Vatslav Vorovsky

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Vatslav Vatslavovich Vorovsky (; 27 October O.S. 15 October">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>

O.S. 15 October1871 – 10 May 1923) was a Russian Bolsheviks">Bolshevik 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, ...

revolutionary, literary critic, journalist, and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics">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 ...

diplomat. One of the first Soviet diplomats, Vorovsky is best remembered as the victim of a May 1923 political assassination in Switzerland, where he was the official representative of the Soviet government to the Conference of Lausanne.

Biography

Early years

Vatslav Vorovsky was born on 27 October 1871 (n.s.) in Moscow, the son of an ethnically

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 ...

but

Russified Russification (), Russianisation or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians adopt Russian culture and Russian language either voluntarily or as a result of a deliberate state policy. Russification was at times ...

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Gr ...

and engineer.Branko Lazitch with Milorad M. Drachkovitch, ''Biographical Dictionary of the Comintern: New, Revised, and Expanded Edition''. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1986; pp. 498–499. His father died when he was a year old, and he was raised by his mother. Following the completion of

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

. In 1890, Vorovsky enrolled at the

University of Moscow 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 ...

, where he was exposed to the ideas of political radicalism.

Political career

In his autobiography, Vorovsky dated his involvement with the socialist movement from 1894, when he made contact with workers' circles in Moscow. He was arrested by the

Tsarist Tsarist autocracy (), also called Tsarism, was an autocracy, a form of absolute monarchy in the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire. In it, the Tsar possessed in principle authority and ...

secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...

in 1897, held for two years in

Taganka Prison Taganka Prison (Russian: Таганская тюрьма) was built in Moscow in 1804 by Alexander I of Russia, Alexander I, emperor of Russia.Katrina Marie"Taganka: The Haunts of Intelligentsia and Blue-Collar Grit"''Passport Moscow''. Retrieved D ...

, then exiled in 1899 to the city of

Orlov Orlov or Orlova may refer to: Places *Orlov, Russia (''Orlova''), several inhabited localities in Russia *Orlov, Stará Ľubovňa District, a village in Slovakia *Orlová, a town in the Moravian-Silesian Region, Czech Republic *Orlov, a village ...

. Upon his release, Vorovsky adopted a new underground

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

, "P. Orlovsky", as a tribute to this experience. During the course of his underground career, Vorovsky also used the pseudonyms "Y. Adamovich", "M. Schwarz", "Josephine", and "Felix Alexandrovich". Worowski Waclav

Vorovsky emigrated to Europe in 1902, spending time in Italy, Germany, and Switzerland. He acted as an agent for the newspaper ''

Iskra ''Iskra'' (, , ''the Spark'') was a fortnightly political newspaper of Russian socialist emigrants established as the official organ of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). History ''Iskra'' was published in exile and then smuggl ...

'', founded abroad by

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 ...

. From 1903, he acted as a liaison between the

Bolshevik 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, ...

faction of the

Russian Social Democratic Labor 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 Polish socialists. During 1904, he was based in

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

, Ukraine, but emigrated again in August 1904, to help launch the first exclusively Bolshevik publication, ''

Vperyod ''Vperyod'' (Russian: Вперёд; English translation: "Forward") was the first factional newspaper of the Bolsheviks after the split at the Second Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. The first issue of the paper was publishe ...

'' (Forward), of which he was an editor. During the

Russian Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

, Vorovsky returned to Russia, working actively as a revolutionary in

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, ...

. Following the defeat of the 1905 uprising he moved to Odesa, where he was a leading underground Bolshevik from 1907 to 1912. In 1912, Vorovsky was arrested again, this time to be deported to

Vologda Vologda (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the river Vologda (river), Vologda within the watershed of the Northern Dvina. Population: The city serves as ...

province, in Russia. In 1915, he moved to

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, where he worked as an engineer for the Swedish Lux company and for

Siemens-Schuckert Siemens-Schuckert (or Siemens-Schuckertwerke) was a German electrical engineering company headquartered in Berlin, Erlangen and Nuremberg that was incorporated into the Siemens AG in 1966. Siemens Schuckert was founded in 1903 when Siemens & H ...

. In 1917, after 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 Russia, Vorovsky was appointed to three-man Bolshevik Stockholm Bureau, along with

Karl Radek Karl Berngardovich Radek (; 31 October 1885 – 19 May 1939) was a revolutionary and writer active in the Polish and German social democratic movements before World War I and a Communist International leader in the Soviet Union after the Russian ...

and Yakov Hanecki. Vorovsky was the first director of

Gosizdat State Publishing House of the RSFSR (Russian: Госуда́рственное изда́тельство РСФСР), also known as Gosizdat (Госиздат), was a publishing house founded in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic on ...

