Alexander Shlyapnikov, 1885–1937 Historical Materialism Book Series Editorial Board Sébastien Budgen (Paris) Steve Edwards (London) Marcel van der Linden (Amsterdam) Peter Thomas (London) volume 90 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/hm Alexander Shlyapnikov, 1885–1937 Life of an Old Bolshevik By Barbara C. Allen LEIDEN | BOSTON Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Allen, Barbara C. (Barbara Carol), 1967–  Alexander Shlyapnikov, 1885–1937 : life of an old Bolshevik / by Barbara C. Allen.   pages cm. — (Historical materialism book series ; volume 90)  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 978-90-04-24853-3 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-24854-0 (e-book) 1. Shliapnikov, A. G. (Aleksandr Gavrilovich), 1884–1943. 2. Communists—Russia—Biography. 3. Communists—Soviet Union— Biography. 4. Communism—Russia—History. 5. Communism—Soviet Union—History. 6. Soviet Union— History—1917–1936. I. Title.  HX312.S48674A45 2015  331.88’6092—dc23  [B] 2014042324 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1570-1522 isbn 978-90-04-24853-3 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-24854-0 (e-book) Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. To my son, Nicholas Syrgabaev, and to my parents, Leonard R. and Ethelene M. Allen ∵ Contents Acknowledgements  ix List of Illustrations  xi List of Abbreviations and Acronyms  xiii Introduction  1 1 From the Old Belief to Socialism  7 2 Emigration and the Revolutionary Underground  36 3 Organising Workers in the Revolutionary Year 1917  76 4 Labour Commissar  103 5 Defending Soviet Power and Unions in the Civil War  122 6 The Workers’ Opposition and the Trade-Union Debate  157 7 Early NEP and the Trade Unions  191 8 Appeal of the 22 to the Communist International  227 9 Factional Politics in the NEP Era  253 10 Late NEP, Industrialisation and Renewed Repression   283 11 Purged from the Party  309 12 Exile, Arrest and Prison  331 Epilogue: Retribution Upon the Family and Rehabilitation  366 Conclusion  369 Bibliography  379 Index  403 Acknowledgements Many people in Russia, the United States and other countries have encouraged and helped me to complete this biography. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Donald J. Raleigh guided me in a readings course about early Soviet political history, near the end of my undergraduate studies in Russian language, literature and history. As portrayed in books by Robert V. Daniels and Jay B. Sorenson, Alexander Shlyapnikov’s dry wit and the challenge he posed to Bolshevik Party leaders made me curious to learn more about him. Don Raleigh encouraged me to pursue a Ph.D. in Russian and Soviet history and to propose a biography of Shlyapnikov as a dissertation topic. At Indiana University Bloomington, my dissertation supervisor, Alexander Rabinowitch, as well as dissertation committee members David Ransel, Hiroaki Kuromiya and Michael Alexeev strongly supported this project and gave valuable advice. While working as a research assistant for Indiana University Ph.D. candi- date Suzanne Ament in Russia in 1990–1, I met Shlyapnikov’s daughter Irina and conducted preliminary research in party and state archives. In 1995, I returned to Moscow for a full year of dissertation research, sponsored by the International Research and Exchanges Board (irex) and the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad programme. My thanks are due to the staff of Russian archives and libraries used in my research: the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, the Central Archive of the Federal Security Service, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Archive of the Economy, the Central Archive of Social Movements of Moscow and the Russian State Library. La Salle University, the Indiana University Russian and East European Institute and the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam subsidised presentation of my work at conferences. La Salle awarded me summer grants that allowed me to conduct research in New York in 2009 and Moscow in 2012. The Slavic Reference Service at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign libraries offered quick and informative answers to questions. Shlyapnikov’s children Yuri, Irina and Alexander gener- ously allowed me access to restricted archival files on their father and shared their memories, photographs and documents. Irina Medvedeva permitted me to see restricted materials on her father, Sergei Medvedev. Vladimir and Ritta Kollontai shared family stories and a photograph of Shlyapnikov with French workers. Sebastian Budgen first contacted me about Shlyapnikov just months before I successfully defended my dissertation in 2001, consistently encouraging me to complete the biography. I am grateful for his, David Broder’s, and Danny x acknowledgements Hayward’s guidance on style, as well as for Ben Lewis’s attention to copy- editing the manuscript. Simon Pirani read the manuscript several times and offered extensive, detailed and very helpful suggestions for improvements. Barbara Evans Clements, Rex Wade and Janet Rabinowitch read the entire manuscript and their advice improved it. I also appreciate having received con- structive criticism from many others, including Thomas Allsen, Clayton Black, Sally Boniece, David Brandenberger, Beatrice Farnsworth, Donald Filtzer, Wendy Goldman, Malte Griesse, Anthony Heywood, Larry E. Holmes, Lisa Kirschenbaum, Anna Krylova, Lars T. Lih, Max Okenfuss, Alexis Pogorelskin, Roy Robson, Yngvild Sørbye, Lynne Viola, Robert Weinberg, Charters Wynn and La Salle University students in my spring 2013 ‘Stalin’s Russia’ course, all of whom read parts of the biography in various forms. Editors of the follow- ing journals gave permission to include in this book material published in article form: Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas, Cahiers du Monde Russe, Revolutionary Russia, The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review and The nep Era: Soviet Russia, 1921–1928; anonymous reviewers for these and other journals offered vital advice for polishing the material. Other sections were previously pub- lished in Russia’s Century of Revolutions: Parties, People, Places1 and A Dream Deferred: New Studies in Russian and Soviet Labor History.2 Joseph S. McCarthy’s good humour carried me through later stages of this project. My sister, Patricia Rogers, offered invaluable assistance and support at home while I was away for research in Russia and at conferences. Any errors are my responsibility alone. 1 Melancon and Raleigh (eds.) 2012. 2 Filtzer, Kessler and Pirani (eds.) 2008.