use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = , burial_place = , burial_coordinates = , monuments = , nationality =

Polish Jew The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...

, other_names = , siglum = , citizenship = , education = , alma_mater = , occupation =

Editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

, years_active = 1902–1935 , era = , employer = , organization = , agent = , known_for = , notable_works = , style = , height = , television = , title = , term = , predecessor = , successor = , party =

Universalists Universalism is the philosophical and theological concept within Christianity that some ideas have universal application or applicability. A belief in one fundamental truth is another important tenet in universalism. The living truth is seen ...

(1920–1921) , otherparty = Moscow Federation of Anarchist Groups (1917–1919) , movement =

Anarchist communism Anarchist communism is a far-left political ideology and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private real property but retention of personal property and collectively-owned items, goods, and ser ...

, opponents = , boards = , criminal_charges =

Anti-Soviet agitation Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda (ASA) () was a criminal offence in the Soviet Union. Initially, the term was interchangeably used with counter-revolutionary agitation. The latter term was in use immediately after the October Revolution of 1917 ...

, criminal_penalty = , criminal_status = , spouse = , partner = , children = , parents = , mother = , father = , relatives = , family = , callsign = , awards = , website = , module = , module2 = , module3 = , module4 = , module5 = , module6 = , signature = , signature_type = , signature_size = , signature_alt = , footnotes = German Karlovich Askarov (1882–1935) was a Polish–Jewish

anarchist communist Anarchist communism is a Far-left politics, far-left political ideology and Anarchist schools of thought, anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property, private real property but retention ...

. First exposed to anarchist communist ideas during his studies in Ukraine, he was arrested and imprisoned for his activism during the

Russian Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

. He then spent some years editing newspapers in exile in France, where he adopted an anti-syndicalist position. He moved to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

following 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 ...

of 1917 and joined the Moscow Federation of Anarchist Groups, editing its newspaper ''

Anarkhiia ''Anarkhiia'' was Russian language, Russian weekly, then daily newspaper published by the Moscow Federation of Anarchist Groups. It was edited by German Askarov. It was first launched in September 1917, published from the headquarters of the MFAG i ...

'' before its suppression by 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 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 ...

progress, Askarov grew increasingly sympathetic towards the Bolsheviks and became a leading figure of Soviet anarchism, founding the organisation of

in 1920. He was arrested and imprisoned again in the wake of the

Kronstadt rebellion The Kronstadt rebellion () was a 1921 insurrection of Soviet sailors, Marines, naval infantry, and civilians against the Bolsheviks, Bolshevik government in the Russian port city of Kronstadt. Located on Kotlin Island in the Gulf of Finland, ...

but was released in 1924 and permitted limited room to carry out peaceful anarchist activism. Following

Joseph Stalin's rise to power Joseph Stalin, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1952 and Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1941 until his death in 1953, governed the country as a dictator from the late 1920s until his dea ...

, Askarov was again arrested for

anti-Soviet agitation Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda (ASA) () was a criminal offence in the Soviet Union. Initially, the term was interchangeably used with counter-revolutionary agitation. The latter term was in use immediately after the October Revolution of 1917 ...

and disappeared in the

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

during the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

Biography

Early life

Askarov was born Herman Iakobson () into a

Polish-Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...

family on 24 June 1882, in

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

. He graduated from school in the Ukrainian city of

Nizhyn Nizhyn (, ; ) is a city located in Chernihiv Oblast of northern Ukraine along the Oster River. The city is located north-east of the national capital Kyiv. Nizhyn serves as the capital city, administrative center of Nizhyn Raion. It hosts the ...

in 1902. By this time, he was already an

and established an anarchist group in the city the following year. By the outbreak of the

1905 Revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

, he had enrolled in

Kyiv University The Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (; also known as Kyiv University, Shevchenko University, or KNU) is a public university in Kyiv, Ukraine. The university is the third-oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and ...

and joined the South Russian Group of Anarchist-Communists, for which he distributed propaganda amongst his fellow students. After serving a prison sentence for his activities, he went into exile, first in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, then in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Exile

In 1907, he established the Paris-based émigré magazine ''Anarkhist'', which he edited, under the pseudonym "Oskar Burrit". In the pages of the magazine, he penned a series of articles that were fiercely critical of syndicalism, although he took a more moderate approach than many of his fellow anarchist communists. He at first distinguished between

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

reformist Reformism is a political tendency advocating the reform of an existing system or institution – often a political or religious establishment – as opposed to its abolition and replacement via revolution. Within the socialist movement, ref ...

