 Rakovskyc. 1920s | |
| 1stChairman of theCouncil of People's Commissars of theUkrainian SSR | |
| In office 16 January 1919 – 15 July 1923 | |
| Preceded by | Georgiy Pyatakov |
| Succeeded by | Vlas Chubar |
| Soviet Ambassador toFrance | |
| In office October 1925 – October 1927 | |
| Preceded by | Leonid Krasin |
| Succeeded by | Valerian Dovgalevsky |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Krastyo Georgiev Stanchev (1873-08-13)13 August 1873 |
| Died | 11 September 1941(1941-09-11) (aged 68) |
| Cause of death | Execution by firing squad |
| Nationality | Bulgarian,Romanian,Russian,Ukrainian |
| Political party | Russian Communist Party (1917–1937) |
| Other political affiliations | Social Democratic Party of Romania (1910–1917) |
| Spouse(s) | E. P. Ryabova (desc.) Alexandrina Alexandrescu (Ileana Pralea) |
| Education | University of Geneva[1] |
| Profession | Physician, journalist |
| Signature |  |
Christian Georgiyevich Rakovsky[a] (August 13 [O.S. August 1] 1873 – September 11, 1941), Bulgarian nameKrastyo Georgiev Rakovski, bornKrastyo Georgiev Stanchov, was aBulgarian-born socialistrevolutionary, aBolshevik politician andSoviet diplomat and statesman; he was also noted as a journalist, physician, and essayist. Rakovsky's political career took him throughout theBalkans and into France andImperial Russia; for part of his life, he was also aRomanian citizen.
A lifelong collaborator ofLeon Trotsky, he was a prominent activist of theSecond International, involved in politics with theBulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party,Romanian Social Democratic Party, and theRussian Social Democratic Labour Party. Rakovsky was expelled at different times from various countries as a result of his activities, and, during World War I, became a founding member of theRevolutionary Balkan Social Democratic Labor Federation while helping to organize theZimmerwald Conference. Imprisoned by Romanian authorities, he made his way to Russia, where he joined theBolshevik Party after theOctober Revolution, and unsuccessfully attempted to generate acommunist revolution in theKingdom of Romania. Subsequently, he was a founding member of theComintern, served ashead of government in theUkrainian SSR, and took part in negotiations at theGenoa Conference.
He came to opposeJoseph Stalin and rallied with theLeft Opposition, being marginalized inside the government and sent as Soviet ambassador to London and Paris, where he was involved in renegotiating financial settlements. He was ultimately recalled from France in autumn 1927, after signing his name to a controversialTrotskyist platform which endorsedworld revolution. Credited with having developed the Trotskyist critique ofStalinism as "bureaucratic centrism", Rakovsky was subject to internal exile. Submitting to Stalin's leadership in 1934 and being briefly reinstated, he was nonetheless implicated in theTrial of the Twenty One (part of theMoscow Trials), imprisoned, and executed by theNKVD during World War II. He wasrehabilitated in 1988, during the SovietGlasnost period.
Rakovsky's originalBulgarian name wasKrastyo Georgiev Stanchev (Кръстьо Георгиев Станчев), which he himself changed toKrastyo Rakovski (Кръстьо Раковски), being a grandnephew of the Bulgarian national heroGeorgi Rakovski. The usual form his first name took inRomanian wasCristian (occasionally rendered asChristian), while his last name was spelledRacovski,Racovschi, orRakovski. His given name was occasionally rendered asRistache, an antiquatedhypocoristic—he was known as such to his acquaintance, writerIon Luca Caragiale.[2]
In Russian, his full name, includingpatronymic, wasKhristian Georgievich Rakovsky (Христиан Георгиевич Раковский).Christian (as well asCristian andKristian) is an approximate rendition ofKrastyo (the Bulgarian for "cross"), as used by Rakovsky himself.[3] InUkrainian, Rakovsky's name is rendered as Християн Георгійович Раковський, and usuallytransliterated asKhrystyian Heorhiiovych Rakovskyi.[citation needed]
During his lifetime, he was also known under the pseudonymsH. Insarov andGrigoriev, which he used in signing several articles for the Russian-language press.[4]
Christian Rakovsky was born to a wealthy Bulgarian family inGradets — nearKotel — at the time still part ofOttoman-ruledRumelia.[5] He was, on his mother's side, the grandnephew ofGeorgi Sava Rakovski, a revolutionary hero of theBulgarian National Revival;[6] that side of his family also includedGeorgi Mamarchev, who had fought against the Ottomans in theImperial Russian Army.[7] Rakovsky's father was a merchant who belonged to theDemocratic Party.[7]
He later stated that, as early as his childhood years, he had felt a special admiration towards Russia, and that he had been impressed by witnessing, at age 5, theRusso-Turkish War and Russian presence (he claimed to have met GeneralEduard Totleben during the conflict).[7]
Although his parents moved to theKingdom of Romania in 1880, settling inGherengic (Northern Dobruja), he completed his education in newly emancipated Bulgaria.[8] Rakovsky was expelled from thegymnasium inGabrovo for his political activities (in 1887 and then again, after organizing a riot, in 1890).[6] It was around that time that he became aMarxist, and began collaborating with the socialist journalistEvtim Dabev, whom he aided in printing works byKarl Marx andFriedrich Engels (at the time, Rakovsky and Sava Balabanov published their own newspaper, the clandestineZerkalo).[9]
Since, after having ultimately been banned from attending anypublic school in the country, he could not complete his education in Bulgaria,[10] in September 1890, Rakovsky went toGeneva to begin his studies and become a physician. While in Switzerland, he joined the Socialist Student Circle at theUniversity of Geneva, which was largely composed of non-Swiss youth.[9]
Apolyglot,[11] Rakovsky became close toGeorgy Plekhanov, the founder of Russian Marxism, and his circle, eventually writing a number of articles and a book in Russian. He briefly worked withRosa Luxemburg,Pavel Axelrod, andVera Zasulich.[9] Unable to attend the First International Congress of Socialist Students inBrussels (1892), he became involved in organizing the Second Congress, held in Geneva during the fall of 1893.[3]
He was a founding editor of the Geneva-based Bulgarian-language magazineSotsial-Demokrat and later a major contributor to the Bulgarian Marxist publicationsDen',Rabotnik, andDrugar.[9] At the time, Rakovsky and Balabanov, with Plekhanov's encouragement, stressed the importance for moderation in socialist policies—Sotsial-Demokrat rallied with theBulgarian Social Democratic Union and rejected the more radicalBulgarian Social Democratic Party. He soon became involved in distributing socialist propaganda inside Bulgaria, at a time whenStefan Stambolov organized a crackdown on political opposition.[3]
