Ivar Tenisovich Smilga (; ; 2 December 1892 – 10 January 1937) was a Latvian

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, ...

leader, Soviet politician and economist. He was a member of the Left Opposition 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 ...

Early life

Ivar was born in Aloja in the

Governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a province (''guberniya'') and one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire, Baltic Governorate-General until 1876. Governorate of Livonia bordered Governorate of E ...

(modern

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

), to parents he described as "land-owning farmers" and "highly intellectual." His father played an active part in 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 ...

, and was elected Chairman of the Revolutionary Administrative Committee for his district. In 1906, Tenis Smilga was caught and killed by a punitive expedition sent to crush the revolt in Livonia.

Revolutionary career

Smilga joined 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) as a 14-year schoolboy, in January 1907, and was arrested for the first time during a May Day demonstration that year. In 1910, he was again arrested for taking part in a student demonstration in

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 ...

to mark the death of

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

, calling for the abolition of the death penalty, but was released after one month in prison. He was rearrested in July 1911, as a member of the illegal RSDLP organisation in the Lefortovo District, held in custody for three months, then deported to

Vologda Vologda (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the river Vologda (river), Vologda within the watershed of the Northern Dvina. Population: The city serves as ...

for three years. He returned in 1914, after the outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, and joined the

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

party committee. Rearrested in May 1915, he was sentenced to three years deportation in Yeniseysk.

Role in 1917

Freed as a result of 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 ...

, Smilga returned to Petrograd, and became a leading figure in the Bolshevik organisation in the

Kronstadt Kronstadt (, ) is a Russian administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg, port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal cities of Russia, federal city of Saint Petersburg, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg, near the head ...

naval base. In May, he was Kronstadt's delegate to the Seventh Conference of the Bolshevik faction of the RSDLP, at which, despite his being only 24 years old, former fellow Siberian exiles put him forward as a member of the nine-member Central Committee. During 1917, he was Vladimir Lenin's most consistent ally and supporter in calling for a second revolution led by the Bolsheviks. In June, Lenin and Smilga submitted their resignations from the Central Committee after the majority agreed to call off an anti-government demonstration due to be held on 10 June, but both resignations were rejected. Smilga had wanted the demonstration to escalate into a revolutionary crisis in which power would be seized by the First Congress of Soviets, then in sessions, and urged that they should not "hesitate to seize the Post Office, telegraph and arsenal, if events developed" – but the Congress, which was dominated by supporters of the Kerensky government, insisted on the demonstration being called off. During the Sixth Congress of the Bolshevik party, in August 1917, Smilga declared that the soviets had "committed suicide" by not opposing the government, and that the party should be ready to seize power alone. "No-one has the right to deprive us of this initiative if fate gives us another chance," he declared. Responding to a fellow Bolshevik who had urged caution, he said: "Let me remind him of Danton's words: 'In revolution, one needs boldness, boldness, and more boldness!" In September, Smilga led the Bolshevik delegation at the Third Regional Congress of Soviets in

Helsingfors Helsinki () is the capital and most populous city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipality, with million in the capital region and ...

(Helsinki) – the capital of

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, which was then under Russian rule – and was elected Chairman of the Regional Committee of the Soviets, a position carrying real power because of the collapse of the government authority in the wake of the

Kornilov affair The Kornilov affair, or the Kornilov putsch, was an attempted military coup d'état by the commander-in-chief of the Russian Army, General Lavr Kornilov, from 10 to 13 September 1917 ( O.S., 28–31 August), against the Russian Provisional Gov ...

. Lenin was then hiding in Helsingfors, and "entered into a sort of conspiracy with Smilga", sending a long and angry letter on 27 September complaining that their fellow Bolsheviks were "passing resolutions" instead of "preparing their armed forces for the overthrow of Kerensky." In mid-October, Smilga returned to Petrograd for the Congress of Northern Region Soviets, and stayed to help plan the Bolsheviks seizure of power. Just before the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

, he was sent back to Finland with orders to send 1500 armed sailors to Petrograd to act as reserves in case any troops from the front came to attack the city.

Political career

Smilga returned to Petrograd in January 1918, after the Bolsheviks had been routed in the brief civil war that led to the creation of an independent Finland, and served as a member of the praesidium of the Petrograd soviet and an editor of the Bolshevik newspaper ''Petrogradskaya Pravda''. He consistently backed Lenin's line over whether to sign 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 ...

, which ended the war with Germany. He was transferred to political work in the Red Army at the start of 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 ...

, and acted as a political commissar on every major front. He was chief political commissar on the southern front, for the campaign against the army of General Denikin. In January 1921, he was appointed political commissar on the Causasus front, and head of the Caucasian Labour Army.

