Mikhail Tomsky
Encyclopedia
Mikhail Pavlovich Tomsky (born Mikhail Pavlovich Yefremovsometimes transliterated
as Efremov; October 31, 1880, Kolpino
– August 22, 1936) was a factory worker, trade union
ist and Bolshevik
leader. He was the Soviet
leader of the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions
.
Tomsky attempted to form a trade union
at his factory in St. Petersburg
resulting in his dismissal
.His labour activities radicalized him politically and led him to become a socialist and join the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
in 1904 and eventually join the Bolshevik
faction of the party.
near St. Petersburg, Tomsky moved to Estonia
(then part of the Russian Empire
) and was involved in the 1905 Revolution. He helped form the Revel
Soviet
of Workers' Deputies and the Revel Union of Metal Workers. Tomsky was arrested and deported to Siberia
.
He escaped and returned to St. Petersburg where he became president of the Union of Engravers and Chromolithographers.
Tomsky was arrested in 1908 and then exiled to France
, but returned to Russia in 1909 where he was again arrested for his political activities and sentenced to five years of hard labour. He was freed by the Provisional Government after the February Revolution
in 1917 and moved to Moscow
where he participated in the October Revolution
. In 1918 he attended the Fourth All Russian Conference of Trade Unions
(12–17 March), where he moved a resolution concerning the Relations between the Trade Unions and the Commissariat for Labour
which stated that the October Revolution had changed "the meaning and character of state organs and significance of proletarian organs as well". It was elaborated that previously the old ministry of Labour had acted as arbitrator between Labour and Capital
, whereas the new Commissariat was the champion of the economic policy of the working class.
of the Red International of Labour Unions. He was elected into the Central Committee in March 1919, to its Orgburo
in 1921 and to the Central Committee of the Communist Party in April 1922. He became a full member of the Central Committee's Politburo
on December 19, 1927.
Tomsky was an ally of Nikolai Bukharin
and Alexey Rykov, who led the moderate (or right) wing of the Communist Party
in the 1920s. Together, they were allied with Joseph Stalin
's faction and helped him purge the Left Opposition
- led by Leon Trotsky
, Lev Kamenev
, and Grigory Zinoviev
- from the party during the struggle that followed Lenin's death in 1924.
Tomsky headed the State Publishing House from May 1932 until August 1936, when he was accused of terrorist connections during the First Moscow Trial of Zinoviev and Kamenev. Rather than face arrest by the NKVD
, Tomsky committed suicide by gunshot in his dacha
in Bolshevo, near Moscow
. He was posthumously accused of high treason and other crimes during the third (March 1938) show trial
of Bukharin, Rykov and others. The Soviet government cleared Tomsky of all charges during perestroika
in 1988.
Transliteration
Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
as Efremov; October 31, 1880, Kolpino
Kolpino
Kolpino is a municipal city in Kolpinsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on the Izhora River southeast of St. Petersburg proper. Population: 81,000 ; 8,076 ....
– August 22, 1936) was a factory worker, trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
ist and 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. He was the Soviet
Soviet (council)
Soviet was a name used for several Russian political organizations. Examples include the Czar's Council of Ministers, which was called the “Soviet of Ministers”; a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia; and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union....
leader of the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions
Trade unions in the Soviet Union
Trade unions in the Soviet Union trace their history back to Russian Revolution of 1905. Many trade unions were shut down or restricted on the eve of World War I and during the War, but they revived after the February Revolution and their leaders were democratically elected during 1917.Anarchists...
.
Tomsky attempted to form a trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
at his factory in St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
resulting in his dismissal
.His labour activities radicalized him politically and led him to become a socialist and join 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...
in 1904 and eventually join the 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....
faction of the party.
Early life (1880-1920)
Born in KolpinoKolpino
Kolpino is a municipal city in Kolpinsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on the Izhora River southeast of St. Petersburg proper. Population: 81,000 ; 8,076 ....
near St. Petersburg, Tomsky moved to 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...
(then part of the Russian Empire
Russian 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...
) and was involved in the 1905 Revolution. He helped form the Revel
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...
Soviet
Soviet (council)
Soviet was a name used for several Russian political organizations. Examples include the Czar's Council of Ministers, which was called the “Soviet of Ministers”; a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia; and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union....
of Workers' Deputies and the Revel Union of Metal Workers. Tomsky was arrested and deported to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
.
He escaped and returned to St. Petersburg where he became president of the Union of Engravers and Chromolithographers.