Later in 1893, Rakovsky enrolled in a medical school in Berlin, contributing articles forVorwärts and becoming close toWilhelm Liebknecht (the two corresponded regularly for the rest of Liebknecht's life).[9] As a Bulgarian delegate to theSecond International Congress inZürich, he also met with Engels andJules Guesde.[3]
Six months later, he was arrested and expelled from theGerman Empire for maintaining close contacts with the Russian revolutionaries there.[6] He finished his education in 1894–1896 inZürich,Nancy andMontpellier, where he wrote forLa Jeunesse Socialiste andLa Petite République, maintaining a friendship with Guesde and becoming an opponent ofJean Jaurès'reformist views.[12]
According to his own testimony, he became active in supporting theAnti-Ottoman upsurge inCrete andMacedonia, as well asDashnak revolutionary activities.[7] In 1896, he was the Bulgarian representative to the Second International's London Congress (part of his speech was published inKarl Kautsky'sDie Neue Zeit).[9]
Although actively involved in many European countries' socialist movements, prior to 1917 Rakovsky's focus remained on the Balkans and especially on his native country and Romania; his activities in support of the international socialist movement led to his expulsion, at different times, from Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, France and Russia.[citation needed]
In 1897, he publishedRussiya na Istok (Russia in the East), a book sharply critical of theRussian Empire's foreign policy, which, according to Rakovsky, followed one ofGeorgy Plekhanov's guidelines ("Tsarist Russia must be isolated in its foreign relations").[7] On several occasions, he publicly criticized Russia's policies towards Romania and inBessarabia[13] (describing Russia's rule over the latter as "absolutist conquest", "mischievous action", and "abduction").[14] According to Rakovsky, "Russophile papers" in Bulgaria had begun to target him as a consequence.[7]
After completing his education as a physician at theUniversity of Montpellier[15] (with the thesisL'Éthiologie du crime et de la dégénérescence – "The Cause of Crime and Degeneration", submitted in 1897),[16] Rakovsky, who had married the Russian student E. P. Ryabova,[3] was summoned to Romania in order to be drafted in theRomanian Army, and served as amedic in the 9th Cavalry Regiment stationed inConstanţa,Dobruja (1899–1900).[16] He rose to the rank of lieutenant.[17]
Rakovsky subsequently rejoined his wife inSaint Petersburg, where he hoped to settle down and engage in revolutionary activities (he was probably expelled after an initial attempt to enter the country, but was allowed to return).[17] An adversary ofPeter Berngardovich Struve after the latter moved towardsmarket liberalism,[7] he became acquainted with, among others,Nikolay Mikhaylovsky andMikhail Tugan-Baranovsky, while authoring articles forNashe Slovo and helping distributeIskra.[6] His close relationship with Plekhanov led Rakovsky to a position between theMenshevik andBolshevik factions of theRussian Social Democratic Labor Party, one he kept from 1903 to 1917; the Bolshevik leaderVladimir Lenin was initially hostile to Rakovsky,[15] and at one point wrote toKarl Radek that "we [the Bolsheviks] do not have the same road as his kind of people".[18]
Initially, Rakovsky was expelled from Russia and had to move back to Paris. Returning to the Russian capital in 1900, he remained there until 1902, when his wife's death and the crackdown on socialist groups ordered byEmperorNicholas II forced him to return to France.[9] Working for a while as a physician in the village ofBeaulieu, Haute-Loire,[7] he asked French officials to review his case fornaturalization, but was refused.[16]
In 1903, following the death of his father, Rakovsky again lived in Paris, where he followed developments of theRusso-Japanese War and spoke out against Russia, attracting, according to Rakovsky himself, the criticism of both Plekhanov andJules Guesde.[7] He voiced his opposition to the concession made byKarl Kautsky toJean Jaurès, one which had allowed socialists to join "bourgeois" governments in times of crisis.[19]
He ultimately settled in Romania (1904) having inherited his father'sestate nearMangalia.[20] In 1913, his property, valued at some 40,000 United States dollars at the time,[17] was home toLeon Trotsky when the latter visited the Balkans as a press envoy during theBalkan Wars.[15] He was usually present inBucharest on a weekly basis, and started an intense activity as a journalist, doctor and lawyer.[16] The Balkans correspondent forL'Humanité,[3] he was also personally responsible for revivingRomânia Muncitoare, the defunct journal of the Romanian socialist group, provoking successful strike actions which brought him to the attention of officials.[21]
Christian Rakovsky also traveled to Bulgaria, where he eventually sided with theTesnyatsi in their conflict with other socialist groups.[22] In 1904, he was present at theSecond International's Congress inAmsterdam, where he gave a speech celebrating the assassination of Russian police chiefVyacheslav von Plehve bySocialist-Revolutionary Party members.[7]
Rakovsky became noted locally especially after 1905, when he organized rallies in support of theBattleship Potemkin revolt (the events worsened relations between Russia and theRomanian Kingdom),[23] carried out a relief operation for thePotemkin crew as their ship sought refuge inConstanţa,[11] and attempted to persuade them to set sail forBatumi and aid striking workers there.[9] According to his own account, a parallel scandal occurred when an armed Bolshevik ship was captured in Romanian territorial waters; Rakovsky, who indicated that the weapons on board were to be used in Batumi, faced allegations in the Romanian press that he was preparing aDobrujan insurrection.[7]
His head was injured during street clashes withpolice forces over thePotemkin issue;[24] while recovering, Rakovsky befriended the Romanian poetsȘtefan Octavian Iosif andDimitrie Anghel, who were publishing works under a common signature—one of the two authored a sympathetic portrait of the socialist leader, based on his recollections from the early 1900s.[25] Throughout these years, Rakovsky, was, according to Iosif and Anghel, "continuously bustling; disappearing and appearing in workers' centers, be it inBrăila, be it inGalaţi, be it inIaşi, be it anywhere, always preaching with the same undaunted fervor and fanatical conviction his social credo".[26]
