Eino Rahja

Eino Rahja ( Russian Эйно Абрамович Рахья , Eino Abramowitsch Rachja ; born June 20, 1885 in Kronstadt , † April 26, 1936 in Leningrad ) was a Finnish and Russian communist and revolutionary ; older brother of Jukka Rahja .

portrait

Life

Rahja joined the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Russia (RSDLP) in 1903 . During the revolution of 1905–1907 he worked as a locksmith for the Finnish Railways, transporting weapons and illegal literature. Between 1911 and 1917 he worked for the SDAPR in Petrograd.

After the July uprising in 1917, he and others were responsible for the protection of Lenin and ensured the safety of Lenin's conspiratorial journey from Razliv to Finland and back to Petrograd. Rahja served as a liaison between the Central Committee of the SDAPR (Bolsheviks) and Lenin.

During the Finnish Civil War in 1918 he was in command of a division of the Red Guards . After the revolution in Finland failed, Rahja went to Soviet Russia . Rahja was a founding member of the Communist Party of Finland in Moscow in August 1918 and was co-opted into the Central Committee a short time later. He took part as a delegate for the Communist Party of Finland on I. (March 1919), II. (July / August 1920) and III. World Congress (June / July 1921) of the Comintern .

Between 1919 and 1931 he was politically active in the Red Army . During the Russian Civil War he was a commissioner of various divisions . In late autumn 1919 he was involved in the defense of Petrograd against the counter-revolutionary troops of General Yudenich .

Rahja was awarded the Order of the Red Banner twice.

literature

• Entry: Рахья, Эйно Абрамович . In: Большая советская энциклопедия (third edition, 1969–1978; Russian).
• Branko Lazitch: Biographical Dictionary of the Comintern . Hoover Institution Press, Stanford 1986, p. 381.