Relations with Trotsky

During the early part of 1919, Smilga was involved in a conflict over conduct of the civil war, which saw him aligned with Iosif Stalin against

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

the People's Commissar for War and future leader of the Left Opposition. Smilga, Mikhail Lashevich and Sergei Gusev were political commissars on the Eastern Front, fighting the army of Admiral Kolchak. The military commander was Sergei Kamenev, a former Colonel in the Imperial Army. The Red Army commander in chief Ioakhim Vatzetis wanted them to halt operations once they had driven Kolchak's army east of the Urals, rather than risk pursuing him into Siberia. Trotsky supported him. Smilga, Lashevich and Kamenev insisted on continuing the offensive, which was a spectacular success. In May, Smilga was appointed head of the Political Directorate of the Red Army. With Stalin's support, he proposed that Kamenev should replace Vatzetis as commander in chief, against Trotsky's advice. After Lenin had overruled Trotsky, in July 1919, Smilga, Gusev and Kamenev joined Trotsky on the six-member Revolutionary Council of War. Reportedly, Smilga was summoned by Lenin to be warned that he could not take Trotsky's place as Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council.

Relations with Stalin

Zinoviev Sverdlov Lashevich Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets

During the war between Russia and Poland, in 1920, Smilga headed the Revolutionary Military Council of the Western Front, whose military commander was

Mikhail Tukhachevsky Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Тухачевский, Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevskiy, p=tʊxɐˈtɕefskʲɪj; – 12 June 1937), nicknamed the Red Napoleon, was a Soviet general who was prominen ...

. When the Red Army met unexpectedly strong resistance as it reached the outskirts of Warsaw, Tukhachevsky ordered the Southwestern front to turn northwards, but Stalin, who was the front's political commissar, refused, preferring to capture

Lwow Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

. At the Tenth party congress in March 1921, there was a secret session on why Russia lost the war, at which – according to Trotsky:

Post-war career

Smilga was dropped from the Central Committee in March 1921. Soon afterwards, he was appointed head of the Main Directorate for Fuel. He was also vice-chairman of the Vesenkha from 1921 to 1928, and of the

Gosplan The State Planning Committee, commonly known as Gosplan ( ), was the agency responsible for economic planning, central economic planning in the Soviet Union. Established in 1921 and remaining in existence until the dissolution of the Soviet Unio ...

from 1924 to 1926. In December 1925, he was elected a full member of the Central Committee, although in August 1925, Stalin complained about Smilga's influence in Gosplan and denounced him as a "fake economic leader." At some point in 1926, or earlier, Smilga joined the Left Opposition, led by Trotsky. As head of the fuel administration, Smilga was one of the first soviet administrators to try draw up a plan for a section of soviet industry. As a believer in planning, he complained that "some elements of the state apparatus (and the apparatus is also in large measure a heritage of the old order) are against the plan in general." In May 1926 he declared: "We must force the industrialisation of the economy. Trotsky also argued for economic planning and rapid industrialisation. Smilga acted as spokesman for the opposition on economic affairs at the crucial meeting at which Trotsky was expelled from the Central Committee. In June 1927, Smilga was dismissed, and transferred to

Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( ) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about north of Vladivostok. As of the 2021 Russian c ...

, in Siberia, more than 5,000 miles from Moscow. On the day of his departure from Moscow ... Trotskigroup640

Smilga returned to Moscow for the tenth anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution, on 7 November 1927, and organised a demonstration from his family's apartment opposite the Kremlin, hanging out portraits of Lenin, Trotsky and Zinoviev, and a banner saying "Let's Fulfill

Lenin's Testament Lenin's Testament is a document alleged to have been dictated by Vladimir Lenin in late 1922 and early 1923, during and after his suffering of multiple strokes. In the testament, Lenin proposed changes to the structure of the Soviet governing bod ...

" (in which Lenin had called for Stalin to be removed from office). After his apartment had been forcibly entered and wrecked by Stalin's supporters, he attempted to continue protesting in the street, but was attacked, and arrested. He escaped from custody later in the day. On 14 November, Smilga was expelled from the Central Committee. He was expelled from the communist party in December. In June 1928, he was sentenced for four years exile in

Minusinsk Minusinsk (; ) is a historical types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. Population: 44,500 (1973). History "About 330-200 B.C. the iron age triumphed at Minusinsk, producing spiked axes, partly bronze and ...

, in Siberia. In July 1929, along with

Yevgeni Preobrazhensky Yevgeni Alekseyevich Preobrazhensky ( rus, Евге́ний Алексе́евич Преображе́нский, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsʲejɪvʲɪtɕ prʲɪəbrɐˈʐɛnskʲɪj; – 13 February 1937) was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet ...

