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Milan Gorkić ( cyrl, Милан Горкић), born as Josef Čižinský ( sr-cyrl, Јосип Чижински, Josip Čižinski; 19 February 1904 – 1 November 1937), was a high-ranking and prominent Yugoslav
communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
politician and activist. He was the
General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...
of the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats a ...
(KPJ) in exile from 1932 until 1937 and also a prominent member of the
Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...
. Gorkić was executed by the
NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...
in the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
during the
Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...
.


Early life


Family

Gorkić was born Josef Čižinský in 1904 into a
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...
family from
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
that had settled in
Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...
five years earlier in 1899. At the time, Bosnia-Herzegovina was still officially a
vilayet A vilayet (, "province"), also known by #Names, various other names, was a first-order administrative division of the later Ottoman Empire. It was introduced in the Vilayet Law of 21 January 1867, part of the Tanzimat reform movement initiated b ...
within the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
though in actuality it was run as an occupational zone and a '' de facto'' part of Austria-Hungary. His father, Václav Čižinský was an upholster who earlier held membership in the Social Democratic Party of Czechoslovakia. After a short holiday in his hometown, he brought his wife, Gorkić's mother, Antonija Mimerova to Bosnia and Herzegovina. She worked as a seamstress. In
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
his father worked for the Austrian-Hungarian administration. Gorkić was born in
Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...
in 1904; his older brother Ladislav (1901) was a machinist and younger brother Bohumil was an architect who lived in
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
until 1986. In 1921, Gorkić's family was deported back to Czechoslovakia, after his father was involved in a strike and accusations of being a communist and a serbophobe. Gorkić was also previously arrested for communist activity, which contributed to his family's deportation.


Education

Gorkić entered elementary school in Bosanski Brod in 1910. As a good student, he continued high school education in
Derventa Derventa ( sr-cyrl, Дервента) is a city in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the Posavina region, northwest of the city of Doboj. As of 2013, the town has a total of 11,631 inhabitants, while the municipality has ...
, but soon left the school because of the
World War A world war is an international War, conflict that involves most or all of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World War I ...
. In order to avoid losing an academic year, he tried to enter high school in
Slavonski Brod Slavonski Brod (, ), commonly shortened to simply Brod, is a city in eastern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Being one of the principal cities in the historical regions of Slavonia and Posavina, Slavonski Brod is the 7th lar ...
, but this school was also closed, so he studied grade five privately. In 1915, Gorkić succeeded in starting grade six in High People's Students' School, a lower high school, entering its second grade. In 1918 he returned to Sarajevo and took entrance exam in order to enroll in the Sarajevo Commerce Academy.


