Sergey Semyonovich Zorin (russian: Сергей Семёнович Зорин, born Sergey Gumberg; 1890 – 10 September 1937), was the party's First Secretary of the Leningrad City Committee, roughly equating to that of mayor. He held the position between November 1919 and February 1921. As such, he hosted the

2nd World Congress of the Comintern The 2nd World Congress of the Communist International was a gathering of approximately 220 voting and non-voting representatives of Communist and revolutionary socialist political parties from around the world, held in Petrograd and Moscow from J ...

Life

Sergey Semyonovich Gumberg was born in

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 ...

. His father was a

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

Elizavetgrad Kropyvnytskyi ( uk, Кропивницький, Kropyvnytskyi ) is a city in central Ukraine on the Inhul river with a population of . It is an administrative center of the Kirovohrad Oblast. Over its history, Kropyvnytskyi has changed its name ...

and his brother,

Alexander Gumberg Alexander Gumberg (1887–1939) born in Kropyvnytskyi (then Elizavetgrad), he was a Ukrainian of Jewish background who emigrated to the United States in 1903 and went on to become an important link between the Soviet regime and the USA following the ...

emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1902. Sergey followed him in 1911 staying in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Here he became active in the

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...

. He supported himself as an unskilled labourer before returning in March 1917 with

Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian M ...

aboard the SS ''Kristianiafjord''. He was married to Lisa Zorin, with whom he hosted

Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the ...

during her stay in Russia from January 17, 1920 to December 1921. Zorin aligned himself with the

Left Opposition The Left Opposition was a faction within the Russian Communist Party (b) from 1923 to 1927 headed ''de facto'' by Leon Trotsky. The Left Opposition formed as part of the power struggle within the party leadership that began with the Soviet fou ...

. He travelled to Ivanova with

Alexander Voronsky Aleksandr Konstantinovich Voronsky (russian: Алекса́ндр Константи́нович Воро́нский) ( – 13 August 1937) was a prominent humanist Marxist literary critic, theorist and editor of the 1920s, disfavored and p ...

in 1927, which was used as a pretext for the Voronsky's expulsion from 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 ...

. He was arrested on 1 January 1935, and sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment on 26 March that year in the

Monastery of Saint Euthymius The Saviour Monastery of St. Euthymius is a monastery in Suzdal, Russia, founded in 1352. History Foundation The monastery was founded in 1352 by the monk Yevfimi from Nizhny Novgorod, invited by Grand Prince Boris Konstantinovich of Suzda ...

, then a prison in

Suzdal Suzdal ( rus, Суздаль, p=ˈsuzdəlʲ) is a town that serves as the administrative center of Suzdalsky District in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which is located on the Kamenka River, north of the city of Vladimir. Vladimir is the admin ...

. He was shot on 10 September 1937.

References

1890 births 1937 deaths Politicians from Kropyvnytskyi First secretaries in non-national subdivisions of the Soviet Union Jews executed by the Soviet Union Jewish socialists Jews from the Russian Empire Ukrainian Jews Ukrainian Trotskyists Great Purge victims from Ukraine Left Opposition {{Russia-mayor-stub