Nikolai Podvoisky was a revolutionary of the first wave. He made a considerable contribution to the success of the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution and the Civil War. In the Soviet Union, a party leader became a sports organizer.
early years
The future Bolshevik Nikolai Podvoisky was born on February 16, 1880 in the village of Kunashevka. It was the Chernihiv province - a province where, as throughout Ukraine, the revolutionary movement was especially active. The boy's father was a village priest. Therefore, it is not surprising that Nikolai went first to the Nizhyn Theological College, and then, at the age of 14, to the Chernigov Theological Seminary. Podvoisky failed to finish it. In 1901, he was expelled from the seminary for participating in an underground revolutionary circle.
At this time, the Chernihiv province was in full swing from the discontent of youth and the intelligentsia. Ukrainians, like Russians, did not like much in the tsarist regime. Podvoisky Nikolai Ilyich was no exception. After being expelled, he only joined the many peers who shared a similar fate. In the same 1901, the young man joined the RSDLP.
Young bolshevik
When Podvoisky joined the Social Democrats, it was still a very small party. Shortly before that, the 1st Congress of the RSDLP was held, but the organization did not yet have a clear structure, and its leaders wandered mainly in exile. In addition, among the revolutionaries there were many ideological contradictions. They led to the fact that at the Second Congress in 1903 the RSDLP split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.
Podvoisky Nikolai Ilyich joined the first, becoming a loyal supporter of Lenin. When the party came to power, he could rightfully consider himself a member of the "old guard". Podvoisky continued his education at the Yaroslavl Demidov Law Lyceum. Being an erudite student and a leader by nature, he quickly became an authoritative member of the student committee of the Bolsheviks.
First revolution
The year 1905 came. Russia was defeated in the war with Japan. Failures in the Far East were in the hands of the radicals. Podvoisky Nikolai Ilyich, like other Bolshevik activists who remained in Russia, conducted field work. He went to Ivanovo-Voznesensk and joined the Council of Workers' Deputies, spontaneously organized by striking proletarians. The place was not chosen by chance. Ivanovo-Voznesenk was the center of the textile industry. There were many factories here. And at every enterprise there were always dissatisfied workers.
Podvoisky Nikolai Ilyich was not the only Bolshevik in this city. Together with him in Ivanovo-Voznesenka, the revolutionary proletarians also organized the still unknown young Mikhail Frunze. In the midst of the riots, Podvoisky went to Yaroslavl. He collected fighting squads. During another clash with government officials, he was injured.
Party newspaper publisher
After the revolution, Podvoisky moved to Western Europe, where he stayed for two years. The First Congress of the RSDLP, when the party was just a small group of like-minded people, was long behind. Now all the Bolsheviks had a lot of work. Podvoisky plunged headlong into the party press. After a break, he returned to Russia, becoming the head of the publishing house of the Zerno newspaper in St. Petersburg.
Podvoisky Nikolai Ilyich (1880-1948) was an exemplary organizer. He was not afraid to take on the most important tasks that the party had before him. The Bolshevik was one of the inspirers and initiators of the creation of the famous editions Zvezda and Pravda. There were many topics for publications. In World War I began in 1914, and a new ideological front appeared in the party newspapers. Pravda became a serious headache for the secret police. Podvoisky was one of those who realized the dream of Lenin that the imperialist war would develop into a revolution.
1917th
At the end of 1916, Podvoisky was arrested and sentenced to Siberian exile. However, the revolutionary did not have to serve her. The February Revolution soon broke out. The new authorities announced an amnesty, which also included Nikolai Ilyich Podvoisky.
The biography of this Bolshevik is a typical example of a revolutionary for whom 1917 was the most important year in his life. Having freed himself, he went to Petrograd (today in St. Petersburg there is Podvoisky Street). As during the first revolution, Nikolai Ilyich became a member of the council of workers' deputies. In the capital committee of the Bolsheviks, he led the organization of the Red Guard, which later became the backbone of the Red Army. He is also considered the author of the symbol of the five-pointed star. She became the most recognizable attribute of the Red Army.
In the days leading up to the October Revolution, Podvoisky was in Smolny and was one of the active leaders in preparing for the uprising. He made an important organizational contribution to the storming of the Winter Palace.
At the origins of the Red Army
With the coming of the Bolsheviks to power, Nikolai Podvoisky was appointed the first Commissar for Military Affairs. He remained in this position until March 1918, when he was replaced by Leon Trotsky. In a short time, as a people's commissar, Podvoisky managed to sign several important decrees and orders that became the foundation of the nascent Red Army. The organization of their own armed forces at that time was a matter of life and death for the Bolsheviks, because the Civil War was approaching, and the party did not have sufficient resources to fight enemies on several fronts.
It was Podvoisky who began the colossal work that Trotsky then picked up with renewed vigor. After castling, Nikolai Ilyich became a member of the Revolutionary Military Council. He was one of the creators of the tactical victories of the Red Army in the fields of the Civil War.
Soviet years
After the formation of the USSR and return to peaceful life, Nikolai Podvoisky re-qualified as a sports organizer - he headed the Sportintern and the Higher Council of Physical Culture. It is curious that in 1927 the party's old-timer starred in the film “October,” by Sergei Eisenstein, whose premiere was timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the revolution. In this picture, Podvoisky played himself.
In 1935, the Bolshevik was recognized as a personal pensioner. Perhaps that is why he managed to avoid repression during the Stalinist terror and purges of the party. When the Great Patriotic War began, a 60-year-old man wanted to go to the front as a volunteer. He was not accepted because of his age, after which he began to dig trenches in the vicinity of Moscow.
The Soviet statesman died on July 28, 1948. He was buried in the Novodevichy cemetery. In many cities of the USSR, own street appeared. Podvoisky. A memorial bust was installed in his historic homeland.