Early activity

During a time spent in Commercial Academy, Gorkić joined the Organization of Intellectual Workers as a fifteen-year-old. Gorkić and other members of the organisation had meetings in Workers' Home, where they read works of
Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
and
Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.
Miroslav Krleža Miroslav Krleža (; 7 July 1893 – 29 December 1981) was a Croatian writer who is widely considered to be the greatest Croatian writer of the 20th century. He wrote notable works in all the literary genres, including poetry ('' The Ballads o ...
's revolutionary magazine "Plamen". On 1 May 1919 he was arrested along with some of his comrades. On 4 December 1919, Young Communist League of Yugoslavia (SKOJ) was established in
Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...
; Gorkić was elected to its leadership. In 1921, after First Congress of SKOJ, it was decided that SKOJ would be split in two branches, apprentices' and students' branch. Gorkić was named secretary of students' branch. In one newspaper article from 14 October Gorkić used his pseudonym for the very first time. On 28 November 1920, he held a motivational speech in
Derventa Derventa ( sr-cyrl, Дервента) is a city in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the Posavina region, northwest of the city of Doboj. As of 2013, the town has a total of 11,631 inhabitants, while the municipality has ...
for members of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ) and called them to vote for leaders of the KPJ. In December 1920, Gorkić held teachings in Workers' Home in Sarajevo, and soon become one of the most active communists. On the night of 29/30 December, the government proclaimed '' Obznana'', a proclamation in which he forbade further activity of the KPJ. Thousands of communists were arrested and their organisations broken. After proclamation of ''Obznana'', KPJ and SKOJ were scattered. Gorkić played a key role in reorganisation of the KPJ and SKOJ. He became Secretary of the Regional Committee of the SKOJ. In a report to KPJ's congress held in Vienna in 1922, Gorkić stated that before ''Obznana'', regional SKOJ had 300 members, and after ''Obznana'' regional SKOJ did not have a single member, they only maintained contacts. He and his associates established an illegal organization as a core for future organizing. Soon, they had been provided with a hectograph to multiply propaganda leaflets. Gorkić was assigned to work with the leaflets. Before that, in 1921, he wrote to his illegal organisation in Derventa and this letter was found by the police. In the letter, Gorkić wrote in detail about organisation's activity and meeting place that was supposed to be held in Belgrade. However, the meeting never took place, because a communist, Spasoje Stević, made a failed assassination attempt on King Alexander, who was at the time, a
regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...
. In July 1921 Gorkić visited Belgrade with his friend, Maks Schwarz, but, after they returned to Brod, both of them were arrested on 29 July. Gorkić stated to the police that he did not go to Belgrade because of the conference, but for education. Gorkić's activity was observed by the police for a longer period. Gorkić was heard by police on 2 August and spent six months in prison, when he was bailed out by the party along with other imprisoned communists. He was expelled from Commercial Academy when he was in third grade. He did not return home to his parents, but instead, continued his political activity. In time, while he was still imprisoned, Gorkić's family was deported back to Czechoslovakia. His father had been accused of communism and
anti-Serb sentiment Anti-Serb sentiment or Serbophobia ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, србофобија, srbofobija, separator=" / ") is a generally negative view of Serbs as an ethnic group. Historically it has been a basis for the persecution of ethnic Serbs. A distinctiv ...
. After Gorkić had been released from prison, he started to work as an editor of Sarajevan workers' magazine "''Radničko jedinstvo''" (Workers' Unity). As an editor, he wrote about the international political scene. In 1923, Gorkić was employed in another magazine, named "''Narod''" (The People). He worked in this magazine until he left the country. During all that time, he was under police surveillance. After his release in 1922, Gorkić was once again under police investigation and it was planned by the police to deport him also once the investigation ended. His travel abroad was forbidden, however, he successfully entered and left the country several times. Actually, he was a delegate on first two illegal conferences held in 1922 and 1923. The First Conference was held in Vienna between 3 and 17 April 1922, where Gorkić participated as a delegate for
Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
