Fyodor Andreyevich Sergeyev (, ; March 19, 1883 – July 24, 1921), better known as Comrade Artyom (), was a Russian

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 ...

revolutionary,

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

politician, agitator, and journalist. He was a close friend of

Sergei Kirov Sergei Mironovich Kirov ( né Kostrikov; 27 March 1886 – 1 December 1934) was a Soviet politician and Bolshevik revolutionary whose assassination led to the first Great Purge. Kirov was an early revolutionary in the Russian Empire and mem ...

and

Joseph 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 Secreta ...

. Sergeyev was an ideologist of the

Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic The Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic or Donetsk–Kryvyi Rih Soviet Republic (russian: Донецко-Криворожская советская республика , translit = Donetsko-Krivorozhskaya sovyetskaya respublika, ) was a se ...

Early life

Fyodor Artyom was born in the village of Glebovo, Fatezhsky Uyezd,

Kursk Governorate Kursk Governorate ( rus, Ку́рская губе́рния, r=Kúrskaya gubérniya) was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, located in European Russia. It existed from 1796 to 1928; its seat was in the city of ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

near the city of

Fatezh Fatezh (russian: Фате́ж) is a town and the administrative center of Fatezhsky District in Kursk Oblast, Russia, located on thUsozha River north of Kursk, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: 4,959 (1897). History and ety ...

to a family of peasants. His father Andrey Arefyevich Sergeyev was a contractor to a construction porter, who in 1888 moved the family to

Yekaterinoslav Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper R ...

. In 1901 Fyodor finished studies at the Yekaterinoslav

realschule ''Realschule'' () is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola' ...

. He went on to attend the Imperial Moscow Technical College. Sergeyev joined the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP; in , ''Rossiyskaya sotsial-demokraticheskaya rabochaya partiya (RSDRP)''), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or the Russian Social Democratic Party, was a socialist po ...

and became interested in revolutionary thinking, adopting the nickname 'Artyom'.Fried, Eric, 'Sergeyev, Fedor Andreyevich (1883–1921)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/sergeyev-fedor-andreyevich-8386/text14723, accessed 27 October 2011.

Party career

In 1901, Artyom was arrested for taking part in a student demonstration, and spent four months in Voronezh prison. After his release, he emigrated to Paris, where he studied at the 'Russian Higher Free School'. From 1902 he was a member of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, later remaining with the

faction of the party. He returned to Russia in 1903, and was a prominent party agitator in Yekaterinoslav, where he moved from factory to factory, finding work as a stoker. In 1905, he moved to

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Perm, where he was arrested again. After nearly three years in prison, he was deported to

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...

. In 1910 he escaped through Korea and Japan to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Australia where he organized the Union of Russian Emigrants. In 1912 Sergeyev receiving a British citizenship was a chief-editor of "Echo of Australia" and was better known as "Big Tom". He joined the

Australian Socialist Party Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

and was involved in trade-unionist opposition to the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

. In 1917, after the February revolution, he returned to Russia, becoming a leader of the Bolshevik faction in the Kharkiv council. In October 1917 he was organizer of a military coup-d'etat in Kharkiv and the whole Donets basin region. At the 1st congress of Soviets in Ukraine he was elected to the Central Executive Committee of Ukraine and later appointed the Ukrainian Narkom of Trade and Industry. In 1918, while Ukraine was under German occupation, Artyom was a chairman of the Sovnarkom of the unrecognized Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic in Ukraine and Narkom of Public Economy. His actions secured the nationalization of industrial centers concentrated in the

eastern Ukraine Eastern Ukraine or east Ukraine ( uk, Східна Україна, Skhidna Ukrayina; russian: Восточная Украина, Vostochnaya Ukraina) is primarily the territory of Ukraine east of the Dnipro (or Dnieper) river, particularly Khark ...