Rakovsky was drawn into a polemic with the Romanian authorities, facing public accusations that, as a Bulgarian, he lacked patriotism.[16] In return, he commented that, if patriotism meant "race prejudice, international and civil war, politicaltyranny andplutocratic domination", he refused to be identified with it.[27] Upon the outbreak ofRomanian Peasants' Revolt of 1907, Rakovsky was especially vocal: he launched accusations at theNational Liberal government, arguing that, having profited from the earlyantisemitic message of the revolt, it had violently repressed it from the moment peasants began to attack landowners.[9] Supportive of the thesis according to which the peasantry had revolutionary importance inside Romanian society and Eastern Europe at large, Rakovsky publicized his perspective in the socialist press (writing articles on the subject forRomânia Muncitoare,L'Humanité,Avanti!,Vorwärts and others).[3]
Rakovsky was also one of the journalists suspected of having greatly exaggerated the overall death toll in their accounts: his estimates speak of over 10,000 peasants killed, whereas the government data counted only 421.[28]
He became close to the influential dramatistIon Luca Caragiale, who was living in Berlin at the time.[2] Caragiale authored his own virulent critique of the Romanian state and its handling of the revolt, an essay titled1907, din primăvară până în toamnă ("1907, From Spring to Autumn"), which, in its final version, adopted some of Rakovsky's suggestions.[29]
After repeatedly condemning repression of the revolt, Rakovsky was, together with other socialists, officially accused of having agitated rebellious sentiment, and consequently expelled from Romanian soil (late 1907).[30] He received news of this action while already abroad, inStuttgart (at the Seventh Congress of theSecond International).[31] He decided not to recognize it, and contended that his father had settled inNorthern Dobruja before theTreaty of Berlin that had awarded the region to Romania;[17] the plea was rejected by theCourt of Appeal, based on evidence that Rakovsky's father was not in Dobruja before 1880, and that Rakovsky himself used a Bulgarian passport when moving across borders.[17] During the 1920s, Rakovsky was still viewing the incident as a "blatantly illegal act".[7]
The action itself caused protests from leftist politicians and sympathizers,[32] including, among others, the influential Marxist thinkerConstantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea (whose appeal in favor of Rakovsky was described by Iosif and Anghel as evidence of "an almost parental love").[33] The local socialists organized several rallies in his support, and the return of his citizenship was also backed byTake Ionescu's opposition group, theConservative-Democratic Party.[34] In exile, Rakovsky authored the pamphletLes persécutions politiques en Roumanie ("Political Persecutions in Romania") and two books (La Roumanie des boyars – "Boyar Romania", andFrom the Kingdom of Arbitrariness and Cowardice - in RomanianDin regimul arbitrarului şi laşităţei (Contribuţiune la Istoria Oligarhiei Române)).[6]
Eventually, he traveled back into Romania in October 1909, only to be arrested upon his transit throughBrăila County.[35]
According to his recollections, he was for long left stranded on the border withAustria-Hungary, as officials in the latter country refused to let him pass; the situation had to be settled by negotiations between the two countries.[7] Also according to Rakovsky, the arrest was hidden by theIon I. C. Brătianu cabinet until it leaked to the press — this, coupled with rumors that he was about to be killed, and Brătianu's statement that he would "rather destroy [Rakovsky] than let [him] back into Rumania",[36] caused a series of important street clashes between his supporters and government forces.[7] On 9 December 1909, aRomanian Railways employee named Stoenescu attempted to assassinate Brătianu.[37] The event, which was attributed by Rakovsky to support for his return[7] and by other sources to government manipulation,[38] caused a clampdown onRomânia Muncitoare (among those socialists arrested and interrogated wereGheorghe Cristescu,I. C. Frimu, andDumitru Marinescu).[38]
Rakovsky secretly returned to Romania in 1911, giving himself up inBucharest. According to Rakovsky, he was again expelled, holding a Romanian passport, toIstanbul, where he was swiftly arrested by theYoung Turks government but released soon after.[7] He subsequently left forSofia, where he established the Bulgarian socialist journalNapred.[7] Ultimately, the newPetre P. CarpConservative cabinet agreed to allow his return to Romania, following pressures from the FrenchPremierGeorges Clemenceau (who answered an appeal byJean Jaurès).[3] According to Rakovsky, this was also determined by the Conservative change in policies towards the peasantry.[7] He unsuccessfully ran forParliament during theelections of that year (and several others in succession),[17] being fully reinstated as a citizen in April 1912.[7] Romanian journalistStelian Tănase contends that the expulsion had instilled resentment in Rakovsky;[39][unreliable source?] earlier, the leading National Liberal politicianIon G. Duca himself had argued that Rakovsky was developing a "hatred for Romania".[40]
AlongsideMihai Gheorghiu Bujor and Frimu, Rakovsky was one of the founders of theRomanian Social Democratic Party (PSDR), serving as its president.[41]
In May 1912, he helped organize a mourning session[clarification needed] for the centennial of Russian rule in Bessarabia, and authored numerous new articles on the matter.[17] He was afterwards involved in calling for peace during theBalkan Wars;[8] notably, Rakovsky expressed criticism of Romania's invasion of Bulgaria during theSecond Balkan War, and called on Romanian authorities not to annexSouthern Dobruja.[6] Alongside Frimu, Bujor,Ecaterina Arbore and others, he lectured at the PSDR's propaganda school during the short period the latter was in existence (in 1910 and again in 1912–1913).[42]
In 1913, Rakovsky was married a second time, to Alexandrina Alexandrescu (also known as Ileana Pralea), a socialist militant and intellectual, who taught mathematics inPloieşti.[43] Alexandrescu was herself a friend of Dobrogeanu-Gherea and an acquaintance of Caragiale.[44] She had previously been married to Filip Codreanu, aNarodnik activist born in Bessarabia, with whom she had a daughter, Elena, and a son, Radu.[43]
Rallying with the left wing of internationalsocial democracy during the early stages of World War I, Rakovsky later indicated that he had been purposely informed of the controversial pro-war stance taken by theSocial Democratic Party of Germany by the pro-EntenteRomanian Foreign MinisterEmanoil Porumbaru.[45] With staff of the Menshevik paperNashe Slovo (edited byLeon Trotsky), he was among the most prominent socialistpacifists of the period.[46] Reflecting his ideological priorities,România Muncitoare's title was changed intoJos Răsboiul! ("Down with war!")—it was later to be known asLupta Zilnică (the "Daily combat").[45]
