Nikolay Andreyevich Gredeskul (Russian: Николай Андреевич Гредескул; 20 April 1865 – 8 September 1941) was a
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 ...
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
politician.
Biography
Origins
He was from an old noble family of Moldavian boyars, who emigrated to Russia together with
Dimitrie Cantemir
Dimitrie or Demetrius Cantemir (, russian: Дмитрий Кантемир; 26 October 1673 – 21 August 1723), also known by other spellings, was a Romanian prince, statesman, and man of letters, regarded as one of the most significant e ...
.
Law professor
After graduating from the University of
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.[law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...]
professor (1890) and later dean of the law school there . In late 1904, with social tensions rising as Russian defeats in the
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
mounted, he joined other prominent Russian professors in calling for political reform and an academic union and was instrumental in founding the liberal ''Soyuz Osvobozhdeniya'' (''Liberation League''). Gredeskul admitted that the professoriat's traditional hostility to student protests, e.g. during the student unrest in 1899, may have been a mistake . With the easing of restrictions on independent press during the
Russian Revolution of 1905
The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...
, he founded and edited ''Mir'', a liberal newspaper in Kharkiv.
Liberal politician
In October 1905, at the height of the revolution, Gredeskul became one of the founding members of the
Constitutional Democratic party
)
, newspaper = ''Rech''
, ideology = ConstitutionalismConstitutional monarchismLiberal democracyParliamentarism Political pluralismSocial liberalism
, position = Centre to centre-left
, international =
, colours ...
(aka the Kadet party) and a member of its Central Committee. In December 1905, after the suppression of the
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 million ...
uprising, Gredeskul's paper was closed by the authorities, he was arrested and then exiled to the
Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk (, ; rus, Арха́нгельск, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲsk), also known in English as Archangel and Archangelsk, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies o ...
region. While in exile, he was elected to the First
State Duma
The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...
from the Kadets in February 1906, which ended his exile. He went to the capital,
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, where he was elected Second Deputy Chairman of the Duma when it was convoked in April 1906. After the government dissolved the Duma on July 9, 1906, Gredeskul signed the
Vyborg Manifesto
The Vyborg Manifesto (russian: Выборгское воззвание, translit=Vyborgskoye Vozzvaniye, fi, Viipurin manifesti, sv, Viborgsmanifestet); also called the Vyborg Appeal) was a proclamation signed by several Russian politicians, pri ...
, which called for passive resistance to the government. He was arrested, imprisoned for three months and barred from running in future Duma elections.
During the revolution, Gredeskul moved to St. Petersburg and became a professor of law at the
St. Petersburg Polytechnical Institute
Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, abbreviated as SPbPU (also, formerly "Saint Petersburg State Technical University", abbreviated as SPbSTU), is a Russian technical university located in Saint Petersburg. Other former names i ...
. He coined the term "psychology of despair" to describe the psychology of the Russian society in the wake of the revolution's defeat . Considered one of the Kadets' leading theoreticians, Gredeskul defended radical traditions of the Russian
intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...
against criticism from the Right by ''
Vekhi
Vekhi ( rus, Вехи, p=ˈvʲexʲɪ, t=Landmarks) is a collection of seven essays published in Russia in 1909. It was distributed in five editions and elicited over two hundred published rejoinders in two years. The volume reappraising the Russian ...
'' authors in 1909. In late 1911, after the assassination of prime minister
Pyotr Stolypin
Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin ( rus, Пётр Арка́дьевич Столы́пин, p=pʲɵtr ɐrˈkadʲjɪvʲɪtɕ stɐˈlɨpʲɪn; – ) was a Russian politician and statesman. He served as the third prime minister and the interior minist ...
by Bogrov, a former secret police informer, Gredeskul argued that with the decline in revolutionary terrorism after 1907, the government should abandon its covert operations as well .
Nationalist evolution
Although at first Gredeskul was somewhat to the Left of the Constitutional Democratic party's center , after 1910 he moved to the Right and in 1912-1914 argued for an alliance with the Progressive faction and the Left wing of the
Octobrists
The Union of 17 October (russian: Союз 17 Октября, ''Soyuz 17 Oktyabrya''), commonly known as the Octobrist Party (Russian: Октябристы, ''Oktyabristy''), was a liberal-reformist constitutional monarchist political party in la ...
. In 1916, at the height of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, he published a pamphlet on the problem of ethnic minorities in Russia, which suggested that his views were evolving in the nationalist direction . In 1916 he began writing for
Alexander Protopopov
Alexander Dmitrievich Protopopov (; 18 December 1866 – 27 October 1918) was a Russian publicist and politician who served as Minister of the Interior from September 1916 to February 1917.
Protopopov became a leading liberal politician in Russi ...
's ''Russkaya Volya'' (''Russian Will''), a nationalist newspaper, which led
to Gredeskul's resignation from the Kadet Central Committee. Gredeskul edited ''Russkaya Volya'' between 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 ...
of 1917 and the
October Revolution of 1917
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 moment ...
