Fritz Platten (8 July 1883 – 22 April 1942) was a Swiss

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

politician and one of the founders of the

Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...

Early life

Platten was born in the village of Tablat, now part of St. Gallen, on 8 July 1883, to an Old Catholic family. He was the son of Maria Strässle and Peter Platten, a German carpenter and innkeeper. Having moved to

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

in 1892, he worked as an apprentice locksmith from 1898 to 1902. After working various jobs, Platten took part in the First Russian Revolution in

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, in 1906, for which he was jailed until escaping to Switzerland in 1908.

Career

Platten began his political career as a member of the

Social Democratic Party of Switzerland The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (, SP; ), also called the Swiss Socialist Party (; , PS), is a List of political parties in Switzerland, political party in Switzerland. The SP has had two representatives on the Federal Council (Switzerl ...

, of which he was secretary between 1915 and 1919. In the 1917 federal election he was elected as a member of the National Council for the

canton of Zürich The canton of Zurich is an administrative unit (Swiss canton, canton) of Switzerland, situated in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of (as of ), it is the most populous canton of Switzerland. Zurich is the ''de facto'' Capi ...

, where he served until 1923. In 1921, along with other dissidents from the left-wing of the Social Democrats, Platten was one of the founding members of the Communist Party of Switzerland. After the collapse of the

Second International The Second International, also called the Socialist International, was a political international of Labour movement, socialist and labour parties and Trade union, trade unions which existed from 1889 to 1916. It included representatives from mo ...

, Platten joined the Zimmerwald Movement. Fritz Platten is mostly known for having been the main organizer of

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 ...

’s return trip from exile in Switzerland back home to

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after the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

. Due to the

First World War 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 ...

, the trip was not easily arranged, but Lenin and his company traveled through

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in a sealed train car. They then took the

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Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and were greeted in

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by the Swedish communist leaders Otto Grimlund, Ture Nerman, Carl Lindhagen and Fredrik Ström, who together with Platten had helped plan the trip. The train journey then continued through northern Sweden and

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back to Russia and St Petersburg. Platten und Lenin in Moskau 1919

Platten participated in the foundation of the

, and, as a representative of the Swiss Communist Party, spent much time in the

Soviet Union 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 ...

. Platten was present when Lenin’s car was attacked in Petrograd on 14 January 1918 (1 January O.S.). The two were riding in the back of the car after having given a public speech at Mikhailovsky Manege. When the shooting started "Platten grabbed Lenin by the head and pushed him down. ... Platten’s hand was covered in blood, having been grazed by a bullet as he was shielding Lenin." Fritz

Death

Platten became a victim of the Stalinist purges of the 1930s. He was arrested in 1938 and moved to a prison camp near Nyandoma in 1939, where he was shot on 22 April 1942.Kevin McDermott ''The Comintern: A History of International Communism from Lenin to Stalin'', 1996. Page 146. He was rehabilitated in 1956.

Personal life

Platten was married to Berthe Zimmermann (1902-1937), also from Switzerland. In 1935, she was a top functionary for the OMS in Moscow as head of the courier section at the headquarters of the OMS or International Liaison Department, the most secret section of the Comintern.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Platten, Fritz 1883 births 1942 deaths Politicians from St. Gallen (city) Social Democratic Party of Switzerland politicians Swiss communists Members of the National Council (Switzerland) Comintern people Great Purge victims People executed by the Soviet Union by firearm Swiss expatriates in the Soviet Union Swiss revolutionaries Swiss people of German descent Swiss people executed abroad Executed communists Personal staff of Vladimir Lenin