Mikhail Tomsky

Mikhail Pavlovich Tomsky (Russian: Михаи́ л Па́ влович То́ мский, born
Mikhail Pavlovich Yefremov – sometimes transliterated as Efremov; Михаи́ л
Mikhail Tomsky
Михаил Томский
Па́ влович Ефре́ мов; 31 October 1880 – 22 August 1936) was a factory worker,
trade unionist and Bolshevik leader. He was the Soviet leader of the All-Russian
Central Council of Trade Unions.

Tomsky attempted to form a trade union at his factory in St. Petersburg resulting in
his dismissal.[1]

His labour activities radicalized him politically and led him to become a socialist
and join the Russian Social Democratic Labour Partyin 1904 and eventually join the
Bolshevik faction of the party.

Contents
Early life (1880–1920)
Career (1920–1928) Tomsky as head of the trade union
Demise (1928–1936) movement, 1920s

Sources Chairman of the Presidium of the

Bibliography All-Union Central Council of Trade
External links Unions
In office
September 1922 – May 1929
Early life (1880–1920) Preceded by Post established
Born in Kolpino, Saint Petersburg Governorate in a lower-middle-class family of Succeeded by Alexander Dogadov
Russian ethnicity,[2] Tomsky moved to Estonia (then part of the Russian Empire) and Secretary of the Central Executive
was involved in the 1905 Revolution. He helped form the Revel Soviet of Workers' Committee of the All-Russian
Deputies and the Revel Union of Metal Workers. Tomsky was arrested and deported Congress of Soviets
to Siberia.
In office
He escaped and returned to St. Petersburg where he became president of the Union 29 December 1921 – 28 December
of Engravers and Chromolithographers. 1922
Preceded by Pyotr Zalutsky
Tomsky was arrested in 1908 and then exiled to France, but returned to Russia in
1909 where he was again arrested for his political activities and sentenced to five
Succeeded by Timofei Sapronov
years of hard labour. He was freed by the Provisional Governmentafter the February General Secretary of the
Revolution in 1917 and moved to Moscow where he participated in the October International Trade Union Council
Revolution. In 1918 he attended the Fourth All Russian Conference of Trade Unions In office
(12–17 March), where he moved a resolution concerning the Relations between the 1920 – 3 July 1921
Trade Unions and the Commissariat for Labour which stated that the October
President Solomon Lozovsky
Revolution had changed "the meaning and character of state organs and significance
Preceded by Post established
of proletarian organs as well". It was elaborated that previously the old ministry of
Labour had acted as arbitrator between Labour and Capital, whereas the new Succeeded by Post abolished
Commissariat was the champion of the economic policy of the working class. Full member of the 11th, 12th,
 13th, 14th, 15th Politburo
Career (1920–1928)
In office
He was elected to the Central
3 April 1922 – 13 July 1930
Committee in March 1919, to its
Full member of the 10th, 11th,
Orgburo in 1921 and to the Central
12th Orgburo
Committee of the Communist Party
in April 1922. In office
16 March 1921 – 2 June 1924
Tomsky was an ally of Nikolai
Candidate member of the 9th,
Bukharin and Alexey Rykov, who
13th Orgburo
led the moderate (or right) wing of
In office
the Communist Party in the 1920s.
2 June 1924 – 1 January 1926
Together, they were allied with In office
Joseph Stalin's faction and helped 5 April 1920 – 16 March 1921
him purge the United Opposition - Personal details
led by Leon Trotsky, Lev Kamenev,
Born 31 October 1880
and Grigory Zinoviev - from the
Kolpino, Russian
Party during the struggle that
Empire
followed Lenin's death in 1924.
Celebration of May 1 in Moscow
Died 22 August 1936
1926. From left: Mikhail Tomsky,
(aged 55)
Joseph Stalin and Mikhail Kalinin
Demise (1928– Bolshevo, Soviet
1936) Union
Occupation Trade unionist
In 1928 Stalin moved against his former allies, defeating Bukharin, Rykov and
Tomsky at the April 1929 Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee and forcing
Tomsky to resign from his position as leader of the trade union movement in May 1929. Tomsky was put in charge of the Soviet
chemical industry, a position which he occupied until 1930. He was not re-elected to the Politburo after the 16th Communist Party
Congress in July 1930, but remained a full member of the Central Committee until the next Congress in January 1934, when he was
demoted to candidate (non-voting) member.

Tomsky headed the State Publishing House from May 1932 until August 1936, when he was accused of terrorist connections during
the First Moscow Trial of Zinoviev and Kamenev. Rather than face arrest by the NKVD, Tomsky committed suicide by gunshot in
his dacha in Bolshevo, near Moscow.[1] He was posthumously accused of high treason and other crimes during the third (March
1938) show trial of Bukharin, Rykov and others. The Soviet government cleared T
omsky of all charges during perestroika in 1988.

Sources
1. "Tomsky" (https://web.archive.org/web/20101209030125/http://www .spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUStomsky .htm).
Archived from the original (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUStomsky.htm) on 2010-12-09. Retrieved
2011-02-20..
2. [1] (http://www.hrono.ru/biograf/bio_t/tomski_mp.php)

Bibliography
Kaplan, Frederick (1968).Bolshevik Ideology and the Ethics of Soviet labor . Philosophical library, New York.
Politicheckie deyateli Rossii 1917: Biograficheskij slovar'.Moscow, 1993. Excerpts availableonline.
Robert C. Tucker, Memoir of a Stalin Biographer

External links
 Works by or about Mikhail Tomsky at Internet Archive
Tomsky Archive Marxists Internet Archive
The trade unions, the party and the statea pamphlet by Tomsky

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omsky&oldid=829950482"

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