Isaak Khristoforovich Lalayants (pseudonyms: ''Columbus, Izarov, Insarov'' et al.; – 14 July 1933) was a Russian

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 ...

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, ...

and comrade-in-arms 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 ...

. He was a member 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 ...

(RSDLP) since 1898 and member of its Central Committee from 1905 to 1906.

Early youth

Isaak Lalayants was born in to an

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

family in the town of Kizlyar, in

Terek Oblast The Terek Oblast was a province (''oblast'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917), Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, roughly corresponding to the central part of Russia's North Caucasian Federal District. Тhe ''оblast'' was created ...

. After learning initial Armenian literacy, he is sent to

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

, where he enters the first class of the

Realschule Real school (, ) 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''), F ...

. During the transition to second grade, he was transferred to the

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

real school, where he graduated in 1889. In Kazan, Lalayants got acquainted with the circle of the prominent Russian Marxist

Nikolai Fedoseev Nikolai Yevgrafovich Fedoseyev (; May 9 1871, O.S 27 April">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S 27 AprilNolinsk – July 4

.S 22 June .S may refer to: * .S (file extension), used for assembler source code files * Dot-S Dot-S (ドッツ, styled as .S) also known as Dot-Pin is a toy, similar to a Lite-Brite, created in 2005 by Japanese company Tomytec. The toys allow for the ...

1898, Verkhoyansk) was a pioneer of Marxism in the Russian ...

, who made a very strong impression on him. Lalayants subsequently writes that Fedoseev possessed a strong and deep mind, that he was "a man with brilliant talents both in the field of theory and practice". In the years 1888–1889, Lalayants joined the Marxist circle of Fedoseev, under whose leadership he began to study Marxist literature. He studied at the Kazan Imperial University, but was expelled in 1889 after being arrested for participating in the revolutionary movement. He was deported from Kazan with an interdiction for an indefinite period to return there.In his autobiographical questionnaire, Lalayants writes that he was first arrested at 19 years old, the second time at 22 years old, the third at 29 years old, the fourth at 34 years old, the fifth at 36 years old. Legguards fettered for 10 months, until 1917 he stayed for 11 years ( GARF and SS, file 619/s, case 1651). For around two years, he stayed in different cities of Russia, serving military service in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

. In

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

he conducted social democratic propaganda in the workers' circles of Sormovo, the workshops of the Kurbatov shipping company and others. In the autumn of 1892, Lalayants returned to Kazan, continuing revolutionary propaganda in social democratic circles among students and young workers. Together with local Marxists, he studied the works of

Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''

Plekhanov and Kautsky. He also led heated discussions with the

Narodniks The Narodniks were members of a movement of the Russian Empire intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, Narodnism or ,; , similar to the ...

. Lalayants translated Engels's ''

The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State ''The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State: in the Light of the Researches of Lewis H. Morgan'' () is an 1884 anthropological treatise by Friedrich Engels. It is partially based on notes by Karl Marx to Lewis H. Morgan's book ''Anc ...

'' (1884) and Kautsky's ''The Economic Doctrines of Karl Marx'' (1887). He managed to establish contact with the publishing house J. W. H. Dietz (owned by

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...

politician Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Dietz) in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

and to receive Marxist literature from there. "I personally" writes Lalayants, "was able to receive by mail directly from Dietz from Stuttgart, also in German, ''The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State'' by Fr. Engels. Thanks to some cunning Dietz (according to my warning about our customs censorship) Engels's book was skillfully woven into some '

double-entry bookkeeping Double-entry bookkeeping, also known as double-entry accounting, is a method of bookkeeping that relies on a two-sided accounting entry to maintain financial information. Every entry to an account requires a corresponding and opposite entry to a ...

' of some Schmidt, as a result of which it slipped across our border as a completely innocent thing. The gendarmerie seized it from me at the time of my arrest, half translated by me".