. Sergeyev became one of the organizers of Ukrainian Central Military-Revolutionary Committee in resistance to the

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...

and Kaledin's Cossacks. On March 27 he organized the Donetsk Army by the order of

Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko Vladimir Alexandrovich Antonov-Ovseenko (russian: Влади́мир Алекса́ндрович Анто́нов-Овсе́енко; ua, Володимир Антонов-Овсєєнко; 9 March 1883 – 10 February 1938), real surna ...

, however by the end of April 1918 that army was integrated into the 5th Army of

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

headed by

Kliment Voroshilov Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov (, uk, Климент Охрімович Ворошилов, ''Klyment Okhrimovyč Vorošylov''), popularly known as Klim Voroshilov (russian: link=no, Клим Вороши́лов, ''Klim Vorošilov''; 4 Februa ...

Political career

In 1919, when Ukraine was under communist rule again, Artyom was appointed People's Commissar for Agitation and Propaganda, but later in the year he was transferred to Bashkiria (modern name

Bashkortostan The Republic of Bashkortostan or Bashkortostan ( ba, Башҡортостан Республикаһы, Bashqortostan Respublikahy; russian: Республика Башкортостан, Respublika Bashkortostan),; russian: Респу́блик� ...

), as Chairman of the Society for Aid to Bashkiria. He was therefore one of the first Bolsheviks to hold power in a predominantly Moslem part of the former Russian empire. In April 1920, he was again elected chairman of the Donetsk Provincial Executive Committee. From March 1919 to March 1920 he was a candidate member of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (b). At the 9th and 10th congresses of the RCP (b), he was elected a member of the Central Committee. From November to December 1920 Artyom was executive secretary of the Moscow Committee of the RCP (b), then chairman of the Central Committee of the All-Russian Union of Miners and simultaneously a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

Death

Fyodor Sergeyev died in 1921 during the test of the Aerowagon and was buried in Mass Grave No. 12 of the

Kremlin Wall Necropolis The Kremlin Wall Necropolis was the national cemetery for the Soviet Union. Burials in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis in Moscow began in November 1917, when 240 pro-Bolshevik individuals who died during the Moscow Bolshevik Uprising were buried in ma ...

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːətʲ) is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical bui ...

, Moscow. The city of

Bakhmut Bakhmut ( uk, Ба́хмут, ) is a city in the Donbas and the administrative centre of Bakhmut Raion in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest Euro ...

(now in Ukraine), former center of Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic, was renamed in his honor as Artemivsk in 1924. His infant son Artyom Fyodorovich was adopted by

. On 15 May 2015

President of Ukraine The president of Ukraine ( uk, Президент України, Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, condu ...

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko ( uk, Петро́ Олексі́йович Пороше́нко, ; born 26 September 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. Poroshenko se ...

signed a bill into law that started a six-month period for the removal of communist monuments and the mandatory renaming of settlements with a name related to

Communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society ...

.Poroshenko signed the laws about decomunization

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukra ...

. 15 May 2015Poroshenko signs laws on denouncing Communist, Nazi regimes

Interfax-Ukraine The Interfax-Ukraine ( uk, Інтерфакс-Україна) is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian independent news agency founded in 1992. The company does not belong to the Russian news corporation Interfax Information Services. The company pub ...

. 15 May 20Goodbye, Lenin: Ukraine moves to ban communist symbols

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

(14 April 2015) Hence in February 2016 the city of Artemivsk returned to its original name: Bakhmut. Artemivsk of Luhansk region is named in honor of Artem.Petro Tronko: ''Istoriya mist i sil Ukrainskoi RSR. Luhanksa oblast''. (Kiev 1968). P. 651

In fiction

Thomas Keneally Thomas Michael Keneally, Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and actor. He is best known for his non-fiction novel ''Schindler's Ark'', the story of Oskar Schindler's rescu ...

's novel The People's Train, the lead character, Artem — aka "Tom" — Samsurov, is loosely based on the life of Sergeyev.

References