Virgil Leonovich Shantser (Russian: Виргилий Леонович Шанцер; 21 September 1867 — 29 November 1911) (pseudonym - Marat) was a
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 active in the
Moscow uprising of 1905
The Moscow uprising, centered in Moscow's Presnensky District, Presnensky district between 7 and 18 December 1905, was the climax of the 1905 Russian Revolution, Russian Revolution of 1905. Thousands of workers joined an armed rebellion against ...
.
He became a leading Bolshevik, but followed
Alexander Bogdanov
Alexander Aleksandrovich Bogdanov (; – 7 April 1928), born Alexander Malinovsky, was a Russian and later Soviet physician, philosopher, science fiction writer and Bolshevik revolutionary. He was a polymath who pioneered blood transfusion, a ...
into the
Vpered
Vpered ( rus, Вперёд, p=fpʲɪˈrʲɵt, a=Ru-вперёд.ogg, ''Forward'') was a subfaction within the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). Although Vpered emerged from the Bolshevik wing of the party, it was critical of Lenin ...
faction in 1909. However he contracted an illness and died in 1911.
Early life
Shantser was the son of Leon Schantser, an
Austrian engineer who had become a winemaker. His mother was a descendant of
Louis-Vincent Tardan, the founder of the Swiss community in Shabo and also a winemaker. He attended the Gymnasium in
Nikolaev, and in the late 1880s he became a supporter of
People’s Will, the major
populist
Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...
revolutionary organization
A revolutionary movement (or revolutionary social movement) is a specific type of social movement dedicated to carrying out a revolution.
Criteria
Charles Tilly defines it as "a social movement advancing exclusive competing claims to control o ...
.
He attended the
University of Yuryev in
Tartu
Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...
where he joined a Social Democratic student circle. After graduating in 1899 he moved to
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 ...
where he undertook party work for 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 ...
. However he was arrested and exiled to
Eastern Siberia
Eastern Siberia is a part of Siberia that incorporates the territory located between the Yenisei River in the west and the Pacific Ocean divides in the east. Its area is equal to 7.2 million sq. km.Galina Samoylova (Г. С. Самойлова)В� ...
. Following the
Second Congress of the RSDLP in 1903, he became a Bolshevik.
1905 Revolution and after
In 1904 he became a member of the Bolshevik
Moscow Committee, where he soon took on a leading role during the
1905 Revolution
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 ...
, editing the newspaper ''Rabochii''. He was elected to the executive of the Moscow Soviet at its first meeting in November, and as one of a trio who ran the Bolshevik organisation during the preparations for the
Moscow insurrection - the others being
Martyn Liadov and
Mikhail Vasilyev-Yuzhin. According to Liadov "Shantser was a colourful personality (who) went about his business carrying two revolvers in his belt, but was honest and tactful in his dealings with his Party colleagues". The historian
Nikolai Rozhkov, who was also in Moscow at the time, recorded that Shantser was "the actual leader of the Moscow Committee of the Bolsheviks" and a strict and demanding "guardian" of "Bolshevik purity and orthodoxy".
Shanster was arrested during a police raid in December - the day when the uprising began - but the police failed to identify him properly, and he was treated as a minor offender, and exiled to
Yeniseysky District, from whence he soon escaped to
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 ...
and then to
Saint Petersburg
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 ...
. He attended the
Fifth Congress of the RSDLP in London, 1907. Here he was elected to the
Bolshevik Centre, the clandestine leadership of the Bolshevik faction. He was arrested again later that year and exiled to Siberia, and then to
Turukhansky District
Turukhansky District () is an administrativeLaw #10-4765 and municipalLaw #13-2925 district (raion), one of the forty-three in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is located in the west of the krai and borders with Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District i ...
. He escaped again and by 1909 was in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
.
where he was appointed to the editorial board of ''
Proletary
''Proletary'' (The Proletarian) was an illegal Russian Bolshevik newspaper edited by Lenin; it was published from September 3, 1906, until December 11, 1909. A total of fifty issues having appeared. Active participants in the editorial work were ...
'' on 13 August 1908, replacing Bogdanov who had resigned.
Abroad, the Bolsheviks were divided over the issue of whether their deputies should participating in the
Third Duma, which
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 ...
thought they should. In June 1909, the issue was debated by the enlarged editorial board of ''Proletary'' in June 1909, at which Bogdanov and Shantser were the leading representatives of the
Otzovists, who advocated a boycott.
When the split became open, Shantser joined Bogdanov in the
Vpered faction of the RSDLP.
In Paris, Shantser fell seriously ill, possibly from tuberculosis. He returned to Moscow, where he died in a police hospital in 1911.
Pavel Malyantovich looked after his two children until 1917. His son
Evgeny Shantser grew up to become a prominent geologist.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shantser, Virgil
1867 births
1911 deaths
Candidates of the Central Committee of the 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
Bolsheviks
People from the Russian Empire