Khanlar Safaraliyev

Khanlar Safaraliyev (Azerbaijani: Xanlar Səfərəliyev) (c.1878 – 19 September 1907) was an Azerbaijani oil field worker, labor organizer, and Moslem social democrat. In 1907, he helped lead a successful strike at the Baku oil fields. Subsequently, he was shot by an assassin, Jafar (a foreman in the oil fields), and died several days later. The Bibi Eybat District Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, declared a general two-day strike and unsuccessfully demanded that the Baku Oil & Gas Producers Association cease protecting Khanlar’s murderer, and also the manager, Abuzarbek, who allegedly assisted in the assassination. 20,000 workers demonstrated at Khanlar’s funeral.

Later, 29 September 1907, Joseph Stalin delivered a speech at Khanlar’s graveside. In 1938, the city of Goygol, Azerbaijan was renamed in honor of Khanlar Safaraliyev but in 2008 city rename again to Goygol.

References

• Suny, Ronald Grigor (Jan. 1972) "A Journeyman for the Revolution: Stalin and the Labour Movement in Baku, June 1907-May 1908" Soviet Studies 23(3): pp. 373-394;
• Smith, Michael G. (June 2003) "Stalin's Martyrs:The Tragic Romance of the Russian Revolution" Totalitarian Movements & Political Religions 4(1): pp. 95 - 126;
• Stalin, Joseph V. (1908) "The Oil Owners on Economic Terrorism" the newspaper Gudok, Nos. 28, 30 and 32, (April 21, May 4 and 18, 1908), Reprinted from the newspaper in Stalin, J.V. (1953) Works Volume 2, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow 1953.
• "Khanlar" Great Soviet Encyclopedia