View source for Grigory Petrovsky

{{Short description|Soviet Ukrainian politician (1878–1958)}}
{{family name hatnote|Ivanovich|Petrovsky|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{Infobox Officeholder
| name                = Grigory Petrovsky
| image               = Petrovskiy GI Soc Kiev 1937 01 p10bis.jpg
| nationality         = [[Soviet]]
| order               = Chairman of [[Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union]]<br>''(shared)''
| primeminister       = 
| term_start          = 1922
| term_end            = 1938
| order1              = Chairman of [[Central Executive Committee of Ukraine|VUTsVK]]
| primeminister1      = [[Christian Rakovsky]]<br>[[Vlas Chubar]]<br>[[Panas Lyubchenko]]<br>[[Mykhailo Bondarenko]]<br>[[Mykola Marchak]]<br>[[Demyan Korotchenko]]
| term_start1         = 10 March 1919
| term_end1           = 25 July 1938
| predecessor1        = <small>''(post revived, previously [[Volodymyr Zatonsky]])''</small>
| successor1          = [[Leonid Korniyets]] <br><small>(as the chairman of Presidium)</small><br>[[Mykhailo Burmystenko]] <br><small>(as the chairman of [[Verkhovna Rada]])</small>
| order2              = People's Commissar of the Interior of the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|RSFSR]]
| primeminister2      = [[Vladimir Lenin]]
| term_start2         = 17 November 1917
| term_end2           = 30 March 1919
| predecessor2        = [[Alexey Rykov]]
| successor2          = [[Felix Dzerzhinsky]]
| office3             = Candidate member of the [[13th Politburo of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|13th]], [[14th Politburo of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|14th]], [[15th Politburo of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|15th]], [[16th Politburo of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|16th]], [[17th Politburo of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|17th]], [[18th Politburo of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|18th]] [[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Politburo]]
| term_start3         = 1 January 1926
| term_end3           = 22 March 1939
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1878|2|4|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Pechenihy]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://who-is-who.com.ua/bookmaket/dnepropetrovsk/9/109.html|script-title=uk:Петровський Григорій Іванович (1878–1958)|trans-title=Petrovskyi Hryhoriy Ivanovych (1878–1958)|language=uk|publisher=Ukrainian Publishing Portal|date=2005|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091022043737/http://who-is-who.com.ua/bookmaket/dnepropetrovsk/9/109.html|archive-date=22 October 2009}}</ref> [[Kharkov Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|1958|1|9|1878|2|4|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Moscow]], [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| awards              = [[Order of Lenin]] (2) <br> [[Order of the Red Banner]] <br> [[Order of the Red Banner of Labour]] (3)
| party               = [[Russian Social Democratic Labor Party|RSDLP]] (1898–1903) <br />RSDLP ([[Bolsheviks]]) {{nowrap|(1903–1918)}} <br />[[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Russian Communist Party]] (1918–1939)
| otherparty          = 
| alma_mater          = Elementary
| spouse              = 
| children            = 
| signature           = Grigoriy Petrovskiy Signature 1936.png
| caption             = Petrovsky in 1937
| resting_place       = [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]], Moscow
| native_name_lang    = uk
| native_name         = {{nobold|Григорій Петровський}}
}}
'''Grigory Ivanovich Petrovsky''' ({{langx|ru|Григо́рий Ива́нович Петро́вский}}, {{langx|uk|Григо́рій Іва́нович Петро́вський|translit=Hryhorii Ivanovych Petrovskyi}}; 4 February 1878 – 10 January 1958) was a Ukrainian [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] politician<ref name=BBCNews/> and [[Old Bolshevik]]. He participated in signing the [[Treaty on the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]] and the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]]. Petrovsky was Communist Party leader in Ukraine until 1938, and one of the officials responsible for implementing Stalin's policy of [[Collectivization in the Soviet Union|collectivization]].<ref>{{cite news|author=Rostyslav Khotin |url=http://www.unian.info/politics/294191-ukraine-tears-down-controversial-statue.html |title=Ukraine tears down controversial statue |publisher=UNIAN News |agency=BBC |date=27 November 2009 |access-date=26 February 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Ignacio Villarreal |url=http://artdaily.com/news/84748/Statue-of-controversial-Bolshevik-leader-Grigory-Petrovsky-toppled-in-Ukraine-#.Vs-rXNB23Ss |title=Statue of controversial Bolshevik leader Grigory Petrovsky toppled in Ukraine |publisher=Artdaily.com |agency=AFP |date=31 January 2016 |access-date=26 February 2016}}</ref>

==Biography==
===Early years===
Petrovsky was born in the village of [[Pechenihy]] in [[Kharkov Governorate]] on 4 February ([[Old Style and New Style dates|O. S.]] 23 January) 1878, in the family of a craftsman (some sources claim – son of tailor and laundrywoman). Grigory's father died when he was three. Petrovsky had two siblings.

