First USSR People's Commissar for Health who built the Soviet healthcare system, then denounced the NKVD
"The NKVD is still arresting honest people." — protesting to Stalin at the June 1937 CC plenum. Stalin replied: "They are enemies of the people, and you are a bird of the same feather."
Born the son of a Jewish blacksmith, he joined the Bolsheviks at 16. During the Civil War he organised Soviet power in Tula; at 25 he became First Secretary of the Azerbaijan Communist Party. He later led agricultural cooperatives and Kolkhozsentr, becoming an ardent driver of collectivisation. In 1936 he was appointed the first USSR People's Commissar for Health, where he built the union-level public health system: fighting malaria, expanding pharmaceutical production, and establishing preventive medicine. At the June 1937 Central Committee plenum he openly denounced the NKVD's mass arrests, telling Stalin they were 'arresting honest people.' He was arrested the same day and shot the following year.
Career Timeline
- 1913–1917Joined RSDLP(Bolsheviks), distributed Pravda in Minsk; Moscow University medical student; secretary of Tula Bolsheviks
- 1917–1920Chairman of Tula Military Revolutionary Committee, Tula Soviet executive committee; political commissar 2nd Army; first editor of Kommunar
- 1920–1921First Secretary of the Azerbaijan Communist Party CC, chairman of Baku Soviet
- 1922–1929Deputy chairman of Agricultural Cooperatives Union, chairman of Vserabotzemles, chairman of Kolkhozsentr — drove collectivisation
- 1929–1930Head of the CC Agitation and Mass Campaigns Department
- 1930–1934Secretary of Moscow Party Committee, Second Secretary, chairman of Moscow Oblast Executive Committee
- 1934–1937RSFSR People's Commissar for Health, USSR Chief Sanitary Inspector; first USSR People's Commissar for Health (Jul 1936 – Jun 1937)
Related historical events
- 1917.10–1918.01The October RevolutionChairman of Tula Military Revolutionary Committee
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign InterventionMilitary Revolutionary Committee chairman
- 1928–1937The Five-Year Plans and the Soviet TransformationPeople's Commissar of Health
- 1937–1938The Great PurgeOpposed NKVD arrests at the June 1937 plenumAt the 25 June 1937 CC plenum he openly denounced the NKVD's mass arrests, telling Stalin 'the NKVD is still arresting honest people,' and also revealed that Beria had worked for Musavatist counterintelligence. Stalin replied: 'They are enemies of the people, and you are a bird of the same feather.' Kaminsky was arrested that day and shot on 10 February 1938.