Milan Gorkic Yugoslav politician, secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia from 1932 to 1937 Date of Birth: 09.02.1904 Country: Dive

1. Early Life and Career
2. Communist Activist
3. International Communist Activity
4. Rise in the Comintern
5. Back to Yugoslavia
6. Work Abroad and Return to Moscow
7. Last Days and Execution

Early Life and Career

Milan Gorkić was born in 1891 to a Czech family in Bosnia-Herzegovina, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father was a railway worker and a member of the Czech Social Democratic Party. Gorkić became involved in the revolutionary movement while in high school, which led to his imprisonment.

Communist Activist

After his release from prison, Gorkić played a prominent role in organizing a youth communist organization in Sarajevo. He became a member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) in 1919. In 1924, he was elected to the Central Committee of the Union of Young Communists of Yugoslavia.

International Communist Activity

Gorkić represented Yugoslavia in the Comintern from 1924 to 1927. He was elected to the Presidium of the Executive Committee of the Young Communist International (ECCYI) and the Secretariat of the YCI. During this time, he traveled extensively on party missions to Austria, Germany, and Czechoslovakia. In Germany, he met and married Betty Nikolaevna Glahn.

Rise in the Comintern

In 1928, Gorkić was appointed Secretary of the YCI. At the Comintern Congress in the same year, he was elected as a member of the International Control Commission of the Comintern. In 1930, he became the permanent representative of the Comintern in the Communist Party of Great Britain.

Back to Yugoslavia

Despite his international activities, Gorkić remained involved in the CPY and the Comintern's Balkan Secretariat. He made several illegal visits to Yugoslavia. However, after being elected Secretary of the CPY in 1932, he was prohibited from returning home for security reasons.

Work Abroad and Return to Moscow

From 1932, Gorkić worked in Comintern cells abroad, including Vienna, Paris, and Moscow. He spent only three months in Moscow from 1932 to 1936. In 1935, he was a delegate to the Seventh Congress of the Comintern and was elected to its Executive Committee.

Last Days and Execution

In early 1937, while in Paris, Gorkić received orders to report to Moscow immediately. On his way from France to the USSR, he made a stop in Germany to see his wife one last time. He arrived in Moscow shortly after.

Gorkić was arrested on August 14, 1937, on charges of Trotskyist-terrorist activities and espionage. He was executed on November 1, 1937, by order of the Supreme Military Court of the USSR. His ashes were buried in the New Donskoy Cemetery. He was posthumously rehabilitated in 1956.