Georgy Stepanovich Khrustalev-Nosar
Георгий Степанович Носарь
A non-party workers' lawyer elected the first chairman of the Petersburg Soviet in 1905
Khrustalev shone with a double light, of the party and of the masses, but both lights were reflected, someone else's.
A non-party workers' lawyer, he was elected the first chairman of the Petersburg Soviet at the height of the 1905 Revolution. His independence helped him command workers' trust, but effective political direction was seized by Social Democrats led by Trotsky and Parvus. After escaping Siberian exile in 1907 he lived as an émigré, returned to Russia as a war patriot, and in 1918 led the self-declared 'Pereyaslav Republic' against the Bolsheviks before being executed by the local revkom the following year.
Career timeline
- 1905.10–11First chairman, Petersburg Soviet; elected unanimously on 14 Oct
- 1905.11–1906Arrested; sentenced to Siberian exile
- 1907Escaped Siberia; London Party Congress, then emigration
- 1909–1914Left RSDLP; syndicalism and publishing in Paris
- 1915–1917Arrested on return; 3 years' katorga; freed by February Revolution
- 1918–1919Leader, Pereyaslav Republic; anti-Bolshevik activity