Vladimir Mikhailovich Zenzinov (russian: Владимир Михайлович Зензинов; historically, his surname was also transcribed as Sensinoff: 29 November 1880 — 20 October 1953) was a member of Russia's

Socialist-Revolutionary Party The Socialist Revolutionary Party, or the Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries (the SRs, , or Esers, russian: эсеры, translit=esery, label=none; russian: Партия социалистов-революционеров, ), was a major politi ...

, a participant of the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

(1905),

Second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds e ...

(February 1917), and Third (November 1917) Russian Revolutions, and an author of a number of books.

Biography

Vladimir Zenzinov was born in Moscow in 1880, the son of a merchant. He studied at several universities in Germany and was known as one of the 'Heidelberg SRs'. His friendship with N.D. Avksentiev and A.R. Gots dates from that period. He joined the

(PSR) in 1901 and returned to Russia in 1904. Arrested at the beginning of the

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 ...

and sentenced to five years banishment in Siberia, he escaped to Western Europe, then returned to St. Petersburg in 1906. He worked for the PSR in various capacities and was elected to its Central Committee. He was active in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kiev. In September 1906, he was arrested again and banished to Siberia. In 1907, he escaped, making his way to Western Europe via Japan, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Colombo, and the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popul ...

. He soon returned illegally to Russia. Arrested again in 1910, Zenzinov was banished to northern

Yakutia Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far E ...

to make escape impossible. There he devoted himself to ethnographic studies and wrote several pioneering anthropological works on the subject, e.g.: ''Starinnye liudi u kholodnogo okeana'' (Moscow, 1914) and ''Ocherki torgovli na severe Yakutskoi oblasti'' (Moscow, 1916). In his memoirs, he tells of some extremely isolated places he visited, such as the village of

Russkoye Ustye Russkoye Ustye (russian: Ру́сское У́стье; sah, Русскай Устье) is a rural locality (a '' selo''), the only inhabited locality, and the administrative center of Russko-Ustinsky Rural Okrug of Allaikhovsky District in the ...

in the Arctic. In 1915 Zenzinov returned to European Russia and lived in Moscow and St. Petersburg. He participated in the

February Revolution of 1917 The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and some ...

, played various roles in the All-Russian Soviet of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies and supported the Provisional Government under A.F. Kerensky. With respect to World War I, which bitterly divided the PSR, Zenzinov adopted a ' Revolutionary Defencist' position: opposed to the war before the February Revolution, he supported the 'defence of the revolution' against Germany. Zenzinov tried to mediate between more radical 'Defencists' (like A.A. Argunov and the 'Internationalists' led by V.M. Chernov and M.A. Natanson. Zenzinov opposed 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 moment ...

. He was elected as an SR deputy to the one-day Constituent Assembly, dispersed by the Bolsheviks in 1918. Thereafter Zenzinov joined the rump Constituent Assembly government in

Samara Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara rivers, with a population ...

in 1918. He was briefly one of the Directors of the

Provisional All-Russian Government The Provisional All-Russian Government (PA-RG), informally known as The Directory, The Ufa Directory, or The Omsk Directory, was a short-lived government during the Russian Civil War, formed on 23 September 1918 at the State Conference in Ufa a ...

, together with N.D. Avksentiev and others. Arrested during a military coup by Admiral Kolchak in November 1918, Zenzinov was exiled to China. From there he made his way back to Western Europe. He lived in Berlin until

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

came to power in 1933, then moved to Paris. During this time he published several more books and worked for a variety of émigré socialist journals, including ''Volya Rossiya'', ''Golos Rossii'', ''Dni'', ''Novaya Rossiya'' and '' Sovremennye zapiski''. In 1939, Zenzinov went to Finland to witness the beginning of World War II and the Soviet attack on Finland, and to gather information on Russia. In 1940, Zenzinov emigrated to the United States, settling in New York and writing his memoirs.

Works

* ''Starinnye liudi u kholodnogo okeana'', (Moscow, 1914) * ''Ocherki torgovli na severe Yakutskoi oblasti'', (Moscow, 1916) * ''The Road to Oblivion'', (New York, 1931) * ''Iz zhizni revoliutsionera'', (Paris, 1919) * ''Nena'', (Berlin, 1925) * ''Zheleznyi skrezhet. Iz amerikanskikh vpechatlenii'', (Paris, 1926) * ''Perezhitoe'', (New York, 1953) * '' Vstrecha s Rossiei'', New York 1945

References

Sources

Vladimir Zenzinov Papers: Vladimir Zenzinov Biography
* Hildermeier, M., ''Die Sozialrevolutionäre Partei Russlands: Agrarsozialismus u. Modernisierung im Zarenreich (1900-1914)''. Cologne, 1978.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zenzinov, vladimir People of the Russian Revolution Socialist Revolutionary Party politicians Russian Constituent Assembly members Russian socialists 1880 births 1953 deaths