Work with young Lenin

In January 1893, Lalayants was arrested again and deported to

Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

, where he spends the first days at the apartment of former

Narodnaya Volya Narodnaya Volya () was a late 19th-century revolutionary socialist political organization operating in the Russian Empire, which conducted assassinations of government officials in an attempt to overthrow the autocratic Tsarist system. The org ...

member Nikolay Dolgov, getting acquainted with Lenin and, through him, with Alexei Sklyarenko and other local Marxists. Lalayants recalls his first meeting with Lenin as follows: "The next day (after coming to Samara) I went to Dolgov's. ..Then someone knocked on the door – a young man around 22–23 years old entered. In front of me stood a man with unusual appearance, somehow immediately disposing himself. It was V. I. Ulyanov. He really impressed me then. In this twenty-three-year-old man, simplicity, sensitivity, cheerfulness and shyness, on the one hand, and solidity and depth of knowledge, ruthless logical sequence, lucidity and clarity of judgments and definitions, on the other, were combined in an amazing way. Samara immediately ceased to seem to me such a wilderness, and after that first meeting I was glad that I chose it myself". In Samara, Lalayants entered the illegal social democratic circle led by Lenin. Together with Lenin and Sklyarenko, he conducts extensive propaganda work (mainly among students and workers in railway workshops), also against the representatives of

Narodism The Narodniks were members of a movement of the Russian Empire intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, Narodnism or ,; , similar to the Ge ...

. In June 1894, Lalayants receives a sentence in the Kazan case: 10 months of

solitary confinement Solitary confinement (also shortened to solitary) is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single Prison cell, cell with little or no contact with other people. It is a punitive tool used within the prison system to ...

and 3 years of public surveillance. He was arrested and sent to

Kresty Prison Kresty (, literally ''Crosses'') prison, officially Investigative Isolator No. 1 of the Administration of the Federal Service for the Execution of Punishments for the city of Saint Petersburg (Следственный изолятор № 1 УФ� ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. Learning about the fact that Lalayants is in the "Saint Petersburg Prison for Solitary Confinement" (official name under Imperial Russia), Lenin, through the student Olga Ivanovna Chachina, establishes contact with him, sending him literature ('' The Development of the Monist View of History'' (1895) by Georgi Plekhanov, among others). "Thanks to the care of Vladimir Ilyich, I was a bit aware of at least the newly published legal literature" recalls Lalayants. Upon liberation on 24 April 1895, Lalayants meets with Lenin and goes to Moscow, where he visits Lenin's relatives. "All... evening and part of the next day," writes Lalayants, "we were always together. From the stories of V. I., I learned a lot of interesting things about the life and work of the Petersburg circles; in particular, about the clandestine literary work of Vladimir Ilyich. From his words, I could conclude that in St. Petersburg, at that time, propaganda and even agitation work was quite firmly and widely established, especially among the workers of large factories; he also talked a lot about ''Materials for the Characterization of Our Economic Development'' (collection of articles), prepared for release, and about the disputes with Struve, about his relations with him. For me, the active and leading role of Vladimir Ilyich in all these works began to appear with sufficient clarity, although he himself did not stress it at all". Lalayants leaves for

Penza Penza (, ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Penza Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Sura (river), Sura River, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Russian census, 2010 Census, Penza had ...

. In September 1895, Lenin wrote a letter to Lalayants about his return from abroad. Lalayants hastens to Moscow to meet with Lenin. Returning to Penza after his meeting, he brings with him Lenin's illegal Marxist literature of foreign publication and a copy of ''Materials for the Characterization of Our Economic Development'', which includes Lenin's work ''The Economic Content of Narodism and the Criticism of it in Mr. Struve's Book'', published under the pseudonym K. Tulin. Lenin commissions Lalayants to continue his revolutionary work in the proletarian center of

Ekaterinoslav Dnipro 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 River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

Revolutionary activity in Ekaterinoslav

Towards the end of September 1895, Isaak Lalayants moved to Ekaterinoslav with his wife and revolutionary Praskovia Ivanovna Kulyabko. On their way to Moscow, Lalayants meets with Lenin and receives a letter of recommendation from him. "On the same day," writes Lalayants, "he managed to get a letter for me to one of the responsible workers in the Ekaterinoslav Railroad Administration – this is already a part of presenting me with some earnings, which was very significant for me as someone under surveillance, moreover in a completely unfamiliar city". In Ekaterinoslav –in the large workers' center of the south of RussiaIn Ekaterinoslav and its surroundings at that time there were about 25,000 workers.– Lalayants conducted large revolutionary work among factory and railway workers. He takes an active role in the creation of the local

