Shlyapnikov A.G. (1885-1937), political figure and statesman

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SHLYAPNIKOV Alexander Gavrilovich (1885-1937), political figure. Graduated from a third-class professional training school and worked as a lathe turner. Lived in St. Petersburg from 1900. Shlyapnikov took part in the strike at the Semyannikovsky Works, and soon joined the Social- Democrats; he also participated in the Revolution of 1905-07. He returned to St. Petersburg in 1907, and entered the St. Petersburg Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party as organiser of the Peskovsky Party district. He lived abroad from 1908 to 1916; while abroad, he contributed to various trade union magazines in St. Petersburg, and came to Petrograd illegally in 1914 and 1915. In the course of the First World War (1914-18) he was a member of the Bolshevik Central Committee. In November 1916, he came back to Petrograd illegally. During the February 1917 Revolution, he ran the Russian Bureau of the Bolshevik Central Committee; he was also one of the founders of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies, and a member of its Executive Committee, as well as the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets. Shlyapnikov was a member of the Party Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party (Bolsheviks), and presided over the Petrograd Metalworkers Union, and the All-Russian Metalworkers Union. In October 1917, he was a member of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee. The following year he became the People's Commissar of Labour, Industry and Commerce, advocating a coalition with other socialist parties. He took part in the Civil War of 1918-22. Being one of the leaders of the so-called workers' opposition in 1920-22, he strived to pass the control of the national economy to trade unions, and to democratise Party regulations. Later on, Shlyapnikov assumed diplomatic and economic functions. He wrote a memoir of the revolutionary events in Petrograd. In 1933, he was expelled from the Party, arrested and banished to Astrakhan in 1935. In May 1937, he was arrested again and executed by shooting.

Works: February Days in St. Petersburg, Kharkov, 1925; Eve of 1917. The Year 1917: In three volumes, Moscow, 1992-1994.

References: Наумов В. П. Александр Гаврилович Шляпников: (Страницы полит. биографии). М., 1991.

I. S. Rozental. Shlyapnikov Alexander Gavrilovich
Февральские дни в Петербурге. Харьков, 1925
Канун семнадцатого года. Семнадцатый год: В 3 т. М., 1992-1994
Наумов В. П. Александр Гаврилоич Шляпников: (Страницы полит. биогр.). М., 1991 Revolution of 1905-07
February Revolution of 1917