Moisei Uritsky
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Moisei Solomonovich Uritsky was a Bolshevik revolutionary leader whose assassination helped precipitate the Red Terror. |
Moisei Solomonovich Uritsky (Моисей Соломонович Урицкий;
1873–
August 17 1918) was a
Bolshevik revolutionary leader in
Russia.
He was born in the town of
Cherkasy,
Ukraine, to a Jewish family. His father, a merchant, died when Moisei was little. Moisei's mother raised her son in a religious environment.
Moisei studied at the
University of Kiev. Becoming involved in the revolutionary movement, he participated in the revolutionary Jewish
bunds. He became a
Menshevik, and was active in dispatching revolutionary agents (i.e. with his association with
Parvus). Uritsky joined the Bolsheviks a few months before the
October Revolution of
1917.
Uritsky was made head of the
Petrograd Cheka, or
secret police. Many victims are attributed to his name. A young poet and military cadet of Jewish descent,
Leonid Kanegeiser, assassinated Uritsky on
August 17 1918 in retaliation for the execution of his friend and other officers. This event, along with the assassination attempt on
Vladimir Lenin by
Fanya Kaplan on
August 30, provoked the Bolsheviks into a wave of persecution known as the
Red Terror.
