Jaan Anvelt

Jaan Anvelt

Jaan Anvelt (in Russian Ян Анвельт, also known by the pseudonyms Eessaare Aadu, Jaan Holm, Jaan Hulmu, Kaarel Maatamees, Onkel Kaak or Н. Альтъ; 18 April 1884 – 11 December 1937), was a Soviet revolutionary, leader of the Communist Party of Estonia, the first Premier of Soviet Estonia, and the Chairman of the Council of The Commune of the Working People of Estonia (Estonian Eesti Töörahva Kommuun). Imprisoned during Joseph Stalin's Great Purge in 1937, he died from the injuries sustained during a beating while in custody by Aleksandr Ivanovich Langfang.[1][2]

Early life

Anvelt was born to a peasant family in Oorgu, Võisiku Parish (now in Kolga-Jaani Parish), Viljandi County, Governorate of Livonia. He studied to become a schoolteacher, beginning in Dorpat (now Tartu), and then in St. Petersburg, where he joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party's Bolshevik faction. He was employed as a schoolteacher from 1905 to 1907, concurrently being involved in revolutionary activity. From 1907 to 1912, Anvelt studied part-time as a student of jurisprudence at St. Petersburg University.

October Revolution

Main article: October Revolution

On November 5, 1917 (by the current Gregorian calendar - October 23 by the Julian calendar still in use in Russia at the time), Bolshevik leader Jaan Anvelt led his leftist revolutionaries to the revolution in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, and took political power.

Post-Revolution

After the defeat of the revolutionaries in the Baltics, Anvelt went underground, remaining active as a revolutionary, emerging as one of the leaders of the 1924 Estonian coup d'état attempt. In 1925, Anvelt arrived in the USSR, in 1926-29 working as a political commissar of the Zhukovsky Air Forces Military Academy. From 1929 to 1935 he worked in top positions of the civilian air fleet's main administration. During the period from 1935 to 1937 Anvelt served as a member and an executive secretary of a department within the Comintern.

Anvelt was arrested in 1937. Interrogated in custody, he died from the injuries inflicted by the interrogator Aleksandr Langfang on 11 December 1937, and was denounced as an enemy of the people afterwards.

In 1956, when Khrushchev distanced himself from the methods of Stalinism, Anvelt was rehabilitated.

Bibliography

Books about Jaan Anvelt

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ Eesti biograafiline andmebaas ISIK: ANVELT, JAAN
  2. ↑ Il sito della rivoluzione d'Ottobre: Jaan Anwelt