Varvara Nikolaevna Yakovleva (russian: Варвара Николаевна Яковлева; 19 December 1885 – 11 September 1941) was a prominent
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 ...
party member and
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 ...
government official who later supported
Leon 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 ...
's attempt to democratize the party. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1938 for membership in a "diversionary terrorist organization." She was later shot in the
Oryol Central Prison
The Oryol Prison has been a prison in Oryol since the 19th century. It was a notable place of incarceration for political prisoners and war prisoners of the Second World War.
The building of prison, built in 1840, is one of the oldest buildings ...
.
Early life
Yakovleva was born to the middle-class family of a tradesman of Jewish descent 1885 in Moscow. Her father was a convert to
Orthodox Christianity
Orthodoxy (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion.
Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Late antiquity, A ...
. She joined 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 ...
in January 1904, aged 18, as a student at a women's college in Moscow, where she was studying mathematics and physics, and was immediately involved in the illegal distribution of party literature.
During the
1905 Revolution, she was violently assaulted on the breasts, which damaged her health, and was a cause of the tuberculosis that she later contracted in exile in Siberia. She was first arrested in 1906, and again in 1907, and barred from living in Moscow. Arrested again in December 1910, she was sentenced to four years exile in
Narym
Narym (russian: Нарым, Selkup for ''marsh'') is a village ('' selo'') in Parabelsky District of Tomsk Oblast, Russia, located on the banks of the Ob River near its confluence with the Ket River, from the village of Parabel. The village i ...
, in Siberia, but escaped, and emigrated to Berlin to get medical treatment. She returned via
Cracow, where she met
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
and made arrangements to smuggle illegal literature and correspondence across the border. In October 1912, as an agent of the Central Committee in Moscow, but was arrested for the fourth time in 1913, and sent back to Narym, but escaped again, to St Petersburg, where she was soon arrested and deported to
Astrakhan
Astrakhan ( rus, Астрахань, p=ˈastrəxənʲ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in Southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the ...
.
Career post-1917
Yakovleva was able to return to Moscow late in 1916, and was appointed secretary of the Moscow regional committee of the Bolshevik party. In August 1917, she was elected a candidate for membership in the Bolshevik Central Committee, making her the third most prominent woman Bolshevik, after
Alexandra Kollontai
Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai (russian: Алекса́ндра Миха́йловна Коллонта́й, née Domontovich, Домонто́вич; – 9 March 1952) was a Russian revolutionary, politician, diplomat and Marxist the ...
and
Yelena Stasova
Elena Dmitriyevna Stasova ( rus, Елена Дмитриевна Стасова; 15 October Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._3_October.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/> O.S._3_October">Old_Style_and_New_St ...
. She took notes at the meeting that set the date for 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 ...
, and took a leading part in organising the takeover of power in Moscow. In December 1917, she appointed a member of the collegium of the
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
, but a month later was transferred to economic work as head of
Vesenka
Supreme Board of the National Economy, Superior Board of the People's Economy, (Высший совет народного хозяйства, ВСНХ, ''Vysshiy sovet narodnogo khozyaystva'', VSNKh) was the superior state institution for managem ...
.
In February 1918, Yakovleva supported the Left Communists, led by
Nikolai Bukharin, who opposed the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (also known as the Treaty of Brest in Russia) was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire), that ended Russia's ...
, which ended the war between Russia and Germany at the cost of leaving most of Ukraine and the Baltic states under German occupation. She returned to work in June, and in September 1918 was appointed deputy head of the Petrograd (St Petersburg)
Cheka
The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə), abbreviated ...
. This was during the
Red Terror
The Red Terror (russian: Красный террор, krasnyj terror) in Soviet Russia was a campaign of political repression and executions carried out by the Bolsheviks, chiefly through the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police. It started in lat ...
that followed an attempt on Lenin's life, and the assassination of the former head of the Petrograd Cheka,
Moisei Uritsky
Moisei Solomonovich Uritsky ( ua, Мойсей Соломонович Урицький; russian: Моисей Соломонович Урицкий; – 30 August 1918) was a Bolshevik revolutionary leader in Russia. After the October Revol ...
