Kārlis Landers (; 5 April 1883 – 29 July 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, ...

revolutionary,

Soviet 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 ...

statesman, official of the Soviet state security of the

Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...

and

OGPU The Joint State Political Directorate ( rus, Объединённое государственное политическое управление, p=ɐbjɪdʲɪˈnʲɵn(ː)əjə ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əjə pəlʲɪˈtʲitɕɪskəjə ʊprɐˈv ...

, as well as an historian and journalist.

Early life and revolutionary career

Landers was born in the Vērgale Parish in a peasant family and was raised by his grandparents after the death of his parents at a young age. After graduating from secondary school, he started to work as a teacher. Ever since he was a teenager, Landers was sympathetic towards

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

and was involved in the

Tolstoyan movement The Tolstoyan movement () is a social movement based on the philosophical and religious views of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910). Tolstoy's views were formed by rigorous study of the ministry of Jesus, particularly the Sermon on the ...

, however, after getting arrested and spending jail time with social democrats, he was disillusioned with

Christian socialism Christian socialism is a Religious philosophy, religious and political philosophy that blends Christianity and socialism, endorsing socialist economics on the basis of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Many Christian socialists believe cap ...

and became a committed

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 ...

. In 1905, Landers 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 ...

and was involved in revolutionary activities in Latvia, Moscow,

St. Petersburg 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, ...

, and

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 ...

. He attended lectures at the Faculty of History and Philosophy of the

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

before later being expelled. In 1909 he published his three volume work called ''The History of Latvia''. He then worked as the editor of the Samara-based newspaper, Gorodskiy Vestnik.

Russian Revolution, Civil War and Red Terror

After the February Revolution, Landers became the secretary of the

Zemstvo A zemstvo (, , , ''zemstva'') was an institution of local government set up in consequence of the emancipation reform of 1861 of Imperial Russia by Emperor Alexander II of Russia. Nikolay Milyutin elaborated the idea of the zemstvo, and the fi ...

of the Western and at the same a member of the Minsk committee of the RSDLP. In October 1917 he became the Chairman of the Minsk

of Workers and Soldiers Deputies and a delegate to the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

from the Western Front. After 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 became head of the

Council of People's Commissars The Council of People's Commissars (CPC) (), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (), were the highest executive (government), executive authorities of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), the Soviet Union (USSR), and the Sovi ...

of the

Western Oblast Western Oblast () was an administrative-territorial unit (''oblast'') of the Russian SFSR from 1929 to 1937. Its seat was in the city of Smolensk. The oblast was located in the west of European Russia, and its territory is currently divided b ...

and a member of its Military Revolutionary Committee. Landers became a member of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and in 1918 he became the People's Commissar of State Control. In 1920, Landers was appointed by the Cheka for the Don region and the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...

to become head of the Special Department of the Cheka for the Caucasian Front and signed documents for the Cheka as the chief

Plenipotentiary A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of a sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the word can als ...

of the region. During his service in the Cheka he created many tribunals to carry out 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 ...

, most notably against the collaborators of

Pyotr Wrangel Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel (, ; ; 25 April 1928), also known by his nickname the Black Baron, was a Russian military officer of Baltic German origin in the Imperial Russian Army. During the final phase of the Russian Civil War, he was c ...

and the region's

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 ...

population. Although Landers himself was in the Caucasus until late 1920, the troikas he created sentenced over six thousand people to be executed.

Later life

In Moscow Landers became the head of the

Agitprop Agitprop (; from , portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', "propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in the Soviet Union where it referred to popular media, such as literatu ...

of Moscow Committee of the Russian Communist Party (b). In 1922 he was authorised by the Soviet government and became the commissioner for cooperation with foreign powers to combat the famine in Russia. From 1923 to 1925 he was a member of the board of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Trade. In 1928, Joseph Stalin who knew Landers from his work in the People's Commissariat of State Control and was his successor, became suspicious of his loyalty to the Party and his connections to internal party oppositions. He was eventually expelled from the Communist Party and lived the rest of his life receiving a personal pension. Landers remained active in scientific and literary activities. According to official Soviet newspapers, Karl Landers died on 29 July 1937 from tuberculosis, however some later sources claim he was executed 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 ...

Works

* Kārlis Landers ''Latwijas wehsture: kultur-wehsturiski apzerejumi'' 1 ''Baltijas senā wehsture. Zemes iekarošana un ordeņa laikmets'' Peterburgâ Gulbja Apgahdibâ 1908 (Latvian) * Kārlis Landers ''Latwijas wehsture: kultur-wehsturiski apzerejumi'' 2 Peterburgâ Gulbja Apgahdibâ 1908 (Latvian) * Kārlis Landers ''Latwijas wehsture: kultur-wehsturiski apzerejumi'' 3 Peterburgâ Gulbja Apgahdibâ 1909 (Latvian) * J Jankavs; Kārlis Landers ''Progresiwo demokratu sinatne latweeschu wehstures jautajumos: kritika par Landera Latwijas wehsturi'' Rigā: J. Ozolin̦a apgahdibā, 1910 (Latvian)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Landers, Karlis 1883 births 1937 deaths 20th-century Latvian historians Cheka officers Latvian journalists Latvian revolutionaries Mayors of Minsk Old Bolsheviks People of the Russian Civil War Russian Constituent Assembly members Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Soviet historians Soviet politicians Perpetrators of the Red Terror (Russia)