Premier of the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1930
Alexei Ivanovich Rykov
[a]
(25 February 1881 – 15 March 1938) was a Russian
Bolshevik
revolutionary
and a
Soviet
politician and statesman, most prominent as
premier of Russia
and the
Soviet Union
from 1924 to 1929 and 1924 to 1930 respectively.
[2]
He was one of the accused in
Joseph Stalin
's show trials during the
Great Purge
.
Rykov joined the
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
in 1898, and after it split into Bolshevik and
Menshevik
factions in 1903, he joined the Bolsheviks, which were led by
Vladimir Lenin
. He played an active part in the
1905 Russian Revolution
.
[2]
Months prior to the
October Revolution
of 1917, he became a member of the
Petrograd
and Moscow Soviets and was elected to the Bolshevik Party
Central Committee
in July?August of the same year, during the
Sixth Congress of the Bolshevik Party
.
[2]
Rykov, a moderate, often came into political conflict with Lenin and more radical Bolsheviks but proved influential when the October Revolution finally overthrew the
Russian Provisional Government
and as such served many roles in the new government, starting October?November (
Old Style
) as
People's Commissar for Internal Affairs
on the first roster of the
Council of People's Commissars
(Sovnarkom), which was
chaired
by
Lenin
.
[2]
During the
Russian Civil War
(1918?1923), Rykov oversaw the implementation of the "
War Communism
" economic policy, and helped oversee the distribution of food to the
Red Army
and the
Red Navy
.
After Lenin was incapacitated by his third stroke in March 1923 Rykov, along with
Lev Kamenev
, was elected by the Sovnarkom to serve as
deputy chairman
to Lenin. While both Rykov and Kamenev were Lenin's deputies, Kamenev was the acting premier of the Soviet Union.
Lenin died from a fourth stroke in January 1924, and in February, Rykov was chosen by the Council of People's Commissars as premier of both the
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
and of the
Soviet Union
, which he served as until May 1929 and December 1930, respectively.
[2]
In December 1930 he was removed from the
Politburo
.
[2]
From 1931 to 1937, Rykov served as People's Commissar of Communications on the council he formerly chaired. In February 1937 at a meeting of the
Central Committee
, he was arrested with
Nikolai Bukharin
.
[2]
In March 1938, both were found guilty of treason and executed.
[2]
Biography
[
edit
]
Early life (1881?1900)
[
edit
]
Alexei Ivanovich Rykov was born on 25 February 1881 in
Saratov
,
Russia
.
[2]
His parents were ethnic Russian peasants from the village of
Kukarka
(located in the province
Vyatka
). Alexei's father, Ivan Illych Rykov, a farmer whose work had led the family to settle in Saratov died in 1889 from
cholera
while working in
Merv
. His widowed stepmother could not care for him, so he was cared for by his older sister, Klavdiya Ivanovna Rykova, an officeworker for the
Ryazan
-
Uralsk
railroad. In 1892 he began his first year of middle school in Saratov. An outstanding student, he started high school at age 13. He excelled in mathematics, physics and the natural sciences. At 15 Rykov stopped attending church and confession, and renounced his faith. He graduated from high school in 1900 and enrolled at the
University of Kazan
to study law, which he did not complete.
Pre-Revolution political activity (1898?1917)
[
edit
]
Rykov joined the
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
(RSDLP) in 1898 and supported its
Bolshevik
faction when the party split into Bolsheviks and
Mensheviks
at its
Second Congress
in 1903.
[2]
He worked as a Bolshevik agent in
Moscow
and
Saint Petersburg
and played an active role in the
Russian Revolution of 1905
. He was elected a member of the
Party's Central Committee
at its
3rd Congress
(boycotted by the
Mensheviks
) in
London
in 1905 and its
4th Congress
in
Stockholm
in 1906. He was elected candidate (non-voting) member of the Central Committee at the
5th Congress
in London.
Initially supportive of Bolshevik leader
Vladimir Lenin
in the 1908?09 struggle with
Alexander Bogdanov
for the leadership of the Bolshevik faction, Rykov voted to expel the latter at the June 1909 mini-conference in
Paris
. He spent 1910?11 exiled in
France
, and in 1912 expressed reproach towards Lenin's proposal that the Bolsheviks become an independent party.
[2]
The dispute was interrupted by Rykov's exile to
Siberia
for revolutionary activity.
Revolution and Civil War (1917?1920)
[
edit
]
Rykov returned from Siberia after the
February Revolution
of 1917 and re-joined the Bolsheviks, although he remained skeptical of their more radical inclinations. He became a member of the
Petrograd Soviet
and the Moscow Soviet. At the
6th Congress of the Bolshevik Party
in July?August 1917 he was elected to the Central Committee.
[2]
During the
October Revolution of 1917
, he was a member of the Military Revolutionary Committee in Moscow.
After the revolution, Rykov was appointed
People's Commissar
of Internal Affairs. On 29 October 1917 (Old Style), immediately after the Bolshevik seizure of power, the executive committee of the national railroad labor union,
Vikzhel
, threatened a national strike unless the Bolsheviks shared power with other socialist parties and dropped Lenin and
Leon Trotsky
from the government.
