Nikolay Bauman

Nikolay Ernestovich Bauman
Born	May 17 (29), 1873 Kazan
Died	October 18 (31), 1905 Moscow

Nikolay Ernestovich Bauman (Russian: Никола́й Эрне́стович Ба́уман) (May 29 [O.S. May 17] 1873 – October 31 [O.S. October 18] 1905) was a professional Russian revolutionary of the Bolshevik party.^[1]

He was born to the owner of a wallpaper and carpentry workshop. He attended the 2nd Kazan Secondary School, but dropped out in the 7th grade because of disagreements with his teachers. From 1891 to 1895 he was a student at the Kazan Veterinary Institute. During his student years he was fascinated by illegal populist and Marxist literature, and participated in various underground workers' groups. After receiving his diploma as a veterinary doctor, Bauman began work at the village оf Novye Burasy in the Saratov Region and dreamt of becoming involved in revolutionary propaganda there. However, being known of by the police, and wishing to achieve broad revolutionary activity, in the fall of 1896 he left for Saint Petersburg. From 1896 to 1897 he worked in Petersburg, serving a term in the "Petersburg Alliance for the Liberation of the Working Class." In 1897 Bauman was arrested and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress, where he was kept in solitary confinement for 22 months. Astonishingly, he was allowed to read Karl Marx's Das Kapital there.^[2]

Bauman as a student

In 1899 he was exiled to Vyatka Governorate, but he managed to escape abroad the same year. In 1900, he became acquainted with Lenin while in Zürich. Bauman became active in the publication and then in the dissemination of the revolutionary paper "Iskra" – "The Spark." In December 1901, at the order of Lenin he travelled to Moscow, and served in the Moscow committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. Starting in 1903, he headed the Moscow organization of Bolsheviks and the northern bureau of the Central Party Committee. He was arrested, but managed to escape. In 1903 he was a delegate to the Second Party Congress from the Moscow party organization, and supported Lenin's views on all the questions discussed.^[3]

Crossing the border under the name "Grach" (Rook), Bauman returned to Russia at the request of Lenin to aid in the struggle with the Mensheviks and the organization of underground Bolshevik printing houses. In June, 1904 he was again arrested and kept for 16 months in the Tagan prison. He was beaten to death by the member of the reactionary Tsarist organization the "Black Hundred," a pogromist organization that specifically targeted, beat, and murdered Jews, during a revolutionary demonstration. His burial in Moscow became a grandiose demonstration, used by the Bolsheviks to prepare for the revolutionary uprising. His coffin was draped in red, 6 party members in leather carried it, a man in black stood at the front swinging a palm branch. 100,000 followers were behind, the paty leaders in front carrying flags, wreaths and banners. At the Conservatory a student orchestra joined, playing 'You Fell Victim to a Fateful Struggle'. By night torches were lit and Bauman's widow made a speech urging vengeance on the Tsarist government. Fights broke out with Black Hundred gangs.^[4]

He was the first executed Bolshevik. Presently, a region, square, park, Metro station, and street in Moscow are named after Bauman, as well as the Bauman Moscow State Technical University.

Bauman was a cruel practical joker. He showed one Bolshevik a cartoon of her as the pregnant holy virgin and a question mark over the father's identity. As a result, she hanged herself. Only Lenin's intervention stopped Julius Martov expelling him.^[5]

References