Kazimierz Cichowski (; 7 December 1887 — 26 October 1937) was a Polish-Soviet communist activist and politician,

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, ...

revolutionary and nobleman. Along with Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas, he played an important role in establishing the Soviet government in

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

and the Lithuanian–Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Biography

Cichowski was born in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski in to a family of aristocratic origin. He joined the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania in 1907. In 1907–1909 he studied at the University of Liège, and in 1910–1913 at Sorbonne University. During the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, he joined the

party and from November 1917 he was the deputy Commissar for Polish affairs of the Central Executive Committee of the Lithuanian–Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (LitBel), where he soon advanced to more prominent positions (Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Congress of Soviets). Following 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 ...

, Cichowski became a deputy People's Commissar of Nationalities for Polish affairs within the Russian Sovnarkom in December 1917. In September 1918, he became a member of the Central Committee of Communist Party of Lithuania. In 1919 Cichowski was a member of the Lithuanian Provisional Revkom led by Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas. Cichowski also was a chairman of the Vilnius City council and a teacher at the Vilnius Communist School. From 27 February 1919 to 31 July 1920, Cichowski served as a chairman of Central Executive Committee of the Lithuanian–Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. During that time he also was a member of the Central Committee of Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Lithuania and Belorussia, People's Commissar of Agriculture (May–July), and member of Defense Council of LitBel. In July–September 1919, possibly under surname of Tikhovskiy, he was a chairman the Minsk city executive committee ( ispolkom), which serves as a city governor in Belarus.City governors (since 1879) (РУКОВОДИТЕЛИ ГОРОДА (С 1879 ГОДА))
. Minsk City Executive Committee.Tsikhovskiy Kazimir Genrikhovich (Циховский Казимир Генрихович)
. Handbook on history of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union 1898–1991. As the Soviet government was "losing grip" on Lithuania during the 1919–20 Lithuanian–Soviet War, in 1919 Cichowski joined the Russian Bolsheviks Smolensk Governorate Committee becoming a member of the Russian Western Front Political detachment (Politotdel, politruk) and editing the newspaper ''Kommunist''. After the end of the Lithuanian–Soviet War in 1920 (see Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty), which saw the dissolution of LitBel, he became a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Western Ukraine, operating in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

. In 1923 Cichowski was given a three-year prison term by the Polish authorities; he was released in 1925 and joined the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Poland, becoming a member of its secretariat and the Political Bureau. In 1927–1929 he was a secretary of communist faction in the

Polish Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

. In 1929 Cichowski was arrested again and in 1930 convicted to 8 years in jail. In 1932 he was exchanged. In September 1932, he returned to 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 ...

where he began working in the Comintern (ECCI) at its Executive Committee. During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

around January–July 1937, he was in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

where he was head of the Cadres Department of the

International Brigades The International Brigades () were soldiers recruited and organized by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front (Spain), Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The International Bri ...

headquarters. In August 1937, Cichowski was recalled to Moscow, arrested in October or 21 August 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 ...

, convicted and shot.

References

External links

POLAND: Sectarians & Revisionists
''Time'' magazine, 18 March 1957. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cichowski, Kazimierz 1887 births 1937 deaths Bolsheviks Communist Party of Western Ukraine members Communist Party of Poland politicians Executed communists Executed people from Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship Great Purge victims from Poland International Brigades personnel Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (1918–19) people Lithuanian–Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic people Mayors of Minsk People from Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski People from Radom Governorate Polish Comintern people Polish emigrants to the Soviet Union Polish nobility Polish Operation of the NKVD Polish people of the Spanish Civil War Prisoners and detainees of Poland Soviet people imprisoned in Poland Polish people imprisoned in the Soviet Union Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania politicians Soviet rehabilitations University of Liège alumni