Jaan Anvelt (also known by the pseudonyms Eessaare Aadu, Jaan Holm, Jaan Hulmu, Kaarel Maatamees, Onkel Kaak; in

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

or ; 18 April 1884 – 11 December 1937), was an Estonian

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

and writer. He served the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

, was a leader of the

Communist Party of Estonia The Communist Party of Estonia ( et, Eestimaa Kommunistlik Partei, abbreviated EKP) was a subdivision of the Soviet communist party which in 1920-1940 operated illegally in Estonia and, after the 1940 occupation and annexation of Estonia by the ...

, the first

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

of the Soviet Executive Committee of Estonia, and the

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

of The

Commune of the Working People of Estonia The Commune of the Working People of Estonia ( et, Eesti Töörahva Kommuun, initially '; russian: Эстляндская трудовая коммуна , or ETK) was an unrecognised government claiming the Bolshevik-occupied parts of Republic ...

( Estonian ''Eesti Töörahva Kommuun''). Imprisoned during

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Nikolay Yezhov, Yezhov'), was General ...

in 1937, he died from the injuries sustained during a beating by Aleksandr Langfang while in

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

custody.

Early life

Anvelt was born to a peasant family in

Oorgu Oorgu is a village in Viljandi Parish, Viljandi County in 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, t ...

, Võisiku Parish (now

Viljandi Parish Viljandi Parish ( et, Viljandi vald) is a rural municipality of Viljandi County, Estonia. It is located around the town of Viljandi, but does not include it. Viljandi Parish was established by merging four municipalities: Paistu, Pärsti, Saa ...

Kreis Fellin Kreis Fellin (''Viljandi kreis'', ''Феллинский уезд'') was one of the nine subdivisions of the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire. It was situated in the northern part of the governorate (in present-day southern Estonia). I ...

Governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a Baltic governorate of the Russian Empire, now divided between Latvia and Estonia. Geography The shape of the province is a fairly rectangular in shape, with a maximum ...

. He studied to become a schoolteacher, beginning in Dorpat (now

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

), and then in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, where he joined the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP; in , ''Rossiyskaya sotsial-demokraticheskaya rabochaya partiya (RSDRP)''), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or the Russian Social Democratic Party, was a socialist pol ...

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 Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter t ...

October Revolution

On November 5, 1917 (by the current

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...

– October 23 by the

Julian calendar The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...

still in use in

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 ...

at the time),

leader Jaan Anvelt led his

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

revolutionaries A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

to the

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

, the capital of

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 took

political power In social science and politics, power is the social production of an effect that determines the capacities, actions, beliefs, or conduct of actors. Power does not exclusively refer to the threat or use of force (coercion) by one actor against ...

Post-Revolution

After the defeat of the revolutionaries in the

Baltics The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

, Anvelt went underground, remaining active as a revolutionary, emerging as one of the leaders of the

1924 Estonian coup d'état attempt The 1924 Estonian coup d'état attempt was a failed coup attempt in Estonia on 1 December 1924, conducted by the Comintern,Estonia and the Estonians, Hoover Institution Press, p.15 and staged by communists (bolsheviks) who in most part had be ...

. In 1925, Anvelt arrived in the USSR, in 1926–29 working as a political commissar of the

Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy () – is a higher military educational institution for training and retraining of engineers for the Russian Air Force. The academy trains specialists – engineers, research engineers in the following sp ...

. 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 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 ...

. 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 The term enemy of the people or enemy of the nation, is a designation for the political or class opponents of the subgroup in power within a larger group. The term implies that by opposing the ruling subgroup, the "enemies" in question are ac ...

afterwards. In 1956, during the thaw of

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

distanced himself from, Anvelt was rehabilitated.

Personal life

Jaan Anvelt was married to Social Democratic politician Alma Ostra from 1909 to 1910. In 1912 he had married a Russian woman, J. Vassiljeva in St. Petersburg. His third wife was

Alise Stein-Anvelt Alise Stein-Anvelt (also Alice Leevald or Alice Levald; 20 October 1900 Vardi Parish (now Märjamaa Parish), Harrien County – 15 April 1991 Tallinn) was an Estonian politician. She was a member of II Riigikogu. She was a member of the Riigikogu s ...

, with whom he had two children, a daughter Kima and son Jaan. His grandson

Andres Anvelt Andres Anvelt (born on 30 September 1969 Tallinn) is Estonian politician and writer. He belongs to Social Democratic Party. 2003-2006 he was director of Estonian Academy of Security Sciences Police College ( et, Sisekaitseakadeemia politseikolled ...

became the Estonian

Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

for the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

in 2016.

Bibliography

*Räästaalused (Eessaare Aadu. –

: Mõte, 1916) *Alasti (Eessaare Aadu. – Tallinn : Mõte, 1917) *Kes on sotsialdemokraadid-enamlased? (K. Maatamees. - allinn: VSDTP Eestimaa Komitee, 1917) *Kes on sotsialdemokraadid-enamlased? (K. Maatamees. - 2. ed. - Tallinn : VSDTP Eestimaa Komitee, 1917) *Maa rahwa kätte (K. Maatamees. – Tallinn : Mõte, 1917) *Maa rahwa kätte (K. Maatamees. – 2. ed. – Tallinn : Mõte, 1917) *Metsa serwal (Eessaare Aadu. –

Petrograd Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

: 1919) *Töörahwa wõimuwalitsuse kindlustamisest (Jaan Anwelt. – Peterburis : Kom.partei Eesti Keskk. Wenemaa büroo, 1919 – Töörahva kirjandus ; nr. 15) *Maha kommunistid! Elagu sotsiaaldemokraadid! : töörahwa sõpradest ja waenlastest. - Tallinn : J. Linzmann, 1924. – Töörahva raamatukogu ; nr. 1 *1905. aasta Eestis : Kirjeldused. Mälestused. Dokumendid (EKP KK ajalookomisjon ; H._Pöögelmann.html"_;"title="Hans_Pöögelmann.html"_;"title="oreword:_Hans_Pöögelmann">H._Pöögelmann">Hans_Pöögelmann.html"_;"title="oreword:_Hans_Pöögelmann">H._Pöögelmann_–_ H._Pöögelmann.html"_;"title="Hans_Pöögelmann.html"_;"title="oreword:_Hans_Pöögelmann">H._Pöögelmann">Hans_Pöögelmann.html"_;"title="oreword:_Hans_Pöögelmann">H._Pöögelmann_–_Saint_Petersburg">Leningrad_ Saint_Petersburg_(_rus,_links=no,_Санкт-Петербург,_a=Ru-Sankt_Peterburg_Leningrad_Petrograd_Piter.ogg,_r=Sankt-Peterburg,_p=ˈsankt_pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk),_formerly_known_as_Petrograd_(1914–1924)_and_later_Leningrad_(1924–1991),_i_...

Early life

October Revolution

Post-Revolution

Personal life

Bibliography

Books about Jaan Anvelt

See also

References

External links