Gavriil Ilyich Myasnikov
Гавриил Ильич Мясников
Worker-Bolshevik who demanded press freedom from Lenin, sparking the 'myasnikovshchina' polemic
'Seventeen, then. Too many. But there is no other way. Revolution is not a ball.' — Myasnikov, planning the execution of Mikhail Romanov, 1918.
A Russian revolutionary and Motovilikha metalworker. He joined the Bolsheviks in 1905 and as deputy chairman of the Perm Cheka organized the execution of Grand Duke Mikhail Romanov in 1918. After the Civil War he openly attacked party censorship, demanding press freedom 'from monarchists to anarchists inclusive', a challenge that provoked Lenin's direct rebuttal and was branded 'myasnikovshchina.' Expelled from the RCP(b) in 1922, he founded the Workers' Group. In French exile he published 'The Latest Deception,' theorizing the USSR as state capitalism. He returned in 1944, was arrested, and executed the following year.
Career timeline
- 1905–1906Metalworker at Motovilikha arms plant; joined SRs then switched to RSDLP (Bolsheviks); combat-squad member
- 1906–1917Repeated arrests, escapes, and exile; Oryol Central Prison; freed by February Revolution
- 1917–1918Chairman of Motovilikha Soviet; VTsIK member; deputy chairman of Perm Cheka
- 1918–1920Organized execution of Grand Duke Mikhail; commissar 16th Division; chairman of Perm Gubernia Party Committee
- 1921–1923Founded Workers' Group; open polemic with Lenin over press freedom — 'myasnikovshchina'; expelled from RCP(b), arrested
- 1928–1944Fled via Iran and Turkey to France; wrote 'The Latest Deception,' theorizing the USSR as state capitalism
- 1944–1945Returned on Soviet embassy invitation; arrested immediately; executed 16 November 1945 (rehabilitated 25 December 2001)