Heavily critical of theFrench Socialist Party's decision to join theRené Viviani cabinet (deeming it "an abdication"), he stressed the responsibility of all European countries in provoking the war,[19] and adhered to Trotsky's vision of a "Peace without indemnities or annexations" as an alternative to "imperialist war".[45] According to Rakovsky, tensions between the French SFIO and the German Social Democrats were reflecting not just context, but major ideological differences.[47]
Present in Italy in March 1915, he attended theMilan Congress of theItalian Socialist Party, during which he attempted to persuade it to condemnirredentist goals.[48] In July, after convening the Bucharest Conference, he andVasil Kolarov established theRevolutionary Balkan Social Democratic Labor Federation (comprising the left-leaning socialist parties of Romania, Bulgaria,Serbia and Greece), and Rakovsky was elected first secretary of its Central Bureau.[49]
Subsequently, together with the Italian Socialist delegates (Oddino Morgari,Giacinto Menotti Serrati, andAngelica Balabanoff among them), Rakovsky was instrumental in convening the anti-war international socialistZimmerwald Conference in September 1915.[50] During the congress, he came into open conflict with Lenin, after the latter voiced theZimmerwald Left's opposition to the resolution (at one point, Rakovsky reportedly lost his temper and grabbed Lenin, causing him to temporarily leave the hall in protest).[39][unreliable source?] Later, he continued to mediate between Lenin and the Second International, a situation from which emerged a circular letter that complemented theZimmerwald Manifesto while being more radical in tone.[45] In October 1915, he reportedly did not protestBulgaria's entry into the war[17] — this information was contradicted by Trotsky, who also indicated that theTesniatsy had been the target of a government crackdown at that exact moment.[51]
Rakovsky ran for Parliament for a final time during 1916, and again lost when contesting a seat inCovurlui County.[52] Again arrested in 1916, after being accused of planning rebellion during a violent incident inGalaţi, he was, according to his own account, freed by ageneral strike which constituted "an outburst of indignation among the workers".[7] Evaluating the situation in Romania, he identified the two main pro-Entente political forces of the moment, the groups led byTake Ionescu andNicolae Filipescu, with, respectively, "corruption" and "reaction".[19]
Suspicions also rose that he had been contacted by German intelligence, that his 1915 trip to Italy had served German interests,[39][unreliable source?] and that he was being subsidized with German money.[53] Rakovsky also drew attention to himself after welcoming toBucharest the pro-German maverick socialistAlexander Parvus.[39][unreliable source?] His independence was consequently challenged by theinterventionist paperAdevărul, a former socialist venue, who called Rakovsky "an adventurer without scruples", and viewed him as employed by Parvus and other German socialists.[54]
Rakovsky himself alleged that, "under the mask of independence",Adevărul and its editorConstantin Mille were in the pay of Take Ionescu.[19] After Romania's entry into the conflict on the side of the Entente in August 1916, having failed to attend theKienthal Conference due to the closure of borders,[55] he was placed under surveillance and ultimately imprisoned in September, based on the belief that he was acting as a Germanspy.[56]
As Bucharest fell to theCentral Powers during the1916 campaign, he was taken by Romanian authorities to their refuge in Iaşi.[48] Held until after theFebruary Revolution, he was freed by the Russian Army on May 1, 1917, and immediately left forOdessa.[57]
Rakovsky moved toPetrograd (the new name of Saint Petersburg) in the spring of 1917.[45] His anti-war activism almost got him arrested; Rakovsky managed to flee in August, and was present inStockholm for theThird Zimmerwald Conference; he remained there and, withKarl Radek, issued propaganda material in support of the Russian revolutionaries. Present in theinternationalist faction of the Mensheviks, he joined theBolsheviks in December 1917 or early 1918, after theOctober Revolution[55] (although he was occasionally listed among theOld Bolsheviks).[58] Rakovsky later stated that he had friendly relations with the Bolsheviks from early autumn 1917, when, during the attemptedputsch ofLavr Kornilov, he was hidden by these inSestroretsk.[7]
His rise in influence and his approval ofworld revolution led him to seek Lenin's support for a Bolshevik government over Romania, at a time when a similar attempt was being made by the Odessa-basedRomanian Social Democratic Action Committee, under the guidance ofMihai Gheorghiu Bujor;[48] Stelian Tănase claims that during the period, a group of one hundred Russian Bolsheviks had infiltratedIaşi with the goal of assassinatingKingFerdinand I and organizing a coup.[39][unreliable source?] Eventually, Lenin decided in favor of a unified project, and called on Bujor and Rakovsky to form a single leadership (which also included the Romanian expatriatesAlecu Constantinescu andIon Dic Dicescu).[59]
As the coup was under preparation in December 1917, Rakovsky was present on the border and waiting a signal to enter the country.[48] When Bolsheviks were arrested and the move was overturned, he was probably responsible for ordering the arrest of Romania's representative to Petrograd,Constantin I. Diamandy, and his entire staff (all of whom were used ashostages, pending the release of prisoners taken in Iaşi).[39][unreliable source?] Trotsky, who was by then Russia'sPeople's Commissar for Foreign Affairs (Foreign Minister), called on the Romanian government ofIon I. C. Brătianu to hand in persons captured, indicating that he would otherwise encourage the communist activities of Romanian refugees on Russian soil, and receiving a reply according to which no such arrests had occurred.[39][unreliable source?]
As Russia negotiated theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany, he orderedRumcherod troops to march towards Romania, which was by then giving in to the German advances and preparing to sign its own peace.[39][unreliable source?] Initially stalled by a much-criticized temporaryarmistice withRomanian Army leaderAlexandru Averescu, Rakovsky ordered a fresh offensive inMoldavia, but had to retreat when theCentral Powers, confronted with Trotsky's refusal to accept their version of a Russo-German peace, began their own military operation and occupied Odessa (setting free Romanians who had been imprisoned there).[39] On 9 March 1918, Rakovsky signed a treaty with Romania regarding the evacuation of troops from Bessarabia, which Stelian Tănase claims allowed for theMoldavian Democratic Republic to join Romania. In May, Romania conceded to the demands of the Central Powers (seeTreaty of Bucharest, 1918).[39][unreliable source?]