League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class The League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class (LSEWC) was a Marxist group in the Russian Empire. It was founded in St. Petersburg by Vladimir Lenin, Julius Martov, Gleb Krzhizhanovsky, Anatoly Vaneyev, Alexander Malchenko, P. ...

and in the preparations for the first congress of the RSDLP. In the early spring of 1897, Lalayants, together with

Ivan Babushkin Ivan Vasilyevich Babushkin () (pseudonym Nikolay Nikolaevich) (January 3, 1873 – January 18, 1906) was a Russian professional Bolshevik revolutionary. Early years Babushkin was born in the ''selo'' of Ledengskoye, Totemsky Uyezd of Vologda ...

–a faithful pupil of Lenin exiled to Ekaterinoslav–, restore local Marxist circles (Lalayants leads the Ekaterinoslav "Central Social Democratic Group", and Babushkin, the workers' group) and in December 1897 unite them in one social democratic organisation called the Ekaterinoslav League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class. For three or four years, Babushkin, Lalayants,

Grigory Petrovsky Grigory Ivanovich Petrovsky (, ; 4 February 1878 – 10 January 1958) was a Ukrainian Soviet politician and Old Bolshevik. He participated in signing the Treaty on the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Treaty of Brest-L ...

Mikhail Tskhakaya Mikhail Grigoryevich Tskhakaya ( ka, მიხეილ გრიგოლის ძე ცხაკაია, ; 4 May 1865 – 19 March 1950), also known as Barsov, was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet politician. Barsov was a senior leader i ...

, Kazymyr Adamovich Petrusevych, P. A. Morozov, and other experienced revolutionaries, under strict clandestinity, save the local social democratic organisation from failure. Comrades of Lalayants in the underground struggle characterized him as a man with great organisational talent, who managed for several years to lead the Ekaterinoslav social democrats. Through Lalayants, Babushkin and others, the Ekaterinoslav League, closely associated with the St. Petersburg League, receives literature from them and distributes it. Following the example of St. Petersburg League, the Ekaterinoslav League takes the path of transition to mass agitation; launches extensive organisational, agitation and propaganda activities among the workers, and seeks to expand its activities to neighboring cities, contributing to the emergence of social democratic circles in the

Donbas The Donbas (, ; ) or Donbass ( ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. The majority of the Donbas is occupied by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The word ''Donbas'' is a portmanteau formed fr ...

. In the publications and leaflets of the Ekaterinoslav League, widely distributed among the

proletarians The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage labor, wage-earners, those members of a society whose possession of significant Value (economics), economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a pro ...

, the League talks about the urgent needs of the workers, the need for an organised struggle against

tsarism Tsarist autocracy (), also called Tsarism, was an autocracy, a form of absolute monarchy in the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire. In it, the Tsar possessed in principle authority and ...

and

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

. Along with the St. Petersburg League, the Ekaterinoslav League is one of the first to start laying the revolutionary traditions of the mass social democratic labour movement. In March 1898, Ekaterinoslav League representative Kazymyr Petrusevych attends the first congress of the RSDLP, which forms the

. Returning to Ekaterinoslav after the congress, Petrusevych presents the resolutions of the congress to Lalayants and is arrested that same night. At a meeting of local social democrats, Lalayants reports on the first congress of the RSDLP. It is decided to reorganise the Ekaterinoslav League into the "Ekaterinoslav Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party". In January 1899, the Ekaterinoslav social democrats, addressing the Ekaterinoslav workers with a special proclamation on the occasion of the First Congress, wrote: "So, comrades, we will strive hard for the best part and we will wholeheartedly rejoice at the emergence of the workers' party as a messenger of a better future". After almost three years of staying and working in Ekaterinoslav, Lalayants goes to

and

Voronezh Voronezh ( ; , ) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects wes ...

