Zigmas Angarietis (born Zigmontas Antanas Aleksa, ; 13 June 1882 – 22 May 1940) was a

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n communist and revolutionary, one of the leaders of the

Communist Party of Lithuania The Communist Party of Lithuania (; ) is a banned communist party in Lithuania. The party was established in early October 1918 and operated clandestinely until it was legalized in 1940 after the Soviet invasion and occupation. The party was ...

. He was one of the main people behind the short-lived

Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (1918–1919) The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (LSSR) was a short-lived Soviet puppet state during the early Interwar period. It was declared on 16 December 1918 by a provisional revolutionary government led by Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas. It ceased ...

and Lithuanian–Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (Litbel). Angarietis was arrested in 1938 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 ...

and died years later in prison. During his lifetime he wrote over a hundred Marxist–Leninist works.

Biography

Early life and education

Angarietis was born in in the

Suwałki Governorate Suwałki Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of Congress Poland of the Russian Empire, which had its seat in the city of Suwałki. It covered a territory of about . History In 1867, the territories of the Augustów ...

Vistula Land Vistula Land, also known as Vistula Country (; ), was the name applied to the lands of Congress Poland from 1867, following the defeats of the November Uprising (1830–1831) and January Uprising (1863–1864) as it was increasingly stripped of ...

(present-day

) to a family of wealthy landowners. His brothers Jonas Pranas Aleksa became Lithuanian Minister of Agriculture and Konradas Aleksa was a professor at the Lithuanian Agricultural Academy. After graduation from

Marijampolė Gymnasium Marijampolė Rygiškių Jonas Gymnasium () is a secondary school in Marijampolė, Lithuania. It is named after Rygiškių Jonas, one of the pen names of linguist Jonas Jablonskis who was one of the gymnasium's alumni. Established in 1867, the gy ...

, Angarietis enrolled at the Warsaw Veterinary Institute in 1902. In his memoirs, Angarietis claimed that at the age of 15 he read ''

The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State ''The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State: in the Light of the Researches of Lewis H. Morgan'' () is an 1884 anthropological treatise by Friedrich Engels. It is partially based on notes by Karl Marx to Lewis H. Morgan's book ''Anc ...

'' by

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party (, PPS) is a democratic socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most significant parties in Poland from its founding in 1892 until its forced merger with the communist Polish Workers' Party to form ...

and the

General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia The General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia (), generally called The Bund (, cognate to , ) or the Jewish Labour Bund (), was a secular Jewish socialist party initially formed in the Russian Empire and active between 1897 and 1 ...

. For anti-Tsarist protests leading to the

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 ...

, he was arrested, expelled from the institute, and served a 6.5-month prison sentence in 1904. The experience prompted Angarietis to devote his life for communist causes.

Active revolutionary

Angarietis returned to Lithuania. His family did not approve his revolutionary activities and he severed all ties with them after workers at his father's farm staged a strike and his father called the police to subdue the protest. Angarietis joined the

Social Democratic Party of Lithuania The Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (, LSDP) is a centre-left and social democratic political party in Lithuania. Founded as an underground Marxist organisation in 1896, it is the oldest extant party in Lithuania. During the time of the ...

in 1906 and was elected to its Central Committee in 1907. He believed that the Lithuanian party should merge with 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 become its territorial organization (similar to the Social Democracy of the Latvian Territory). In 1908–1909, he organized publication of illegal newspaper ''Darbininkų žodis'' (''Voice of Workers'') in

Marijampolė Marijampolė (; also known by Marijampolė#Names, several other names) is the Capital city, capital of Marijampolė County in the south of Lithuania, bordering Poland and Russian Kaliningrad Oblast, and Lake Vištytis. The city's population stood ...

. For that he was arrested in June 1909 and received a four-year sentence in September 1911. During his arrest and trial, he was imprisoned in

Suwałki Suwałki (; ; or סוּוואַלק) is a city in northeastern Poland with a population of 69,206 (2021). It is the capital of Suwałki County and one of the most important centers of commerce in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. A relatively young ci ...

where he had access to a library and was able to write. His works were smuggled out of the prison and later published in the United States. According to communist historian , 13 works by Angarietis were published in the United States in 1909–1917. In October 1911, he was transferred to

Pskov Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=Ru-Псков.oga, p=psˈkof; see also Names of Pskov in different languages, names in other languages) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov O ...

where living conditions were considerably worse. Yet he still continued to write letters and articles, often using pieces of newspapers or packaging for paper. Upon his release in 1915, he was exiled near

Minusinsk Minusinsk (; ) is a historical types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. Population: 44,500 (1973). History "About 330-200 B.C. the iron age triumphed at Minusinsk, producing spiked axes, partly bronze and ...

in the

Yeniseysk Governorate Yeniseysk Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, the Russian Republic, and the Russian SFSR in 1822–1925. General information In 1724 the Yeniseysk Province based on Yeniseysk was esta ...

. In the exile, Angarietis got acquainted with

Elena Stasova Elena Dmitriyevna Stasova (; 15 October Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 3 October1873 – 31 December 1966) was a Russian Soviet people">Soviet revolutionary, Old Bolshevik and an early le ...

and other communists and became involved with 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 ...