In April–May 1918, he negotiated with theTsentral'na Rada of theUkrainian People's Republic, then with theHetmanate ofPavlo Skoropadsky, as well as with German forces (seeUkraine after the Russian Revolution).[60] Soon after, Rakovsky left for Austria (where theFirst Republic had been proclaimed), being received byForeign MinisterVictor Adler (a member ofKarl Renner'sSocial Democratic Party of Austria cabinet). Rakovsky's real goal was to reach Germany and negotiate the situation in Ukraine, but he was expelled upon arrival to that country.[7]
Escorted, together withAdolph Joffe andNikolai Bukharin, to the German-alignedBelarusian Democratic Republic, he caught news of thecollapse of the German Empire and was selected as a delegate to the Germanworkers' councils.[7] He and all other envoys were arrested by German soldiers inKaunas, and sent toMinsk, then toHomyel, before making their way to Moscow.[7]
After the subsequent Soviet offensive inUkraine, Lenin appointed Rakovsky as theChairman of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Workers and Peasants of Ukraine, replacingGeorgy Pyatakov on 16 January 1919 due to the latter's argument withFyodor Sergeyev for excessive interference in Ukrainian affairs. On 29 March 1919, the government was reorganized as theSoviet of the People's Commissars.[61] According to the British authorArthur Ransome, present in Moscow during early that year, "It had been found that the views of the Pyatakov government were further left than those of its supporters, and so Pyatakov had given way to Rakovsky who was better able to conduct a more moderate policy".[62] While in office, Rakovsky ignored the Ukrainian "national question" because of his view on the nationalist movements as a counter-revolutionary force, as Rakovsky believed that national issues were important during the bourgeois era, but that they would lose its importance during the emerging world revolution. He seemed unaware of the dangers of Russian nationalism and chauvinism and claimed that the "danger of Russification under the existing Ukrainian Soviet authority is entirely without foundation", although he changed his stance in the early 1920s[63]
At the time, Rakovsky assessed the situation created by theTreaty of Versailles, and advised his superiors to build warm relations with bothMustafa Kemal's Turkey and theWeimar Republic, as a camp of countries dissatisfied with policies of theAllied Powers.[64] Rakovsky subscribed to the Bolshevik condemnation ofGreater Romania, stance that journalist Victor Frunză considered a revision of his previous views on Bessarabia.[65]
During theParis Peace Conference, the Romanian delegation attributed the shortage in supply in Bessarabia andTransylvania a Bolshevikconspiracy centered on Rakovsky;[66] various French reports of the time gave contradictory assessments (while some credited Rakovsky with direct influence on Soviet foreign policy, others dismissed the notion that Russia had any such projects).[66]
Rakovsky simultaneously served as Soviet Ukraine's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and a member of the South West Front's Revolutionary Military Council, contributing to the defeat of theWhite Army and Ukrainian nationalists during theRussian Civil War, while theorizing that "Ukraine was a laboratory ofinternationalism" and "a decisive factor in world revolution".[67] Rakovsky's presence was also decisive in rallying the dissidentBorotbists to the Bolshevik faction's central bodies—he was subsequently confronted with a degree of Borotbist opposition inside his government.[63] According to American politologistJerry F. Hough, his appointment and policies were evidence ofRussification, a program requested by Lenin himself; Rakovsky's view contrasted with that supported by Stalin, who, at the time, was calling for increasedUkrainianization.[68]
On 13 February 1919, in a session of Kyiv City Council, and later in March of 1919, during theThird All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets, Rakovsky as a head of Ukrainian government stated that "decreeing theUkrainian language as a state language is reactionary and unnecessary",[69] as there is no need to declare state languages in Soviet republics; according to him, all languages are equal in Soviet Ukraine, and "no decrees are needed to make the language spoken by the vast majority of the population thede facto dominant language... I must state to you that we had to issue a reprimand to the Commissar of Posts and Telegraphs, who... issued an order that political affairs at the Post and the Telegraph should be conducted exclusively in the Russian language."[70]
In March 1919, Rakovsky was a founding member of theComintern, where he represented theBalkan Communist Federation.[62] During those months, when control over the entire Ukraine was made possible by the offensive againstDirectorate forces, he expressed his support for theYekaterinoslav wing of theUkrainian Communist Party—following its wishes, he subordinated the Ukrainian Communists to theRussian Communist Party and argued that a separateCentral Committee was "luxury" for such a small grouping.[67]
In summer, as Rakovsky's government briefly lost control of Ukraine, his policies became hotly contested by partisans of Ukrainian autonomy inside the Party, who held a conference in Homyel (one which Rakovsky did not attend). At the Fourth Congress of the Ukrainian Party (March 1920), the leadership of Rakovsky,Stanislav Kosior, andDmitry Manuilsky was not reelected.[63] Attacks on them caused problems with the Russian Party; as Lenin himself sided with Rakovsky, a delegation comprising Trotsky,Lev Kamenev andAdolph Joffe left forKyiv to discuss the matter with local leaders. In order to curb the crisis, the Ukrainian Party was subjected to a major purge, during which pro-autonomy opposition was removed from its ranks and the former leaders were reinstated.[63]
At the time, Rakovsky andGeorgy Chicherin received harsh criticism from theHungarian communist leadersBéla Kun, for allegedly refusing aid to theHungarian Soviet Republic and thus contributing to its fall.[71] This appears not to have been true, as Rakovsky reportedly urged Lenin to finance Kun even as the latter faced the intervention of troops from both Romania andCzechoslovakia.[71]
Lenin wrote back to Kun informing him that theCentral Committee was satisfied with the way in which Rakovsky and Chicherin had carried out their mission.[71]
After dealing with the common offensive of the Directorate andPolish forces—theKyiv offensive (seePolish-Soviet War in 1920) — Rakovsky's government took measures regardingcollectivization; according to his biographer Gus Fagan, he became himself a proponent of greater Ukrainian autonomy, and advocated both Ukrainization through the complete integration ofBorotbists into Party structures and a slower pace incommunization. He notably came into conflict with the Russian Party after his second executive had its independent Commissariat of Foreign Trade replaced with an office under the control of central authorities.[63] He continued to pressure for a measure of independence in Ukrainian economy, and, during the early 1920s, the republic sealed its own trade agreements with other European countries.[63]
