Mikhail Rafailovich Gots (Russian: Михаи́л Рафаи́лович Гоц; 1866 – 26 August 1906) was a Russian revolutionary, member of '

The People's Will Narodnaya Volya ( rus, Наро́дная во́ля, p=nɐˈrodnəjə ˈvolʲə, t=People's Will) was a late 19th-century revolutionary political organization in the Russian Empire which conducted assassinations of government officials in an at ...

' (''Narodnaya Volya'') and one of the founders of the

Socialist-Revolutionary Party The Socialist Revolutionary Party, or the Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries (the SRs, , or Esers, russian: эсеры, translit=esery, label=none; russian: Партия социалистов-революционеров, ), was a major politi ...

(PSR). He was the older brother of

Avram Gots Abram Rafailovich Gots (Russian: Абра́м Рафаи́лович Гоц; 1882 – 4 August 1940) was a Russian Socialist-Revolutionary leader, active in the Revolutions of 1905 and 1917. Biography Early years Abram Gots came from a wealth ...

Life and career

Gots was born in Šiauliai in the

Kovno Governorate Kovno Governorate ( rus, Ковенская губеpния, r=Kovenskaya guberniya; lt, Kauno gubernija) or Governorate of Kaunas was a governorate ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. Its capital was Kaunas (Kovno in Russian). It was formed ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(present-day

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

) into a wealthy Jewish family. He studied at the University of Moscow and joined 'The

People's Will Narodnaya Volya ( rus, Наро́дная во́ля, p=nɐˈrodnəjə ˈvolʲə, t=People's Will) was a late 19th-century revolutionary political organization in the Russian Empire which conducted assassinations of government officials in an att ...

' in 1884. In October 1886 he was arrested and banished to Siberia. In 1889 he took part in a convicts' uprising in Yakutsk and was sentenced to hard labour in Siberia for life. In 1895 an amnesty enabled Gots to emigrate to Paris, where he collaborated with

Nikolai Rusanov Nikolay Sergeyevich Rusanov (russian: Никола́й Серге́евич Руса́нов; September 16 (28), 1859 in Oryol – July 28, 1939 in Berne), also known under the pseudonyms of K. Tarasov and N. Kudrin, was a Russian revolut ...

and

Ilya Rubanovich Ilya Adolfovich Rubanovich (22 May 1859Rubanovich's year of birth is also given as 1860. – 16 October 1920) was a Russian revolutionary who joined 'The People's Will' ('Narodnaya Volya') in the 1880s. In 1881, this group assassinated Tsar Aleks ...

in editing the PSR newspaper ''Herald of the Russian Revolution'' (''Vestnik Russkoi Revoliutsii''). With Victor Chernov, Gots also edited the PSR's theoretical journal, ''Revolutionary Russia'' (''Revoliutsionnaia Rossiia''). Gots was also instrumental in establishing relations between the PSR and French and Italian socialist parties. In 1901, the Russian government demanded Gots' extradition from Italy. This led to a diplomatic crisis and to the cancellation of the Tsar's proposed visit to Italy. Gots died of cancer in 1906.

References

* ''The Great Soviet Encyclopedia.'' Moscow, 1979. * Shukman, H. (ed.), ''The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the Russian Revolution.'' Oxford, 1988. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gots, Mikhail 1866 births 1906 deaths People from Šiauliai People from Shavelsky Uyezd Lithuanian Jews Narodniks Narodnaya Volya Socialist Revolutionary Party politicians Jewish socialists Russian journalists Russian revolutionaries