. At the end of the summer of 1899, he returns to Ekaterinoslav and resumes his work at the local party committee. Together with Ivan Babushkin and Mikhail Tskhakaya, he conducts a struggle against the so-called "

Economists An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

" to unite local social democrats on Marxist positions. At that time, the Ekaterinoslav Committee had about 25 propaganda circles, which united up to 200 advanced workers. The committee, led by Babushkin, Lalayants, Tskhakaya, and Grigory Petrovsky, educated them in the spirit of a political struggle for the fundamental interests of the working class, and directed the strike movement.

Creation of ''Yuzhny Rabochy''

In January 1900, on the initiative of Babushkin and Lalayants, the illegal social democrat newspaper '' Yuzhny Rabochy'' (''The Southern Worker'') begins to be published, which played an important role in the development of the revolutionary workers' movement in southern Russia. The first editors of ''Yuzhny Rabochy'' are Lalayants, A. A. Mashitsky and S. K. Kharchenko. "...In January 1900, the long-awaited newspaper ''Yuzhny Rabochy'' finally came out" recalls Ivan Babushkin. "At the workers' committee meeting it was partially read. ..At the

Bryansk Bryansk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast, Russia, situated on the Desna (river), Desna River, southwest of Moscow. It has a population of 379,152 at the 2021 census. Bryans ...

factory, workers found one copy and were very surprised by the content: "Look, it's like a real newspaper! There, and even chronicles and correspondence!" And then they went to a secluded place to read the newspaper. This first newspaper remained in their memory for a long time and raised the mood, as they saw that, in spite of the arrests, the activity not only did not decrease, but, on the contrary, everything became more skillful and strong". In March 1900, Lalayants Met with Lenin in Moscow and agreed on a number of issues, including the organisation of the second congress of the RSDLP abroad. "Approximately in the middle of March," Lalayants recalls, "I think, having previously agreed, I went to Moscow, directly to the Ulyanovs'. Vladimir Ilyich and I found ourselves at home; these days he lived in Moscow, with his family, and, it seems, by special permission, since after exile he was forbidden to stay in Moscow and St. Petersburg. There is no need to say how happy it was for us to meet again after almost five years of being apart. During this time, so much accumulated about what to tell, not to mention the main reason for which I came. The two days with him and his family flew completely unnoticed for me. Vladimir Ilyich was extremely attentive to my information about the state of affairs in the south in general and especially in Ekaterinoslav".

Arrest, exile and escape from Siberia

Lalayants responds warmly to Lenin's plan for the creation of the newspaper ''

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 ...

'' and the gathering of the party around this newspaper. In April 1900, shortly after returning from a detour about the convocation of the second party congress, Lalayants is arrested and, among others, sent to

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Lukyanivska Prison Lukianivska Prison () is a famous historical prison in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, located in the central Lukianivka neighborhood of the city. It is officially known as SIZO#13 () which is a portmanteau for ''Slidchyi IZOliator'' (). Though the ...

, and then to the Moscow's Taganka and

Butyrka Butyrskaya prison (), usually known simply as Butyrka ( rus, Бутырка, p=bʊˈtɨrkə), is a prison in the Tverskoy District of central Moscow, Russia. In Imperial Russia it served as the central transit prison. During the Soviet Un ...

prisons, where he stays until the spring of 1902. In March 1902, Lalayants is sent to exile to Eastern

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 ...

, but he does not reach his destination. He stops at

Balagansk Balagansk () is an urban locality (a work settlement) and the administrative center of Balagansky District, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia.Law #49-OZ It is located on the left bank of the Angara River, downstream from Svirsk and by road northwest of ...

Irkutsk Governorate Irkutsk Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, located in Siberia. It existed from 1764 to 1926; its seat was in the city of Irkutsk. Demographics References

Irkutsk Governorate, ...

, where, thanks to the care of Lenin, he receives a passport, money, and, through

Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...

and

Vilna Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

in early July 1902, flees abroad to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and then

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 ...