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s (), which he felt were trying to reconcile the forces of labour and capital; and the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

syndicates A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest. Etymology The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French language, Fren ...

(), which remained loyal to the goal of overcoming both the state and private property. But he also cautioned the syndicates from repeating the mistakes of the

International Workingmen's Association The International Workingmen's Association (IWA; 1864–1876), often called the First International, was a political international which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, social democratic, communist, and anarchist g ...

(IWA) and upholding a form of

authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...

centralism Centralisation or centralization (American English) is the process by which the activities of an organisation, particularly those regarding planning, decision-making, and framing strategies and policies, become concentrated within a particular ...

, which he felt would open their ranks to politicians and union officials, diluting their anarchist character. He encouraged anarcho-syndicalists to ostracise

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

politicians and instead draw their membership entirely from the working class, proposing the formation of underground unions that would "declare an ''unrelenting war'' against

authority Authority is commonly understood as the legitimate power of a person or group of other people. In a civil state, ''authority'' may be practiced by legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government,''The New Fontana Dictionary of M ...

, always and everywhere." By 1909, ''Anarkhist'' was forced to cease publication due to a lack of funds, although Askarov continued to collaborated on other emigrant anarchist periodicals and co-edited an

anti-militarist Antimilitarism (also spelt anti-militarism) is a doctrine that opposes war, relying heavily on a critical theory of imperialism and was an explicit goal of the First and Second International. Whereas pacifism is the doctrine that disputes (especi ...

newspaper together with

Errico Malatesta Errico Malatesta (4 December 1853 – 22 July 1932) was an Italian anarchist propagandist, theorist and revolutionary socialist. He edited several radical newspapers and spent much of his life exiled and imprisoned, having been jailed and expel ...

and

Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis Ferdinand Jacobus Domela Nieuwenhuis (31 December 1846 – 18 November 1919) was a Dutch socialist politician and later a social anarchist and anti-militarist. He was a Lutheran preacher who, after he lost his faith, started a political figh ...

Revolutionary activities

Following the

of 1917, Askarov moved to Moscow, where the Moscow Federation of Anarchist Groups had

occupied ' ( Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October ...

the Merchants' House and renamed it the "House of Anarchy". Although open to syndicalists and individualists, the Federation's membership consisted primarily of anarchist communists, with Askarov himself being brought on as editor of the organisation's newspaper ''

''. 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 ...

and the ratification of the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), by which Russia withdrew from World War I. The treaty, whi ...

, Russian anarchists quickly became dissilusioned with the government of

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 ...

and the Moscow Federation began establishing armed units known as the

Black Guards Black Guards () were armed groups of workers formed after the February Revolution and before the final Bolshevik suppression of other left-wing groups. They were the main strike force of the anarchists. They were created in the Summer of 1917 i ...

. When the Guards began carrying out unilateral

expropriations Eminent domain, also known as land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation, is the compulsory acquisition of private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and t ...

, ''Anarkhiia'' repudiated such actions and declared the prohibition of unilateral action by Black Guardsmen. But this had already proved too much for the Bolshevik government, which launched a raid on the House of Anarchy, shutting down ''Anarkhiia'' and suppressing the Moscow Federation after a battle with the Black Guards. In early 1919, Askarov and fellow anarchist communists Iosif Bleikhman and Vladimir Barmash attempted to heal the rift between them and the syndicalists, coming together with them to form the "Moscow Union of Anarcho-Syndicalists-Communists". From its magazine ''Trud i Volia'', the nascent Moscow Union launched a polemic against the Bolshevik government and appealed for

direct action Direct action is a term for economic and political behavior in which participants use agency—for example economic or physical power—to achieve their goals. The aim of direct action is to either obstruct a certain practice (such as a governm ...

against the authoritarian and bureuacratic state system. By May 1919, the group was suppressed and its magazine shut down after publishing its sixth issue.

