Georgios Konstantinides (b. Trebizond, 1878 - d.

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

, 1919, ''

nom de plume A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

'' Skliros, el, Γεώργιος Κωνσταντινίδης, «Σκληρός») was an early Greek

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

, who published realist writing on the common reality of his time on the basis of the class structure of society and in order to analyse Greek society with

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

tools, provoking discussions and struggles among the progressive circles of the day.

Biography

Skleros was born to a middle-class

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of Trebizond in Ottoman

Pontus Pontus or Pontos may refer to: * Short Latin name for the Pontus Euxinus, the Greek name for the Black Sea (aka the Euxine sea) * Pontus (mythology), a sea god in Greek mythology * Pontus (region), on the southern coast of the Black Sea, in modern ...

, and took a typical education and cosmopolitan outlook for the city and its Greek quarter of that age, and in his younger years travelled 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 ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

to work as a merchant. Later he left for

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, where he engaged in

medical Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...

studies, in 1904, at the

University of Moscow M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

. The following year he got involved in the revolutionary movement, under the influence of Georgi Plekhanov, taking up the pseudonym of "Skliros" ("Severe"). A series of problems with the Tzarist establishment drove him to

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

and then to

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. There, as representative of Marxist theory he met with

Dimitris Glinos Dimitris Glinos ( el, Δημήτρης Γληνός, September 2, 1882 – December 26, 1943) was a Greek philosopher, educator and politician. Life Glinos was born in Smyrna, the eldest of twelve children of Alexandros Glinos. After graduating ...

in the "Filiki Prodevtiki Enosi" ("Friendly Progressive Unity"), a student society oriented in a socialist direction.Φίλιππος Ηλιού, «Δημήτρης Γληνός: Από την εκπαιδευτική μεταρρύθμιση στην κοινωνική επανάσταση», εφ. ''Τα Νέα'', 8/2/2000. Skleros then moved to and lived in

, where he died in 1919.

Works

*''Το Κοινωνικόν μας Ζήτημα'' (''Our Common Goal'', 1907) *''Η Φιλοσοφία του Πολέμου και της Ειρήνης'' (''The Philosophy of War and of Peace'') *''Σύγχρονα Προβλήματα του Ελληνισμού'' (''Contemporary Problems in Hellenism'') *Μελέτες - παρεμβάσεις στα πολιτικά και πολιτιστικά δρώμενα (''Plans - Interventions in Politics and Political Roles'')

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skliros, Georgios 1878 births 1919 deaths People from Trabzon People from Trebizond vilayet Pontic Greeks Marxist writers Greek Marxists Greek socialists Expatriates from the Ottoman Empire in the Russian Empire