. With other members of Bosnian delegation, Gorkić arrived to Austria 16 days earlier, as they were misinformed. KPJ's conferences in Vienna played a significant role in history of KPJ. The Deputy Executive Committee was founded to lead members of the party that stayed in country after Alexander's ''Obznana'' forbade future activity of the KPJ. Other members emigrated. On Viennese first conference held in September 1921, those in emigration founded Emigration Committee as leading organ of the party. By such act, KPJ actually had two leaderships, one operating in Belgrade while other in Vienna. Majority of members in emigration expressed their wishes to abolish Emigration Committee, while a Montenegrin, Sima Marković, disapproved that and named himself leader of the Emigration Committee. To avoid disagreement, members of the KPJ agreed to solve problems on a conference, that was held in April 1922. Gorkić was especially active on this conference. Some members proposed that members of KPJ's youth wing, the SKOJ, should also vote. This proposition passed with 13 votes against 12; Gorkić's vote was among those 12. On VIII session held on 10 July 1922, Gorkić was elected to a commission that would deal with political, organization and union matters. On this very session, a decision was made to criticize the activity of Marković and his associate Ilija Milkić, but not to punish them. It was stated that both of them justified their mistakes. Gorkić disagreed with this decision and asked for a withdrawal of statement that they "justified their mistakes". Marković and Milkić left the session, so Gorkić argued that decision should be made by the Comintern. Also, Gorkić disagreed on question of whether the Emigration Committee should exist. The voting was made on the matter of whether the majority of leadership be stationed in Belgrade. There was 16 votes for yes and 2 were against – Gorkić and Mark voted and expressed that the whole leadership should be in Belgrade. After Gorkić returned to Sarajevo in May 1923, he continued to work for the "''Narod''" and the "''Radničko jednistvo''" magazines. Soon, he was once again arrested for carrying communist literature and was sentenced on 20 days in prison. The judge stated that police should take care that Gorkić and his associate not leave the country, however, Gorkić emigrated in July 1923, after which he only briefly returned in Yugoslavia for several times. Police were unable to find out when Gorkić left Yugoslavia. Before that, Gorkić stayed in Zagreb under the pretext that he attended Export Academy, which enabled him to leave the country. On 24 March 1924, police made a warrant for Gorkić and another group of communists in Sarajevo. When the group was under trial in 1925, Gorkić was in Moscow. Gorkić left Sarajevo eight months before his absence was noticed by the police. He left Yugoslavia on 9 May 1924 in order to participate at the Second Conference of the KPJ in Vienna. In autumn 1925 police became interested in Gorkić for a second time after it was found out that Gorkić was once again involved in illegal doings. In October 1925, the police authorities informed the prefect of Sarajevo region that Gorkić was in Belgrade at the end of June 1925 as a courier from Moscow. Prefect of Sarajeo informed authorities in Belgrade to arrest Gorkić if he enters Yugoslavia one more time. Yugoslav police were unable to arrest him and on 12 March 1926 they condemned Gorkić once again while he was in absence. He was charged with 1250
Yugoslav dinar The dinar ( sh-Cyrl, динар) was the currency of Yugoslavia. It was introduced in 1920 in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which was replaced by the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and then the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Th ...
. His other two colleagues were charged as well. All three of them later complained about the court's decision via lawyer in Sarajevo. On 11 March 1930 the court made a decision to decline their complaint as they were considered fugitives. He became member of the SKOJ's Central Committee in 1924, but was soon expelled from the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...
, after which he became representative of the KPJ in the
Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...
in
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
. After three years working as a representative, he was elected to the Presidium of the
Executive Committee of the Communist International The Executive Committee of the Communist International, commonly known by its acronym, ECCI (Russian acronym ИККИ - for ), was the governing authority of the Comintern between the World Congresses of that body. The ECCI, established by the Fo ...
in Moscow (ECCI) in 1927. At the same time he worked in ECCI's secretariat as a commissioner for the
Balkan The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
countries. As a member of party, Gorkić traveled a lot: in
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
. In Germany he married Betty Nikolayevna Glan, also member of the Comintern, and had a daughter named Jelena with her. At the beginning of 1928 he was elected Secretary of the Communist International of Moscow, and in summer he was elected to Comintern's International Control Commission. In 1930 he was Comintern's representative in the British Communist Party. At the same time, he worked for the KPJ and Balkan Secretariat of the Comintern headed by
Georgi Dimitrov Georgi Dimitrov Mihaylov (; ) also known as Georgiy Mihaylovich Dimitrov (; 18 June 1882 – 2 July 1949), was a Bulgarian communist politician who served as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party from 1933 t ...
. From 1928 until 1931, Gorkić was also an associate of Nemanja Borjan.