. "I stayed in Samara for about a day," recalls Lalayants. "

Maria Ilyinichna Ulyanova Maria Ilyinichna Ulyanova (; – 12 June 1937) was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary, politician, and the younger sister of Vladimir Lenin and Anna Ulyanova. Biography Maria Ilyinichna Ulyanova was born on 6 February 1878 in Simbirsk and ...

met me there, who gave me additional instructions, instructions, etc. on the journey ahead to the border and abroad; she also arranged for me to spend the night somewhere, I remember, at a

dacha A dacha (Belarusian, Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and rus, дача, p=ˈdatɕə, a=ru-dacha.ogg) is a seasonal or year-round second home, often located in the exurbs of former Soviet Union, post-Soviet countries, including Russia. A cottage (, ...

near Samara, with her good friends. However there, it seems, I did not meet with anyone, for purely conspiratorial reasons. In Saratov, where I went by boat from Samara to meet there with my wife and continue the journey together with her, I did not stay long. I managed, however, to dress in a "liberal" suit just in case, and almost the same day I went from there together with Praskovia Ivanovna directly to Vilna". During all these years, Lenin had been tirelessly following Lalayants's life and revolutionary activities, and is in correspondence with him.The letters between Lenin and Lalayants have been lost. On 18 May 1897, in a letter from the village of

Shushenskoye Shushenskoye ( rus, Шу́шенское, p=ˈʂuʂɨnskəjɛ) is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Shushensky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located at the confluence of the Yenisei and Big ...

to Moscow, to his mother Maria Alexandrovna and sister Maria Ilyinichna, Lenin asks: "What news is there of Columbus?One of Isaak Lalayants's pseudonyms. I have heard that he is married and is ill. Do you know anything about him?" In October of the same year, in a letter to his mother, Lenin says: "The doctor (from the north) asks me to give you his regards.Lenin refers to Alexei P. Sklyarenko. (I correspond with him and Columbus fairly regularly)".

Activity in Geneva

On request of the party and personally Lenin, Lalayants moves to

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 ...

, where he continues his revolutionary work. He knows that in the near future the editorial board of ''Iskra'' and Lenin would move from London to Geneva. "In those years," writes Lalayants, "in Geneva there lived a mass of Russians of all ages and all views, ranging from radical democratic to the

socialist revolutionary Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revolut ...

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

and social democratic elements. Of course, the young people were predominantly socialist, predominantly revolutionary. The abundance of Russians (more precisely, the Russians) gave even a special imprint to the entire city, and the 'Russians' (the Swiss-Genevans poured out all natives of Russia, regardless of their nationality, into one bunch: the 'Russians'), once in Geneva, they began to feel 'at home'. It was not for nothing that some jokers suggested renaming Geneva to "the city of Geneva, the Swiss province"... On the other hand, it was already at that time that Geneva became the largest and most vibrant center of Russian foreign political life in comparison with other European cities. While in Geneva, Lalayants gets acquainted with the latest Marxist literature, reads ''Iskra'' and '' Zarya'', studies Lenin's book '' What Is To Be Done?'' (1902), often meets and talks with Georgi Plekhanov, and is in correspondence with Lenin. "Lenin's book ''What Is To Be Done?''," writes Lalayants, "twenty-two already published numbers of ''Iskra'', two books of the magazine ''Zarya'' and some other things, and, finally, the mentioned project of the party program of ''Iskra'' and ''Zarya'', on one hand. On the other hand, quite frequent conversations with Plekhanov on various topics and the correspondence with Lenin gave me the opportunity, before being separated from living life for more than two years, in a relatively short time, to become familiar with the state of affairs, to get acquainted in detail with the direction of ''Iskra'' and their views on the program, tactics and organization". At Lenin's suggestion, Lalayants and Praskovia Kulyabko are admitted to the League of Russian Revolutionary Social Democracy Abroad, joining the Leninist group of assistance to the ''Iskra'' organisation. In Geneva, Lalayants is in charge of the printing house of ''Iskra'', he leads circles among the Russian student colony and the ''Iskra'' support groups. "In the winter and spring of 1902–03," writes Lalayants, "I had several circles of self-education and propaganda, consisting mainly of Russian students, a very revolutionary and very sympathetic social democracy of the ''Iskra'' trend...". Lenin is very interested in the activities of Lalayants and gives him instructions. In a letter to Plekhanov, dated 19 December 1902, Lenin expresses his concern over a member of the printing house: "LevinsonMember of the ''Iskra'' printing-shop staff. In 1904–1905, a member of the

