Nikolai Nikolaevich Himmer (); commonly known as Nikolai Sukhanov () (29 June 1940) was a Russian Menshevik Internationalist and chronicler of 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 ...

. On June 29, 1940, he was convicted on false charges by the Soviet government and shot. He was rehabilitated in reputation after Stalin's death.

Life

Sukhanov was born 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 ...

. His father, of German descent, was a railway employee, and his mother a midwife. His parents split after his birth, and his mother was exiled for seven years in a sensational court case to Siberia for bigamy; in 1898 commuted into one-year prison. Himmer gave private lessons while he was at high school. Like his grandmother he was captivated by

Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using pre-reform Russian orthography. ; ), usually referr ...

and

Tolstoyanism 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 ...

. He graduated from the First

gymnasium in 1901 and left for Paris, where he attended lectures at the Russian Higher School of Social Sciences. After returning to Russia in 1903, he became a student at the Faculty of History and Philosophy at the

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

Early revolutionary activities

In 1900–1902 he traveled through Russia, and met with several revolutionaries (e.g.

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 ...

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 ...

, Martov, and

Chernov Chernov () is a Slavic surname formed from the Russian word ''Chyorny'' () meaning ''black''. The feminine form of the surname is Chernova (or Tchernova). Notable people with the surname include: * Alex Chernov (born 1938), Australian judge, Chance ...

) in Paris. In 1903 he began to study Philology and Philosophy in Moscow, and joined the

Socialist Revolutionary Party 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 Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia. The party memb ...

. Sukhanov was busy with propaganda on agrarian reform and lecturing. Following his arrest in May 1904 for being in possession of illegal literature, he was given an 18-month sentence in the Taganka Prison. After he was liberated by the crowd in October 1905, he took part in the uprising in Moscow in December. Sukhanov became a contributor to Russkoe Bogatstvo (Russian Wealth) and published (legally) two books on agricultural reform. He was involved in the Socialist Revolutionary Party and argued with the leaders how to explain the

Narodniks The Narodniks were members of a movement of the Russian Empire intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, Narodnism or ,; , similar to the ...

and

Marxism 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 conflict, ...

in the right way. He was rearrested in 1911 and sentenced to exile in Archangelsk. (In the meantime his wife left him and moved to Poland with her two sons. Sukhanov remarried Galina Flaksermann) Following his release early March, and having benefited of the amnesty during the festivities of

Romanov Tercentenary The Romanov Tercentenary () was a country-wide celebration, marked in the Russian Empire from February 1913, in celebration of the ruling House of Romanov The House of Romanov (also transliterated as Romanoff; , ) was the reigning dynasty ...

, he returned to

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, ...

, where he became an editor of the radical journal ''

Sovremennik ''Sovremennik'' ( rus, «Современник», p=səvrʲɪˈmʲenʲːɪk, a=Ru-современник.ogg, "The Contemporary") was a Russian literary, social and political magazine, published in Saint Petersburg in 1836–1866. It came out f ...

'' (Contemporary) and '' Letopis'' (Chronicle). published by

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...

. He worked under his own name for the Ministry of Agriculture. As an internationalist he opposed Russia going into war with Germany and Austria.

The February Revolution (1917)

At the beginning of the revolution, Sukhanov was attached to no party in particular. During 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 ...

in 1917 Sukhanov was one of the founding members of the executive committee of the

Petrograd Soviet The Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies (, ''Petrogradsky soviet rabochih i soldatskikh deputatov'') was a city council of Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), the capital of Russia at the time. For brevity, it is usually called the Pet ...

. An advocate of peace negotiations, Sukhanov opposed the aggressive war policies of

Alexander Kerensky Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky ( – 11 June 1970) was a Russian lawyer and revolutionary who led the Russian Provisional Government and the short-lived Russian Republic for three months from late July to early November 1917 ( N.S.). After th ...

and

Alexander Guchkov Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov (; 14 October 1862 – 14 February 1936) was a Russian politician, Chairman of the Third Duma and Minister of War in the Russian Provisional Government. Early years Alexander Guchkov was born in Moscow. Unlike most ...