Soviet anarchism

As the

progressed, many anarchist communists came to fear the prospect of a victory by the

White Army The White Army, also known as the White Guard, the White Guardsmen, or simply the Whites, was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and Anti-Sovietism, anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. T ...

and a debate broke out over whether to support the Bolshevik government. While a minority of more militant anarchist communists maintained their hostility to the Bolsheviks, the majority resolved to support or even join the Communist Party. Prominent anarchist communists such as Apollon Karelin and Askarov himself were brought around to this position, even becoming members of the

All-Russian Central Executive Committee The All-Russian Central Executive Committee () was (June – November 1917) a permanent body formed by the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies (held from June 16 to July 7, 1917 in Petrograd), then became the ...

. Together with

Abba ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...

and Wolf Gordin, Askarov formed the

. As editor of the organisation's periodical ''Universal'', he advocated for supporting 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 ...

and ending any hostilities with the government, maintaining that a temporary dictatorship of the proletariat was a necessary step in the transition towards a

stateless society A stateless society is a society that is not governed by a state. In stateless societies, there is little concentration of authority. Most positions of authority that do exist are very limited in power, and they are generally not perman ...

. Nevertheless, following the outbreak of the

, many of the Soviet anarchists found themselves supporting the uprising and denouncing the government's repression of it. Another wave of political repression was subsequently unleashed against the anarchists. In November 1921, the Universalists were raided and their newspaper was shut down. Despite being a member of the Moscow Soviet, Askarov was arrested and charged with

. On 21 January 1922, he was imprisoned in a

labour camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see British and American spelling differences, spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are unfree labour, forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have ...

Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near its mouth into the White Sea. The city spreads for over along the ...

, where a week later he participated in a two-week long hunger strike, followed by another week-long hunger strike a month later. Following a successful petition, in April 1922, he was transferred back to Moscow, where his case was re-examined and many of the charges dropped, replacing his sentence with exile to Vyatka for 2 years. Following the end of the civil war, many of the Soviet anarchists were released from their sentences, while being kept under police surveillance, with some peaceful anarchist activity being given room to operate during the period of the

New Economic Policy The New Economic Policy (NEP) () was an economic policy of the Soviet Union proposed by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 as a temporary expedient. Lenin characterized the NEP in 1922 as an economic system that would include "a free market and capitalism, ...

. On 5 January 1924, Askarov was released and he returned to Moscow, where he participated in various cultural-educational associations, including the work of the Kropotkin Museum. In 1927, he was permitted by the Moscow Soviet to organise a public protest against the American government's execution of

Sacco and Vanzetti Nicola Sacco (; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrants and anarchists who were controversially convicted of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parm ...

Repression and disappearance

After

and the implementation of

totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public s ...

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 ...

, the Soviet anarchists were once again politically repressed. Askarov quickly found himself unemployed and, on 14 September 1930, he was arrested once again. He attempted to prove his innocence of anti-Soviet activities and reaffirmed his support for the government, declaring it impossible for him to work within the anarchist movement as it was incompatible with the work of the Communist Party. He was released two days later and, on 13 January 1931, the

Joint State Political Directorate The Joint State Political Directorate ( rus, Объединённое государственное политическое управление, p=ɐbjɪdʲɪˈnʲɵn(ː)əjə ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əjə pəlʲɪˈtʲitɕɪskəjə ʊprɐˈv ...

(OGPU) terminated its case against him. In 1932, he returned to editorial work at the magazine ''Inostrannaya Kniga'' and later worked as an economist at the Tsentrozhilsoyuz. On 13 January 1935, Askarov and other Muscovite anarchists were arrested en masse, on charges of anti-Soviet agitation. During the investigation, the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

found that anarchists had continued meeting at Askarov's flat to carry out propaganda against the government, which they claimed Askarov had compared to a

fascist dictatorship A right-wing dictatorship, sometimes also referred to as a rightist dictatorship or right-wing authoritarianism, is an authoritarian or sometimes totalitarian regime following right-wing policies. Right-wing dictatorships are typically characteri ...

. On 17 March 1935, the NKVD sentenced him to 5 years in a correctional labour camp, where he disappeared from record. Askarov was one of many anarchists that disappeared in the

during the

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Askarov, German 1882 births 1937 deaths Anarchism in Ukraine Anarchists from the Russian Empire Anarcho-communists Anti-Stalinist left Editors from the Russian Empire Enforced disappearances in the Soviet Union Great Purge victims from Poland Jewish anarchists Jewish communists Polish anarchists Polish communists Polish editors Polish Gulag detainees Revolutionaries of the Russian Revolution Soviet anarchists Soviet editors Soviet Jews Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv alumni