, when it was closed down by the new
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 ...
government.
After the 1917 Revolution
After the Bolshevik takeover, Gredeskul stayed in
Soviet Russia
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
and argued that Russian intellectuals should come to terms with the new government, which he saw as evolving in a more nationalist direction, anticipating
Nikolay Ustryalov's ideas by a few months. In the summer of 1920, Bolshevik authorities arranged a speaking tour of the country for him .
In the 1920s, Grudeskul joined the
Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
and was employed by the government as a university professor in
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. He tried to combine
Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 p ...
and
Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, Prose poetry, prose poet, cultural critic, Philology, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philo ...
in his book ''Russia, Before and Now'' (''Rossiia prezhde i teper''):
:Superman, if one looks only at his internal meaning ... is a man of superior will and superior doubts ... in this internal meaning
he image of Supermanis glorious to a proletarian, not at all so to a bourgeois''.
Works
*"К учению об осуществлении права" (''On the Theory of Law Implementation''), Kharkov, 1900, 235 pp.
*"Социологическое изучение права" (''Sociological Study of the Law''), St. Petersburg, 1900, 13 pp.
*"Лекции по общей теории права" (''Lectures on the General Theory of the Law''), St. Petersburg, 1909, 317 pp.
*"Россия и её народы: Великая Россия как программа разрешения национального вопроса в России" (''Russia and her Peoples: Great Russia as a Program to Solve the Nationalities Question in Russia''), Petrograd, M. V. Popova, 1916, 79 pp.
*"Россия прежде и теперь" (''Russia, Before and Now''),
eningrad? 1926, 254 pp.
Trivia
* Gredeskul's descendants are scattered around the world, including Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Australia, and USA. Foreign spelling of his surname varies from Gredeskul to
Gredeskoul.
* It is believed by his relatives that he died during
Siege of Leningrad
The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of L ...
in 1941.
References
Notes
* See Mikhail Agursky. "Nietzschean Roots of Stalinist Culture", in ''Nietzsche and Soviet Culture: Ally and Adversary'', ed. Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal, Cambridge University Press, 1994, p. 263.
* See Samuel Kassow. "University Professors", in ''Russia's Missing Middle Class: The Professions in Russian History'', ed. Harley D. Balzer, M. E. Sharp, Inc., 1996, p. 206
* See Jeffrey Brooks. "Readers and Reading at the End of the Tsarist Era", in ''Literature and Society in Imperial Russia, 1800-1914'', Stanford University Press, 1978, p. 107
* See Jonathan Daly, "The Security Police", in ''Russia Under the Last Tsar'', edited by
Anna Geifman
Anna Geifman is an American historian. Her fields of interest include political extremism, terrorism, and the history of Russian revolutionary movements.
Biography
Geifman was born in 1962 in Leningrad, Soviet Union, and moved to Boston, Massac ...
, Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 1999, , pp. 231–232
* See Norman Stone. ''Europe Transformed'', 2nd edition, Malden, MA, Blackwell, Publishers Ltd, 1999, p. 184
* See Melissa Stockdale. "The Constitutional Democratic Party", in ''Russia Under the Last Tsar'', op. cit., pp. 168.
* N. A. Gredeskul. ''Rossiya i eyo narody: Velikaya Rossiya, kak programma razresheniya natsionalnogo voprosa v Rossii'' (''Russia and her Peoples: Great Russia as a Program to Solve the Nationalities Question in Russia''), Petrograd, M. V. Popova, 1916, 79pp.
* Gredeskul's wife divorced him in 1918 and took their daughters to
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
-controlled
Bessarabia
Bessarabia (; Gagauz: ''Besarabiya''; Romanian: ''Basarabia''; Ukrainian: ''Бессара́бія'') is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Be ...
. One of his daughters, Lyudmila Gredeskul
returnedto the Soviet Union in December 1930, but her university diploma wasn't recognized and she worked at a factory. She was arrested on July 5, 1941, sentenced to 10 years in the Soviet
labor camps
A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (espec ...
and died in a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
offensive outside of
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 c ...
when prisoners were forced to dig trenches to stop German tanks.
* See John Gray. ''Post-Liberalism: Studies in Political Thought'', New York, Routledge, 1993, ( for the 1996 paperback edition), p. 177.
* See Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal. ''New Myth, New World: From Nietzsche to Stalinism'', Pennsylvania State University, 2002, , pp. 200–201
* See Mikhail Agursky. "Nietzschean Roots of Stalinist Culture", in ''Nietzsche and Soviet Culture: Ally and Adversary'', op. cit., p. 263.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gredeskul, Nikolay
1865 births
1941 deaths
category:People from Kupyansky Uyezd
Russian Constitutional Democratic Party members
Members of the 1st State Duma of the Russian Empire
National University of Kharkiv alumni
Victims of the Siege of Leningrad
People from the Russian Empire of Romanian descent
Soviet professors
Communist Party of the Soviet Union members