Mykhailo Yalovy () (5 June 1895 – 3 November 1937), also known under the pen name Yulian Shpol, was a Ukrainian communist

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futures studies or futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities ...

, prose writer and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

. He is considered to be one of the leading figures of the

Executed Renaissance The Executed Renaissance (), or Red Renaissance (), was a generation of Ukrainian language poets, writers, and artists of the 1920s and early 1930s who lived in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and wеre kille ...

Brief biography

Early years and the Revolution

Yalovy was born in 1895 in the village of Dar-Nadezhda, Kostiantynhrad

uyezd An uezd (also spelled uyezd or uiezd; rus, уе́зд ( pre-1918: уѣздъ), p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context () was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, the R ...

, in the

Poltava Governorate Poltava Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. It was officially created in 1802 from the disbanded Little Russia Governorate (1796–1802), Little Russia Governorate and had its capital in Polt ...

(today

Kharkiv Oblast Kharkiv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Kharkivshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in eastern Ukraine. Kharkiv borders Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the southeast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the southwest, Poltava Oblast to the w ...

), into the family of a

volost Volost (; ; ) was a traditional administrative subdivision in Kievan Rus', the Grand Duchy of Moscow, and the Russian Empire. History The '' Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary'' (1890–1907) states that the origins of the concept is unc ...

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of Printing press, automatic printing. The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as ...

. He had two brothers Kostiantyn and Hryhoriy. He obtained his general education in

Myrhorod Myrhorod (, ) is a city in Poltava Oblast, central Ukraine. It serves as the Capital city, administrative center of Myrhorod Raion. Myrhorod also hosts the administration of Myrhorod urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. It is locate ...

gymnasium in 1916. After that he enrolled in the Medical Department of the

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, ...

University of Saint Vladimir. There he completely dove into revolutionary activity, becoming a member of the

socialist-revolutionaries The Socialist Revolutionary Party (SR; ,, ) was a major socialist political party in the late Russian Empire, during both phases of the Russian Revolution, and in early Soviet Russia. The party members were known as Esers (). The SRs were agr ...

("Esery" or "SR"), one of the most influential parties of the time. After the beginning of 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 ...

he returned to Kostiantynhrad (today

Krasnohrad Berestyn (, ), formerly known as Krasnohrad () or Krasnograd, is a city in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. From 1784 to 1922, it was known as Kostiantynohrad. It serves as the administrative center of Berestyn Raion. Berestyn hosts the administration of ...

), where he headed a revolutionary committee. Later he was elected to the

Executive Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

of the Kostiantynhrad Council of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies. After the left wing of Esery split away in 1918 as a separate party of

Borotbists The Borotbists () were a left-nationalist political party in Ukraine that existed from 1918 to 1920. It is not to be confused with its Russian affiliated counterparts – the Ukrainian Party of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries ( Borbysts) and th ...

he became their one of the most well-known members. He took an active part in the group's newspapers ''Borotba'' (Struggle) and ''Selianska bidnota'' (Poor peasantry), serving as director of the latter paper. About the same time he also worked as a chief editor of ''Peasant and Worker'', the newspaper produced by the instructional-agitation train of the

All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee () was a representative body of the All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets. It was the supreme legislative, administrative, executive controlling state power of Soviet Ukraine (Ukrainian SSR) between the sessi ...

under the leadership of

Grigory Petrovsky Grigory Ivanovich Petrovsky (, ; 4 February 1878 – 10 January 1958) was a Ukrainian Soviet politician and Old Bolshevik. He participated in signing the Treaty on the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Treaty of Brest-L ...

. He conducted active underground work in Odessa and Kherson region, where he organized resistance against the German occupational forces and those loyal to the

Second Hetmanate The Ukrainian State (), sometimes also called the Second Hetmanate (), was an anti-Bolshevik government that existed on most of the modern territory of Ukraine (except for Western Ukraine) from 29 April to 14 December 1918. It was installed ...

led by

Hetman of Ukraine The Hetman of all Ukraine () was the head of state and commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian State in 1918. History The position of Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host, also known as the "Hetman of all Ukraine", was established in 1648 during the Khmel ...