RSDLP(b) 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 ...

is threatening to leave because Lalayants was made manager of the printery and he has quarreled with him. I wrote Lalayants asking him to "smooth" things out. Perhaps you too could help to calm down Levinson and impress it on Lalayants to handle him "with care". I am sending to the printers (to Lalayants) the beginning of the translation of Kautsky and a popular pamphlet on army life. Please look through it at least in proofs". In a letter dated 28 January 1903, Lenin asks through Plekhanov that Lalayants or someone else translates and sends to London relevant materials from the Armenian Marxist newspaper of Leninist-Iskraist trend ''Proletariat'', organ of the League of Armenian Social Democrats. "I am sending you ''Proletariat'' as well." writes Lenin, "Please ask Lalayants or somebody else ''to translate in full everything'' in it about

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

and ''

federalism Federalism is a mode of government that combines a general level of government (a central or federal government) with a regional level of sub-unit governments (e.g., provinces, State (sub-national), states, Canton (administrative division), ca ...

'' and send it to me ''as soon as possible''. An item on this should be published without fail (the piece sent in needs editing and for this we must have the text)".After reading the translation, Lenin writes an article on the matter called ''On the Manifesto of the Armenian Social-Democrats'', published in No. 33 of ''Iskra'', on 1 February 1903. After the second congress of the RSDLP, Lenin, through a confident and himself, returning to Geneva, informs Lalayants about the work of the congress and gives him a number of instructions; to go to Russia and to acquaint the Central Committee and the Southern Committees in detail about the whole course of events in connection with the split between

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, ...

and

Mensheviks 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 ...

at the congress. "There is no need to say with what intense, unflagging attention I followed all the way to the very end of the story of Vladimir Ilyich" recalls Lalayants.

Return to Russia

In this difficult period for the party, Lalayants, along with

Rosalia Zemlyachka Rosalia Samoilovna Zemlyachka, née Zalkind (; 20 March 187621 January 1947) was a Russian Revolution, Russian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet politician of Ukrainian origin. As a revolutionary, she was best known by the alias Zemlyachka, t ...

Nikolay Bauman Nikolay Ernestovich Bauman (; – ) was a Russian revolutionary of the Bolshevik, Bolshevik Party. His death in a struggle with a royalist upon his release from Taganka Prison in 1905 made him one of the first martyrs of the revolution, and ...

Elena Stasova Elena Dmitriyevna Stasova (; 15 October Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 3 October1873 – 31 December 1966) was a Russian Soviet people">Soviet revolutionary, Old Bolshevik and an early le ...

Maxim Litvinov Maxim Maximovich Litvinov (; born Meir Henoch Wallach-Finkelstein; 17 July 1876 – 31 December 1951) was a Russian Empire, Russian revolutionary and prominent Soviet Union, Soviet statesman and diplomat who served as Ministry of Foreign Aff ...

Sergey Ivanovich Gusev Sergei Ivanovich Gusev (AKA "Gussev") (Russian: Серге́й Ива́нович Гу́сев) (real name - Yakov Davidovich Drabkin: Russian — Я́ков Дави́дович Дра́бкин) (1 January 1874 – 10 June 1933) was a Russian re ...

, Lydia Mikhailovna Knipovich, and other professional Bolshevik revolutionaries, endure on their shoulders the main burden of the struggle against the Mensheviks in Russia. Lalayants returned to Russia immediately after the congress. Via

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, Paris and

, he goes to

, where he meets with

Gleb Krzhizhanovsky Gleb Maksimilianovich Krzhizhanovsky (; 24 January Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 12 January1872 – 31 March 1959) was a Soviet Union">Soviet scientist, statesman, revolutionary, Old Bol ...

