Ephraim Markovich Sklyansky () ( – August 27, 1925) was a

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 ...

revolutionary and statesman. He was one of the founders of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

, an associate of

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 ...

, and a major contributor to the communist victory in the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

. His death by drowning during a visit to the USA caused enduring speculation that he may have been murdered.

Life and career

Ephraim Sklyansky was born into a lower middle class Jewish family in the township of Fastiv in Kiev Governorate (present-day

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

). In 1899, his family moved to Zhitomir. In 1911-16, he studied medicine at Kiev University, and joined the

Bolsheviks 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, ...

as a student. After graduation, he was drafted, and served first in the infantry, and later as an army doctor, and became prominent in the clandestine military organizations of the Bolsheviks. At the time of 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 ...

, Sklyansky was a member of the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, and was spotted by Trotsky when he took over as People's Commissar for War early in 1918. In his memoirs, Trotsky wrote: Sklyansky was removed from his post in April 1924, and replaced by

Mikhail Frunze Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze (; ; 2 February 1885 – 31 October 1925) was a Soviet revolutionary, politician, army officer and military theory, military theorist. Born to a Bessarabian father and a Russian mother in Russian Turkestan, Frunze at ...

, and made chairman of the Mossukno state textile trust. He was written out of almost every history of the civil war during the Stalin years although there is "no doubt about Sklyansky's crucial role in the conduct of military affairs."

Death by Drowning

In May 1925, Sklyansky left on a tour of Germany, France, and the United States to acquire technical information. He arrived in the USA in August, and four days later, on 27 August, went on a boat trip in Long Lake, in the

Adirondack Mountains The Adirondack Mountains ( ) are a massif of mountains in Northeastern New York which form a circular dome approximately wide and covering about . The region contains more than 100 peaks, including Mount Marcy, which is the highest point in Ne ...

Hamilton County, New York Hamilton County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,107, making it the least populous county of New York, and the only county with fewer than 10,000 residents. With a land area nearly the s ...

along with , the first head of Amtorg Trading Corporation. Both men were drowned. The high-ranking Soviet defector Boris Bazhanov was convinced that Sklyansky had been drowned on Stalin's orders, and the alleged accident had been organized by and

Genrikh Yagoda Genrikh Grigoryevich Yagoda (, born Yenokh Gershevich Iyeguda; 7 November 1891 – 15 March 1938) was a Soviet secret police official who served as director of the NKVD, the Soviet Union's security and intelligence agency, from 1934 to 1936. A ...

. Sklyansky's and Khurgin's funeral, on Broadway on 31 August, which drew a crowd of about 500, was said to be New York City's "first Soviet funeral". A large wreath sent by Trotsky was prominently displayed. The speakers included the poet

Vladimir Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky ( – 14 April 1930) was a Russian poet, playwright, artist, and actor. During his early, Russian Revolution, pre-Revolution period leading into 1917, Mayakovsky became renowned as a prominent figure of the Ru ...

, who had been staying with Khurgin in New York, and was thrown into gloom by his death. According to Mayakovsky's biographer: "He never wrote a line about Khurgin's death. He could not tell the truth and he did not want to lie."

References

* Isaac Deutscher, ''The Prophet Armed: Trotsky: 1879-1921''

External links

biography
(in Russian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sklyansky Russian revolutionaries Ukrainian revolutionaries Ukrainian Jews Jewish socialists 1892 births 1925 deaths Accidental deaths in New York (state) Jewish Soviet politicians Boating accident deaths Old Bolsheviks People of the Russian Civil War Russian Constituent Assembly members