Rakovsky remained a Romanian citizen for the entire period. In 1921, he was officially summoned to be tried by acourt-martial for "crime against the security of the Romanian state".[72] He wassentenced to deathin absentia (1924). Journalist Victor Frunză claims this move had been prompted by a supposed similar verdict given by a Soviet Court toIon Inculeţ (who had led theMoldavian Democratic Republic'sLegislative Assembly that voted union with Romania).[73] As theSocialist Party of Romania delegation (Gheorghe Cristescu,Eugen Rozvan,David Fabian,Constantin Popovici,Ioan Flueraş, andAlexandru Dobrogeanu-Gherea) voted to adhere to the Comintern, Rakovsky andGrigory Zinoviev pressured the group to expel those of its members who supported Greater Romania (including Flueraş and Popovici, as well asIosif Jumanca andLeon Ghelerter).[74]
In February 1922, he was sent to Berlin in order to negotiate with German officials, and, in March, was part of the official delegation to theGenoa Conference — under the leadership ofGeorgy Chicherin.[60] Rakovsky himself was virulently opposed to any stalemate with theAllies, and urged his delegation not to abandon policies over promises of deescalation and trade. A leader of the delegation's commissions oneconomic aid, loans andgovernment debt,[64] he was also charged with renewing contacts with Germany — together withAdolph Joffe, he discussed the matter with the pro-SovietAgo von Maltzan, and, as Russia failed to reach an agreement with the Allies, managed to obtain from Germany promises of cooperation (seeTreaty of Rapallo, 1922).[64] Two years later, when captured by the Bolsheviks,Eser conspiratorBoris Savinkov allegedly confessed that he intended to have both Rakovsky and Chicherin killed in Berlin, as they returned fromGenoa.[75] In November 1922, Rakovsky attended theConference of Lausanne, where he was confronted with the assassination of his fellow diplomatVaslav Vorovsky by theémigréMaurice Conradi.[64]
As the Soviet Union was being created, Rakovsky became opposed to the new central leadership over the issue ofself-determination for theSoviet republics andautonomous republics. This followed the dispute between, on one side,Joseph Stalin, Zinoviev, Trotsky and Kamenev, and, on the other, the leadership of theGeorgian SSR (seeGeorgian Affair).[64] At the time, he evidenced a "permanent struggle which the so-called independent and autonomous republics had to carry out to safeguard not only their prerogatives but their very own existence".[67] Arguing in favor of extending the revolution from Ukraine to theBalkans, and indicating his belief that the peasantry was being alienated byinternationalist messages, Rakovsky cited concerns thatcentralism was placing Soviet influence in peril, and called for "carrying out a correct theoretical and practical solution to the national question within the boundaries of the Soviet Union".[67] In November 1922, his proposition of the formation of aSoviet of Nationalities to double theSoviet of the Union inside thesupreme legislative body was opposed by Stalin at first, but later accepted under the pressure of Lenin; his arguments in favor of reducing the number of representatives ofRussian SFSR and barring the total number of envoys from any republic at one fifth of the total were dismissed after being criticized by Stalin.[63]
After Lenin's illness and incapacitation, Rakovsky joined Leon Trotsky'sLeft Opposition and came into conflict with Stalin. In one of his last articles as head of the Ukrainian government he dismissed centralism as "the elimination of initiative, of economic, political and administrative independence" and "dead bureaucratic centralization which is synonymous with tyranny"[64] Although declining, his influence in Ukraine was, according to political scientist John P. Willerton, one of Trotsky's main bases of support, alongside sections of theRed Army, a group ofKomsomol leaders, and various officials involved ineconomic planning.[76] In early July 1923, after being isolated inside the Ukrainian leadership, he was removed from his Ukrainian post, replaced withVlas Chubar, and sent to London to negotiate a formal recognition of the Soviet regime by the British and French governments.[64] Chubar, anethnic Ukrainian, came to represent Stalin's view on nationality issues in the region, officially defined as "nativization".[68] In London, Rakovsky and his wife were joined by Elena Codreanu, whom they had adopted.[43]
In 1924, as theLabour Partyminority cabinet came to power,Ramsay MacDonald and Rakovsky negotiatedde jure recognition and agreed on a possible future Anglo-Soviet treaty and a British loan for the Soviet Union.[60] Negotiations were tested by the so-calledBankers' Memorandum, published byThe Times, which demanded that the Soviet Union abandonnationalizations and return toprivate property.[64] Eventually, two treaties were signed, allowing for commerce to be normalized between the two countries, and reflecting Rakovsky's views that private complaints of creditors against the Soviet state were to be settled outside the conference.[64] The scandal which erupted when theZinoviev Letter was publicized, rekindling suspicions against the Soviet government and provoking the fall of MacDonald's cabinet, brought an end to all further talks. During and after the incident, Rakovsky repeatedly cited evidence that theLetter was a forgery.[64]
In parallel, he had begun negotiations with France'sRaymond Poincaré, who aimed for a "solidarity of foreign creditors" in respect to the Soviet state,[77] and who agreed to recognize the latter on October 28, 1924.[60] One of his last tasks involved placing Soviet orders for machinery, textiles, and other commodities with British manufacturers: worth 75 million US$ on paper, these failed to attract attention after he announced that the Soviet government did not intend to pay in cash.[78] According to the American magazineTime, Rakovsky also played a hand in motivating Stalin's decision to marginalize Comintern leader Zinoviev, by complaining that the latter's foreign policy was needlessly radical.[79]
Rakovsky served as theSoviet ambassador to France between October 1925 and October 1927, replacingLeonid Krasin. He did not take hold of his office until 50 days after his official appointment, refusing to be received at theÉlysée Palace byFrench PresidentGaston Doumergue for as long as the state authorities would not allowThe Internationale (a revolutionary song which was at the time the Sovietnational anthem) to be played on the occasion.[80] Doumergeue resisted, and, in the end, Rakovsky was received to the sound of an improvised arrangement ofbugles, the more discreet part of which may have been based onThe Internationale.[80]Time described it as a "deafening blast".[80]
