Mustafa Suphi or Mustafa Subhi (1883 – 28 January 1921) was a Turkish revolutionary and

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

during the period of

dissolution of the Ottoman Empire The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1922) was a period of history of the Ottoman Empire beginning with the Young Turk Revolution and ultimately ending with the empire's dissolution and the founding of the modern state of Turkey. The ...

Early life

Suphi was born in 1883 in

Giresun Province Giresun Province (Greek language, Greek : Κερασούντα, ; ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province of Turkey on the Black Sea coast. Its adjacent provinces are Trabzon Province, Trabzon to the east, Gümüşhane Province, Gümüşhane to the ...

, in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, now located in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. He was educated in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

and

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of an ...

before he attended

Galatasaray High School Galatasaray High School (, ), established in Istanbul in 1481, is the oldest and Selective school, highly selective high school in Turkey. It is also the second-oldest Turkish educational institution after Istanbul University, which was establi ...

. He studied political science in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where he was also a correspondent of the Turkish newspaper '' Tanin''. He returned to Turkey in 1910, where he edited the newspaper ''Ifham''. He also gave lectures on

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

and

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

. In 1913 he was accused of involvement in the assassination of Mahmud Şevket Pasha and sentenced to fifteen years of exile in Sinop. There, he contributed articles about western philosophy to the periodicals ''Ictiha'' and ''Hak''. However, in 1914 he escaped from Sinop and fled to Russia, where, following the outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Russian authorities regarded him as a prisoner of war and sent him into exile in the Ural region.

Communist activism

In 1915, he was in the Urals, where he joined the

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, ...

Party. In July 1918, he helped organise the Congress of the Turkish Left Socialists, held in Moscow, and in November, he became involved in

Muskom Muskom was the ''Central Commissariat of Muslim affairs in Inner Russia and Siberia'' set up by the Bolsheviks in January 1918 as part of Narkomnats. Mullanur Waxitov was appointed as chair, although he was not a member of the Communist Party of the ...

. He was also elected to the ''Central Committee of the All Russia Muslim Workers'' section of Narkomnats. He acted as

Mirsäyet Soltanğäliev Mirsaid Khaydargalievich Sultan-Galiev (, ; ; 13 July 1892 – 28 January 1940), also known as Mirza Sultan-Galiev, was a Volga Tatars, Tatar Bolsheviks, Bolshevik revolutionary who rose to prominence in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, R ...

's secretary. In 1918 he founded '' Yeni Dünya'' (New World) in Moscow and used it to popularise the foundations of scientific socialism to Turkish prisoners-of-war. He was chairperson of the Turkish Section of Eastern Publicity Bureau, and in 1919 attended the First Congress of the

Third International 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 Internation ...

as the delegate for Turkey. At the First Congress of Communist Party of Turkey, held in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

on 10 September 1920, Suphi was elected its chairman and went to

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. He was one of the 15 communists who went to Turkey to join the

Turkish War of Independence , strength1 = May 1919: 35,000November 1920: 86,000Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225August 1922: 271,000Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarih ...

. After encountering hostility in

, the communists tried to return to Baku. However, they were murdered by Sailor Yahya after they had set sail from

Trabzon Trabzon, historically known as Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. The city was founded in 756 BC as "Trapezous" by colonists from Miletus. It was added into the Achaemenid E ...

on the night of 28 January 1921. He was possibly murdered by a group of supporters of

Enver Pasha İsmâil Enver (; ; 23 November 1881 – 4 August 1922), better known as Enver Pasha, was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Turkish people, Turkish military officer, revolutionary, and Istanbul trials of 1919–1920, convicted war criminal who was a p ...

from Trabzon, apparently because of the fear that Suphi might expose Enver Pasha's plans of political activities in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and his ultimate intention of using the Bolsheviks to regain power in Turkey once the

Turkish National Movement The Turkish National Movement (), also known as the Anatolian Movement (), the Nationalist Movement (), and the Kemalists (, ''Kemalciler'' or ''Kemalistler''), included political and military activities of the Turkish revolutionaries that resu ...

were defeated. :''There is need to provide army service area in order to establish links between the partisan troops in various locations of Anatolia and there is need to establish Military-Revolution Committee so as to strengthen this movement. This organization is going to be independent; but our organization will guide it. All the mission of Military-Revolution Committee of Turkey will concentrate on the direction of progression and preservation of the movement of social revolution both in Soviet Russia and worldwide. It will prove useful for Anatolian movement against English – French occupiers, for the spread of this movement throughout the Caucasus and for the organization of Soviet power in those places. Military-Revolution Committee of Turkey taking control of all the duties in Anatolia by means of making use of the first opportunity, will build Socialist Turkey and run towards the aim of joining hands with neighbour Soviet Russia.'' (M. Suphi; Moscow, 28 October 1919)

Death

Suphi was killed by Sailor Yahya together with his communist comrades while traveling to

Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ), historically Batum or Batoum, is the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), second-largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast ...

in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

on 28 January 1921.

Sources

Biography
a
Marxists Internet Archive

References

External links