, members of the

Russian Provisional Government The Russian Provisional Government was a provisional government of the Russian Empire and Russian Republic, announced two days before and established immediately after the abdication of Nicholas II on 2 March, O.S. New_Style.html" ;"title="5 ...

. Sukhanov had been friendly with

Anatoly Lunacharsky Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky (, born ''Anatoly Aleksandrovich Antonov''; – 26 December 1933) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and the first Soviet People's Commissariat for Education, People's Commissar (minister) of Education, as well ...

but did not follow the latter when 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, ...

. He became an editor of ''

Novaya Zhizn ''Novaya Zhizn'' () was the first legal Bolshevik daily newspaper. It was founded by Alexander Bogdanov and its first editor was Nikolai Minsky. It was first published in October 1905 in Petersburg, under the guidance of Lenin. It was publishe ...

''. While working at the Agrarian Institute of the

Communist Academy The Communist Academy (Russian: Коммунистическая академия, transliterated ''Kommunisticheskaya akademiya'') was a higher educational establishment and research institute based in Moscow. It included scientific institutes of ...

, he opposed Stalin's extreme measures concerning the collectivization and industrialization. He was arrested in July 1930. He was sentenced at the

1931 Menshevik Trial The Menshevik Trial was one of the early purges carried out by Stalin in which 14 economists, who were former members of the Menshevik party, were put on trial and convicted for trying to re-establish their party as the "Union Bureau of the Mensh ...

, an early

show trial A show trial is a public trial in which the guilt (law), guilt or innocence of the defendant has already been determined. The purpose of holding a show trial is to present both accusation and verdict to the public, serving as an example and a d ...

by Stalin. Sukhanov was exiled to

Tobolsk Tobolsk (, ) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers. Founded in 1587, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement east of the Ural Mountains in Asian Russia, and was the historic capita ...

in Siberia with a 10-year prison sentence. He worked there as a German teacher. In 1937, he was accused of being a spy working for Nazi Germany and engaging in anti-Soviet agitation. He was sentenced to death by the tribunal of the Siberian Military District, and he was executed on 29 June 1940.

Memoirs

Between 1919 and 1921, Sukhanov wrote a seven-volume memoir of the

Russian Revolution of 1917 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 ...

. It was first published in Berlin in 1922, but was suppressed under

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 ...

in the 1930s. His memoirs display his disdain for the liberals and their socialist allies alike in the

Provisional Government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revoluti ...

and for the

. In 1967, a German translation appeared of the first volume. In 1955 a one-volume abridged version was published in English under the title ''The Russian Revolution 1917: A Personal Record by N. N Sukhanov'', edited by Joel Carmichael. A Princeton University Press edition was published in 1984 and reissued in 2014. In Russia, his works were under lock and key until 1991 when, for the first time, a reprint was published. In 1992, a special rehabilitation committee declared that all accusations against him had been baseless.

References

Sources

* Sukhanov, N. (1919) ''Zapiski o Revoliutsii'' (Notes on the Revolution

* Nikolaj Nikolajewitsch Suchanow (1967) 1917: Tagebuch der russischen Revolution (Diary of the Russian Revolution). Translated and published by Nikolaus Ehlert, Munich, Piper, 735 S., ill. * Sukhanov, N. (1984) ''The Russian Revolution, 1917: A Personal Record''. * Israel Getzler, Getzler, I. (2002) ''Nikolai Sukhanov. Chronicler Of The Russian Revolution.'

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sukhanov, Nikolaj 1882 births 1940 deaths Writers from Moscow People from Moskovsky Uyezd Mensheviks All-Russian Central Executive Committee members People of the Russian Revolution 20th-century Russian historians Soviet politicians Russian editors 20th-century Russian memoirists 1931 Menshevik Trial Executed Soviet people from Russia Executed people from Moscow Russian people executed by the Soviet Union People of the February Revolution