Nikolai Pavlovich Chaplin (

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 ...

: Николай Павлович Чаплин; 19 December 1902 – 23 September 1938) was a

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 ...

politician who served as the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol from 1924 to 1928 as well as the first Chairman of the Young Pioneers movement in 1922.

Early life and education

Chaplin was born in the town of Rognedino in 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. ...

on December 19, 1902. Chaplin was staunch supporter of the

Bolsheviks 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 ...

, even before the

October 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 Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

. In 1918, he established an organization of young communists at his school in

Smolensk Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest ...

and became the Chairman of the Smolensk District City Committee of the Komsomol at the age of sixteen.

Political career

After joining the

Bolshevik Party " Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first)Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

in October 1919, he was appointed as the Secretary of Tyumen Provincial Committee of the Komsomol in the spring of 1920 He was elected as one of the delegates to the 3rd Congress of the Komsomol in October 1920. In September 1921, he served as the Head of the Political Education Department of the Yekaterinburg Provincial Committee of the Komsomol. He became a member of the

Central Committee of the Komsomol The Central Committee of the Komsomol (Russian language, Russian: Центральный комитет ВЛКСМ, ''Tsentral'niy komitet VLKSM'') was the executive leadership of the Komsomol, All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, commonly ...

at the 4th Congress and served as the Chairman of the Central Bureau of the Young Pioneers at the

in 1922. Chaplin was elected as the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol during the April Plenum of the Central Committee of the Komsomol; he served in the position until 1928. He was a candidate member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1934. He was also a candidate member of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1930. After ending his term as the First Secretary, he secretly visited

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

under disguise. He furthered studied Marxism-Leninism after being appointed as the Secretary of the

Transcaucasia The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...

n Region Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He became the Head of the Political Department of the

Kirov Railway Railway between Murmansk on the Baltic_Sea.html"_;"title="Arctic_Ocean_and_Saint_Petersburg_on_the_Baltic_Sea">Arctic_Ocean_and_Saint_Petersburg_on_the_Baltic_Sea_ Kirov_Railway_(russian:_Кировская_железная_дорога,_''Kiro ...

Administration in 1933. He was awarded the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration ...

in 1936 for "work in transport". He was appointed as the Head of South Eastern Railway in 1937, but was soon arrested and executed in 1938. He was rehabilitated posthumously by the

Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR The Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union ( Russian: Военная коллегия Верховного суда СССР, ''Voennaya kollegiya Verkhovnogo suda SSSR'') was created in 1924 by the Supreme Court of the Sovi ...

on July 9, 1955.

Personal life

Chaplin was married to Rosalia Lipskaya, whom he had one child with.

Death

Chaplin became the victim of 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 Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secret ...

and was shot to death on September 23, 1938 in

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 ...

. Chaplin was rehabilitated by the

military collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR The Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union ( Russian: Военная коллегия Верховного суда СССР, ''Voennaya kollegiya Verkhovnogo suda SSSR'') was created in 1924 by the Supreme Court of the Sovi ...

on July 9, 1955 and on August 9, posthumously reinstated in the party by the Party Control Committee under the Central Committee of the CPSU.

Awards

(awarded in 1936)

References