Mikhail Solomonovich Boguslavsky (Russia: Михаил Соломонович Богуславский) (1 May 1886 – 1 February 1937) was Russian revolutionary and politician, who was tried and executed as a former supporter of

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 ...

Biography

The son of a poor Jewish tailor from a village in

Poltava Poltava (, ; , ) is a city located on the Vorskla, Vorskla River in Central Ukraine, Central Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Poltava Oblast as well as Poltava Raion within the oblast. It also hosts the administration of Po ...

province, Ukraine, he left school at the age of 12 to work in a printing house in

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, and then

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

. He was arrested for the first time in 1904, in Kharkov, for organising a printers' union. In 1905 he joined the Jewish Socialist Party. Repeatedly arrested. He conducted party work in Kharkov, Nikolaev and

Kremenchuk Kremenchuk (; , , also spelt Kremenchug, ) is an industrial city in central Ukraine which stands on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. The city serves as the administrative center of Kremenchuk Raion and Kremenchuk urban hromada within ...

. He 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, ...

in March 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 ...

, and was one of the leading figures in bringing communist rule to Ukraine he joined the RSDLP (b) 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 ...

, as secretary of the Central Committee of the Ukrainian soviets, and a member of the board People's Commissariat of Finance, and as a leader of red Guard detachments. In 1920-21, he was chairman of the Printers' union. From 1922, he was a member of the Moscow City Council. In 1924, after the death of

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 ...

, he was appointed chairman of the 'small council' of the

Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was the government of Soviet Russia between 1917 and 1946. It was established by the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers', and Peasant ...

. In October 1923, Boguslavsky 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 ...

, and from then supported Trotsky and the left opposition, against the regime of

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 ...

. He was expelled from the communist party of the Soviet Union at its Fifteenth Congress, in December 1927, and deported to

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 1,633,595, making it the most populous city in Siber ...

, where he was appointed a member of the Siberian Planning Commission. In November 1929, he signed a collective letter renouncing the opposition. His party membership was reinstated in 1930. In 1932, he was appointed head of a mining equipment plant in Novosibirsk. Boguslavsky was arrested on 5 August 1936, just before the start of the great Moscow show trials, and after just nine days in the hands of his interrogators, began to confess to trumped up charges of sabotage and terrorism. In January 1937, he appeared at the second Moscow show trial, alongside

Yuri Pyatakov Georgy Leonidovich Pyatakov (; ; 6 August 1890 – 30 January 1937) was a Ukrainian revolutionary and Soviet politician. He was a leading Bolshevik in Ukraine during and after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Born in Kiev Governorate, Pyatakov wa ...

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 ...

and 14 others, and was sentenced to death on 30 January. He was shot two days later. In September 1987, the entire trial was dismissed as a fabrication, and Boguslavsky was rehabilitated.

Family

Boguslavsky's brothers, Reuben and Lev, were shot, respectively, in 1937 and 1938. His son, Adolf Mikhailovich, was shot on 13 July 1937. His second wife, Tatyana Hanina, was sentenced in 1938 to eight years in the labour camps. His daughter from the first marriage, Rebekka, was arrested in December 1937, and also sentenced to eight years. She was released in 1945.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boguslavsky, Mikhail 1886 births 1937 deaths 20th-century Russian politicians Soviet Jews Jewish socialists Jews executed by the Soviet Union Members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union executed by the Soviet Union Deputies of Mossoviet Soviet Trotskyists