Semyon Mikhailovich Nakhimson (pseudonyms: Mikhalchi, Pavel Salin; 25 November 1885 — 6 July 1918) was a member of the revolutionary movement in Russia and military commissar of the
Yaroslavl District.
Biography
Born November 25, 1885 in
Libau in a large Jewish merchant family. Semyon's three brothers received higher education abroad and returned to the Russian Empire: the elder brother Gregory is a mining engineer; younger brothers: Fedor (1887–1939) – lawyer, future deputy chairman of the Criminal and Judicial Panel of the
Supreme Court
In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
and Veniamin (1891–1942) – electrical engineer.
Received secondary education in Libau and Saint Petersburg gymnasiums.
In 1902, as a student of the Libava Commercial School, he joined the
Bund
Bund, BUND, or the Bund may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Der Bund'', a German-language newspaper published in Bern, Switzerland
* Shanghai Bund (TV series), ''Shanghai Bund'' (TV series), a 2007 Chinese television remake of the 19 ...
, and from 1904 he was a member of the
Social Democratic Organization of Latvia. From January 1905, one of the leaders of the Libava Labor Center, a military revolutionary organization uniting representatives of the Latvian Social-Democratic Labor Party, a local group of the
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party (RSDWP) or the Russian Social Democratic Party (RSDP), was a socialist political party founded in 1898 in Minsk, Russian Empire. The ...
and Bund. He took an active part in organizing combat squads, issuing revolutionary proclamations, led propaganda among workers and soldiers. In May 1905 he was elected chairman of the Military Council. He was subject to arrest for preparing the uprising of the Libava garrison, but managed to escape abroad. In 1906 he returned to Russia; member of the
Kovno
Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...
military organization of the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party and the Bund.
In 1907, the delegate of the
5th (London) Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. Conducted underground work in
Brest-Litovsk
Brest, formerly Brest-Litovsk and Brest-on-the-Bug, is a city in south-western Belarus at the border with Poland opposite the Polish town of Terespol, where the Bug and Mukhavets rivers meet, making it a border town. It serves as the admini ...
.
Since the end of 1907 in exile. He graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of the
University of Bern
The University of Bern (, , ) is a public university, public research university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern. It was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a br ...
with the title of "Doctor of Philosophy and Economics", additionally listened to a course of lectures at the Faculty of Medicine. In 1909, as a student, he joined the Bern Assistance Group for Bund, whence he was soon expelled for slap in the face of the group to Lensky.
In 1912 he returned to Russia and continued working in the organizations of Bund and the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. First he was a Menshevik, then he became a Bolshevik (between 1912 and 1918). He worked in Saint Petersburg, Moscow and other cities, collaborated in the "
Zvezda" and "
Pravda
''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most in ...
". Enrolled as a volunteer at the
Psychoneurological Institute.
In January 1913, he was arrested in Moscow during the dispersal of an illegal Congress of commercial and industrial employees, which took place on the Sparrow Hills. After his release, he was exiled to Libava for a period of 2 years, followed by a ban on residing in 58 settlements of the country.
On September 25, 1913, together with his brother Fedor, he was arrested in Libava, was detained for about a month. After his release, he received a ban on leaving Libava and was obliged to report to the police every day. In the summer of 1914, with the beginning of the
war
War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
, he left Libau without the permission of the police (it was believed that "Libau will be taken soon"). Until September 1914 he was in Saint Petersburg, then in Kremenchug.
From 1915 in the army, he was head of the medical part of an ambulance car, junior doctor of the sanitary unit of the
All-Russian Union of Cities, operating on the
Southwestern Front. He received a special military rank "Ordinary military physician" (approximately the corresponding rank "
ensign
Ensign most often refers to:
* Ensign (flag), a flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality
* Ensign (rank), a navy (and former army) officer rank
Ensign or The Ensign may also refer to:
Places
* Ensign, Alberta, Alberta, Canada
* Ensign, Ka ...
").
In February 1917, he was arrested in
Nesvizh
Nyasvizh or Nesvizh is a town in Minsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Nyasvizh District. Nyasvizh is the site of Nesvizh Castle, a World Heritage Site. In 2009, its population was 14,300. As of 2025, it has a population ...
together with several Jewish soldiers on a false espionage charge. Released in the days 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 ...