Leader of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia

The Communist Party of Yugoslavia was amongst the most disciplined communist parties within the Comintern. At the end of the 1920s, the KPJ came under a faction struggle between the so-called left-wing and the right-wing. The left-wing was subordinated to the Comintern, while the right-wing wanted to secede from the Comintern with its special views. It was often called revisionist faction. Later, this struggle grew into clashes, similar to those that
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
led with Trotskyists and Bukharinists. In June 1932, under the mentorship of
Nikolai Bukharin Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (; rus, Николай Иванович Бухарин, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪdʑ bʊˈxarʲɪn; – 15 March 1938) was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and Marxist theorist. A prominent Bolshevik ...
, Gorkić was appointed to the provisional leadership of the KPJ under the pseudonym Sommer. Gorkić returned to Yugoslavia several times, but when he was elected as general secretary of the KPJ, he was forbidden from entering Yugoslavia for safety reasons. From 1932 he led Central Committee of the KPJ in exile, in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
,
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, and Moscow. In November 1932 in the text published in the official gazette of the KPJ, Gorkić criticised leaders of communists from Dalmatia because they did not join
Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionar ...
during the Velebit uprising. In 1933, it was decided that communist parties in the Soviet Union must be purged in order to raise ideological strength. Those purges were mandatory for the KPJ as well. On 28 February 1933, the Central Committee of the KPJ made a resolution about the results of the purge. The reason for that was conflict with Đuro Cvijić (aka Kirsch), who opposed intervention of other communist parties in internal policy of the KPJ. The Central Committee of the KPJ reacted very fiercely on Cvijić's accusations and claimed that the purge was not the reason for the organisational breakdown of the KPJ, but breakdown of certain persons who were "undisciplined, and lacked verification of loyalty to the Comintern," and "liquidation of fractionism within the KPJ." One of the reasons for Đajić's accusation was because his wife, Tatjana Marinić, was expelled from the KPJ, as she claimed that the KPJ's purge did not meet conditions of the Comintern. Cvijić himself was also investigated. In November–December 1933, Gorkić travelled to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia to prepare for the fourth Party Conference. In the process, in July 1934, he named
Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...
to the temporary leadership and he, himself, didn't participate at the conference held in
Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...
in December 1934. Gorkić was a dominant figure in the KPJ and he succeeded in reviving the party. The meeting of the Transitional Leadership of the KPJ, composed by Gorkić, Vladimir Ćopić and Blagoje Parović, held a meeting on 26 April 1933, where it was stated that the purge was "absolutely correct and made on time," claiming that the leadership of the KPJ completed its task. The leadership also demanded that the KPJ must raise its ideological teaching amongst members of the party after the purge. It was decided that a prominent members that were expelled from the party should get a chance to confess their mistakes in order to return into the KPJ. Soon after the purge, Gorkić wrote an article called "On Purge of Lines of Our Party" (''O čišćenju redova naše partije''). In the article, Gorkić claims that the purge had educational character. Nevertheless, the KPJ's purges under Gorkić's leadership were not connected to the harsh purges conducted by Stalin. Gorkić rarely stayed in Moscow. From 1932 until 1936 he stayed in Moscow only for three months. In 1935 he was a delegate on the Seventh Congress of Comintern where he was elected to the executive committee. During a Congress of the Comintern in the end of July 1935 held in Moscow, Gorkić met with Yugoslav delegates at a session. There, he warned that Yugoslavia is a multi-national country and that since the day Yugoslavia was created, the national question was the most heated issue in the country, out of which the Croatian question is the most important. He concluded that the struggle of the oppressed people largely influenced the crisis of fascism. Nevertheless, he said that the great success of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia lies in its successful assurance of the oppressed peoples that the communists are on their side and that those people can count on the working class. After that, the Communist Party issued a directive to the Croatian communists to enter the
Croatian Peasant Party The Croatian Peasant Party (, HSS) is an agrarianism, agrarian List of political parties in Croatia, political party in Croatia founded on 22 December 1904 by Antun Radić, Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (HPSS). The ...
, a leading Croat party in Yugoslavia at the time, and to take over leading position within it. As part of its national policy established by Gorkić, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in 1937 founded the Communist Party of Croatia and Communist Party of Slovenia. It was a tactical move of the Yugoslav Communist Party conditioned by the escalation of the inter-national relations in Yugoslavia. This was part of the reorganisation of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia based on the national criterion that reflected "national-political character of Yugoslavia".