After finishing two classes of school at the [[Kharkiv]] Theological Seminary in 1889, Petrovsky was dismissed for not being able to pay for his tuition. Being 11 years old he left education for a job in the city working for a [[Motive power depot|locomotive depot]]. In 1893, aged 15, he arrived in [[Dnipro|Yekaterinoslav]], where he found a job at the [[Dniprovsky Metallurgical Plant|Bryansk Metallurgical Factory]] (today Petrovsky Factory).

In 1895 Petrovsky joined the revolutionary movement and in 1898 enrolled in the [[Russian Social Democratic Labour Party]] (RSDRP) and joined the "Union in the fight for the liberation of the worker's class" as well as the Yekaterinslav committee of RSDRP. At this period of time he actively participated in the political agitation for the [[Bolsheviks]] from [[Mykolaiv]] to [[Mariupol]], from [[Donbas|Donets Basin]] to Kharkiv, for which he was arrested in 1900 and 1903.

During the [[Russian Revolution of 1905]], Petrovsky became one of the organizers and leaders of the Yekaterinoslav City Council of Worker's Deputies and the local Battle Strike Committee. However, he soon was forced to flee and for a brief period of time emigrated to [[Germany]]. In 1907 he returned to [[Mariupol]], where he worked as a [[turning]] specialist and continued his revolutionary activity at the factory "Russian Providence" (today – part of [[Illich Steel and Iron Works]]).

===Duma Deputy===
[[File:Petrovskiy Grigoriy.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Grigory Petrovsky, 1917]]
In 1912, Petrovsky was elected a deputy to the Russian 4th [[State Duma (Russian Empire)|State Duma]] as a representative of workers of the [[Yekaterinoslav Governorate]] for the Bolshevik faction. During this time he also was a chief editor of ''[[Pravda]]''. In January 1913 Petrovsky was included into the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee of RSDRP]]. It is known that in the Duma he spoke on 32 occasions, while the text of his 21st speech was prepared personally by [[Vladimir Lenin]]. In his speeches Petrovsky was addressing the issues related to improving working conditions and life of miners and workers of Donets Basin.

With the start of [[World War I]] in November 1914 he was arrested along with the other six Bolshevik members of the parliament and in February 1915 was sentenced to a lifetime exile in [[Turukhansky Krai]] (today – the northern part of [[Krasnoyarsk Krai]]).

=== People's Commissar, Ukrainian Party boss ===
After the Bolshevik seizure of power, Petrovsky was appointed People's Commissar for the Interior Affairs between 30 November 1917 and 1 March 1919.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elisanet.fi/daglarsson/dokumentit/sov.htm#LENIN|title=Government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic 1917–1923: Lenin|work=elisanet.fi/daglarsson|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716153010/http://www.elisanet.fi/daglarsson/dokumentit/sov.htm#LENIN|archive-date=16 July 2011}}</ref> In this post he oversaw the activities of the [[Cheka]] and was one of the advocates of the [[Red Terror]], he wrote in his order "A huge number of hostages has to be taken to the bourgeoisie, in cases of resistance these hostages have to be shot in masses (....) No hesitation in the application of the terror"<ref>Jacques Baynac, La terreur sous Lénine, 1975</ref> He was a member of the Russian delegation during signing the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] in 1917.

From 1919 he chaired the All-Ukrainian [from 1922, the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]]] Central Executive Committee, and co-chaired the USSR Central Executive Committee of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]]. In January 1938 he was retired from these leading Party executive positions. Petrovsky had belonged to the party majority that opposed the Ukrainian national-communist orientation represented by Yurii Lapchynskyi and [[Alexander Shumsky|Oleksander Shumsky]], but in the 1920s had nonetheless supported [[Ukrainization]] and Ukrainian economic, cultural, and political autonomy.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Petrovsky, Hryhorii|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CP%5CE%5CPetrovskyHryhorii.htm|access-date=2022-01-16|website=www.encyclopediaofukraine.com}}</ref><ref name="BBCNews" />