, the State Publishing House, from its foundation in 1919 until 1921.

Diplomatic career

Following the victory of the

Bolshevik Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. It was led by Vladimir L ...

in November 1917, Vorovsky was named the Soviet government's diplomatic representative to

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

, remaining based in Stockholm. In Stockholm, Vorovsky was the point of contact between the new Bolshevik government and representatives of the government of Germany, being introduced by

Alexander Parvus Alexander Lvovich Parvus, born Israel Lazarevich Gelfand (8 September 1867 – 12 December 1924) and sometimes called Helphand in the literature on the Russian Revolution, was a Marxist theoretician, publicist, and controversial activist in the ...

to members of the

Social-Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a Social democracy, social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 Social Democrat ...

including

Philipp Scheidemann Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (26 July 1865 – 29 November 1939) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). In the first quarter of the 20th century he played a leading role in both his party and in the young Weimar ...

during November and December 1917. In December 1918, Sweden, responding to pressure on the part of the Allied powers who were intent upon imposing an unbreakable blockade, withdrew official recognition of Vorovsky as the representative of Soviet Russia. This action on the part of the Swedish government forced Vorovsky's return to Russia the following month. This action taken against Vorovsky followed the actions taken by Great Britain in expelling

Maxim Litvinov Maxim Maximovich Litvinov (; born Meir Henoch Wallach-Finkelstein; 17 July 1876 – 31 December 1951) was a Russian Empire, Russian revolutionary and prominent Soviet Union, Soviet statesman and diplomat who served as Ministry of Foreign Aff ...

in September 1918 and that of Germany in expelling

Adolph Joffe Adolph Abramovich Joffe (; alternatively transliterated as Adolf Ioffe or Yoffe; 10 October 1883 – 16 November 1927) was a Russian revolutionary, Bolshevik politician and Soviet diplomat of Karaite descent. Biography Revolutionary career ...

in November of that same year. In March 1919, Vorovsky served as a member of the Soviet delegation to the Founding Congress of the

Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...

. He was named the representative of the Russian Communist Party to the Executive Committee of the Comintern. He also served as one of the secretaries of the organization, along with

Angelica Balabanova Angelica Balabanoff (or Balabanov, Balabanova; – ''Anzhelika Balabanova''; 4 August 1878 – 25 November 1965) was a Russian-Italian communist and social democratic activist of Jewish origin. She served as secretary of the Comintern fr ...

.Carr, ''The Bolshevik Revolution'', vol. 3, pg. 121.

Grigorii Zinoviev Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev (born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky; – 25 August 1936) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. A prominent Old Bolshevik, Zinoviev was a close associate of Vladimir Lenin prior to 1917 and a leadi ...

was tapped as president of the organization. In July 1920, Vorovsky resumed work as a Soviet diplomat, participating in diplomatic negotiations with

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. From 1921 to 1923, Vorovsky was the Soviet representative to Italy. In that capacity he was involved in attempts at negotiation of a trade agreement between the two countries, with a preliminary pact signed in December 1921.Carole Fink, ''The Genoa Conference: European Diplomacy, 1921–1922''. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1984; pg. 282. This success proved short-lived, however, as negotiations to extend the six-month treaty failed in May 1922. Vorovsky was a member of the Soviet delegation to the 1922

Genoa Conference The Economic and Financial Conference was a formal conclave of representatives from 34 European countries held in the ancient Palazzo San Giorgio of Genoa, Italy, from 10 April to 19 May 1922. Unlike the previous International Monetary and Econo ...

, a group headed by Soviet Foreign Minister Georgii Chicherin.

Death and legacy

Vorovsky's final diplomatic mission came in the spring of 1923, when he served as Soviet representative to the Lausanne conference of 1923. Accompanied by two diplomatic attachés, Vorovsky arrived in Lausanne from Rome on April 27, hoping to force the conference's official participants to recognize Soviet interests in the Turkish Black Sea Straits.Fischer, ''The Soviets in World Affairs,'' vol. 1, pg. 409. On May 9, Vorovsky dispatched his final report to Moscow, noting that three days earlier a group of right wing youths had appeared at his hotel and sought a meeting. Vorovsky wrote:

"I refused to receive them, and Comrade Ahrens, who went out to them to find out what it was all about, disposed of them at once, telling them that they should put such matters before their Government. Now they are going about the town declaring that they will compel us to leave Switzerland by force, and so on. "As to whether the police are taking any measures for our safety, we have no idea. At any rate, it is not apparent on the surface. It is only too evident that behind these hooligan boys there is some conscious directing hand — possibly foreign. The Swiss Government, well aware of what is going on — for the papers are full of it — must bear responsibility for our safety. The behaviour of the Swiss Government is a shameful violation of the guarantees given at the beginning of the conference, and any attack on us in this particularly well-organised country is only possible with the knowledge and permission of the authorities. On them is the responsibility."