Tomsky was arrested in 1908 and then exiled to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, but returned to Russia in 1909 where he was again arrested for his political activities and sentenced to five years of hard labour. He was freed by the Provisional Government after the February Revolution
February Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
in 1917 and moved to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
where he participated in the October Revolution
October Revolution
The 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...
. In 1918 he attended the Fourth All Russian Conference of Trade Unions
Fourth All Russian Conference of Trade Unions
The Fourth All Russian Conference of Trade Unions took place 12–17 March 1918.The Bolshevik, Mikhail Tomsky, proposed the resolution concerning the Relations between the Trade Unions and the Commissariat for Labour which stated that the October revolution had changed "the meaning and character of...
(12–17 March), where he moved a resolution concerning the Relations between the Trade Unions and the Commissariat for Labour
People's Commissariat for Labour
The People's Commissariat for Labour was established by the Bolsheviks following their seizure of power during the October Revolution. It functioned as a ministry in the new government which was known as Council of the People's Commissars....
which stated that the October Revolution had changed "the meaning and character of state organs and significance of proletarian organs as well". It was elaborated that previously the old ministry of Labour had acted as arbitrator between Labour and Capital
Capital (economics)
In economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital refers to already-produced durable goods used in production of goods or services. The capital goods are not significantly consumed, though they may depreciate in the production process...
, whereas the new Commissariat was the champion of the economic policy of the working class.
Career (1920-1928)
In 1920, he became General SecretaryGeneral Secretary
The office of general secretary is staffed by the chief officer of:*The General Secretariat for Macedonia and Thrace, a government agency for the Greek regions of Macedonia and Thrace...
of the Red International of Labour Unions. He was elected into the Central Committee in March 1919, to its Orgburo
Orgburo
The Orgburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union existed from 1919–52, until the 19th Congress, when the Orgburo was abolished and its functions were transferred to the enlarged Secretariat....
in 1921 and to the Central Committee of the Communist Party in April 1922. He became a full member of the Central Committee's Politburo
Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Politburo , known as the Presidium from 1952 to 1966, functioned as the central policymaking and governing body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.-Duties and responsibilities:The...
on December 19, 1927.
Tomsky was an ally of Nikolai Bukharin
Nikolai Bukharin
Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin , was a Russian Marxist, Bolshevik revolutionary, and Soviet politician. He was a member of the Politburo and Central Committee , chairman of the Communist International , and the editor in chief of Pravda , the journal Bolshevik , Izvestia , and the Great Soviet...
and Alexey Rykov, who led the moderate (or right) wing of the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
in the 1920s. Together, they were allied with 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 faction and helped him purge the Left Opposition
Left Opposition
The Left Opposition was a faction within the Bolshevik Party from 1923 to 1927, headed de facto by Leon Trotsky. The Left Opposition formed as part of the power struggle within the party leadership that began with the Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin's illness and intensified with his death in January...
- led by Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
, Lev Kamenev
Lev Kamenev
Lev Borisovich Kamenev , born Rozenfeld , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. He was briefly head of state of the new republic in 1917, and from 1923-24 the acting Premier in the last year of Lenin's life....
, and Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev , born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky Apfelbaum , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet Communist politician...
- from the party during the struggle that followed Lenin's death in 1924.
Demise (1928-1936)
In 1928 Stalin moved against his former allies, defeating Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky at the April 1929 Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee and forcing Tomsky to resign from his position as leader of the trade union movement in May 1929. Tomsky was put in charge of the Soviet chemical industry, a position which he occupied until 1930. He was not re-elected to the Politburo after the 16th Communist Party Congress in July 1930, but remained a full member of the Central Committee until the next Congress in January 1934, when he was demoted to candidate (non-voting) member.Tomsky headed the State Publishing House from May 1932 until August 1936, when he was accused of terrorist connections during the First Moscow Trial of Zinoviev and Kamenev. Rather than face arrest by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
, Tomsky committed suicide by gunshot in his dacha
Dacha
Dacha is a Russian word for seasonal or year-round second homes often located in the exurbs of Soviet and post-Soviet cities. Cottages or shacks serving as family's main or only home are not considered dachas, although many purpose-built dachas are recently being converted for year-round residence...
in Bolshevo, near Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. He was posthumously accused of high treason and other crimes during the third (March 1938) show trial
Show trial
The term show trial is a pejorative description of a type of highly public trial in which there is a strong connotation that the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as...
of Bukharin, Rykov and others. The Soviet government cleared Tomsky of all charges during perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
in 1988.
External links
- Tomsky Archive Marxists Internet Archive
- The trade unions, the party and the state a pamphlet by Tomsky