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Fyodor Ilyich Dan (; 19 October O.S. 7 October">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 7 October1871 – 22 January 1947), original surname Gurvich, was a Russian political activist and journalist who helped found the Mensheviks">Menshevik The Mensheviks ('the Minority') were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903. Mensheviks held more moderate and reformist ...

faction of the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party (RSDWP) or the Russian Social Democratic Party (RSDP), was a socialist political party founded in 1898 in Minsk, Russian Empire. The ...

Background

Fyodor Dan was born to a Jewish family in St. Petersburg, where his father owned a pharmacy. From 1889 to 1895 he studied at the Imperial University of Dorpat. In 1895 he graduated from the medical faculty of Yuryev University (now University of Tartu) and became a doctor. He participated in the

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

movement from 1894Jewish Telegraphic Agency
''Fyodor Dan, Social Democrat Leader, Dies in New York.''
JTA Daily News Bulletin, January 23, 1947.

Career

Dan was a lifelong socialist activist and journalist. He was a member of the St. Petersburg Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class and was one of the organizers of the textile workers' strike. In 1896 he was arrested and deported for 5 years to the Vyatka province.

Menshevism

In the summer of 1901 he emigrated to Berlin, where he joined the

Iskra ''Iskra'' (, , ''the Spark'') was a fortnightly political newspaper of Russian socialist emigrants established as the official organ of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). History ''Iskra'' was published in exile and then smuggl ...

assistance group. On his return, he joined the

in 1902 and went to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

for their Second Congress in 1903. Dan aligned himself with

Julius Martov Yuliy Osipovich Tsederbaum (24 November 1873 – 4 April 1923), better known as Julius Martov, was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and a leader of the Mensheviks, a faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). A close ...

who wanted to have a larger party of activists, rather than

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 ...

's conception of a smaller party of professional revolutionaries. In 1904 he wrote the first official history of the early years of the RSDLP. Dan helped Martov form the Mensheviks, returning to

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in 1912. He was an active member of the irregular freemasonic lodge, the Grand Orient of Russia's Peoples. From 1913 he worked legally in Russia. Editor of the newspaper Golos Sotsial-Demorata and was a member of the Menshevik Central Committee. In 1915 he was arrested and exiled to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. He was pardoned and mobilized as a military doctor with the outbreak of WWI.

Russian Revolution

After the

February Revolution of 1917 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 two revolutions which took place in Russia in 1917. The main ...

he became an ideologist of "revolutionary defencism". One of the most notable figures of the period, he was a member of the

Executive Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

of the Petrograd Soviet and the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the 1st convocation. After 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 ...

he worked as a doctor. At the 7th (December 1919) and 8th (December 1920) All-Russian Congresses of Soviets, he was a speaker on behalf of the Mensheviks.

Exile

Dan was arrested on the order of the Soviet authorities in 1921 and after a year in prison was sent into exile on charges of being an "enemy of the people". In 1923 he participated in the creation of the Socialist Workers' International. In the same year he was deprived of Soviet citizenship. After the death of Julius Martov in 1923, until 1940, he headed the Foreign Delegation of the Menshevik faction of the RSDLP. When the Soviet Union was attacked in 1941, Dan gave his support to the country. In his book ''The Origins of Bolshevism'' (1943) he argued that Bolshevism was the carrier of

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

, whilst still arguing for political liberalisation in the Soviet Union.

Personal life

Fyodor Dan was married to Martov's sister Lydia Cederbaum. Their daughter Anna died in infancy.

Death

Dan left France during the

Second World War 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 ...

for refuge in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He died in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on January 22, 1947.

Works

* ''F. I.'' Two years of wanderings (1919-1921) / F. I. Dan. - Berlin, 1922 .-- 268 p. * ''Dan F.I.'' The origin of Bolshevism: To the history of democratic and socialist ideas in Russia after the liberation of the peasants / F.I. Dan. - New York: New Democracy, 1946 .-- 491 p. * Fedor Ilyich Dan. Letters (1899-1946) / Selected, provided with notes and an outline of the political biography of Dan B. Sapir. - Amsterdam, 1985. * Fedor I. Dan und Otto Bauer. Briefwechsel (1934-1938). - Frankfurt; New York, 1999.

References

External links

Fedor Il'ich Dan, ''Account of British Workers' Delegation to Moscow'', 1920

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dan, Fyodor 1871 births 1947 deaths American people of Russian-Jewish descent Jewish socialists Members of the Grand Orient of Russia's Peoples Mensheviks Politicians from Saint Petersburg people of the Russian Revolution Russian Jews Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Soviet emigrants to the United States Members of the Central Committee of the 1st Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party Members of the Central Committee of the 4th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party