Vladimir Pavlovich Milyutin (Russian: Влади́мир Па́влович Милю́тин; 5 September 1884 – 30 October 1937) 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 ...
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 ...
leader,
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
statesman, economist and statistician who was
People's Commissar
Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English transliteration of the Russian (''komissar''), which means 'commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the political commissars of Soviet and Eas ...
for Agriculture in the
original soviet government formed on the day of the
Bolshevik 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 Bolsheviks, Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was ...
, but resigned in protest against
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 ...
's decision to impose one party rule.
Early career
Born in the village of Alexandrovo,
Kursk Governorate
Kursk Governorate ( rus, Ку́рская губе́рния, r=Kúrskaya gubérniya) was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, located in European Russia. It existed from 1796 to 1928; its seat was in the city o ...
in 1884, into a Jewish family. Milyutin joined the
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP; in , ''Rossiyskaya sotsial-demokraticheskaya rabochaya partiya (RSDRP)''), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or the Russian Social Democratic Party, was a socialist pol ...
(RSDLP) in 1903, and was initially a
Menshevik
The Mensheviks (russian: меньшевики́, from меньшинство 'minority') were one of the three dominant factions in the Russian socialist movement, the others being the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries.
The factions eme ...
. His membership of 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 ...
was postdated only until 1910, implying that he did not join the
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 ...
faction of the RSDLP until that year. He was a 'conciliator', who hoped to reunite the disparate parts of the party, and in that capacity was co-opted to the Central Committee in 1910, but arrested almost immediately afterwards. After the February revolution, he was elected chairman of the Saratov Soviet. In August 1917, he was elected a member of the Central Committee of the RSDLP(b), and was based in St Petersburg as one of the most active Bolsheviks leaders for the next three months.
One week before the
Bolshevik 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 Bolsheviks, Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was ...
, on 29 October, when Lenin emerged from hiding to urge the Central Committee to ready itself to seize power immediately, Milyutin was the first speaker to oppose him, arguing that power should be - and was being - transferred to the soviets, and not exclusively to the Bolsheviks, and that "we (the Bolsheviks) are not ready to strike the first blow; we are unable to depose and arrest the authorities in the immediate future." But he accepted the majority decision, and played a central role in the Bolshevik coup, in charge of food supplies. On 7 November, he was named People's Commissar for Agriculture in the original Bolshevik government, but he resigned ten days later, along with
Lev Kamenev
Lev Borisovich Kamenev. (''né'' Rozenfeld; – 25 August 1936) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician.
Born in Moscow to parents who were both involved in revolutionary politics, Kamenev attended Imperial Moscow Uni ...
and three others, who called for the Bolsheviks to form a coalition government with the other socialist parties represented in the soviets. They withdrew their resignations on 12 December, and on 15 December, Kamenev and Milyutin were elected to the steering committee of the Bolshevik faction in the
Constituent Assembly
A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...
. Nine days later, the entire steering committee (which included
Joseph 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 Secreta ...
) was sacked for being too conciliatory towards the other socialist parties.
Later career
After his reinstatement, Milyutin never intentionally deviated from the party line again. He advocated ending workers' control of factories, which had sprung up spontaneously during the revolution, because it disrupted production. He also opposed
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 ...
over the issue of importance of economic planning, which Milyutin disparaged to the extent that Lenin publicly accused him, in an article published in ''Pravda'' in February 1921 of writing "twaddle" and exhibiting "highbrow disdain" for practical achievements. He inadvertently offended Lenin again, in autumn 1922, by proposing an end to the state monopoly on foreign trade, arguing that private cross-border commerce would boost the soviet economy, and reduce smuggling.
Appointed director of the
Central Statistical Administration
The Central Statistical Administration (or Board or Directorate) (russian: Центральное Статистическое Управление), abbreviated TsSU (russian: ЦСУ), was the main statistical organization of the former Soviet U ...
in 1928, he loyally supported Stalin during the drive to force the peasants to move onto collective farms, and - despite his previous opposition to economic planning - he became an enthusiastic supporter for the first Five Year Plan, "adept at the timely expression of opinions held at the highest level in the party."
Arrest and execution
Milyutin was arrested on 26 July 1937, on accounts of belonging to a secret counter revolutionary organization, and sentenced to death on 29 October 1937. Before his execution, as was customary, he was photographed for the archives 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.
...
.
That last photograph was published by
David King in his book ''Ordinary Citizens''. He was
rehabilitated in 1956.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Milyutin, Vladimir Pavlovich
1880s births
1937 deaths
People from Lgovsky Uyezd
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members
Old Bolsheviks
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
People's commissars and ministers of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
People's commissars and ministers of the Soviet Union
Russian Constituent Assembly members
Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union members
Russian revolutionaries
Russian statisticians
Soviet economists
Great Purge victims from Russia
Soviet rehabilitations