Grigori Naumovich Voitinsky, born Zarkhin (; 17 April 1893 – 11 June 1953) was a Soviet

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 ...

(Comintern) official. He was sent to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in 1920 as a senior advisor to contact the top prominent Chinese communists such as

Chen Duxiu Chen Duxiu ( zh, t=陳獨秀, p=Chén Dúxiù, w=Ch'en Tu-hsiu; 9 October 1879 – 27 May 1942) was a Chinese revolutionary, writer, educator, and political philosopher who co-founded the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1921, serving as its fi ...

, just before the formation of the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

(CCP). Voitinsky is considered to be the "chief architect" in founding the CCP. He was born on 17 April 1893 in Nevel to a Russian Jewish family. In 1918, he joined the

Bolshevik Party The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

. He took an active part in the Far Eastern Front in the Russian Civil War.

Work in China

In 1920, 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 ...

established the Far Eastern Bureau in

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 ...

, a branch of the Third Communist International, or the

Comintern 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 Internatio ...

. Thus he was directly responsible for managing the establishment of a communist party in the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

and other far east countries. Soon after its establishment, the bureau's deputy manager Voitinsky arrived in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

and contacted the

Li Dazhao Li Dazhao or Li Ta-chao (October 29, 1889 – April 28, 1927) was a Chinese intellectual and revolutionary who participated in the New Culture Movement in the early years of the Republic of China, established in 1912. He co-founded the Chinese Co ...

. Li arranged for Voitinsky to meet with another Communist leader,

, in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. In August 1920, Voitinsky, Chen Duxiu, Li Hanjun, Shen Xuanlu, Yu Xiusong, Shi Cuntong, and others began to establish the Comintern China Branch. The '' Shanghai Chronicle'' (not to be confused with the

Shanghai Jewish Chronicle The ''Shanghai Jewish Chronicle'' () was a Jewish newspaper operating in Shanghai, China. It was a German language newspaper that was originally published daily and later published weekly.Goldstein160 The paper opened on May 3, 1939. The German ...

) was set up in 1919 in Shanghai by Shemeshko and other Russians with

socialist 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 ...

leanings, and received financial aid from the Soviet Russian government in early 1920. In the spring of 1920, Voitinsky and his colleagues came to China on a mission to establish a communist party in China. They not only came to China in the guise of editors and reporters for the newspaper, but also set up the Comintern's East Asia Secretariat in the newspaper office. From then on, the ''Shanghai Chronicle'' became both a propaganda vehicle for the East Asia Secretariat and a cover for

Bolshevik 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, ...

activity in China. Because the newspaper staff assisted Soviet Russian and Comintern personnel stationed under cover at the newspaper in activities to establish a communist organization in China, the newspaper as a whole played a special role in the early communist movement in China. Although the ''Shanghai Chronicle'' stopped publication at the end of 1922 because Russian aid came to an end, many staff members continued to work for Bolshevism.

Later career

He worked as Comintern representative until 1926. Then worked in the Siberian government in

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

until 1929, when he moved to Moscow, where he worked in various Orientalist institutions. In 1934, he became a professor in

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

. He is considered one of the founders of Soviet

Sinology Sinology, also referred to as China studies, is a subfield of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on China. It is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of the Chinese civilization p ...

. He wrote several books about contemporary China politics. He died in 1953 during an unsuccessful surgical operation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Voitinsky 1893 births 1956 deaths Comintern people Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Delegates to the 5th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party Jewish socialists Jewish Soviet politicians People from Nevelsky Uyezd