Menshevik Bundist intellectual who drafted the core of Order No. 1 among the soldiers
At the soldiers’ section meeting on March 1, 1917, he used the alias “Maksim” while formulating the core provisions of Order No. 1.
A Jewish social-democrat who joined the Bund in the 1890s, led the Riga general strike of 1905, and attended the 1907 London party congress as a Bund delegate. Returning from emigration in 1917 as a Menshevik 'defencist,' he formulated the core points of Order No. 1 at the March 1 soldiers' section meeting under the alias 'Maksim'; elected to the Constituent Assembly, he was arrested the following year and exiled to Arkhangelsk.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1890sJoined the Bund (General Jewish Labour Bund)
- 1899Delegate to the 3rd Bund Congress
- 1905Led the Riga general strike
- 1907Bund delegate to the 5th RSDLP Congress in London
- 1917.03Formulated core points of Order No. 1 at the Petrograd Soviet soldiers' section meeting
- 1917Editorial contributor to the Menshevik-defencist newspaper Den'
- 1917.11Elected to the Constituent Assembly
- 1918Arrested and exiled to Arkhangelsk
- 1923Arrested by OGPU, case dropped and released
Related historical events
- 1905–1907The Revolution of 1905Riga strike leaderHe led the Riga general strike in 1905.
- 1917.02–07The February RevolutionDrafter of Order No. 1As a Menshevik soldier deputy, he drafted the core points of Order No. 1 at the March 1 soldiers' section meeting; recent scholarship reveals he was not an ordinary soldier but a radical intellectual.
Drafting Order No. 1 and soldiers’ committees
In the aftermath of the February Revolution of 1917, soldiers’ representatives in the Petrograd Soviet debated how to establish soldiers’ representation and control within the armed forces. Klivansky, a Menshevik defencist, took an active part in drafting and editing Order No. 1 alongside Nikolai Sokolov, secretary of the Soviet Executive Committee. Adopted and issued on March 1 (Old Style; March 14 New Style), the order provided for elected soldiers’ committees in military units, including naval crews; it placed units under the authority of the Soviet and their committees in political matters, and put weapons under committee control. It also affirmed soldiers’ civil rights off duty and abolished compulsory forms of deference to officers. The order institutionalized soldiers’ organization and rights while reorganizing authority within the armed forces. Its documentary heading names Klivansky and Sokolov jointly as authors, so its drafting should be understood as their shared work and as a decision of the Soviet.