Pavlo Skoropadskyi Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi (; – 26 April 1945) was a Ukrainian aristocrat, military and state leader, who served as the Hetman of all Ukraine, hetman of the Ukrainian State throughout 1918 following a 1918 Ukrainian coup d'état, coup d'éta ...

. In 1919 he visited

Halychyna Galicia ( ;"Galicia"
''

CPU(b). For some time he was located 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 ...

as a representative of the Ukrainian government. In 1921, together with Mykahilo Symenko and

Vasyl Aleshko The name Basil (''royal, kingly'') comes from the male Greek name Vassilios (, female version ), which first appeared during the Hellenistic period. It is derived from "basileus" (), a Greek word of pre-Hellenic origin, meaning "king", from whic ...

, he created the ''Strike group of poet-futurists'' in

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

. Together with Oleksa Slisarenko and Mykola Bazhan Yalovy became a member of Hart in 1925, later the same year with several members of Hart he created VAPLITE, becoming its president. In 1926 Yalovy published an article ''Saint-Petersburg's kholuystvo'' (kholuystvo is a derogatory Russian word for

ignorance Ignorance is a lack of knowledge or understanding. Deliberate ignorance is a culturally-induced phenomenon, the study of which is called agnotology. The word "ignorant" is an adjective that describes a person in the state of being unaware, or ...

) in the defense of the national Ukrainian culture that was triggered by another article of the Leningrad magazine ''Zhyzn isskustva'' (#14), ''Self-determination or chauvinism?''. On 20 November 1926 he was dismissed, together with

Mykola Khvylovy Mykola Khvylovy ( ; born Mykola Hryhorovych Fitiliov []; – May 13, 1933) was a Ukrainian novelist, poet, publicist, and political activist, one of the founders of post-revolutionary Ukrainian prose, and one of the most famous representat ...

, from the editorial board of '' Chervony Shliakh'' by the order of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (bilshovyks). Later he, Dosvitny, and Khvyliovy left VAPLITE in order to save the organization, but in the end it was forced to dissolve.

Arrest and imprisonment

Mykhailo Yalovy was arrested on the night of 12–13 May 1933 during the search of his apartment by the agents of the CPU(b) of the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

. On 31 May 1933 he was expelled from the CPU(b) on the grounds that he had ''infiltrated'' its ranks ''with the aim of creating a counter-revolutionary fascist organization that had the goal of overthrowing the Soviet government''. Yalovy was accused of spying for the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

consulate, of '' Shumskism'' (support for Ukrainian autonomy and Ukrainizaton associated with

Alexander Shumsky Alexander Yakovlevich Shumsky or Oleksandr Yakovych Shumskyi (, ; 2 December 1890 – 18 September 1946) was a Ukrainian communist and activist. He was one of the leaders of the national communism movement in Ukraine and actively supported Ukraini ...

, and of preparing to assassinate

Pavel Postyshev Pavel Petrovich Postyshev (; – 26 February 1939) was a Soviet politician, state and Communist Party official and party publicist. He was a member of Joseph Stalin's inner circle, before falling victim to the Great Purge. In 2010, a court in K ...

, the first secretary of the CPU(b). He refused to plead guilty to these crimes. Yalovy was sentenced to ten years in

labor camps A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...

(ITL, part of the

GULAG The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

Execution, burial and rehabilitation

A few years later, during the

Great Purges 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 by Leonid Nikolaev ...