Karl Radek Karl Berngardovich Radek (; 31 October 1885 – 19 May 1939) was a revolutionary and writer active in the Polish and German social democratic movements before World War I and a Communist International leader in the Soviet Union after the Russian ...

, he renounced his support for the Left Opposition, citing the reason that

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 ...

's rise would have meant the application of much of the Left's recommended policies, and that the dangers the Soviet state faced, from the outside as well as from within, required their "return to the Party". About 400 other deportees followed their lead. His membership of the communist party was restored in 1930, and he was allowed to return to economic work. Trotskyist historian Pierre Broué suspected he was a member of the secret opposition bloc Trotsky, Zinoviev and

Kamenev Lev Borisovich Kamenev. ( Rozenfeld; – 25 August 1936) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. A prominent Old Bolsheviks, Old Bolshevik, Kamenev was a leading figure in the early Soviet government and served as a Deputy Premier ...

had created in 1932.

Arrest and execution

Smilga was arrested on the night of 1–2 January 1935, in the wake of

Sergei Kirov Sergei Mironovich Kirov (born Kostrikov; 27 March 1886 – 1 December 1934) was a Russian and Soviet politician and Bolsheviks, Bolshevik revolutionary. Kirov was an early revolutionary in the Russian Empire and a member of the Bolshevik faction ...

's assassination, and sentenced to five years imprisonment. He was held for months in an isolator in

Verkhneuralsk Verkhneuralsk () is a town and the administrative center of Verkhneuralsky District in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located in the upper streams of the Ural River, southwest of Chelyabinsk, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: ...

. At the first of three Moscow show trials, in August 1936, the lead defendant

Grigory Zinoviev Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev (born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky; – 25 August 1936) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. A prominent Old Bolsheviks, Old Bolshevik, Zinoviev was a close associate of Vladimir Lenin prior to ...

named Smilga as having been implicated in the 'Trotskyite-Zinovievite Terrorist Centre'. It later emerged in Trotsky's letters that Zinoviev and Trotskyists had indeed formed a secret alliance, but there was no evidence of terrorist activity in them. Unlike almost all the other eminent Old Bolsheviks named during the proceedings, he was never subjected to a public trial, suggesting that 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 ...

had not been able to break his spirit sufficiently to be able to rely on him to confess. He was sentenced to death at a closed trial on 10 January 1937 and executed the same day - one of the first prominent Old Bolsheviks to be shot without a public trial.

Personality

A scientist working in Russia in the 1920s, who had no reason to speak well of Smilga, and in face held him responsible for the execution of a group of technicians from the former Nobel company during the civil war, nevertheless believed that he should have been appointed head of Vesenkha. "He seemed to me quite superior to all other members of the Praesidium...He was well educated, with vigorous and pleasant features, and authoritative in speech and action...he impressed me favourably by his frankness and the fearless way he expressed his convictions, even when they were quite the opposite of those of his party colleagues." Viktor Serge, a fellow supporter of the left opposition, described Smilga as "a fair-haired intellectual with spectacles, a chin-beard, and thinning front, ordinary to look at and distinctly the armchair sort."

Family

Smilga's wife, Nadezhda Vasilievna Poluyan (1896-1937) was born into a

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

farming family in

Kuban Kuban ( Russian and Ukrainian: Кубань; ) is a historical and geographical region in the North Caucasus region of southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, the Volga Delta and separated fr ...

joined the Bolsheviks in 1915, and was expelled from the party, as he was, in 1928 but later readmitted. She was working as a secretary for a combine that carried out repairs in the energy industry when she was arrested on 1 July 1936. In November, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Solovketsky island. On 10 October 1937, she was arraigned before a tribunal, sentenced to death, and shot. They had two daughters, Tatyana, (1919-2014), and Natasha, born (c1921-1950). Tatyana was arrested on 11 June 1939, as a student at the Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages, and spent four years and four months in a labour camp, and was then held in administrative exile until 1953, and was rehabilitated and permitted to return to Moscow in 1956. Natasha was arrested in 1949, and exiled until 1953. Nadezhda's brother, Dmitri Poluyan (1886-1937) joined the Bolsheviks in 1904, and chaired the Tsaritsyn (Stalingrad) party committee before 1918. He worked as a journalist after 1917. Arrested on 21 December 1934, he was sentenced to five years exile in

Omsk Omsk (; , ) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia and has a population of over one million. Omsk is the third List of cities and tow ...

region. Rearrested in September 1936, he was sentenced to death on 31 July 1937 and shot the same day. His brother, Yan Poluyan (1891-1937), who worked in the energy sector, was arrested on 26 July 1937, sentenced to death on 8 October, and shot the same day. Smilga was posthumously rehabilitated in 1987.

Notes

References

External links