led government of the

Republic of Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to the east, and Ir ...

. After the suppression of the rebellion, he fled to Azerbaijan. In September 1920, Nurijanyan participated in the meeting of the communist organizations of Armenia in Baku and was elected a member of the Central Committee of the newly created Communist Party of Armenia. He was also a member of the Revolutionary Committee of Armenia (Armrevkom) formed in Azerbaijan, which made up the new government of Armenia following its Sovietization in November-December 1920. From November 1920 to May 1921, he served as the People's Commissar for Military Affairs of Soviet Armenia. Although the Bolsheviks had initially agreed to grant immunity to the former political and military leadership of Armenia, Nurijanyan and his allies were eager to take revenge for the violent suppression of the May Uprising and destroy the remnants of the "bourgeois, nationalist regime" of the ARF. He was one of the chief perpetrators of the forced exile and repression of numerous political and military figures of the First Republic of Armenia in January 1921. Bakhshi Ishkhanyan, an Armenian Marxist author, described Nurijanyan as "the Herostratus of Armenia. A sick young student operating under the influence of his constantly agitated brain, a total sadist and degenerate." The repressions that Nurijanyan conducted were one of the causes of the

February Uprising The February Uprising () was an anti-Bolshevik rebellion by the nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation which started on February 13 and was suppressed on April 2, 1921, by the recapture of Yerevan by Bolshevik forces. Background After t ...

of 1921, when Soviet power in Armenia was briefly overthrown by an ARF-led rebellion. The harsh methods of the Armenian Bolshevik leadership prompted Soviet leader

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

to send

Alexander Miasnikian Alexander Fyodori Miasnikian or Myasnikov (28 January February1886 – 22 March 1925), also known by his revolutionary ''nom de guerre'' Martuni, was an Armenian Bolshevik revolutionary, military leader and politician. During the Russian Civi ...

to take leadership and stabilize the situation in Armenia.

Later years and death

Nurijanyan left Armenia and held various positions in the Communist Party bureaucracy in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

and

Ryazan Ryazan (, ; also Riazan) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. The city is located on the banks of the Oka River in Central Russia, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 C ...

from 1923 to 1930. He was a supporter of the

Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

Left Opposition The Left Opposition () was a faction within the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) from 1923 to 1927 headed '' de facto'' by Leon Trotsky. It was formed by Trotsky to mount a struggle against the perceived bureaucratic degeneration within th ...

and was consequently expelled from the Communist Party in 1927, although his party membership was restored in 1929. Starting in 1930 he worked as the chairman of the

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to eme ...

center of the

Transcaucasian SFSR , image_flag = Flag of the Transcaucasian SFSR (variant).svg , flag_type = Flag(1925–1936) , image_coat = Emblem of the Transcaucasian SFSR (1930-1936).svg , symbol_type = Emblem(1930–1936) ...

, but as of 1937 he was not working. He worked in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

until 1937, when he returned to Armenia. Nurijanyan fell victim to 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 ...

of 1937–1938. According some sources, he was arrested in June 1937 and died in prison that year, while another source reports that he was sentenced to death on 19 July 1938 and executed on 16 September 1938.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nurijanyan, Avis Bolsheviks 20th-century Armenian politicians Soviet politicians 1896 births 1938 deaths