Alexander Konstantinovich Voronsky
Alexander Konstantinowitsch Voronski (Russian Александр Константинович Воронский ; born September 8, 1884 in Khoroshavka , Russian Empire , † August 13, 1937 near Moscow ) was a Russian revolutionary and is considered the most important literary critic of the early Soviet Union . As a former member of the Left Opposition to Stalinism , he was sentenced to death in an express trial in 1937 and shot.
Life
Voronsky was born in the Tambov governorate in 1884 as the son of a village pastor. In 1904 he joined the Bolshevik wing of the RSDLP as a student . A year later he took part in the failed revolution of 1905 in Petersburg and was arrested. A year long imprisonment was followed by two years' exile in Jarensk .
In 1912 Voronsky gained access to the leading circles of the Bolsheviks; he missed the election of a member of the Central Committee by only one vote. Due to treason, he was exiled near the Arctic Circle for two years and served on the Western Front after the outbreak of World War I.
After the February Revolution of 1917 , he became chairman of the Koidanow Soldiers' Council in Minsk Governorate . Shortly afterwards he acted as a leading member of the Soviet Republic in Odessa , after the occupation by the German army he went to Ivanovo , where he took over high party offices and published the newspaper Rabotschi krai (workers' region). From 1918 to 1920 he wrote nearly 400 articles for them.
His activities caught the attention of Lenin and Voronsky was ordered to Moscow. Here he founded a new magazine in 1921, the Krasnaja now (Красная новь = Red Neuland) and acted as its editor.
In 1923 he became a member of the group around Leon Trotsky . He fought and wrote u. a. against the proletarian cult . He was heavily involved in the Perewal group of writers , of which he was the leader. After the Left Opposition disintegrated in 1927, Voronsky was removed from his position as editor. He was expelled from the party in February 1928 and arrested in January of the following year. He had to go into exile in Lipetsk for a few months , but was allowed to return to Moscow that same year.
In the next few years too, Voronsky fought against Stalin and his interpretations of Bolshevism. During this time he also wrote his memoirs. On February 1, 1937, he was arrested again. A manuscript for the second part of the memoirs was confiscated by the secret service. This was followed by several months in custody, and on August 13, Voronsky was finally tried and probably shot on the same day.
His daughter Galina was arrested in 1937 as the daughter of an "enemy of the people" and had to go into exile in Kolyma . She died in December 1991.
In 1957 Voronsky was rehabilitated.
Works
- The art of seeing the world. Selected writings 1911–1936 . Arbeiterpresse, Essen 2003, ISBN 3-88634-077-5 ( foreword online ).
Web links
- Literature by and about Alexander Konstantinowitsch Voronski in the catalog of the German National Library
- Lecture by David Walsh on Voronsky's confrontation with the Proletkult movement
- Biography at Mehring-Verlag
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Alexander Konstantinowitsch Voronski in: List of Victims of Political Repression 1917–1991
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Voronsky, Alexander Konstantinowitsch |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Воронский, Александр Константинович (Russian) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Soviet literary critic in the early stages of the Soviet Union |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 8, 1884 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Khoroshavka , Russian Empire |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 13, 1937 |
| Place of death | near Moscow |