=== Chairman of Ukrainian SSR during collectivization ===
Some Ukrainian historians believe that Petrovsky and [[Lazar Kaganovich]] were the main executors of Stalin's 1930s policies in Ukraine, part of which was the 1932–33 man-made famine, now known as the [[Holodomor]].<ref name="BBCNews" /> According to the American Communist [[Fred Beal]] when, with Isadore Erenburg his superior in cultural-propaganda work at the prestigious [[Kharkiv Tractor Plant|Kharkov Tractor Plant]], he asked Petrovsky what they were to tell their workers who were saying that "millions of peasants are dying all over Russia", Petrovsky replied: <blockquote>Tell them nothing! What they say is true. We know that million are dying. That is unfortunate, but the glorious future of the Soviet Union will justify that. Tell them nothing!<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Beal|first=Fred Erwin|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b332369&view=1up&seq=11&skin=2021|title=Proletarian journey: New England, Gastonia, Moscow.|date=1937|publisher=Hillman-Curl|location=New York|pages=310}}</ref></blockquote>Other historians, like Vasyl Marochko, a member of an official commission that investigated the Holodomor, say that when Petrovsky fully understood what was being perpetrated and realized the extent of the famine, he pleaded with Stalin to provide Ukrainians with food but this request went unheeded.<ref name="BBCNews" />

===Survivor of the Great Terror===
He was not purged during the [[Great Purge|Great Terror]], but was shocked and saddened by the executions of close friends such as [[Stanisław Kosior]], [[Vlas Chubar]] and [[Kirill Sukhomlin|Sukhomlin]].<ref name="Medvedev1971">{{cite book|author=Roy Aleksandrovich Medvedev|title=Let history judge: the origins and consequences of Stalinism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ol1pAAAAMAAJ|year=1971|publisher=Knopf|isbn=978-0-394-44645-5}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=November 2022}} Soon after the USSR celebrated its sixteenth birthday, he was interrogated by [[Joseph Stalin]], who told him, "We shoot people like you but you will be spared"<ref name="Medvedev1971"/>{{better source needed|date=November 2022}} and then was excluded from the Communist Party and deprived of his [[dacha]]s and apartments.<ref name="Medvedev1971"/>{{better source needed|date=November 2022}} After a year without a job, in 1940 he was made the director of the Revolution Museum of the USSR in [[Moscow]]. During the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Second World War]], after the death of his son [[Leonid Petrovsky|Leonid]],<ref>{{cite web|author=Steen Ammentorp|url=http://www.generals.dk/general/Petrovskii/Leonid_Grigorevich/Soviet_Union.html|title=Biography of Lieutenant-General Leonid Grigorevich Petrovskii – Soviet Union|publisher=generals.dk|access-date=26 February 2016}}</ref> Petrovsky pleaded Stalin in a letter to release his imprisoned son [[Pyotr Petrovsky|Pyotr]], but his son, who edited the Leningrad Pravda, was shot.<ref name="Medvedev1971"/>

According to [[Anton Antonov-Ovseenko]] in his book ''The Time of Stalin'', Grigory Petrovsky settled in the attic of his Museum to a life of relative obscurity.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Antonov-Ovseenko|first=Anton|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xhiAnQAACAAJ|title=The Time of Stalin: Portrait of a Tyranny|date=1983|publisher=Harper & Row|isbn=978-0-06-039027-3|pages=142|language=en}}</ref> However, after Stalin's death in 1953, he was sufficiently rehabilitated so that, when he died in 1958 at the age of 79, his body was cremated and his ashes placed in the [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]].<ref name="BBCNews">{{cite news|author=Rostyslav Khotin|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8380433.stm|title=Ukraine tears down controversial statue|agency=[[BBC News]]|date=27 November 2009|access-date=27 February 2016}}</ref>

==Legacy==
The city [[Dnipro|Yekaterinoslav]] was renamed ''Dnipropetrovsk'' after Petrovsky from 1926 until 2016.<ref name=BBCNews/><ref>{{cite book|author=Gary Kern|title=The Kravchenko Case: One Man's War on Stalin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=leloAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA191|access-date=27 February 2016|year=2007|publisher=Enigma Books|isbn=978-1-929631-73-5|page=191}}</ref> Petrovsky himself was present at the provisional District Congress of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies that recommended this renaming and he did "accept this honor with great gratitude."<ref name="streetsarticle98MarkovaGP"/> The resolution of the congress was approved by a resolution of the [[Presidium of the Supreme Soviet]] dated 20 July 1926.<ref name="streetsarticle98MarkovaGP">{{cite web |author=L.M. Markova|title=About the renaming of streets in the city of Katerynoslava – Dnipropetrovsk in the 1920s and 1930s|url=https://gorod.dp.ua/history/article_ua.php?article=98|website=gorod.dp.ua|date=21 September 2022|access-date=16 October 2022|lang=Ukrainian}}</ref> On 20 May 2016 the city was renamed "Dnipro".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uatoday.tv/society/dnipropetrovsk-renamed-as-dnipro-651161.html|title=UNIAN News. Latest news of Ukraine and world}}</ref> Some [[Ukrainians]] believed that the city should have been renamed after Ukraine gained independence in 1991.<ref name=BBCNews/> The city was eventually renamed to comply with [[decommunization in Ukraine|2015 decommunization laws]].<ref name=decommupbbcU>[http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2015/05/15/7068057/ Poroshenko signed the laws about decomunization]. [[Ukrayinska Pravda]]. 15 May 2015<br>[http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/265988.html Poroshenko signs laws on denouncing Communist, Nazi regimes], [[Interfax-Ukraine]]. 15 May 20<br>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32267075 Goodbye, Lenin: Ukraine moves to ban communist symbols], [[BBC News]] (14 April 2015)</ref> Ukraine's [[Dnipropetrovsk Oblast]] was not renamed because as such it is mentioned in the [[Constitution of Ukraine]], and the Oblast can only be renamed by a [[constitutional amendment]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Ukraine |date=2024-11-19 |work=The World Factbook |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/ukraine/ |access-date=2024-11-26 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Petrovsky3.JPG|200px|thumb|The demolished monument to Petrovsky in Dnipropetrovsk as photographed on 30 January 2016.]]