His first task involved renewed negotiations with the cabinet ofAristide Briand (February 1926), during which he was confronted with the vocal campaign of creditors.[64] Early results achieved in discussions withAnatole de Monzie were dismissed by the opposition rallied around Poincaré, and, after being revived by the short-lived cabinet ofÉdouard Herriot, talks ended without any result.[81] Poincaré returned to power, and France remained committed to theLocarno Treaties (which had isolated the Soviet state on the international stage).[64] Over the following year, Rakovsky continued to attempt adétente with France, advertising Soviet concessions and speaking directly to the public.[64]
During the same period, as tensions grew betweenMexico and the Soviet government over the latter's support for a Mexican railway workers' strike, American agents reported that Rakovsky was instructed to threaten to publicize correspondence between formerPresidentÁlvaro Obregón and Soviet authorities (which had occurred before diplomatic links were established).[82] Since this could endanger Mexico's relations with the United States, PresidentPlutarco Elías Calles chose to deescalate the conflict.[82]
Together with his second wife, Rakovsky gave full approval toMax Eastman's volumeSince Lenin Died, which centered on heavy criticism of Soviet realities, and which they reviewed before it was published.[83] He became acquainted with the formerFrench Communist Party member and anti-Stalinist journalistBoris Souvarine, as well as with the Romanian writerPanait Istrati, who had observed Rakovsky's career ever since his presence in Romania.[84] He also maintained friendly contacts withMarcel Pauker, a prominent but independent-minded member of theRomanian Communist Party, whose activities were denounced by the Comintern in 1930.[85]
Rakovsky was eventually declared apersona non grata in France and recalled after signing theDeclaration of the Opposition, aTrotskyist platform deemed unfriendly by the French government (it stressed support for revolutions andmutinies in all capitalist countries).[86] According toTime, France's decision was tacitly welcomed by Foreign Affairs CommissarGeorgy Chicherin, due to Rakovsky's political opinions.[87] Rakovsky left without presenting his letter of recall to President Doumergue, although he was scheduled for a meeting at the Élysée.[87] He was initially scheduled to serve as Ambassador to Japan.[87] On his trip back to the Soviet state, he was joined by Istrati, who, partly owing to his witnessing of the Rakovsky's downfall, soon became a noted opponent of Stalinism.[84]
In December 1927, Rakovsky andLev Kamenev held brief speeches in front of theSoviet Communist Party's Fifteenth Congress.[88] The former was interrupted fifty-seven times by his opponents—Nikolai Bukharin,Martemyan Ryutin, andLazar Kaganovich.[88] Although, unlike Rakovsky, Kamenev used the occasion to appeal for reconciliation, he was himself interrupted twenty-four times by the same group.[88]
After that moment, although branded "enemy of the people", Rakovsky was still occasionally allowed to speak in public (notably, together with Kamenev andKarl Radek, to the MoscowKomsomol), and continued to criticize Stalin's leadership as "bureaucratic socialism" (seeBureaucratic collectivism) and "social fascism".[89] WithNikolai Krestinsky (who split with the group soon afterwards) and Kamenev, he attempted to organize a substantial opposition, visiting Ukraine for this purpose, hosting public meetings and printingmanifestos addressed to the workers inKyiv,Kharkiv,Mykolaiv,Odessa,Dnipropetrovsk,Kherson, andZaporizhzhia (he was assisted by, among others,Yuri Kotsubinsky).[90] He was persistentlyheckled during public appearances, and his supporters were beaten up by theMilitsiya.[91]
In November 1927, after receiving news thatAdolph Joffe had committed suicide, he assigned Ukrainian campaigning to Voja Vujović, and returned to Moscow.[91] Following the defeat of the Left Opposition in November–December 1927, Rakovsky was ousted from theComintern, theCentral Committee, and eventually from theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union.[92] He was exiled, first toAstrakhan,Saratov, and then toBarnaul.[93] Shortly before the decision, he commented to his visitor, French writerPierre Naville: "The French expelled me from Paris for having signed a declaration of the opposition. Stalin expelled me from the [Foreign Affairs Commissariat] for having signed the same declaration. But in both cases they let me keep the jacket".[94]
While in Astrakhan, Rakovsky was employed by the RegionalPlanning Committee (Gubplan).[90] He was also active as a writer, starting work on a volume detailing the sources ofUtopian socialism and the thought ofSaint-Simon.[95] Rakovsky remained involved in Trotskyist politics, was contacted byPanait Istrati and theGreek writerNikos Kazantzakis,[84] and corresponded with Trotsky (who had himself been exiled toAlmaty).[94] Most of his writings were confiscated by theState Political Directorate, but the letter on Soviet "bureaucratism" he addressed toNikolai Valentinov survived, and became notorious as a critique of Stalinism (under the title"Professional Dangers" of Power).[96] Mistrusting Stalin's new leftist policies, he foresaw the renewed moves against the Left Opposition (inaugurated by Trotsky's 1929 expulsion).[94]
As his health deteriorated, he was allowed to move to Saratov upon requests addressed by Krestinsky to Kaganovich, the Secretary of the Central Committee. He was visited byLouis Fischer, who recorded Rakovsky's determination not to submit to Stalin (contrasting his option with those of Radek,Yevgeni Preobrazhensky,Alexander Beloborodov andIvar Smilga).[90]
Instead, Rakovsky incited further resistance to Stalinism, and issued a declaration of the united opposition; following this, he was sent to Barnaul, which he called a "hole in the barren cold ground".[94] In another critical letter to the Party leadership (April 1930), he called for, among other things, the restoration ofcivil liberties, a reduction in the party apparatus, the return of Trotsky, and an end to forcedcollectivization.[90]
Little is known of Rakovsky's life between that moment and July 1932, the moment when he was allowed a medical leave.[90] Towards the end of the same year, Trotsky was informed that he had attempted to flee the Soviet Union, and, in March 1933, it was announced that he had been deported toYakutia.[90] Answering Trotsky's request, the French mathematician and TrotskyistJean Van Heijenoort, together with his fellow activistPierre Frank, unsuccessfully called on the influential Soviet authorMaxim Gorky to intervene in favor of Christian Rakovsky, and boarded the ship he was traveling on nearIstanbul.[97] According to Heijenoort, they only managed to meet Gorky's son, Maxim Peshkov, who reportedly told them that his father was indisposed, but promised to pass on their request. Researcher Tova Yedlin proposed that the problem was caused by Gorky's distress over having recently separated from his mistressMoura Budberg, as well as to the writer's close surveillance byOGPU agents.[97]
