Nikolay Matveyevich Goloded (21 May 1894 – 21 June 1937) was a

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian

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 and first secretary of the

Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a Republics of the Soviet Union, republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 19 ...

from December 1925 to May 1927. He served as a Prime Minister of the

from 1927 to 30 May 1937.

Early years

Goloded was born into a family of Belarusian peasants in the village of Stary Krivets,

Chernihiv Chernihiv (, ; , ) is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative center of Chernihiv Oblast and Chernihiv Raion within the oblast. Chernihiv's population is The city was designated as a Hero City of Ukraine ...

province. He worked from the age of seven as a shepherd, farm hand, auxiliary worker, and later as a miner in Kryvorozha. He later graduated from the Byelorussian Agricultural Institute. In 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 ...

he served in the Russian army. In 1917, he became close to the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks) The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

, leading revolutionary agitation and joining the Party in 1918. Due to the risk of the death penalty for anti-government actions, he deserted from the front and returned to Stary Krivets, where he oversaw the seizure and division of landlord property. He was arrested while engaged in underground work. He was later involved in combat in the Southwestern Front during the ensuing civil war. He created a Red Guard unit that fought with German troops and troops of the Ukrainian People's Republic.

Soviet career

From 1921 to 1924 he was secretary of the Gorki Regional Committee and in 1924 became a member of the Central Committee of the

Communist Party of Byelorussia 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, ...

and later on its second secretary from 1924 to 1927. From 1927 to 1937 he was Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the

. He was a delegate to the XIV-XVII Congresses of the CPSU(b), and elected as a candidate member of the Central Committee of the party at the XVI and XVII Congresses. On December 6, 1930, he signed the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the BSSR expelling academicians Vaclau Lastouski, Vladimir Picheta,

Jazep Losik Jazep Losik (also known as Jazep (Yazep) Liosik; ; 18 November 1884 – 1 April 1940) was a Belarusian academic, leading figure of the independence movement and a victim of Stalin's purges. Early years Losik was born into a large farming ...

Ściapan Niekraševič Ściapan Niekraševič (), also known as Stepan Nekrashevich (; 8 May 1883 – 20 December 1937) was a Belarusian academic, political figure and a victim of Great Purge, Stalin's purges. Early years Niekraševič was born in the estate of Dani ...

, Maksim Haretski, and Uladzimir Dubouka from the

National Academy of Sciences of Belarus The National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB; ; , , ) is the national academy of Belarus. History Inbelkult - predecessor to the Academy The Academy has its origins in the Institute of Belarusian Culture (Inbelkult), a Belarusian acade ...

"as enemies of the proletarian revolution". In 1933, he was a member of the Political Commission for the revision of the Russian-Belarusian dictionary and new rules of the

Belarusian language Belarusian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language. It is one of the two Languages of Belarus, official languages in Belarus, the other being Russian language, Russian. It is also spoken in parts of Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Polan ...

Purge and rehabilitation

He was arrested on 14 June 1937 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 ...

, accused of participating in the right-wing Trotskyist bloc and the Ukrainian national-fascist organization. He was sent to

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

for interrogation. Accounts differ as to the manner of his death. According to the official version, he threw himself out of a 5th floor window during interrogation in the building of the Belarusian

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

. According to unofficial information, he was beaten to death, and then state security officers staged a suicide. According to other reports, he was shot. In 1956, he was posthumously rehabilitated and reinstated in the Party.

Awards

He was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1935.

Notes

References

1894 births 1937 suicides 1937 deaths People from Bryansk Oblast People from Chernigov Governorate Bolsheviks Heads of the Communist Party of Byelorussia Great Purge victims from Russia Suicides by jumping in Belarus Soviet rehabilitations Candidates of the Central Committee of the 16th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Candidates of the Central Committee of the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Suicides in the Soviet Union {{Belarus-politician-stub