. In March 1917, as a delegate of the
Southwestern Front, he was sent to
Petrograd
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, ...
. On April 14, 1917 he was elected to the Petrograd Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks). Delegate of the
. Chairman of the 1st City District Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks) in Petrograd, member of the military section 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 ...
. On May 27, 1917 he was elected a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies of Petrograd.
In August 1917, he was sent to the Army in the Army (
Northern Front): traveling agitator; editor of the Bolshevik military newspaper "Okopnaya Pravda" (later "Okopny Alarm"). Thanks largely to his efforts, the 12th Army turned into an uncontrollable mob of deserters, accused of betraying and surrendering Riga to the Germans in August 1917. In September 1917, the Bolsheviks won nine seats in the re-election of the executive committee of the soldier section. Among the elected were himself Simon Mikhailovich, Alexander Kopyatkevich, Konstantin Mekhonoshin and other prominent Bolsheviks of the time. On October 18, 1917 joined the
Military Revolutionary Committee
The Military Revolutionary Committee (Milrevcom; , ) was the name for military organs created by the Bolsheviks under the soviets in preparation for the October Revolution (October 1917 – March 1918). of the
12th Army of the
Northern Front. On October 20, 1917, he was elected Commissioner of the
Latvian Rifle Regiments. On November 14, he was elected Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Council of Soldiers' Deputies and Commissioner of the 12th Army. On December 18, 1917, he was appointed Political Commissar of the Latvian Corps by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the curtain.
Delegate of the
First
First most commonly refers to:
* First, the ordinal form of the number 1
First or 1st may also refer to:
Acronyms
* Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array
* Far Infrared a ...
and
Second
The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...
All-Russian Congresses of the Soviets, at the II Congress he was elected a member of the
All-Russian Central Executive Committee
The All-Russian Central Executive Committee () was (June – November 1917) a permanent body formed by the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies (held from June 16 to July 7, 1917 in Petrograd), then became the ...
. Member of the meeting of the
Constituent Assembly
A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...
on January 18, 1918.
In December 1917, the Petrograd newspaper The Day published an article by another famous journalist Lev Lvov about Semyon Nakhimson depicting the unseemly image of a pseudo-revolutionary who allegedly was involved in violations of financial discipline and spreading false information about his biography. The army commission of inquiry from representatives of various party factions, appointed at the categorical demand of Semyon Nakhimson himself, thoroughly investigated all the charges, dismantled all the political activities of the revolutionary and thoroughly admitted that the charges were defamatory. On March 12, 1918 fully rehabilitated by the general meeting of the Executive Committee of the Council of Soldiers' Deputies of the 12th Army, demanding the immediate publication of the decisions of the investigative commission.
In January–February 1918, together with former General Fedor Novitsky, he led the formation of the first
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
units in the Republic.
On March 22, 1918, on suspicion of withholding 10 thousand rubles during the February retreat, was subjected to house arrest in the city of Rybinsk with suspension from all responsible posts. On April 8, 1918, the Investigation Commission of the Rybinsk
Revolutionary Tribunal
The Revolutionary Tribunal (; unofficially Popular Tribunal) was a court instituted by the National Convention during the French Revolution for the trial of political offenders. In October 1793, it became one of the most powerful engines of ...
decided: "The matter should be stopped and completely rehabilitated the pure revolutionary honor of comrade Semyon Nakhimson from any malicious slanderous attacks".
On May 21, 1918, summoned to Moscow by order of the Council of Labor and Defense. On May 30, 1918, he was appointed military commissar (through the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)) of the largest in Soviet Russia Yaroslavl Military District. He launched an active mobilization work, achieved the formation and sending to the
Czechoslovak front of a number of "extraordinary" divisions.
On July 4, 1918, chairman of the Yaroslavl Regional Executive Committee. He was killed by a rebel (according to one of the versions he was hacked to pieces at the Bristol Hotel) at the very beginning of the
Yaroslavl Uprising on July 6, 1918. He was buried at the
Monument to the Fighters of the Revolution
The Monument to the Fighters of the Revolution () is a memorial on the Field of Mars (Saint Petersburg), Field of Mars in Saint Petersburg. It marks the burial places of some of those who died during the February Revolution, February and October ...
on the
Field of Mars The term Field of Mars () goes back to antiquity, and designates an area, inside or near a city, used as a parade or exercise ground by the military.