Rakovsky was one of the last leading Trotskyists to break with Trotsky and surrender to Stalin. Alarmed byAdolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany and under intense pressure from Stalin, he announced his submission to the Party through a telegram he sentIzvestia (23 February 1934). While Rakovsky was allowed to return to Moscow,[90] Trotsky declared the dissociation statement to be "purely formal".[98]
Rakovsky formally "admitted his mistakes" in April 1934 (his letter to thePravda, titledThere Should Be No Mercy, depicted Trotsky and his supporters as "agents of the GermanGestapo").[99] He was appointed to high office in the Commissariat for Health and allowed to return to Moscow,[90] also serving as Soviet ambassador to Japan in 1935.[100]
Cited in allegations involving the killing ofSergey Kirov, Rakovsky was arrested in autumn 1937, during theGreat Purge;[90] according to Trotsky, he was forced to wait without food or rest for 18 hours, during which time his house was being searched.[98]
Shortly thereafter, in March 1938, he was put on trial along withNikolai Bukharin,Alexei Rykov,Genrikh Yagoda,Nikolai Krestinsky and otherOld Bolsheviks, on charges of conspiring with Trotsky to overthrow Stalin, the thirdMoscow Show Trial—known as theTrial of the Twenty-One.[101] In hisforced confession toAndrey Vyshinsky, he admitted to all the charges—including having been a spy (for Japan)[100] and a landowner.[90] He made attempts to point out that his revenue had been used to support socialism, and that he had a grasp of "revolutionary practices", but was attacked by Vyshinsky, who persistently referred to Rakovsky as "acounterrevolutionary".[90] In his final statement, Rakovsky argued: "from my young days I honestly, truthfully and devotedly performed my duty as a soldier of the cause of the emancipation of labor. After this bright period a dark period set in, the period of my criminal deeds".[94]
Unlike most of his co-defendants, who were immediately executed, he was sentenced to twenty years of hard labor.[102] In 1941, he was inOryol Prison. After theNazi invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa), Rakovsky was shot on Stalin's orders outsideOryol[90] — along withOlga Kameneva,Maria Spiridonova, and over 150 other political prisoners in theMedvedev Forest massacre. This execution was one of the manymassacres of prisoners committed by theNKVD in 1941.[citation needed]
Rakovsky's second wife, Alexandrina Alexandrescu, was herself arrested, and is known to have been held inButyrka prison, where she suffered a series ofheart attacks.[90] His adoptive daughter, Elena Codreanu-Racovski, was expelled from her job as secretary of the Mossoviet Theater, and deported toSiberia.[103] She returned to Moscow in the 1950s, after Stalin's death, and settled inCommunist Romania after 1975, rejoining her brother, the biologist and academic Radu Codreanu.[104] She later authored a memoir which included recollections of her father (it was published in Romanian asDe-a lungul şi de-a latul secolului, "The Length and Breadth of the Century").[84][105] It was compiled from personal notes and dialogs with physician and former communist militant G. Brătescu, who noted that, probably owing to suspicions she had in respect to the Romanian communist regime, Elena Codreanu refused to talk about Rakovsky's trial and her own persecution.[105] Rakovsky's nephewBoris Stefanov, whom he encouraged to join the Romanian socialist movement before World War I, later became a general secretary of theRomanian Communist Party, before being himself purged in 1940.[106]
By 1932, Rakovsky's name was frequently invoked in the heated debate involvingPanait Istrati and his political adversaries. Istrati, having returned to Romania in disillusion over Soviet realities, was initially attacked in the local right-wing newspapersCurentul andUniversul; writing for the former,Pamfil Şeicaru defined Istrati as "the servant of Racovski".[107] Having publishedTo the Other Flame, in which he exposedStalinism, he consequently became the target of intense criticism and allegations from various pro-Soviet writers, led by the FrenchmanHenri Barbusse. During this period, the Romanian communist writerAlexandru Sahia speculated, among other things, that Istrati had been in the pay of Rakovsky and Trotsky for a sizable part of his life.[84]
Based on his independent opinions and, in part, on his friendship with Rakovsky,Marcel Pauker was disavowed by the Romanian and Soviet communist parties, and was himself a victim of theGreat Purge in 1938. At various intervals between 1930 and 1952, his wife, the Romanian communist leaderAna Pauker, faced pressures to denounce her husband.[85] She allegedly refused to criticize him for anything other than his association with Rakovsky, and to admit that Marcel Pauker had been guilty of all the charges brought against him.[85]
The Hungarian-born authorArthur Koestler, himself a former communist, based Rubashov, the main character in his 1940 novel,Darkness at Noon, on victims of theMoscow Trials; according toGeorge Orwell, Rakovsky's fate was a possible direct influence: "Rubashov might be called Trotsky, Bukharin, Rakovsky or some other relatively civilised figure among theOld Bolsheviks. If one writes about the Moscow trials one must answer the question, «Why did the accused confess?» and which answer one makes is a political decision. Koestler answers, in effect, «Because these people had been rotted by the Revolution which they served», and in doing so he comes near to claiming that revolutions are of their nature bad".[58]
In 1988, duringGlasnost, the Soviet government cleared Rakovsky and his co-defendants of all charges.[108] Hisrehabilitation came in February, coinciding with that of Bukharin, as well as with those of Ukrainian official and former People's Commissar for AgricultureMikhail Alexandrovich Chernov, former People's Commissar for Foreign TradeArkady Rosengolts, and other five officials.[109] Bukharin, Rakovsky, Rozengolts, and Chernov were posthumously reinstated to the Communist Party on 21 June 1988.[110] His works were givenimprimatur, while a favorable biography was published by theUkrainian Academy of Sciences (late 1988).[citation needed]
People's commissars and ministers of interior of theUkrSSR | |
|---|---|
| Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets People's Secretaries | |
| Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic People's Commissars | |
| Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Ministers | |
1 denotes acting | |
