Jaan Anvelt
Encyclopedia
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
revolutionary
Revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates revolution. Also, when used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.-Definition:...
, leader of the Communist Party of Estonia
Communist Party of Estonia
Communist Party of Estonia was a political party in Estonia.EKP was formed November 5, 1920, as the Central Committee of the Estonian Sections of the Russian Communist Party was separated from its mother party. During the first half of 1920s the hopes to an immediate world revolution were still...
, the first Premier
Premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in some countries and states.-Examples by country:In many nations, "premier" is used interchangeably with "prime minister"...
of Soviet Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, and the Chairman of the Council
Legislative Council
A Legislative Council is the name given to the legislatures, or one of the chambers of the legislature of many nations and colonies.A Member of the Legislative Council is commonly referred to as an MLC.- Unicameral legislatures :...
of The Commune of the Working People of Estonia
Commune of the Working People of Estonia
The Commune of the Working People of Estonia was an unrecognised government claiming the Bolshevik-occupied parts of Republic of Estonia as its territories during the Estonian War of Independence and the Russian Civil War...
(Estonian
Estonian language
Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
Eesti Töörahva Kommuun). Imprisoned during Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
in 1937, he died from the injuries sustained during a beating while in custody by Aleksandr Ivanovich Langfang
Aleksandr Langfang
Aleksandr Langfang was a Lieutenant-General in the NKVDHe is held responsible for the death of Jaan Anvelt who died from injuries received during an interrogation conducted by Langfang on 11 December 1937....
.
Early life
Anvelt was born to a peasant family in the ImperialRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
Governorate of Livonia. He studied to become a schoolteacher, beginning in Yuryev (now Tartu
Tartu
Tartu is the second largest city of Estonia. In contrast to Estonia's political and financial capital Tallinn, Tartu is often considered the intellectual and cultural hub, especially since it is home to Estonia's oldest and most renowned university. Situated 186 km southeast of Tallinn, the...
), and then in St. Petersburg, where he joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party , also known as Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or Russian Social Democratic Party, was a revolutionary socialist Russian political party formed in 1898 in Minsk to unite the various revolutionary organizations into one party...
's Bolshevik faction. He was employed as a schoolteacher from 1905 to 1907, concurrently being involved in revolutionary activity. From 1907 to 1912, Anvelt studied part time as a student of jurisprudence at St. Petersburg University.
October Revolution
On November 5, 1917 (by the current Gregorian calendarGregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
- October 23 by the Julian calendar
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...
still in use in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
at the time), Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
leader Jaan Anvelt led his leftist revolutionaries to the revolution
Revolution
A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
in Tallinn
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
, the capital of Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, and took political power
Political power
Political power is a type of power held by a group in a society which allows administration of some or all of public resources, including labour, and wealth. There are many ways to obtain possession of such power. At the nation-state level political legitimacy for political power is held by the...
.
Post-Revolution
After the defeat of the revolutionaries in the BalticsBaltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
, Anvelt went underground, remaining active as a revolutionary, emerging as one of the leaders of the 1924 Estonian coup d'état attempt. In 1925, Anvelt arrived in the USSR, in 1926-29 working as a political commissar
Political commissar
The political commissar is the supervisory political officer responsible for the political education and organisation, and loyalty to the government of the military...
of the Zhukovsky Air Forces Military Academy. From 1929 to 1935 he worked in top positions of the civilian air fleet's main administration. During the period from 1935 to 1937 Anvelt served as a member and an executive secretary of a department within the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
.
Anvelt was arrested in 1937. Interrogated in custody, he died from the injuries inflicted by an interrogator named Langfang on 11 December 1937, and was denounced as an enemy of the people
Enemy of the people
The term enemy of the people is a fluid designation of political or class opponents of the group using the term. The term implies that the "enemies" in question are acting against society as a whole. It is similar to the notion of "enemy of the state". The term originated in Roman times as ,...
afterwards.
In 1956, when Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
distanced himself from the methods of Stalinism
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
, Anvelt's reputation as a good communist was rehabilitated
Rehabilitation (Soviet)
Rehabilitation in the context of the former Soviet Union, and the Post-Soviet states, was the restoration of a person who was criminally prosecuted without due basis, to the state of acquittal...
.
Books about Jaan Anvelt
- Fred Peterson, Jaan Anwelt : terroristide juht. nr. 1 (TartuTartuTartu is the second largest city of Estonia. In contrast to Estonia's political and financial capital Tallinn, Tartu is often considered the intellectual and cultural hub, especially since it is home to Estonia's oldest and most renowned university. Situated 186 km southeast of Tallinn, the...
: Argus, 1925) - Richard Majak, Jaan Anvelt : [elu ja tegevus] : abiks lektorile (Tallinn : Eesti NSV ühing "Teadus", 1964. - Eesti NSV ühing "Teadus" ; 1964, nr. 28)
- Mälestusi ja dokumente J. Anveldist (EKP Keskkomitee Partei Ajaloo Instituut - NLKP Keskkomitee Marksismi-Leninismi Instituudi filiaal ; [compilator R. Majak]. - Tallinn : Eesti Raamat, 1965)
- Holger Pukk, Kirjad Liisale ([illustrated by Illimar Paul]. - Tallinn : Eesti Raamat, 1983)
- Alice Stein-Anvelt, Valguses ja varjus : unustamatuid inimesi ja sündmusi : [mälestusi V. KingissepastViktor KingisseppViktor Kingissepp was a Soviet Communist politician, and leader of the Estonian Communist Party.He was arrested by the Estonian Political Police on 1 May 1922 and executed for treason shortly afterwards....
ja J. Anveldist] (Tallinn : Eesti Raamat, 1988. - ISBN 5-450-00015-4)
See also
- Viktor KingisseppViktor KingisseppViktor Kingissepp was a Soviet Communist politician, and leader of the Estonian Communist Party.He was arrested by the Estonian Political Police on 1 May 1922 and executed for treason shortly afterwards....
- Jaan Kreuks
- Hans Pöögelmann
- Jaan Tomp
- List of Estonian rulers
- October RevolutionOctober RevolutionThe October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
External links
- Another biography (in Estonian) http://www.eestigiid.ee/?Person=nimi&PYear=aasta&start=15&ItemID=195.
- 1 December 1924
- Commune of the Working People of Estonia
- Jaan Anwelt (photograph)
- Jaan Anwelt (photograph)
- Riigikukutamise kurb grimass (Estonian)
- Aleksandr Ivanovich Langfang, murderer of Jaan Anvelt
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