Notable examples of places which were used for these purposes include:
* Campus Martius, an area i ...
in Petrograd.
From 1918 to 1944, Vladimirsky Avenue and the square in
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
were named after Nakhimson. In the project, the
Vladimirskaya Vladimirsky (masculine), Vladimirskaya (feminine), Vladimirskoye (neuter) or variant spellings may refer to:
Buildings
*Vladimir Palace (''Vladimirsky dvorets''), an imperial palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia
* Vladimirskaya (Saint Petersburg Met ...
metro station was called "Nakhimson Square". There are streets of Nakhimson in the cities of Ivanovo, Smolensk, Staraya Russa, Pavlovsk and Petrodvorets (Saint Petersburg), Nevel (Pskov Region), Okulovka (Novgorod Region) and several other cities and towns. One of the streams flowing in Peterhof Park of Peterhof, is called the Nakhimson groove. Since August 1984, the street in Yaroslavl also bears the name of Nakhimson. Until 1993, the street in
Rybinsk
Rybinsk (, ) is the second-largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Yaroslavl Oblast in Russia. It lies at the confluence of the Volga and Sheksna rivers, north-north-east of Moscow. Population:
It was previously known as '' ...
was named after Nakhimson (now Malaya Kazanskaya).
Interesting facts
*The shoulder straps of the ordinary doctor (special title at the level of "
ensign
Ensign most often refers to:
* Ensign (flag), a flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality
* Ensign (rank), a navy (and former army) officer rank
Ensign or The Ensign may also refer to:
Places
* Ensign, Alberta, Alberta, Canada
* Ensign, Ka ...
" rank), established in 1894, were almost no different from the
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
's shoulder straps. Thanks to this purely external circumstance, the mobilized medical student gained significant weight in the military environment (the most vivid example is the career of the Deputy Chairman of the
Revolutionary Military Council
The Revolutionary Military Council (), sometimes called the Revolutionary War Council Brian PearceIntroductionto Fyodor Raskolnikov s "Tales of Sub-lieutenant Ilyin." or ''Revvoyensoviet'' (), was the supreme military authority of Soviet Rus ...
Efraim Sklyansky).
*One of Semen Nakhimson's brothers, Veniamin Mikhailovich Nakhimson, served as chief engineer at the 3rd State Power Station in Petrograd. In October 1917, on the night of 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 ...
, Veniamin Nakhimson, at the personal request of
Vladimir 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 ...
, cut off electricity, leaving the main bridges in a diluted state. While on the distant approaches to the capital, Latvian riflemen, controlled by Semyon Nakhimson, blocked the sending of government troops to Petrograd, his brother Veniamin Nakhimson protected the center of the city, captured by the Bolsheviks, from possible "pacification".
*On March 20, 1918, at the meeting of the
Revolutionary Tribunal
The Revolutionary Tribunal (; unofficially Popular Tribunal) was a court instituted by the National Convention during the French Revolution for the trial of political offenders. In October 1793, it became one of the most powerful engines of ...
's court in the Rybinsk Stock Exchange building, the Deputy Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Council of Soldiers' Deputies of the 12th Army Shimeliovich, speaking as a defender in the case of Polyansky and Dobrotvorsky, fired three pistol shots at Semen Nakhimson, who acted as an accuser, but not hit.
Sources
*Nakhimson Semyon Mikhailovich. Private case. 1917–1918 (
Russian State Archive of Social and Political History. Fund 17. Inventory 35. Case 912).
*Nikolai Kondratyev. Burn, my heart... Riga, 1961
Biographieson the site "Chronos"
Vladimir Ryaby. Semyon Nakhimson. From the Second Category ''Proza.ru''
''funeral-spb.ru''
References
Character
*Herbert Kemoklidze. Salin: a novel. Yaroslavl, 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakhimson, Semyon
1885 births
1918 deaths
Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party politicians
Latvian revolutionaries
Mensheviks
Bolsheviks
Russian editors
Latvian Riflemen
Latvian Jews
Russian Constituent Assembly members
Military personnel from Liepāja
People from Yaroslavl
Russian military personnel of World War I
People of the Russian Civil War
Burials on the Field of Mars (Saint Petersburg)
Jewish socialists