He joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) party as a Menshevik in 1905. In March 1917 he joined the Bolsheviks as the member of the Kyiv Committee,later joining the Kyiv revkom as well. He was one of few who initiated the organization of the Congress of the Workers-Peasants and Soldiers deputies as well as the military coup in Kyiv. Zatonsky participated in the fight against the Central Rada.
On November 17–30,1918,Zatonsky,Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko and Joseph Stalin became members of the Revolutionary Military Council (RMC) of the Special Group of Kursk Troops. The RMC developed a military-strategic plan for the liberation of Ukraine,and began to staff the front with troops. The headquarters of the formation was located in Kursk. From November 30,1918,Zatonsky was a member of the RMC of the Ukrainian Soviet Army.[3][4][5]
In 1920 he was chairman of Galrevkom. In 1921 he received the Order of the Red Banner for the suppression of the Kronshtadt mutiny. Afterwards he held various government and Party positions in the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic. In 1922 he was one of the persons who signed for the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as the representative of the Ukrainian SSR. In September 1933 Zatonsky was appointed as chief editor of the Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia.
Arrest and death
On November 3,1937,he was arrested in a movie theater while he was with his family. Later the authorities conducted an unsanctioned search of his apartment searching for a proof of him being a spy for "bourgeois" Poland. After several days his wife was arrested as well. He was charged with being a member of an anti-Soviet "Ukrainian National Center[uk]". On July 29,1938,he was convicted after a 20-minute-long trial and sentenced to 10 years in prison without right of correspondence. During the Great Purge this was a euphemism for a death sentence,and the same day he was executed by firing squad. In 1956 Zatonsky,along with many others,was posthumously rehabilitated.
References
↑ Budivnytstvo Radianskoyi Ukrainy (Kharkiv: 1928)
↑ От повстанчества к регулярной армии. Краснознамённый Киевский. 1979. С.с. 21-24.
↑ Ратьковский И., Ходяков М. История Советской России. Глава 1. V. Боевые действия в конце 1918 — начале 1919
↑ Ратьковский И., Ходяков М. История Советской России. Глава 1. V. Боевые действия в конце 1918 — начале 1919 гг. Выведен из состава кандидатов в члены ЦК на Январском пленуме ЦК 1938 года, уже после ареста.
1Presidents of the Ukrainian People's Republic in exile.2 Chairman of the Ukrainian National Council.3During the Soviet period the republican leader was the 1st secretary of the party, while a head of state de jure was the chairman of the parliament's presidium.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
