Șmil Marcovici (1893 – November 10, 1940) was a Romanian communist activist. He was born in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

. A member of the local Jewish community, he fought in the Romanian Army in World War I until 1917, when he deserted. He fled to

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

, where, together with

Christian Rakovsky Christian Georgievich Rakovsky (russian: Христиа́н Гео́ргиевич Рако́вский; bg, Кръстьо Георги́ев Рако́вски; – September 11, 1941) was a Bulgarian-born socialist revolutionary, a Bolshevi ...

and

Mihail Gheorghiu Bujor Mihail Gheorghiu Bujor (November 8, 1881 – June 17, 1964) was a Romanian lawyer, journalist and socialist militant. An important figure in the early Romanian labour movement, he embraced communism during World War I and organised Romanian armed ...

, he took part in a revolutionary battalion for Romanian troops. Later, as a courier employed by Soviet Russia, he entered Romania a number of times, bringing in printing presses and important sums of money in order to finance the communist factions within the Socialist Party of Romania, as well as Bolshevik-inspired terrorist groups. Arrested as a spy in May 1920, he was sentenced to twenty years' hard labor. He escaped from Jilava prison and took refuge in Russia. There, he graduated from the cadres school of the

Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...

in Moscow, becoming an instructor at that institution.Tănase, p.262 The Romanian authorities amnestied him in 1929, and, upon orders from the Comintern and the GRU, he returned to his native country.Tănase, p.262-3 Becoming involved with the banned

Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ro, Partidul Comunist Român, , PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that woul ...

(PCdR), he joined its secretariat and was chief of the central committee's technical operations, organizing networks and clandestine links. He also took care of the printing presses and distribution of materials. He headed the central committee's internal police, verifying arrests, monitoring those suspected of being informers for the Siguranța secret police, disbursed funds and checked on the clandestine operations of paid activists. He played a similar role within the International Red Aid, supervising assistance in the form of money, food, clothing and newspapers sent to prisons. He also managed ties with various

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

front organizations financed by the PCdR.Tănase, p.263 He was one of nineteen communists arrested in July 1935, tried the following June in

Craiova Craiova (, also , ), is Romania's 6th Cities in Romania, largest city and capital of Dolj County, and situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximatel ...

, and sent to prison. He died at

Doftana prison Doftana was a Romanian prison, sometimes referred to as "the Romanian Bastille". Built in 1895 in connection with the nearby salt mines, from 1921 it began to be used to detain political prisoners, among them Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, who was the Pr ...

in 1940, when an earthquake caused the structure to collapse.

Notes

References

Stelian Tănase Stelian Tănase (born February 17, 1952) is a Romanian writer, journalist, political analyst, and talk show host. Tănase was from November 2013 to October 2015 the president of TVR. Having briefly engaged in politics during the early 1990s, aft ...

, ''Clienții lu' tanti varvara: istorii clandestine''.

Humanitas ''Humanitas'' is a Latin noun meaning human nature, civilization, and kindness. It has uses in the Enlightenment, which are discussed below. Classical origins of term The Latin word ''humanitas'' corresponded to the Greek concepts of '' philanthr ...

, Bucharest, 2005, {{DEFAULTSORT:Marcovici, Smil 1893 births 1940 deaths Politicians from Iași Romanian Jews Romanian communists Romanian Comintern people Romanian military personnel of World War I People convicted of spying for the Soviet Union Romanian expatriates in the Soviet Union Escapees from Romanian detention Inmates of Doftana prison Romanian people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in Romanian detention Natural disaster deaths in Romania Deaths in earthquakes Deserters Collaborators with the Soviet Union