Grigori Zinoviev
,
Lev Kamenev
, and their allies in the Bolshevik Central Committee argued that the Bolsheviks had no choice but to start negotiations since a railroad strike would cripple their government's ability to fight the forces that were still loyal to the overthrown
Provisional Government
. Although Zinoviev, Kamenev, and Rykov briefly had the support of a Central Committee majority and negotiations were started, a quick collapse of the anti-Bolshevik forces outside
Petrograd
allowed Lenin and Trotsky to convince the Central Committee to abandon the negotiating process. In response Rykov,
Zinoviev
,
Kamenev
,
Vladimir Milyutin
, and
Victor Nogin
resigned from the Central Committee and from the government on 17 November 1917 .
[2]
On 3 April 1918 Rykov was appointed Chairman of the
Supreme Council of National Economy
and served in that capacity throughout the
Russian Civil War
. On 5 July 1919, he also became a member of the reorganized Revolutionary Military Council, where he remained until October 1919. From July 1919 and until August 1921, he was also a special representative of the
Council of Labor and Defense
for food supplies for the Red Army and Navy. Rykov was elected to the Communist Party Central Committee on 5 April 1920 after the
9th Party Congress
and became a member of its
Orgburo
, where he remained until 23 May 1924.
[2]
Post-Civil War and rise to leadership (1920?1927)
[
edit
]
Once the Bolsheviks emerged victorious in the civil war, Rykov resigned his Supreme Council of National Economy post on 28 May 1921.
[3]
On 26 May 1921, he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the
Council of Labor and Defense
of the Russian SFSR under Lenin. With Lenin increasingly sidelined by ill health, Rykov became his deputy at the Sovnarkom (
Council of People's Commissars
) on 29 December. Rykov joined the ruling
Politburo
on 3 April 1922, after the
11th Party Congress
. A government reorganization in the wake of the formation of the Soviet Union in December 1922 resulted in Rykov's appointment as Chairman of the USSR Supreme Council of National Economy and Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of People's Commissars on 6 July 1923.
After Lenin's death on 21 January 1924 Rykov gave up his position as Chairman of the USSR Supreme Council of National Economy and became
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR
and, simultaneously, of the Sovnarkom of the
RSFSR
, on 2 February 1924.
[2]
According to Polish historian,
Marian Kamil Dziewanowski
, Rykov was placed in the position of
Chairman of the Soviet Union
due to support from Stalin as part of a wider effort to build an alliance in the
Politburo
. Dziewanowski argued that Trotsky rather than Rykov would have been the natural successor to Lenin had he accepted the position of
Vice Chairman
.
[4]
Along with
Nikolai Bukharin
and
Mikhail Tomsky
, Rykov led the moderate wing of the Communist Party in the 1920s, promoting a partial restoration of the market economy under
NEP
policies. The moderates supported
Joseph Stalin
,
Grigory Zinoviev
, and
Lev Kamenev
against
Leon Trotsky
and the
Left Opposition
in 1923?24. After Trotsky's defeat and Stalin's break with Zinoviev and Kamenev in 1925, Rykov, Bukharin and Tomsky supported Stalin against the
United Opposition
of Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev in 1926?27. After Kamenev voiced opposition to Stalin at the
14th Party Congress
in December 1925, he lost his position as Chairman of the Soviet Council of Labor and Defense?which he had assumed from Lenin following Lenin's death?and was replaced by Rykov on 19 January 1926.
Under his leadership vodka was heavily taxed, and became known as "Rykovka". Some of his political opponents claimed that he was a heavy drinker,
[5]
but in reality he was an abstainer.
[6]
Rise of Stalin and demise (1927?1938)
[
edit
]
Rykov's Premiership encompassed drastic change in the power structure of the Soviet Union. From 1924 to 1930 the role of the
Communist Party
?informally led by Stalin who, as
General Secretary
, controlled Party membership?increasingly usurped powers from the legitimate governmental structures. Although an exact date cannot be given for
Stalin's rise to power
, the
United Opposition
?which consisted of Kamenev, Zinoviev, and Trotsky?was defeated and its followers were expelled from the Party by December 1927.
After the defeat of the United Opposition, Stalin adopted more radical policies and came into conflict with the moderate wing of the party. The two factions maneuvered behind the scenes throughout 1928. In February?April 1929 the conflict came to a head and the moderates, branded the
Right Opposition
, or "Rightists", were defeated and forced to "admit their mistakes" in November 1929. Rykov lost his position as Premier of the Russian SFSR to
Sergei Syrtsov
on 18 May 1929, but retained his other two posts. On 19 December 1930, after admitting another round of "mistakes", he was replaced by
Vyacheslav Molotov
as both Soviet Premier and Chairman of the
Council of Labor and Defense
. Two days later, Rykov was expelled from the
Politburo
, taking with him any chance of political advancement.
