Jan Ernestovich Sten (Russian: Ян Эрнестович Стэн, Latvian: Jānis Stens; 21 March 189920 June 1937) was a Soviet Communist Party functionary and specialist in

Marxist philosophy Marxist philosophy or Marxist theory are works in philosophy that are strongly influenced by Karl Marx's Historical materialism, materialist approach to theory, or works written by Marxists. Marxist philosophy may be broadly divided into Wester ...

Early career

Born into a peasant family in modern-day Latvia, Jan Sten joined 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 a teenager, in 1914, shortly before taking up a place at a teachers' seminary in

Valmiera Valmiera () is the second largest city of the historical Vidzeme region, Latvia, with a total area of . As of 2002, Valmiera had a population of 27,323, and in 2020, it was at 24,879. It is a Administrative divisions of Latvia, state city, and ...

. In 1917, when Latvia was overrun by the German army, he was evacuated to

Syzran Syzran ( rus, Сызрань, p=ˈsɨzrənʲ) is the third largest city in Samara Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of Saratov Reservoir of the Volga River. Population: History Founded in 1683 as a fortress, Syzran grew into an importa ...

After graduating, in 1919, he fought in 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 ...

. In 1921, he was one of the original batch of students enrolled in the

Institute of Red Professors The Institute of Red Professors of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) () was an institute of graduate-level education in the Marxist social sciences located in the Orthodox Convent of the Passion, Moscow. History It was founded in February 1 ...

, and graduated from its philosophy department in 1924, after which he taught at Moscow State University and served on the editorial board of the magazine ''

Under the Banner of Marxism ''Under the Banner of Marxism'' (, ) was a Soviet Union, Soviet philosophical and socio-economic journal published in Moscow from 1922 to 1944. It was published monthly, except for 1933–1935, when it was published bi-monthly. History In a lett ...

''. From 1924 to 1927, he was head of the propaganda department of

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 ...

. He was a member of the

Central Control Commission of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Central Control Commission (, ''Tsentral'naya Kontrol'naya Komissiya'') was a supreme disciplinary body (since 1934 within the Central Committee) of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, also known as the ''Party Control Commission'' (193 ...

; from 1927 to 1928, he was deputy head of the propaganda department of the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union 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 ...

. From 1928 to 1930, he was deputy director of the Marx-Engels Institute.

Stalin's tutor

According to Yeveny Frolov, an

Old Bolshevik The Old Bolsheviks (), also called the Old Bolshevik Guard or Old Party Guard, were members of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917. Many Old Bolsheviks became leading politi ...

who survived the purges:

Opposition and execution

It can be assumed that Jan Sten privately sided with

Nikolai Bukharin Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (; rus, Николай Иванович Бухарин, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪdʑ bʊˈxarʲɪn; – 15 March 1938) was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and Marxist theorist. A prominent Bolshevik ...

in his opposition to the campaign to force the Soviet Union's rural population onto collective farms. Although he did not express his opposition openly, he was dismissed from his posts in 1930. He then joined the conspiratorial group led by

Martemyan Ryutin Martemyan Nikitich Ryutin (; 13 February 1890 – 10 January 1937) was a Russian Marxist activist, Bolshevik revolutionary, and a political functionary of the Russian Communist Party. Ryutin is best remembered as the leader of a pro-peasant polit ...

who plotted to remove Stalin from office, and was openly calling for "the liquidation of Stalin and his clique". He was also a member of a secret oppositional group which included Sergey Syrtsov and Vissaron Lominadze, this group later joined a larger oppositional bloc which was dissolved in early 1933. He was arrested in October 1932, held for two months in

Butyrka prison 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 Uni ...

, then deported to

Akmolinsk Astana is the capital city of Kazakhstan. With a population of 1,423,726 within the city limits, it is the second-largest in the country after Almaty, which had been the capital until 1997. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim ...

, in Kazakhstan. He was permitted to return to Moscow in 1934, after making an admission of error, and was employed on the ''

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; , ''BSE'') is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Great Russian Enc ...

''. He was re-arrested on 3 August 1936, and during the first of the Moscow Show Trials on 20 August, 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 him as one of the conspirators who had been plotting against Stalin. He was shot on 20 June 1937.

Personality

Bukharin's widow, Anna Larina, described Sten as "an independent-minded party man who always looked down on Stalin from a position of superior intellect" adding "There was something majestic in the proud bearing of this Latvian with his expressive, intelligent face, Socratic brow, and shock of white hair." Jan Sten was posthumously rehabilitated in August 1988 during the

Perestroika ''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...

References

External links

"Hegel and Stalinism: The murder of Jan Sten"
''The Charnel-House'', 13 August, 2024. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sten, Jan 1899 births 1937 deaths People from Cēsis county Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Old Bolsheviks Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Right Opposition Latvian Marxists Soviet Marxists Latvian revolutionaries Comintern people Institute of Red Professors alumni Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Great Purge victims from Latvia Soviet rehabilitations