David Shub (1887 – 1973) was a

social democrat Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...

arrested for activity in the

1905 Russian revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...

and exiled to Siberia in 1906, and escaped to the United States in 1908 where he remained in close contact with leading figures of the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

ary movement, including

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 ...

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian M ...

, and

Bukharin Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Буха́рин) ( – 15 March 1938) was a Bolshevik revolutionary, Soviet politician, Marxist philosopher and economist and prolific author on revolutionary theory. ...

, and also liberals and socialists such as Kerensky, Miliukov,

Chernov Chernov (russian: Чернов) is a Slavic surname formed from the Russian word ''Chyorny'' (russian: Чёрный) meaning ''black''. The feminine form of the surname is Chernova (or Tchernova). Some people with this name include: * Alex Chernov ...

Catherine Breshkovsky Catherine Breshkovsky (real name Yekaterina Konstantinovna Breshko-Breshkovskaya (born Verigo), russian: Екатерина Константиновна Брешко-Брешковская; born 25 January (13 January old style) 1844 – 12 Sept ...

, and others. In 1930 he wrote the lead article on

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

, probably the first authoritative profile to appear in the American press, for the

New York Times magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

(22 March 1930) His biography of Lenin has been reprinted over sixteen times, described as ''"indispensable to the student of contemporary history, of russia, and of social revolution".''

Biography

David Shub was born and educated in Russia. In 1904-1905 he lived in London, Paris, and Geneva, where he often met with leaders of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

, both

Menshevik The Mensheviks (russian: меньшевики́, from меньшинство 'minority') were one of the three dominant factions in the Russian socialist movement, the others being the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. The factions eme ...

and

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 ...

, including

, Plekhanov, Axelrod, Zasulich, Bogdanov, Lunacharsky, Bonch-Bruyevich, Martov, Potresov, and Dan.

Essentials of Leninism

As an appendix to his biography, Shub compiled a distillation of

Leninist ideology Leninism is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary vanguard party as the political prelude to the establishm ...

in Lenin's own words. Although he abhorred the ideology and praxis of Leninism, Shub felt that it was self-refuting. The best way to undermine Lenin's project, was to allow Lenin to speak for himself.

Selected publications

* * *

Bibliography

References

External links

David Shub
from the Jewish Virtual Library {{Russia-bio-stub 1887 births 1973 deaths Russian revolutionaries Biographers Mensheviks Jews from the Russian Empire Ukrainian Jews Yiddish-language journalists Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States