[2]
On 30 May 1931, Rykov was appointed
People's Commissar of Posts and Telegraphs
, a position that he continued to occupy after the Commissariat was reorganized as
People's Commissariat for Communications of the USSR
in January 1932. On 10 February 1934, he was demoted to a candidate (non-voting) member of the Party's
Central Committee
. On 26 September 1936, in the wake of accusations made at the first
Moscow Show Trial
against Kamenev and Zinoviev, and Tomsky's suicide, Rykov lost his position as People's Commissar of Communications, but retained his membership in the Central Committee.
Trial and death
[
edit
]
Expecting the worst, Rykov nearly decided to follow the example of his close friend Mikhail Tomsky and preempt arrest by committing suicide, but was convinced otherwise by his family.
[7]
As Stalin's
Great Purge
intensified in early 1937, Rykov and Bukharin were expelled from the Communist Party and arrested at the February?March 1937 meeting of the Central Committee on 27 February. On 13 March 1938, at the
Trial of the Twenty-One
, Rykov, Bukharin,
Nikolay Krestinsky
,
Christian Rakovsky
,
Genrikh Yagoda
, and sixteen other Soviet officials were found guilty of treason (having plotted with Trotsky against Stalin) and sentenced to death by the
Military Collegium
. Rykov wrote a letter to the collegium requesting clemency but failed to get them to overturn the verdict.
[2]
[8]
On 15 March, most of them were executed.
[7]
Rakovsky was executed in 1941.
Family
[
edit
]
Rykov's wife, Nina Semyonova, nee Marshak, was arrested in 1937.
[9]
Yevgenia Ginzburg
, who was also arrested in 1937, recorded being approached inside
Butyrka prison
by "a woman of about 55, with an expression of acute suffering on her face" who demanded: "Have they tried them yet? They've shot them, haven't they?" Ginzburg was told this was Rykov's wife, vainly seeking news of her husband.
[10]
Nina Rykov was shot on 4 March 1938.
[11]
Their daughter Natalya, born 1916, worked for the NKVD as a teacher until her father's arrest, when she was sent into administrative exile in
Tomsk
, where she was arrested on 1 March 1938 and sentenced to eight years in the
gulag
for 'anti-soviet agitation'. On completing her sentence in 1946, she was sentenced to five years exile in East Kazakhstan, but before that had expired, she was arrested again and exiled to the
Yenisey
region of
Krasnoyarsk
.
[11]
In exile, she underwent two operations for cancer,
[12]
could not work, and had to depend on her husband, Walter Perli (1907?1961), a former officer in the Estonian army, arrested during the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940, whom she married in exile in June 1949.
[11]
Perli, who worked as an accountant, also financially supported Nina Rykova's elderly sister, Yelena Tolmacheva, until he was admitted to hospital with tuberculosis.
[12]
She was released in September 1954, after 16 years prison and exile.
Rehabilitation
[
edit
]
The
Soviet government
annulled the verdict in 1988 and
rehabilitated
him during the
perestroika
. Rykov was then reinstated in the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Russian:
Алексей Иванович Рыков
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
"
Kremlin Children
"
. Archived from
the original
on 2011-10-04
. Retrieved
2011-06-24
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
"
Aleksey Ivanovich Rykov
biography?Archontology"
.
- ^
Anthony Heywood.
Modernising Lenin's Russia: Economic Reconstruction, Foreign Trade and the Railways
, Cambridge University Press, 1999,
ISBN
0-521-62178-X
p. 180.
- ^
Dziewanowski, M. K. (2003).
Russia in the twentieth century
. Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Prentice Hall. p. 162.
ISBN
978-0-13-097852-3
.
- ^
clip documenting Rykov's terms as Soviet Premier, and as Commissar of Communications (Russian language)
on
YouTube
- ^
Russian documentary series "The Kremlin's Children": Natal'ya Rykova (a fragment of his attitude to alcohol starts in 11:50)
- ^
a
b
Rappaport, Helen (1999).
"Aleksey Ivanovich Rykov"
.
Joseph Stalin: A Biographical Companion
. ABC-CLIO. p. 238.
ISBN
9781576070840
.
- ^
Rykov, Alexei.
"Rykov's last plea"
.
Library of Congress
. Library of Congress
. Retrieved
4 October
2016
.
- ^
"Рыкова Алексей Иванович (1881?1938)"
.
Мемориальный музей "следстдвенная тюрьма НКВД"
. Retrieved
13 January
2023
.
- ^
Ginzburg, Evgenia S. (1968).
Into the Whirlwind
. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin. p. 120.
- ^
a
b
c
"Рыкова Наталья Алексеевна (1916)"
.
Октрытый список (Open List)
. Retrieved
13 January
2023
.
- ^
a
b
Rykova, Natalya.
"Письмо Н.А. Рыковой Н.С. Хрущеву. 1 февраля 1954 г. (Letter from N.A.Rykova to N.S.Khrushchev 1 February 1954)"
.
Реабилитация: как это было. Документы Президиума ЦК КПСС и другие материалы. Март 1953 ? февраль 1956
. Международный фонд "демократия" Moscow
. Retrieved
13 January
2023
.
External links
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]
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