Swiss communist who organised Lenin’s sealed-train journey in 1917 and sat on the Comintern’s founding presidium
From St. Gallen, he worked on the left of the Swiss Social Democrats and joined the Zimmerwald movement. After the February Revolution of 1917 he was the chief organiser of the sealed-train journey that took Lenin’s party from Switzerland across Germany back to Russia. At the Comintern’s founding congress in 1919 he represented the Swiss communists and sat on the presidium, and he helped found the Communist Party of Switzerland. A member of the National Council from 1917 to 1922, he later moved to the Soviet Union, was arrested in the purges in 1938 and was shot in a camp in 1942; he was rehabilitated in 1956.
Related historical events
- 1907–1919The collapse of the Second InternationalZimmerwald movement participantHe joined the Zimmerwald movement.
- 1919–1921The founding of the CominternSwiss communist, founding presidiumSat on the founding congress presidium.
- 1937–1938The Great PurgeGreat Purge arrest and execution victimHe was arrested in the purges in 1938 and shot in a camp in 1942.