Mark Timofeevich Yelizarov (Russian: Марк Тимофеевич Елизаров; March 22 , 1863, Bestuzhevka village, Samara province – March 10, 1919, Petrograd) was a Russian revolutionary and

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

statesman who served as the first People's Commissar of Railways 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 ...

Biography

Born in to the family of a

foreman __NOTOC__ A foreman, forewoman or foreperson is a supervisor, often in a manual trade or industry. Foreman may specifically refer to: *Construction foreman, the worker or tradesman who is in charge of a construction crew * Jury foreman, a head j ...

who was a former serf. In 1882 he graduated from the Samara men's gymnasium. At a village meeting of Bestuzhevka, the headman was allowed to dismiss him from the peasant class, which allowed a native of a peasant family to enter the physics and mathematics faculty of

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 ...

, from which Yelizarov graduated in 1886. He was close to the Ulyanov family, mostly Alexander Ulyanov and through him became active in the revolutionary movement from a young age. Yelizarov was a member of a social democratic circle from 1893 and later joined the newly formed the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1898. He conducted party work in St. Petersburg and in Moscow in the Moscow Workers Union as well in Samara. He was arrested for his revolutionary activities in 1901 and exiled for two years in

Syzran Syzran ( rus, Сызрань, p=ˈsɨzrənʲ) is the third largest city in Samara Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of Saratov Reservoir of the Volga River. Population: History Founded in 1683 as a fortress, Syzran grew into an important ...

. In 1905, in St. Petersburg, he was a member of the organization bureau of the 1st All-Russian Railway Congress and headed the Uzlov strike committee for which he was arrested and exiled for three years again in Syzran under police surveillance. In 1906, he moved back to Samara and joined the local RSDLP committee and worked as a journalist for newspapers, however he wasn't involved in revolutionary activities anymore. From 1906 to 1916 Yelizarov worked at different insurance companies and later became the managing director of the St. Petersburg shipping company On the Volga. After the October Revolution, Yelizarov was appointed at the vacant position of People's Commissar of Railways of the RSFSR and became its first Commissar, according to the Vikhzel quota, from November 28, 1917 to February 1918. In April 1918 he became the Chief Commissioner for Insurance and Fire Fighting. In January 1919 Yelizarov became a member of the Collegium of the People's Commissariat of Trade and Industry acting as the deputy People's Commissar, a position he held until he died from

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...

in March of the same year. Yelizarov was buried at the

Volkovo Cemetery The Volkovo Cemetery (also Volkovskoe) (russian: Во́лковское кла́дбище or Во́лково кла́дбище) is one of the largest and oldest non- Orthodox cemeteries in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Until the early 20th century i ...

Family

Yelizarov married Anna Ilyinichna Ulyanova,

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 1 ...

's older sister in 1899. They adopted one child, the future Soviet writer Georgy Lozgachev.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yelizarov, Mark 1863 births 1919 deaths Soviet politicians Russian revolutionaries Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Russian Marxists Bolsheviks