. From January 1919, as a board member of the People's Commissariat of Food, she led food inspections and parties that requisitioned food as a punitive measure. She was known for her severity in this matter.
In March 1920, Yakovleva again backed Bukharin against Lenin during a dispute over the role of the trade unions.
In December 1920-April 1921, she was secretary of the Moscow organisation. In April–August 1921, she was secretary of the Siberian party organisation. In 1922, she was appointed to a senior role in the
RFSFR People's Commissariat for Education.
In 1923, Yakovleva signaled her continued support for the left opposition by signing the
Declaration of the 46, but afterwards she severed contact with the opposition. In December 1929, she was appointed RFSFR People's Commissar for Finance.
Family
Yakovleva's younger brother, Nikolai (1886-1918) also joined the Bolsheviks in 1904–05, and is reputed to have been arrested 12 times over a decade. In 1914–16, he was in exile in Narym. According to Lenin's widow, he was a "staunch and reliable Bolshevik". In 1916, he was conscripted into the Imperial Army, and stationed in
Tomsk
Tomsk ( rus, Томск, p=tomsk, sty, Түң-тора) is a city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, located on the Tom River. Population:
Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. The city is a not ...
, where he was elected Chairman of the Tomsk Soviet after 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 ...
. In February, he was appointed chairman of the Central Executive of the Siberian soviets, but was forced into hiding when soviet collapsed in Siberia. In November 1918, he was one of a group of Bolsheviks captured by
White guards and killed on the spot.
Yakovleva's first husband was
Pavel Shternberg, whom she converted to Bolshevism.
In 1921, she married
Ivan Smirnov, but this marriage dissolved when she broke with the left opposition. Their daughter, Vladlena, fled Moscow after her parents' arrests, to avoid being placed in an orphanage, and later worked as a teacher in Siberia. She married Dmitri Zolnikov, a lecturer at
Novosibirsk State University
Novosibirsk State University is a public research university located in Novosibirsk, Russia. The university was founded in 1958, on the principles of integration of education and science, early involvement of students with research activities an ...
. Their daughter, Natalya Zolnikova (1949-2018), was one of the foremost historians of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Imprisonment and death
Yakovleva was arrested on 12 September 1937.
Following the Third Moscow Trial, in March 1938, she appeared as a witness, to testify that in 1918, Bukharin and other Left Communists had plotted to arrest and possibly assassinate Lenin,
Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
and
Yakov Sverdlov
Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov (russian: Яков Михайлович Свердлов; 3 June Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O._S._22_May.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O. S ...
. Bukharin, who was on trial, accused her of talking "patent nonsense". According to the historian Roy Medvedev, her 'evidence' was "a fraudulent deposition written for her by the investigators." Afterwards, she asked her cellmates to spread the word - if they survived - that the deposition was lies that she had been forced to sign.
At a secret trial on 14 May 1938, she was convicted of sabotage and terrorism, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. She was held in solitary confinement
Oryol Prison
The Oryol Prison has been a prison in Oryol since the 19th century. It was a notable place of incarceration for political prisoners and war prisoners of the Second World War.
The building of prison, built in 1840, is one of the oldest buildings ...
, where she was executed, together with all other inmates, three months after the German invasion of the USSR.
The order to kill her was signed by Stalin. (Soviet sources later inaccurately gave her date of death as 1944).
She was posthumously rehabilitated in 1958.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yakovleva, Varvara Nikolaevna
1880s births
1941 deaths
Old Bolsheviks
NKVD officers
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members
Russian Constituent Assembly members
Soviet politicians
Soviet rehabilitations
Great Purge victims from Russia
Russian people executed by the Soviet Union
Politicians from Moscow
Soviet women in politics
20th-century Russian women politicians
Russian Jews
Jews executed by the Soviet Union