Vladimir Zatonskiy Ukrainian and Soviet political figure. Academician VUAN Date of Birth: 08.08.1878 Country: Ukraine

Biography of Vladimir Zatonsky

Vladimir Zatonsky was a Ukrainian and Soviet political figure and an academician of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (VUAN) and the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (AN USSR). He was born in a family of a volost clerk in 1895, and his family moved to Kamianets-Podilskyi that same year. Zatonsky attended the Kamianets-Podilskyi Gymnasium from 1898 to 1906.

In 1905, he joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) as a member of the Menshevik faction and actively participated in the revolution of 1905-1907. Zatonsky completed his education at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Kyiv University in 1912, where he had studied since 1906, despite being twice expelled for his involvement in revolutionary activities. He later taught physics at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.

In 1915, Zatonsky married Elena Samoilovna Raskina, who worked as a doctor in one of the Kyiv clinics. After the February Revolution of 1917, he broke ties with the Mensheviks and joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks) or RSDLP(B). That same year, Zatonsky became a member of the Kyiv Committee of the RSDLP(B), and in November, he became its chairman. He played a leading role in the October armed uprising in Kyiv and was a member of the revolutionary committee (revkom). In December 1917, he was elected to the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets and became the head of the People's Commissariat for Education.

In March 1918, Zatonsky was elected chairman of the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee (All-Ukrainian CEC) at the 2nd All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets. From April to July 1918, he led underground party organizations in Ukraine and was a member of the "rebel nine." He was also a member of the Central Committee (CC) of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks) or CPU(B) by the decision of the 1st Congress of the CPU(B). In July 1918, during the suppression of the Left SR uprising in Moscow, Zatonsky served as a commissar of a strike force.

From November 1918 to January 1919, Zatonsky was a member of the Temporary Workers' and Peasants' Government of Ukraine. From June 27, 1919, to May 17, 1920, he held the post of a member of the Revolutionary Military Council (RMC) of the 12th Army of the Western Front of the Red Army, and at the same time, from July to December 1919, he was a member of the Front Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks) or CPU(B). From December 1919, he was a member of the All-Ukrainian Revolutionary Committee (revkom).

In July and August 1920, Zatonsky was the chairman of the Galician Revolutionary Committee. Later, he became a member of the RMC of the 12th, 13th, and 14th armies of the Southwest Front and then a member of the RMC of the Southern Front. He participated in the suppression of the Kronstadt rebellion in 1921.

Zatonsky served as the People's Commissar for Education of the Ukrainian SSR from 1922 to 1924 and again from 1933 to 1938. From 1924 to 1925, he was a member of the RMC of the Ukrainian and Crimean troops, as well as a member of the RMC and the head of the political department of the Ukrainian Military District. He was also the secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks) or CPU(B) from 1925 to 1927. From 1927 to 1933, he held the position of chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks) or CPU(B) and the People's Commissariat of Education of the Ukrainian SSR. Zatonsky was elected a member of the Central Committee and the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and a candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks) or CPU(B). He was also a member of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR and the Presidium of the All-Union Central Executive Committee.

On November 3, 1937, Zatonsky was arrested and on July 29, 1938, he was sentenced to death and executed. He was posthumously rehabilitated on March 19, 1956. Zatonsky was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.