Stepan Maximovich Petrichenko
Степан Максимович Петриченко
The sailor who led the Kronstadt rebellion, became a Soviet spy, and died in a camp
March 1921, Kronstadt. The newspaper of Petrichenko's Provisional Revolutionary Committee declared: 'Here in Kronstadt has been laid the first stone of the third revolution, striking the last fetters from the laboring masses and opening a broad new road.'
Stepan Petrichenko was a senior clerk aboard the Baltic Fleet battleship Petropavlovsk who proclaimed the 'Soviet Republic of Soldiers and Fortress-Builders of Naissaar' on an Estonian island in December 1917, serving as its chairman. In March 1921, he emerged as leader of the Kronstadt rebellion, chairing the Provisional Revolutionary Committee and demanding an end to 'the dictatorship of the Communists', the most dramatic internal challenge to Bolshevik rule. After the rebellion was crushed by Trotsky's forces, Petrichenko fled to Finland and, in 1922, was recruited by Soviet intelligence, serving as a secret agent for over 20 years. Arrested and extradited to the USSR in 1945, he was sentenced to 10 years for 'counter-revolutionary terrorist organization' and died during a prison transfer in 1947.
Career timeline
- 1913Assigned to Baltic Fleet battleship Petropavlovsk
- 1917.12–1918.02Proclaims 'Soviet Republic of Soldiers and Fortress-Builders of Naissaar', chairman
- 1919Joins Bolshevik Party but soon excluded during re-registration
- 1921.03Chairman of Kronstadt rebellion Provisional Revolutionary Committee; flees to Finland after suppression
- 1922Recruited by Soviet intelligence; begins work as secret agent in Finland
- 1927–1937Works at Kemi pulp mill as cover while continuing espionage
- 1941Arrested and detained by Finnish authorities
- 1945–1947Extradited to USSR, sentenced to 10 years for counter-revolutionary activity, dies during camp transfer