Timofey Vasilyevich Vasilyev (; 3 March 1897 – 23 June 1939) was a Soviet jurist and public figure. Erzya by nationality, Vasilyev is notable as the author of the modern

Mordovia Mordovia ( ),; Moksha language, Moksha and officially the Republic of Mordovia,; ; is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia, situated in Eastern Europe. Its capital city, capital is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of S ...

judiciary and participant 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 ...

Biography

Timofey Vasilyev was born to a migrant Erzya family. Having worked as a

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face (mining), face; cutt ...

, young Vasilyev's interest in academia led to him getting appointed as a

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 ...

by the local justice of the peace. During 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 ...

and the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

years, Vasilyev was appointed the first Soviet People's judge of

Omsk Omsk (; , ) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia and has a population of over one million. Omsk is the third List of cities and tow ...

. He then organised the first

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 of Omsk and Tara. Not long afterwards, Vasilyev was elected Chairman of the gubernatorial Council of the People's Judges. When, in 1918, Omsk was captured by the

Kolchak Kolchak, Kolçak or Kolčák is a surname from Turkish ''wikt:kolçak, kolçak''. Notable people with the surname include: * Alexander Kolchak (1874–1920), Russian naval commander, head of anti-Bolshevik White forces *Erkan Kolçak Köstendil, Tu ...

ovites, judge Vasilyev became a partisan and heads the headquarters. From 1920 to 1923, he worked in the Yenisey gubernatorial judiciary department, and later commanded a

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...

of the

Far Eastern Republic The Far Eastern Republic ( rus, Дальневосточная Республика, Dal'nevostochnaya Respublika, p=dəlʲnʲɪvɐˈstotɕnəjə rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə, links=yes; ), sometimes called the Chita Republic (, ), was a nominally indep ...

. From 1924 until 1928, Vasilyev studied at the business and legal department of the

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

's Law faculty. In January 1926, he was appointed as Assistant to the Prosecutor of Bashkiria. After returning to the capital in 1927, he started working in the Moscow Provincial Bar Association. On December 5, 1929, he was added to the organizational department 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 ...

Vasilyev and the Mordvins

While studying in Moscow, Vasilyev actively participated in student circles of the

Mordva Mordvins (also Mordvinians, Mordovians; ; no equivalents in Moksha and Erzya) is an official term used in Russia and the Soviet Union to refer both to Erzyas and Mokshas since 1928. Names While Robert G. Latham had identified ''Mordva'' as ...

youth, becoming the editor of the newspaper " Yakstere Teshte" ("Red Star"), an organ of the Mordovian section of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), and was later invited to work as an instructor in the department of the

. From 1924 until 1925, Vasilyev took part in the projects for Mordovian autonomy. In 1928, Timofey Vasilyev was appointed the first chairman of the Mordovian District Court. With his participation, the

korenizatsiia Korenizatsiia (, ; ) was an early policy of the Soviet Union for the integration of non-Russian nationalities into the governments of their specific republics of the Soviet Union, Soviet republics. In the 1920s, the policy promoted representativ ...

policy was carried out in the judicial institutions of Mordovia, as the legal proceedings were transferred to the language of the indigenous ethnic group. In 1931, Vasilyev's "Mordovia" book is published. The book highlights the Mordvin national idea, collects differents facts about the region, including about: the physical geography, the Mordvins, the local history, the cultural and industrial situation, and the effects of the

policy on Mordovia.

Trade representative

In 1931, Vasilyev was appointed the first Chairman of the Trade Mission of the Soviet Union in

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. On February 16, 1934, under tense international relations, with the participation of Vasilyev, the signing of a new trade agreement between the states became possible. In Britain, the young Soviet lawyer was said to have acquired well-deserved authority among lawyers and in business circles. Once, a representative of an English firm, who disagreed with the court's decision, stated that the decisions of Soviet lawyers could not be recognized as serious and justified anyway, as all the judges in the USSR "came from shoemakers". Vasilyev answered, "Yes, indeed, I am from the shoemakers. I am a former blacksmith, and later got educated at Moscow State University. Now, in order to better learn the language and law of the country where I am entrusted to work, I became a student at the University of London". Vasilyev's success can be considered a significant reduction (about one and a half million pounds) in tax payments to the British budget from Soviet trade. For this work, Vasilyev was nominated for a special award in November 1937.

Remembrance

* Vasilyev's "Mordovia" book was republished in

Saransk Saransk (, ); ; is the capital city of Mordovia, Russia, as well as its financial and economic centre. It is located in the Volga River, Volga drainage basin, basin at the confluence of the Saranka and Insar Rivers, about east of Moscow. Sar ...

in 2007 * In October 2012, an international scientific and practical conference dedicated to the memory of Vasilyev was held in Mordovia * In September 2014, the presentation of the book "Life in Struggle", dedicated to Vasilyev, took place at the Faculty of Law of

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasilyev, Timofey 1897 births 1939 deaths Soviet jurists Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Erzyas People from Mordovia