(RSDLP(b)) joining its ranks in 1916. He wrote many articles to communist and social democratic press using the pen name Angarietis (from the

Angara River The Angara (; ) or Angar ( мүрэн) is a major river in Siberia, which traces a course through Russia's Irkutsk Oblast and Krasnoyarsk Krai. It drains out of Lake Baikal and is the headwater tributary of the Yenisey. It is long, and has a ...

) which later became his last name. 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 ...

, he moved 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, ...

and became actively involved with the Central Bureau of Lithuanian Sections of RSDLP(b). Together with

Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas Vincas Mickevičius, known under his pen name ''Kapsukas'' ( – 17 February 1935), was a Lithuanian Communism, communist political activist, Opinion journalism, publicist, and revolutionary. As an active member of the Lithuanian National Reviv ...

he planned a

socialist revolution Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revolu ...

in Lithuania. In March 1918, Angarietis was sent to

Voronezh Voronezh ( ; , ) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects wes ...

and tasked with printing communist literature at a nationalized Lithuanian press. He edited newspaper '' Tiesa'', published numerous books, and otherwise spread the communist ideology among Lithuanian war refugees. In November 1918, Angarietis returned to Lithuania and helped organizing the

(CPL) and Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Lithuania and Belorussia. He became People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the short-lived

and Lithuanian–Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (Litbel). However, when Soviet Russia lost the Polish–Soviet and

Lithuanian–Soviet War The Lithuanian–Soviet War or Lithuanian–Bolshevik War () was fought between newly independent Lithuania and the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic in the aftermath of World War I. It was part of the larger Soviet westward offensiv ...

s, these communist states collapsed and CPL was outlawed in Lithuania.

Ideological work

After the failure to establish the communist rule in Lithuania, Angarietis retreated to Russia to never visit Lithuania again. First he lived in

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

(1920–1922) then in

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 ...

. Angarietis remained involved with CPL, remaining a member of its

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

and supervising its underground activities. He wrote numerous books, essays, and pamphlets – his typewritten manuscripts were collected in 48 volumes of 200–300 pages each. Šarmaitis counted a total of 147 works published as separate works, mostly booklets and brochures, before 1940. However, attribution is sometimes difficult as Angarietis wrote under a plethora of pseudonyms. Many of his works were devoted to the history of the Communist Party and the revolutionary movement tracing the

class conflict In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...

since the

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

. In 1921, he wrote a 480-page manuscript on the history of CPL and accused Kapsukas of many practical and ideological mistakes that led to their failure. The conflict was quickly suppressed by Russian communist leaders. He also edited 18-volume collected works by

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 ...

and various newspapers, including ''Komunistas'' (''Communist'', 1918–1939), ''Kibirkštis'' (''Spark'', 1924–1926), ''Balsas'' (''Voice'', 1929–1933), ''Partijos darbas'' (''Work of the Party'', 1931–1933). He also taught party history and other subjects to Lithuanian communists at the Communist University of the National Minorities of the West and the

International Lenin School The International Lenin School (ILS) () was an official training school operated in Moscow, Soviet Union, by the Communist International from May 1926 to 1938. It was resumed after the Second World War and run by the Communist Party of the Soviet ...

. Angarietis was a CPL representative and contact person at the

Comintern 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 Internatio ...

. He was a delegate at the 3–7th Congresses of the Comintern. During the 5–7th Congresses he was elected to the International Control Commission, of which he was secretary in 1926–1935. He was also a delegate to the 6th,

8th Eighth is ordinal form of the number eight. Eighth may refer to: * One eighth, , a fraction, one of eight equal parts of a whole * Eighth note (quaver), a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet) * Octave, an interval b ...

, 10th, 12–17th Congresses of the Russian Communist Party.

Death and legacy

Angarietis was arrested in March 1938 during the

and died two years later in a Moscow prison. He was rehabilitated in 1956 during the

de-Stalinization De-Stalinization () comprised a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, and Khrushchev Thaw, the thaw brought about by ascension of Nik ...

campaign. A monument to Angarietis by sculptor Alfonsas Vincentas Ambraziūnas was unveiled in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

in 1972, his 90th birth anniversary. A school in

Šakiai Šakiai () is a city in the Marijampolė County, Lithuania. It is located west of Kaunas. History It is presumed that Šakiai first expanded from ''Šakaičai'' village, which was first mentioned in 1599. In 1719 Šakaičiai was renamed to Šaki ...

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to eme ...

in his native Obelupiai, and streets in Vilnius,

Panevėžys Panevėžys () is the fifth-largest List of cities in Lithuania, city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, eighth-most-populous city in the Baltic States. it occupies with 89,100 inhabitants. As defined by Eu ...

, and Kalvarija were named in his honor. After Lithuania restored independence in 1990, the streets were renamed and the monument was moved to the Grūtas Park.

In popular culture

Angarietis is portrayed by the actor Milan Marić in the Serbian television series ''Vreme zla'' (''Times of Evil'') based upon a series of novels of the same name by

Dobrica Ćosić Dobrica Ćosić (, ; 29 December 1921 – 18 May 2014) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician, writer, and political theorist. Ćosić was twice awarded the prestigious NIN award for literature and Medal of Pushkin for his writing. His books hav ...