, member of the Central Committee, and the Ulyanov family. "The mission then was assigned to me by Lenin and Lengnik,Friedrich Wilhelmovich Lengnik (1873–1936), Soviet party and state leader, organiser of professional education in the

RSFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

. Member of the RSDLP since 1893." writes Lalayants, "to immediately go to Russia, to acquaint the Central Committee as fully as possible on the entire course of events that took place before the opening of the League Congress, during the Congress itself and in the early days of its closure, and in every possible way insist on the speedy departure from Geneva of Krzhizhanovsky and yet another member of the Central Committee. My departure from Geneva took place four or five days after the end of the Congress of the League and the turn of Plekhanov, on November 4 or 5, 1903". "The late Knunyants (Ruben-Rusov)," continues Lalayants, "one of the Caucasian delegates at the second congress of the party, supplied me with his "own" passport in the name of some Persian subject named Jean Jacob Leon... At the address given to me, I went to meet Krzhizhanovsky. I told him in a few words about the purpose of my visit. We agreed to meet that same evening at the meeting together with the other available members of the Central Committee, at which I would give detailed information. After parting till evening, I went with the proper precautions to search for the Ulyanov family, who also lived in Kiev at the time, and with whom I had not seen each other for about four years (since my talks with Vladimir Ilyich in Moscow in March 1900 about the then proposed convocation of the second congress). I found only Maria Alexandrovna and Anna Ilyinichna at home. After a lively conversation, parting, Anna Ilyinichna and I meet again before my departure from Kiev to go to the meeting place, at her suggestion, at Vladimir Cathedral. In the evening, as was agreed with Krzhizhanovsky, I arrived at the designated place; there were five or six people at that time completely unknown to me. I spoke in the most detailed manner about the recent events abroad, answered a number of questions asked to me in connection with my information, constantly telling me again and again the importance and the need for the speedy departure to Geneva of two members of the Central Committee, including necessarily Krzhizhanovsky." On the advice of Lenin, in February 1904, the agents of the Central Committee of the party

Vatslav Vorovsky Vatslav Vatslavovich Vorovsky (; 27 October ld Style and New Style dates, O.S. 15 October1871 – 10 May 1923) was a Russian Bolsheviks, Bolshevik revolutionary, literary critic, journalist, and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Soviet dipl ...

, Lalayants, Kulyabko and K. O. Levitsky, create the Southern Bureau of the Central Committee of the RSDLP in

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

, which unites the work of the Odessa, Ekaterinoslav, and Nikolayev committees and establishes links with the Northern Bureau. The Southern Bureau launches an active campaign for the convocation of the third RSDLP congress. Lalayants is at the center of this all-party work. He takes an active part in the compilation, printing and distribution of the detailed resolution of the Odessa Committee of the RSDLP, which sharply condemns "both the nature of the struggle of the Mensheviks and the methods used by them in this struggle". It is pointed out that the only way out of this 'intolerable situation' is "the fastest convocation of the Third Congress, which alone can put an end to this completely abnormal state". The Odessa Committee urges the rest of the party's committees to adhere to its demand for the convocation of the Third Congress. In June 1904, Lalayants is again arrested and in January 1905 exiled to the

Vologda Governorate Vologda Governorate (), also known as the Government of Vologda, was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR, which existed from 1796 until 1929. ...

, but again flees and arrives at the end of spring in St. Petersburg. Lalayants was an active participant in 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 ...

. After the Third Party Congress, he is co-opted into the Bolshevik Central Committee, and on the instructions of Lenin, he unites a whole series of Party committees and instructs them. In 1906, as a member of the Central Committee, Lalayants leads a great deal of work in military organisations. After a short stay abroad (at the beginning of 1906), he works in St. Petersburg for the Narva outpost; as a member of the Petersburg Committee, he edits its organ-newspaper ''Kazarma''. Lalayants is one of the main organisers and chairman of the first conference of the military organisations of the party in Tammerfors (Tampere), where he makes a report on the role of the party in the armed uprising. Lenin closely follows the progress of the conference, giving a positive assessment of his work.

