Avksentyev N. D. (1878-1943), socialist revolutionary

Categories / Social Life/Personalia
AVKSENTYEV Nikolay Dmitrievich (1878-1943) statesman and publicist. He graduated from a Gymnasium in Penza (1897), and attended the Faculty of Law of Moscow University, in 1899; he was expelled for participating in the student movement, and continued his studies in Germany. In 1904, he defended Ph.D. in philosophy at Universitat St. Gallen. In 1905, he returned to St. Petersburg, entered the Party of Socialist Revolutionaries, became a member of its St. Petersburg Committee, then a member of the Central Committee. He was a member of the publishing house of the legal newspaper entitled The Son of the Native Land, and was one of the leaders of St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies. On 3 December 1905, he was arrested during the meeting of the Soviet; in 1906, Avksentyev was sentenced to exile to the province of Tobolsk from where he escaped abroad. At the time of World War I he was the supporter of defence idea (the defender). At the beginning of April 1917, he returned to Petrograd, and in May he was elected Head of the Executive Committee of the All-Russian Soviet of Peasants' Deputies. In July-September 1917, Avksentyev was the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Provisional Government and headed the Democratic Conference and the Provisional Council of the Russian Republic (the Provisional Parliament). He was an adherent of the coalition of socialists with affluent classes of the society, and stood for continuation of the war until a just democratic peace treaty could be signed. He regarded Bolshevism as absolute evil,, and called for an outright fight against it. After October 1917 he was one of the organizers and heads of the Anti Bolshevik Committee for Salvation of the Native Land and the Revolution and of the Union for the Revival of Russia. Avksentyev also served as Head of the Ufimsk Provisional All-Russian Government (the Directorate). At the end of 1918, by the order of Admiral A.V. Kolchak, he was exiled abroad. Living in Paris, he continued to speak out against the Bolsheviks. From the middle of the 1920s, he stepped aside from any political activity. In 1940, he left for the USA where he died. Major Work: Большевистский переворот // ОИ. 1992. № 5. С. 143-155.

References: Карпович М. Памяти Н. Д. Авксентьева // Новый журн. 1943. [Кн.] 5. С. 343-344; Чернов В. Н. Д. Авксентьев в молодости // Там же. С. 344-352; Вишняк М. Н. Д. Авксентьев: (К 10-летию со дня смерти) // Там же. 1953. Кн. 33. С. 287-292.

G. S. Anoprieva, N. D. Erofeev. Avksentyev Nikolay Dmitrievich
Kolchak Alexander Vasilievich
Карпович М. Памяти Н. Д. Авксентьева // Новый журн., 1943
Чернов В. Н. Д. Авксентьев в молодости // Новый журн., 1943
Вишняк М. Н. Д. Авксентьев: (К 10-летию со дня смерти) // Новый журн., 1953
Большевистский переворот // Отеч. история, 1992 Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies
Provisional Government of 1917