, Yavlovy was summarily sentenced on 9 October 1937 at a session of the extrajudicial special

NKVD troika NKVD troika or Special troika (), in Soviet history, were the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD which would later be the beginning of the KGB) made up of three officials who issued sentences to people after simplified, speedy inve ...

of the

Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast (, ; ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). The oblast has an area of and a population of 2,000,997 (2021 Russian census, 2021 Census); up from 1,716,868 recorded in the 2010 Russian census ...

to be shot at one of the killing field-burial grounds in Karelia. The execution, a bullet to the back of the head in front of an already dug trench, took place a few weeks later on 3 November 1937 in

Svirlag Svirlag, SvirLAG (Svirskiy Lager' – Svir Concentration-Camp, , also / – ) was a Soviet forced labour camp run by NKVD's GULAG Directorate. It was located on the river Svir River, Svir (hence the name Svirskiy in Russian language, Russian) in ...

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

(

Lodeynoye Pole Lodeynoye Pole (, lit. ''the field of boats'') is a town and the administrative center of Lodeynopolsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Svir River (Lake Ladoga's basin) northeast of St. Petersburg. ...

). New data indicate that Yavlovy's final resting place may be among the thousands shot and buried at

Sandarmokh Sandarmokh (; ) is a forest massif from Medvezhyegorsk in the Republic of Karelia where an unknown number, estimated in the thousands, of victims of Stalin's Great Terror were executed. More than 58 nationalities were shot and buried there by ...

near

Medvezhyegorsk Medvezhyegorsk (; ; ) is a town and the administrative center of Medvezhyegorsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia. Population: 15,800 (1959). History Between 1703–1710 and 1766–1769, a factory was operating in the village. ...

. After Stalin's death, Yavlovy and the many thousands of other victims condemned to death by the extrajudicial troikas were rehabilitated. On 19 June 1957, the conviction was annulled by the

Military tribunal Military justice (or military law) is the body of laws and procedures governing members of the armed forces. Many nation-states have separate and distinct bodies of law that govern the conduct of members of their armed forces. Some states us ...

of the

Leningrad Military District The Order of Lenin Leningrad Military District () is a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The district was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1968. In 2010, it was merged with the Moscow Military District, the Northern ...

(LVO) due to the "lack of a crime". In December 2022 the

Fyodor Tolbukhin Fyodor Ivanovich Tolbukhin (; 16 June 1894 – 17 October 1949) was a Soviet Union, Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union. He is regarded as one of the finest Soviet generals of World War II. Born into a peasant family i ...

lane in

Kyiv 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, ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

was renamed to Mykhailo Yalovy lane.

Works

* ''Need to be chewed out''. — 1920. * (Collection of poetry) ''Tops''. — Kyiv—Moscow—Berlin: Golfshtrem, 1923. * (Comedy) ''Cathy's love, or construction propaganda''. — Kharkiv, 1928. * (Novel) ''Golden Fox-kits''. — Kharkiv: Knyhospilka, 1929. (II ed. — Kharkiv: Knyhospilka, 1930.) * Selected works / Organization, foreword, footnotes, and commentaries of Oleksandr Ushlakov. — Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2007. ()

Bibliography

* Encyclopedia of Ukrainian Studies (10 volumes) / Chief editor

Volodymyr Kubiyovych Volodymyr (, ; ) is a Ukrainian given name of Old East Slavic origin. The related Ancient Slavic, such as Czech, Russian, Serbian, Croatian, etc. form of the name is Володимѣръ ''Volodiměr'', which in other Slavic languages became Vladim ...

. — Paris, New-York: Molode Zhyttia, 1954–1989. * Maystrenko, Ivan. ''History of my generation''. Memoirs of a participant of revolutionary activities in Ukraine. — Edmonton, 1985. * Ushlakov, Oleksandr. ''Greetings, Yulian Shpol!'' («Драстуй, Юліане Шпол!») // Yulian Shpol. Selected works. — Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2007.

References

External links

Golden fox-kits at University of Toronto website

Biography at the website Library of the Ukrainian literature
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yalovy, Mykhailo 1895 births 1937 deaths People from Kharkiv Oblast People from Poltava Governorate Ukrainian communists Ukrainian male poets Futurist writers Great Purge victims from Ukraine Soviet rehabilitations Executed writers Executed Renaissance Ukrainian Gulag detainees