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Birthday anniversary of Vatslav V. Vorovsky, Russian political figure
15 (27) October 1871, in Moscow, into a Polish noble family was born Vatslav V. Vorovsky, Russian political figure, writer of political essays, literary critic; one of the first Soviet diplomats.
Vorovsky studied in a secondary school under a Lutheran Church. in 1890 he entered a university, Physics and Mathematics Department, but a year later changed to the Moscow Technical School.
In 1894 Vorovsky joined the Moscow “Labor Union” and started his propaganda activities among workers due to which gendarmes kept tabs on him and banished him from Moscow for the period of coronation of Nikolai II in 1896. The next year the agitator was again arrested and exiled to the city of Orlov, Vyatka province. In exile he undertook his literary-critic work.
After the exile Vorovsky lived in emigration in Geneva, contributed to “Iskra” paper. In 1903 Vorovsky secretly arrived to Odessa to work for a underground organization. After the 2nd congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party he joined the group of Bolsheviks: efficiently participated in the party’s activities, contributed to editing the journal “Vperyod” and the “Proletariy” which replaced it later. After the revolution of 1905, Vorovsky was elected the head of the 3rd congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, and in 1906 attended the 4th congress of the party in Stockholm.
In 1907-1912 Vorovsky had been in Odessa, led the party work and contributed to “Odessa Obozrenie”, “Yasnaya Zarya” and “Odessa Novosti”. In 1912 he was again arrested and exiled to Vologda. After the 2-year exile the revolutionist returned to Petersburg and continued his work for the party and literature.
After the February revolution of 1917 Vorovsky became a member of the Foreign Office of the Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party of Bolsheviks in Stockholm organized on the initiative of the party leader V. I. Lenin. In October (November) 1917 Vatslav was appointed an authorized representative of the new Russian government under Scandinavian states; in 1919 he returned to Russia and occupied the post of the head of the State publishing house.
From 1921 Vorovsky was appointed an authorized and commercial representative of the Soviet government in Italy. The next year he participated in Genoa conference; in 1923 he was appointed a member of the Soviet delegation at Lausanne conference.
May 10, 1923 Vatslav Vorovsky was killed in the restaurant of “Cecile” hotel in Lausanne by former White Guardist Maurice Conradie. The body of the diplomat was transferred to Moscow and buried in paupers’ grave on the Red Square. Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Switzerland were severed.
Lit.: Воровский В. В. Сочинения. Т. 1—3, М., 1931—33; Он же. Избранные произведения о первой русской революции. М., 1955; Он же. Литературно-критические статьи. М., 1956; Он же. О Государственной думе. Женева, 1905; Жуковский Н. Посол нового мира. М., 1978; Кpивов С. С. В. В. Боровский // Под знаменем марксизма. 1923. № 4—5; Мещеряков Н. Литературная деятельность В. В. Воровского в Одессе // Печать и революция. 1928. № 1; Пияшев Н. Ф. Воровский. [М., 1959]; Луначарский А. В. В. В. Воровский как литературный критик // Собрание сочинений. Т. 8. М., 1967.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials: