Mykhailo Yalovy ( uk , Михайло Омелянович Яловий) (5 June 1895 – 3 November 1937), also known under the his pen name Yulian Shpol, was a Ukrainian communist
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...
-
futurist
Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abo ...
Executed Renaissance
The Executed Renaissance (or "Red Renaissance", uk, Розстріляне відродження, Червоний ренесанс, translit=Rozstriliane vidrodzhennia, Chervonyi renesans) is a term used to describe the generatio ...
.
Brief biography
Early years and the Revolution
Yalovy was born in 1895 in the village of Dar-Nadezhda, Kostiantynhrad
uyezd
An uezd (also spelled uyezd; rus, уе́зд, p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context ( uk, повіт), or Kreis in Baltic-German context, was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Russian Empire, and the ea ...
, in the
Poltava Governorate
The Poltava Governorate (russian: Полтавская губерния, Poltavskaya guberniya; ua, Полтавська Губернія, translit=Poltavska huberniia) or Poltavshchyna was a gubernia (also called a province or government) in t ...
(today
Kharkiv Oblast
Kharkiv Oblast ( uk, Харківська́ о́бласть, translit=Kharkivska oblast), also referred to as Kharkivshchyna ( uk, Ха́рківщина), is an oblast (province) of eastern Ukraine. The oblast borders Russia to the north, Luhan ...
), into the family of a
volost
Volost ( rus, во́лость, p=ˈvoləsʲtʲ; ) was a traditional administrative subdivision in Eastern Europe.
In earlier East Slavic history, '' volost'' was a name for the territory ruled by the knyaz, a principality; either as an absolute ...
scribe. He had two brothers Kostiantyn and Hryhoriy. He obtained his general education in Myrhorodgymnasium in 1916. After that he enrolled in the Medical Department of the Kiev
University of Saint Vladimir
Kyiv University or Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv ( uk, Київський національний університет імені Тараса Шевченка), colloquially known as KNU ...
. There he completely dove into revolutionary activity, becoming a member of the socialist-revolutionaries ("Esery" or "SR"), one of the most influential parties of the time.
After the beginning of the February Revolution he returned to Kostiantynhrad (today Krasnohrad), where he headed a revolutionary committee. Later he was elected to the
Executive Committee
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
of the Kostiantynhrad Council of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies.
After the left wing of Esery split away in 1918 as a separate party of Borotbists he became their one of the most well-known members. He took an active part in the group's newspapers ''Borotba'' (Struggle) and ''Selianska bidnota'' (Poor peasantry), serving as director of the latter paper. About the same time he also worked as a chief editor of ''Peasant and Worker'', the newspaper produced by the instructional-agitation train of the
All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee
All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee ( uk, italic=yes, Всеукраїнський центральний виконавчий комітет) was a representative body of the All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets. It was the supreme legislative ...
under the leadership of
Grigory Petrovsky
Grigory Ivanovich Petrovsky (russian: Григо́рий Ива́нович Петро́вский, uk, Григо́рій Іва́нович Петро́вський, translit=Hryhorii Ivanovych Petrovskyi) (3 February 1878 - 9 January 1958) wa ...
.
He conducted active underground work in Odessa and Kherson region, where he organized resistance against the German occupational forces and those loyal to the Second Hetmanate led by Hetman of the Ukraine
Pavlo Skoropadskyi
Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi ( uk, Павло Петрович Скоропадський, Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi; – 26 April 1945) was a Ukrainian aristocrat, military and state leader, decorated Imperial Russian Army and Ukrainian Army ...
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 millio ...
as a representative of the Ukrainian government. In 1921, together with Mykahilo Symenko and Vasyl Aleshko, he created the ''Strike group of poet-futurists'' in
Kharkiv
Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Oleksa Slisarenko and
Mykola Bazhan
Mykola Platonovych Bazhan (; – 23 November 1983) was a Soviet Ukrainian writer, poet, highly decorated political and public figure. He was an academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (1951), Merited Science Specialist o ...
Yalovy became a member of Hart in 1925, later the same year with several members of Hart he created VAPLITE, becoming its president.
In 1926 Yalovy published an article ''Saint-Petersburg's kholuystvo'' (kholuystvo is a derogatory Russian word for
ignorance
Ignorance is a lack of knowledge and understanding. The word "ignorant" is an adjective that describes a person in the state of being unaware, or even cognitive dissonance and other cognitive relation, and can describe individuals who are unaware ...
) in the defense of the national Ukrainian culture that was triggered by another article of the Leningrad magazine ''Zhyzn isskustva'' (#14), ''Self-determination or chauvinism?''. On 20 November 1926 he was dismissed, together with Mykola Khvylovy, from the editorial board of '' Chervony Shliakh'' by the order of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (bilshovyks). Later he, Dosvitny, and Khvyliovy left VAPLITE in order to save the organization, but in the end it was forced to dissolve.
Arrest and imprisonment
Mykhailo Yalovy was arrested on the night of 12–13 May 1933 during the search of his apartment by the agents of the
GPU
A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobi ...
of the
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...
.
On 31 May 1933 he was expelled from the CPU(b) on the grounds that he had ''infiltrated'' its ranks ''with the aim of creating a counter-revolutionary fascist organization that had the goal of overthrowing the Soviet government''. Yalovy was accused of spying for the
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
Pavel Postyshev
Pavel Petrovich Postyshev (russian: Па́вел Петро́вич По́стышев; – 26 February 1939) was a Soviet politician, state and Communist Party official and party publicist. He was a member of Joseph Stalin's inner circle, befor ...
, the first secretary of the CPU(b). He refused to plead guilty to these crimes.
Yalovy was sentenced to ten years in labor camps (ITL, part of the
GULAG
The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...
).
Execution, burial and rehabilitation
A few years later, during the
Great Purges
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 Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secreta ...
, Yavlovy was summarily sentenced on 9 October 1937 at a session of the extrajudicial special
NKVD troika
NKVD troika or Special troika (russian: особая тройка, osobaya troyka), in Soviet history, were the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD which would later be the beginning of the KGB) made up of three officials who issued ...
of the
Leningrad Oblast
Leningrad Oblast ( rus, Ленинградская область, Leningradskaya oblast’, lʲɪnʲɪnˈgratskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ, , ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It was established on 1 August 1927, although it was not until 194 ...
to be shot at one of the killing field-burial grounds in Karelia. The execution, a bullet to the back of the head in front of an already dug trench, took place a few weeks later on 3 November 1937 in
Svirlag
Svirlag, SvirLAG (Svirskiy Lager' – Svir Concentration-Camp, russian: Свирлаг, also / – ) was a Soviet forced labour camp run by NKVD's GULAG Directorate. It was located on the river Svir (hence the name Svirskiy in Russian) in the f ...
Lodeynoye Pole
Lodeynoye Pole (russian: Лоде́йное По́ле, lit. ''the field of boats'') is a town and the administrative center of Lodeynopolsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Svir River (Lake Ladoga's basin) ...
). New data indicate that Yavlovy's final resting place may be among the thousands shot and buried at Sandarmokh near
Medvezhyegorsk
Medvezhyegorsk (russian: Медвежьего́рск; krl, Karhumägi; fi, Karhumäki) is a town and the administrative center of Medvezhyegorsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia. Population: 15,800 (1959).
History
A village in ...
.
After Stalin's death, Yavlovy and the many thousands of other victims condemned to death by the extrajudicial troikas were rehabilitated. On 19 June 1957, the conviction was annulled by the
Military tribunal
Military justice (also military law) is the legal system (bodies of law and procedure) that governs the conduct of the active-duty personnel of the armed forces of a country. In some nation-states, civil law and military law are distinct bod ...
of the
Leningrad Military District
The Leningrad Military District was a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Moscow Military District, the Northern Fleet and the Baltic Fleet to form the new Western Military District ...
(LVO) due to the "lack of a crime".
In December 2022 the
Fyodor Tolbukhin
Fyodor Ivanovich Tolbukhin (russian: Фёдор Ива́нович Толбу́хин; 16 June 1894 – 17 October 1949) was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union.
Early life and military career
Tolbukhin was born into ...
lane in
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.
Kyi ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
* ''Need to be chewed out''. — 1920.
* (Collection of poetry) ''Tops''. — Kyiv—Moscow—Berlin: Golfshtrem, 1923.
* (Comedy) ''Cathy's love, or construction propaganda''. — Kharkiv, 1928.
*-+** (Novel) ''Golden Fox-kits''. — Kharkiv: Knyhospilka, 1929. (II ed. — Kharkiv: Knyhospilka, 1930.)
* Selected works / Organization, foreword, footnotes, and commentaries of Oleksandr Ushlakov. — Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2007. ()
Bibliography
* Encyclopedia of Ukrainian Studies (10 volumes) / Chief editor
Volodymyr Kubiyovych Volodymyr ( uk, Володи́мир, Volodýmyr, , orv, Володимѣръ) is a Ukrainian given name of Old East Slavic origin. The related Ancient Slavic, such as Czech, Russian, Serbian, Croatian, etc. form of the name is Володимѣръ ...
. — Paris, New-York: Molode Zhyttia, 1954–1989.
* Maystrenko, Ivan. ''History of my generation''. Memoirs of a participant of revolutionary activities in Ukraine. — Edmonton, 1985.
* Ushlakov, Oleksandr. ''Greetings, Yulian Shpol!'' («Драстуй, Юліане Шпол!») // Yulian Shpol. Selected works. — Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 2007.