On the evening of 10 May 1923, Vorovsky was seated at a dining table in the restaurant of his hotel with his colleagues when the group was approached by an individual they did not know. The unknown figure, a Russian

White émigré White Russian émigrés were Russians who emigrated from the territory of the former Russian Empire in the wake of the Russian Revolution (1917) and Russian Civil War (1917–1923), and who were in opposition to the revolutionary Bolshevik com ...

named

Maurice Conradi Maurice Alexander Conradi (Russian: Морис Морисович Конради, ''Moris Morisovich Konradi''; 16 June 1896 − 7 February 1947) was a White Army emigre participant of the First World War and the Russian Civil War and the assassi ...

, pulled a gun and shot Vorovsky to death, wounding his two companions, Ahrens and Divilkovsky, in the attack. Conradi was defended by the advocate

Théodore Aubert Théodore Aubert (8 September 1878, Geneva – 19 January 1963) was a Swiss lawyer and writer. Biography As a lawyer, he defended the White émigré Maurice Conradi who assassinated the Soviet envoy to Switzerland Vatslav Vorovsky in 1923. ...

and later acquitted by the Swiss court in the epilogue of what would be known as the Conradi affair. Vatslav Vorovsky was 51 years old at the time of his death. He is buried in Mass Grave No. 7 of the

Kremlin Wall Necropolis The Kremlin Wall Necropolis is the former national cemetery of the Soviet Union, located in Red Square in Moscow beside the Moscow Kremlin Wall, Kremlin Wall. Burials there began in November 1917, when 240 pro-Bolsheviks who died during the Mosc ...

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', p=ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːɪtʲ) is one of the oldest and largest town square, squares in Moscow, Russia. It is located in Moscow's historic centre, along the eastern walls of ...

, Moscow.

Memory

A number of settlements and streets in dozens of cities in the USSR were named after Vorovsky under Soviet rule. Among the significant renaming: Kiev

Khreshchatyk Khreshchatyk (, ) is the main street of Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine. The street is long, and runs in a northeast-southwest direction from European Square (Kyiv), European Square through the Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Maidan to Bessarabska Sq ...

, which was renamed into ''Vorovskogo Street'' between 1923 and 1937. Moscow Kuznetsky Most Street Vorovskoy statues

In Moscow, on 11 May 1924, in the courtyard of a former apartment building of the First Russian Insurance Company, a bronze monument of Vorovsky was erected under the project of sculptor Mikhail Kats. In connection with the installation of the monument and the demolition of the Vvedenskaya church located at the corner of Kuznetsky Most and Bolshaya Lubyanka, the vacated place was named Vorovsky Square. A poem by

Vladimir Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky ( – 14 April 1930) was a Russian poet, playwright, artist, and actor. During his early, Russian Revolution, pre-Revolution period leading into 1917, Mayakovsky became renowned as a prominent figure of the Ru ...

, titled ''Vorovsky'', was dedicated to him in honor of his death. The Palaces of Culture in the city of Konakovo, Tver region and in the city of Ramenskoye, Moscow region were named after Vatslav Vorovsky. In 1990, the

Russian Coast Guard The Coast Guard of the FSB Border Service of Russia (), previously known as the Maritime Units of the KGB Border Troops (), is the coast guard of Russia. The purpose of the formation of the Coast Guard of the FSB Border Service of Russia is to cr ...

launched a Menzhinskiy-class (project 11351 - NATO Krivak III Class) ship named for Vorovskiy (Воровский 160).

Works

* ''Советъ против партии'' (The Council Against the Party). Geneva: Bonch-Bruevich and Lenin Publishing House of Social-Democratic Party Literature, November 1904. —Reissued by Partizdat, 1933. * ''Литературно-критические статьи'' (Literary-Critical Articles). Moscow: Gospolitizdat, 1948.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vorovsky, V. V. 1871 births 1923 deaths Russian people of Polish descent People from the Russian Empire of Polish descent Soviet people of Polish descent Politicians from Moscow Old Bolsheviks Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Russian communists Russian revolutionaries Russian expatriates in Switzerland Soviet expatriates in Switzerland People murdered in Switzerland Russian people murdered abroad Deaths by firearm in Switzerland Trade Representative of the Soviet Union Assassinated Soviet diplomats Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Italy Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Sweden Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Denmark Soviet literary critics Russian Marxists Soviet people murdered abroad Assassinated ambassadors Assassinated Russian diplomats