Konstantin Konstantinovich Yurenev (russian: Константи́н Константи́нович Юре́нев), also known as Konstantin Konstantinovich Krotovsky (russian: Константин Константинович Кротовский) (1888 – 1 August 1938), was a Russian revolutionary,
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
and
diplomat
A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...
.
Life and career
Early revolutionary career
Yurenev was born at
Dvinsk station
Station may refer to:
Agriculture
* Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production
* Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle
** Cattle statio ...
on the
Riga-Orlov railway in the family of a railway watchman. 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 ...
(RSDLP) in 1905 and later its
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 ...
faction in 1906. In 1908, he was arrested and sentenced to three years' exile in
Arkhangelsk.
When his term of exile was completed, he settled in St Petersburg, but split with the Bolsheviks their leader
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
pronounced that all
Mensheviks were to be expelled from the RSDLP. In 1913, he co-founded the 'Inter-Borough Organisation' or
Mezhraiontsy
The Mezhraiontsy ( rus, межрайонцы, p=mʲɪʐrɐˈjɵnt͡sɨ), usually translated as the "Interdistrictites,"''Mezhraionka'' and ''Mezhraiontsy'' are derived from the Russian ''"mezh-"'' (meaning "inter-" or "between'") + ''"raion"'' (me ...
, who were neither Bolsheviks nor Mensheviks, but were inspired by the writings of
Leon Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
. Yurenev was arrested, but acquitted at his trial in 1916 for lack of evidence. Anticipating that the prosecutor would appeal, he hid out for two months, then moved to
Simferopol
Simferopol () is the second-largest city in the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, and is considered the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. However, ...
, where he was arrested and drafted into the
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...
, but absconded after about ten days and returned to Petrograd (St Petersburg) to live illegally.
In 1917, he played an active part in the
February Revolution
The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...
, and was elected to the executive of the Petrograd (St Petersburg) soviet.
Mezhraiontsy
Yurenev led the faction within the Mezhraiontsy who opposed merger with the Bolsheviks, whose organisation they considered too centralised and undemocratic, but in July 1917, after Trotsky had insisted that the merger go ahead, he joined the
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks), and played a leading role in the
Bolshevik Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolsheviks, Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was ...
as a member of the
Military Revolutionary Committee of the
Petrograd Soviet, and Chief of Staff of the
Red Guards. He was in favour of creating a coalition government with other socialist parties, yet despite his concerns about one party rule, he helped found the Red Army as a member of the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs of the
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
from February 1918, and head of the All-Russian Bureau of Military Commissars, a predecessor of the
Political Directorate of the Soviet
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
from April 1918.
Soviet official and diplomat
During the
Ninth Congress of the RCP (b) in March 1920, Yurenev again raised his long-held complaints about Bolshevik organisational methods. Possibly for that reason, he spent the rest of his career in positions well removed from the centre of power.
From May 1920 to May 1921 he was the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the
Kursk Governorate Soviet.
From 16 May 1921 until 1 February 1922 he was
Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in the
Bukharan People's Soviet Republic
The Bukharan People's Soviet Republic ( uz, Бухоро Халқ Совет Республикаси, Buxoro Xalq Sovet Respublikasi; tg, Ҷумҳурии Халқии Шӯравии Бухоро; rus, Бухарская Народная Со ...
. After serving in
Bukhara
Bukhara (Uzbek language, Uzbek: /, ; tg, Бухоро, ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 280,187 , and the capital of Bukhara Region.
People have inhabited the region around Bukhara ...
, from 1 February 1922 to 14 February 1923 he was
Soviet Russia's Plenipotentiary Representative in
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
. After his posting to Latvia, he was appointed as diplomatic representative of the Soviet Union to
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
, and served in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
from 14 February 1923 until 3 March 1924.
Dinner with Mussolini
On 7 March 1924, Yurenev was appointed
Plenipotentiary Representative of the Soviet Union to Italy.
According to
Alexander Barmine
Alexander Grigoryevich Barmin (russian: Александр Григорьевич Бармин, ''Aleksandr Grigoryevich Barmin''; August 16, 1899 – December 25, 1987), most commonly Alexander Barmine, was an officer in the Soviet Army and dipl ...
, who worked with Yurenev's in Bukhara and in Latvia, and visited him in Italy:
In July 1924, he hosted a banquet in the embassy for
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
, only a month after the murder of
Giacomo Matteotti, which had revolted liberal and communist opinion in Italy. He followed it by inviting Mussolini to a reception to mark the 7th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution. This provoked a protest from the Central Committee of the
Italian Communist Party, and from 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 ...
representative in Italy,
Jules Humbert-Droz, who demanded Yurenev's dismissal. Alexander Barmine claimed that Yurenev ignored advice from his own staff and from Moscow by entertaining Mussolini,
but his actions were in line with Soviet foreign policy, which was to build alliances with the countries that lost out from the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
. Eventually the complaints reached the
Soviet Politburo, which condemned Yurenev's actions organizing the banquet. Yurenev despite trying to defend himself was eventually removed from his position as plenipotentiary representative in Italy and replaced by
Platon Krezhentsev, who was more critical of Mussolini's regime.
From 24 April 1925 to 5 August 1927 Yurenev served as the
Plenipotentiary Representative of the USSR in Persia; from 1 October 1927 to 24 January 1933 he was
Plenipotentiary Representative of the Soviet Union in Austria; from 29 January 1933 until 16 June 1937 he was
Plenipotentiary Representative of the Soviet Union in Japan, and from 16 June until 11 October 1937 he was
Plenipotentiary Representative of the Soviet Union in Germany.
Arrest and death
Yurenev was arrested on 23 September 1937, during the
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 ...
. He was named repeatedly during the third
Moscow show trial, in March 1938, as an alleged Trotskyite and Japanese spy. And eventually executed on 1 August 1938.
He was
rehabilitated in 1956.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yurenev, Konstantin Konstantinovich
1888 births
1938 deaths
Politicians from Daugavpils
People from Dvinsky Uyezd
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members
Mezhraiontsy
All-Russian Central Executive Committee members
Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Austria
Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Germany
Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Japan
Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Iran
Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Italy
Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Czechoslovakia
Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Latvia
Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic
Great Purge victims from Latvia
Members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union executed by the Soviet Union
Soviet rehabilitations