The torpedo quartermaster who led the Potemkin mutiny, chaired the ship's committee, and negotiated asylum in Romania
When the Potemkin docked at Constanza, he greeted Rakovsky with the words: 'We are 300 social democrats ready to die.'
Born into an ex-serf family near Kharkov, he began cobbling at twelve. In 1905, as torpedo quartermaster on the battleship Potemkin, he turned a protest over rotten meat into armed mutiny, was elected chairman of the ship's committee, and sailed the Black Sea under the red flag for eleven days, attempting to link up with the revolution in Odessa. After exile in Romania, Switzerland, America, and France, where he met Lenin and Gorky but joined no party, he returned to Russia in 1907 and was hanged in Sevastopol.
Career Timeline
- 1900Conscripted into the Black Sea Fleet
- 1902Torpedo quartermaster, battleship Potemkin
- 1905.06Led Potemkin mutiny; chairman of the ship's committee
- 1905.06–1907.06Exile in Romania, Switzerland, USA, and France
- 1907.06Returned to Russia; arrested
- 1907.11.02Executed by hanging in Sevastopol