The great unifier of the Russian revolutionary movement, from the Chaikovtsy to the Left SRs
'I have complete discord with Lenin... I no longer believe in Lenin' — in 1919, on the eve of exile, breaking with the Bolsheviks after half a century of shared struggle.
Mark Natanson was a pivotal organizer who built the institutional backbone of the Russian revolutionary movement across half a century: co-founding the Circle of Tchaikovsky, Land and Liberty, and the People's Rights Party, and serving on the Central Committee of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. Known as the 'Ivan Kalita of the revolution' for his talent in unifying dispersed circles, he stood with Lenin as an internationalist at the Zimmerwald and Kienthal conferences during the First World War. In 1917 he led the formation of the Left SRs and later the Party of Revolutionary Communism, backing the Bolsheviks through the October Revolution, but grew disillusioned as the regime turned toward one-party dictatorship, leaving the words 'I no longer believe in Lenin' before fleeing into exile.
Career Timeline
- 1871Co-founder, Circle of Tchaikovsky
- 1876Organized Kazan Square demonstration with Plekhanov; co-founder, Land and Liberty
- 1893Founder, People's Rights Party (Народное право)
- 1906Elected to Central Committee, Socialist Revolutionary Party
- 1915–1916Participated in Zimmerwald and Kienthal conferences
- 1917Leader of Left SRs; member of VTsIK Presidium
- 1918Co-founder, Party of Revolutionary Communism