A statue of Petrovsky in [[Kyiv]] (the capital of [[Ukraine]]) was demolished in late November 2009, just days before the annual Ukrainian commemorating of the victims of the Holodomor. [[President of Ukraine]] [[Viktor Yushchenko]] had issued a decree ordering the removal of monuments to Soviet leaders, "in memory of the victims of the Holodomor".<ref name=BBCNews/> Petrovsky's statue in then still named ''Dnipropetrovsk'' was demolished on 29 January 2016.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ремовська |first=Олена |date=2016-12-31 |title=«Рік декомунізації»: цифри і підсумки |url=https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/28206004.html |access-date=2024-11-26 |work=Радіо Свобода |language=uk}}</ref> In April 2014 the local statue of [[Vladimir Lenin]] had already been demolished.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/ukraine-day-after_783577.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140228113118/http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/ukraine-day-after_783577.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= February 28, 2014 |work= [[The Weekly Standard]] |first= Jeffrey |last= Gedmin |title= Ukraine: the Day After |date= 10 March 2014 |access-date= 19 May 2015}}<br>{{cite news|url= https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/03/14/ukraine-crimea-referendum/6319183/ |work= [[USA Today]] |first= Olga |last= Rudenko |title= In East Ukraine, fear of Putin, anger at Kiev |date= 14 March 2014 |access-date= 19 May 2015}}<br>{{cite news|url= http://tsn.ua/ukrayina/sche-odnogo-lenyna-zvalili-v-dnypropetrovsku-363832.html |work= [[TSN.ua]] |script-title=uk:Пам'ятник Леніну у Дніпропетровську остаточно перетворили в купу каміння |language= uk |trans-title=Monument to Lenin in Dnipro finally turned into a pile of stones |date= 19 August 2014 |access-date= 19 May 2015}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commonscatinline}}
* {{in lang|ru}} [http://www.az-libr.ru/Persons/000/Src/0000/7876c958.shtml Biography]

{{Members of the Imperial Russian State Dume (Yekaterinoslav Governorate)}}
{{Soviet Ukraine Government (before 1938)}}
{{Presidents of Ukraine}}
{{17th Politburo of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)}}
{{16th Politburo of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)}}
{{15th Politburo of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)}}
{{14th Politburo of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)}}
{{5th Politburo of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine}}
{{4th Politburo of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrovsky, Grigory}}
[[Category:1878 births]]
[[Category:1958 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Kharkiv Oblast]]
[[Category:People from Volchansky Uyezd]]
[[Category:Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members]]
[[Category:Old Bolsheviks]]
[[Category:Candidates of the Politburo of the 14th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]]
[[Category:Candidates of the Politburo of the 15th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]]
[[Category:Candidates of the Politburo of the 16th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]]
[[Category:Candidates of the Politburo of the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 6th Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks)]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 7th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]]
[[Category:Candidates of the Central Committee of the 9th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 10th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 11th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 12th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 13th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 14th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 15th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 16th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]]
[[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]]
[[Category:Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Soviet Union) members]]
[[Category:First convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:People's commissars and ministers of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Members of the 4th State Duma of the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Russian Constituent Assembly members]]
[[Category:First convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities]]
[[Category:Chairmen of the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee]]
[[Category:Perpetrators of the Red Terror (Russia)]]
[[Category:Holodomor]]
[[Category:NKVD]]
[[Category:Treaty of Brest-Litovsk negotiators]]
[[Category:Signatories of the Treaty on the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]]
[[Category:Ukrainian revolutionaries]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour]]
[[Category:Burials at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis]]