Jūlijs Daniševskis
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Jūlijs Kārlis Daniševskis (, Karl Yuri Hristianovich Danishevsky; 15 May 1884,
Doblen County Dobele county (, , ) was a historic county of the Courland Governorate and of the Republic of Latvia. Its capital was Dobele (''Doblen''). History The Captaincy of Doblen () was founded in 1617 as a subdivision of the Duchy of Courland and Se ...
– 8 January 1938,
Kommunarka shooting ground The Kommunarka firing range (), former dacha of secret police chief Genrikh Yagoda, was used as a burial ground from 1937 to 1941. Executions may have been carried out there by the NKVD during the Great Terror and until the war started; altern ...
,
Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast (, , informally known as , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). With a population of 8,524,665 (Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census) living in an area of , it is one of the most densely populate ...
), alias Hermanis, was a Latvian
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 ...
and professional revolutionary.


Early life

Daniševskis was born into a prosperous peasant family in Latvia. Having becoming involved in revolutionary circles as a teenager, he took 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 ...
, after which he had to flee to Russia to escape the punitive expedition sent to reconquer Latvia for the
Tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...
. In June 1907, he was elected the sole Latvian representative on the Central Committee 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)). in 1907–1914, he based at different times in St Petersburg, Baku, Tiflis, Warsaw, Riga, Latvia, and Moscow. In 1914, he was sentenced to exile for life in
Narym Narym (, Southern Selkup dialect for ''swamp'') is a village ('' selo'') in Parabelsky District of Tomsk Oblast, Russia, located on the banks of the Ob River near its confluence with the Ket River, from the village of Parabel. The village ...
, but escaped in January 1917. After 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 ...
, Daniševskis was a member of the Russian Bureau of the Central Committee of the
Social Democracy of the Latvian Territory The Communist Party of Latvia (, LKP) was a political party in Latvia. History Latvian Social-Democracy prior to 1919 The party was founded at a congress in June 1904. Initially the party was known as the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party ...
. In May, he returned to Latvia, where he was one of the editors of the Bolshevik newspapers "Tsinya" ("Struggle") and "Soldier's Truth" and led revolutionary agitation among the workers and Latvian riflemen. He remained in
Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...
when it was overrun by the German army in 1917, going underground in order to carry out agitation among the soldiers of the occupying army. He and
Jukums Vācietis Jukums Vācietis (; – 28 July 1938) was a Latvian and Soviet military commander. He was a rare example of a notable Soviet leader who was not a member of the Communist Party (or of any other political party), until his demise during the Great ...
created and led the Latvian Division, which played a major role in suppressing the revolt by the
Left Socialist-Revolutionaries The Party of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries-Internationalists () was a revolutionary socialist political party formed during the Russian Revolution. In 1917, the Socialist Revolutionary Party split between those who supported the Russian Pro ...
in
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, ...
. Afterwards, he was appointed a member of the Revolutionary War Council on the Eastern Front 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 ...
. In January–May 1919, Daniševskis was the deputy leader of the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic under
Pēteris Stučka Pēteris Stučka, sometimes spelt Pyotr Stuchka; ( – 25 January 1932), was a Latvian jurist and communist politician, leader of the pro-Bolshevik puppet government in Latvia during the 1918–1920 Latvian War of Independence, and later a stat ...
's leadership. From July 1919, he took part in planning and conducting operations against the
White armies The White movement,. The old spelling was retained by the Whites to differentiate from the Reds. also known as the Whites, was one of the main factions of the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. It was led mainly by the right-leaning and conserva ...
of General
Yudenich Nikolai Nikolayevich Yudenich (Russian: Николай Николаевич Юденич; – 5 October 1933) was a commander of the Russian Imperial Army during World War I. He was a leader of the anti-communist White movement in northwester ...
, General
Denikin Anton Ivanovich Denikin (, ; – 7 August 1947) was a Russian military leader who served as the acting supreme ruler of the Russian State and the commander-in-chief of the White movement–aligned armed forces of South Russia during the Ru ...
, Admiral
Kolchak Kolchak, Kolçak or Kolčák is a surname from Turkish ''wikt:kolçak, kolçak''. Notable people with the surname include: * Alexander Kolchak (1874–1920), Russian naval commander, head of anti-Bolshevik White forces *Erkan Kolçak Köstendil, Tu ...
and Baron
Wrangel Wrangel or Wrangell is a Germanic surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Wrangel family, or Wrangell, a Baltic German noble family, including a list of notable family members *Basil Wrangell (1906–1977), Italian film and television ...
. He was one of the organizers of the
Red Terror The Red Terror () was a campaign of political repression and Mass killing, executions in Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia which was carried out by the Bolsheviks, chiefly through the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police ...
in the Crimea. He described the role of the punitive organs of revolutionary power as the first chairman of the Revolutionary Military Tribunal of the RSFSR:
Military tribunals are not and should not be governed by any legal norms. These are punishing bodies created in the course of the most intense revolutionary struggle.
In 1920, he participated in the negotiations that ended the war with Poland. In 1921, Daniševskis was appointed secretary of the Siberian bureau of the
Russian Communist Party Communist Party of Russia might refer to: * Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, founded in 1898 – the forerunner of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) * Communist Party of the Soviet Union, formally established in 1912 and known origina ...
. In 1922, he was appointed Head of the North Timber Trust. In 1923, he signed
the Declaration of 46 ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
, which implied that he sympathised with
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 ...
in the power struggle that followed
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 ...
's fatal illness, but he not only avoided backing the opposition, but pleaded for a meeting with
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 ...
so that he could explain away his actions. It was eventually granted and he declared afterwards "Stalin has forgiven me". In 1932–1936, he was Deputy People's Commissar of the Forestry Industry of the USSR.


Arrest and death

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 ...
, as a part of the so-called " Latvian Operation", he was arrested by 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 ...
on 16 July 1937. After being convicted by the Military College of the Supreme Court of the USSR on 8 January 1938, on charges of "participation in the counterrevolutionary terrorist organisation", Daniševskis was shot on 8 January 1938, at the
Kommunarka shooting ground The Kommunarka firing range (), former dacha of secret police chief Genrikh Yagoda, was used as a burial ground from 1937 to 1941. Executions may have been carried out there by the NKVD during the Great Terror and until the war started; altern ...
, near Moscow. He was rehabilitated on 18 July 1956 by the Military College of the Supreme Court of the USSR.


Personality

Simon Liberman, a
Menshevik 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 ...
who worked for the North Timber Trust, wrote that:


Family

His son, Sigismund Karlovich Danishevsky (April 7, 1920 -?), fought in World War II and later became a specialist in the creation and use of high-temperature thermocouples.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daniševskis, Jūlijs 1884 births 1938 deaths Members of the Central Committee of the 4th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party Members of the Central Committee of the 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party Candidates of the Central Committee of the 8th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) People from Zemgale People from Courland Governorate Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Old Bolsheviks Latvian communists Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic people All-Russian Central Executive Committee members Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union members Latvian Operation of the NKVD Great Purge victims from Latvia People executed by the Soviet Union by firearm Soviet rehabilitations Soviet bankers