Exile to Irkutsk and illness

In December 1906, Lalayants was arrested and after two years of

pre-trial detention Pre-trial detention, also known as jail, preventive detention, provisional detention, or remand, is the process of detaining a person until their trial after they have been arrested and charged with an offence. A person who is on remand is ...

, he was convicted to 6 years of

hard labour Penal labour is a term for various kinds of forced labour that prisoners are required to perform, typically manual labour. The work may be light or hard, depending on the context. Forms of sentence involving penal labour have included inv ...

, serving in the St. Petersburg remand prison and in the

Shlisselburg Fortress The Oreshek Fortress (; Schlüsselburg Fortress, ) is one of a series of fortifications built in Oreshek (now known as Shlisselburg) on Orekhovy Island in Lake Ladoga, near the modern city of Saint Petersburg in Russia. The first fortress was bui ...

. At the end of 1913, he is exiled to an eternal settlement in Eastern Siberia: the Biryulskaya Volost of Verkholensky District,

Irkutsk Governorate, ...

. In the fall of 1914, Lalayants settles 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 ...

, where he lives until 1921. Hard labour has made him severely ill, and has since withdrawn from the party and politics. On a letter to

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

, dated 20 October 1921, Lenin wrote: At the end of 1921, Lenin summons Lalayants to Moscow, showing concern for him and paying him much attention.

Return to politics and final years

From 1922, Lalayants worked in the Main Political Administration of the

People's Commissariat for Education The People's Commissariat for Education (or Narkompros; , directly translated as the "People's Commissariat for Enlightenment") was the Soviet agency charged with the administration of public education and most other issues related to culture. In 1 ...

. In the last years of his life he writes his memoirs of Lenin and the party, from the very beginning of the birth of Bolshevism, to the struggle of Lenin's leadership for the creation and consolidation of party organisations. He retired in 1929. Isaak Khristoforovich Lalayants died on 14 July 1933 after a long illness. In a pamphlet published in ''

Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most in ...

'', with the signature of Maria Ilyinichna Ulyanova,

Dmitry Ilyich Ulyanov Dmitri Ilyich Ulyanov (; – 16 July 1943) was a Russian and Soviet physician and revolutionary, the younger brother of Aleksandr Ulyanov and Vladimir Lenin. As a medical student at Lomonosov Moscow State University, he became involved with ...

, V. Vishnyak and other old Bolsheviks, it was written: "For a number of years since the beginning of the 1890s, Lalayants was one of Lenin's comrades-in-arms and friend. ...Both at work, and in prison, exile and hard labour, Lalayants enjoyed universal respect and love. Strict to others, he was especially strict towards himself. It can be said that before the revolution he was one of Lenin's best students and associates. Prison and penal servitude undermined the health of Lalayants and he had to quit his job soon. Lalayants's name is connected with the pre-revolutionary struggle of the Bolsheviks against the Narodniks and against the Mensheviks for the Leninist line. His great erudition, his solid theoretical godliness, his ardent revolutionary temperament put him in the forefront of revolutionary Social-Democracy". Isaak Lalayants is buried at the

Novodevichy Cemetery Novodevichy Cemetery () is a cemetery in Moscow. It lies next to the southern wall of the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist site. History The cemetery was designed by Ivan Mashkov and inaugurated ...

Memorials

* A street in Kizlyar, Lalayants's birthplace, bears his name. * Another street in

Makhachkala Makhachkala, previously known as Petrovskoye (1844–1857) and Port-Petrovsk (1857–1921), or by the local Kumyk language, Kumyk name of Anji, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Dagestan, Russia. ...

, capital of

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; ; ), officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Fede ...

, is also named after him.

Works

* ''At the Origins of Bolshevism'' (1930)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lalayants, Isaak 1870 births 1933 deaths Members of the Central Committee of the 1st Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Switzerland Old Bolsheviks People from Kizlyar People from Terek Oblast People of the Russian Revolution of 1905 Revolutionaries from the Russian Empire Russian communists Russian exiles in Siberia Russian Marxists Revolutionaries of the Russian Revolution Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Soviet politicians Inmates of Kresty Prison Prisoners of Shlisselburg fortress