The Great Purge

The first mass arrests in the Soviet Union occurred in summer 1936, during the
Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...
. The
Old bolsheviks The Old Bolsheviks (), also called the Old Bolshevik Guard or Old Party Guard, were members of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917. Many Old Bolsheviks became leading politi ...
,
Grigory Zinoviev Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev (born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky; – 25 August 1936) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. A prominent Old Bolsheviks, Old Bolshevik, Zinoviev was a close associate of Vladimir Lenin prior to ...
,
Mikhail Tomsky Mikhail Pavlovich Tomsky (''Russian:'' Михаи́л Па́влович То́мский), born Mikhail Pavlovich Yefremov (''Russian:'' Ефре́мов) (31 October 1880 – 22 August 1936) was a factory worker, trade unionist, and Soviet poli ...
, Ivan Smirnov,
Alexei Rykov Alexei Ivanovich Rykov (25 February 188115 March 1938) was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician and statesman, most prominent as premier of Russia and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Soviet Union from 1924 to 1929 and 1924 t ...
,
Lev Kamenev Lev Borisovich Kamenev. ( Rozenfeld; – 25 August 1936) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. A prominent Old Bolsheviks, Old Bolshevik, Kamenev was a leading figure in the early Soviet government and served as a Deputy Premier ...
,
Grigori Sokolnikov Grigori Yakovlevich Sokolnikov (born Hirsch Yankelevich Brilliant; 15 August 1888 – 21 May 1939) was a Russian revolutionary, economist, and Soviet politician. Born to a Jewish family in Romny (now in Ukraine), Sokolnikov joined the Russian S ...
and Gorkić's mentor Bukharin were victims. Rykov and Bukharin were, however, tried on the third process. During their process, the official statement of the Central Committee of the KPJ called Bukharin and Rykov "Trotskyst-Zinovievist fascist bandits" who were "discarded by workers' masses for their criminal fight against realisation of the ingenious Stalin's plans." Both of them were executed by a firing squad. Moreover, in the official statement, two members of the KPJ, dr. Ante Ciliga and Voja Vujović, were accused for cooperation with the arrested old bolsheviks and were also proclaimed to be
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...
's spies. The KPJ under Gorkić's leadership thus completely supported the Stalin's Great Purge and the official statement was, at the same time, an invitation for purges within the KPJ itself as well. In 1936 the seat of the KPJ was transferred from Vienna to Paris, so Gorkić was commuting between the French capital and Moscow. At the beginning of 1937 he was in Paris and for the last time in his life, he met his wife, in Germany. During the struggle for leadership of the KPJ,
Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...
was an agent of the
NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...
, the Soviet secret police. In order to replace Gorkić , Tito submitted a report about Gorkić to the NKVD. Gorkić received an emergency call from the Comintern in Moscow to return and make a report in June 1937. He was accused of being a British spy. On 23 October he was arrested and imprisoned in Lubyanka. On 1 November Gorkić was executed. After Tito took leadership over the KPJ, Gorkić was posthumously expelled from the party. His wife Betti Glan, director of the Park of Culture in Moscow, was soon arrested as well; she was released in 1954 and rehabilitated in 1955.Устная истори�
Глан Бетти Николаевна
/ref> During the Great Purge, a large number of communists from Yugoslavia resided in the Soviet Union. Hundreds of them were arrested and executed without any trial under accusation that they were either spies or Trotskyists. Communists who led the KPJ before Gorkić, Filip Filipović (1938), Sima Marković (1937), Đuka Cvijić (1937), Jovan Mališić (1938) and Antun Mavrak (1938) were also executed during the purge. After
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
's death, the Soviet Union rehabilitated Gorkić.


Works

* * Gorkić is author of a brochure ''Communists and the Croatian question'' (''Komunisti i hrvatsko pitanje'', 1934), but the content of the brochure remains unknown, even though the Communist Party of Yugoslavia ordered its printing in December 1934.


References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gorkic, Milan 1904 births 1937 deaths Politicians from Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina communists Bosnia and Herzegovina people of Czech descent Czech communists Yugoslav communists Yugoslav expatriates in the Soviet Union Executive Committee of the Communist International Great Purge victims from Yugoslavia Executed Bosnia and Herzegovina people Burials at Donskoye Cemetery Soviet rehabilitations People granted political asylum in the Soviet Union Executed communists Yugoslav Comintern people Members of the Central Committee of the 4th Congress of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia