Fedor Raskolnikov
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Fedor Raskolnikov (Russian: Фёдор Фёдорович Раскольников, Fyodor Fyodorovich Raskol'nikov, real name Fyodor Ilyin Russian: Фёдор Ильин) (28 January 1892, Saint Petersburg, Russia -12 September 1939, Nice, France)[1] was a Bolshevik, participant in the October Revolution, commander of Red fleets on the Caspian and the Baltic during the Russian Civil War, later a Soviet diplomat[1]. The pseudonym Raskolnikov most probably came from Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, the fictional protagonist of Crime and Punishment novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Fedor Raskolnikov was born out of wedlock to a general's daughter A. V. Ilyina and an Orthodox priest F.A. Petrov [2] (according to other sources, archpriest Sergushenkov[1]). He graduated from Prince Oldenburgsky Orphanage[2], studied at Saint Petersburg Polytechnical Institute, then at the Midshipman (gardemarin) School in Saint Petersburg[1].
In 1910 he entered the Bolshevik fraction of Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. In 1917 he received the Navy rank of a Midshipman (michman) but he never participated in the World War I[1]. In March 1917 he was sent to the sea fortress of Kronstadt, where he edited newspaper Golos Pravdy (Voice of Truth): an incarnation of the forbidden at that time Pravda newspaper[1]. He was one of the organizers of the Kronstadt Mutiny in July 1917, responsible for the murder of the Russian Naval officers there. He was arrested by the troops loyal to the Russian Provisional Government but released on October 11, 1917, a few weeks before the October Revolution[1].
In November 1917 Raskolnikov with a group of Kronstadt seamen was sent to stop anti-Bolshevik insurgencies in Moscow. Raskolnikov and his troops established Red Terror in Moscow killing everybody suspected in anti-Bolshevik stance[1]. He was elected to Russian Constituent Assembly. Since 29 January 1918 he became the deputy Narkom of "Naval Affairs".[1] In July 1918, he was sent to the Eastern Front, as the Commissar (member of Revvoeyensovet) of the Eastern Front. On the Eastern Front, he commanded (since August 1918) the Red Volga Flotilla, which participated in Kazan Operation. [3]
Raskolnikov was promoted to the membership of Revvoeyensovet of RSFSR on (September 2, 1918). At the end of 1918 he is the deputy commander of the 7th Army and the Commissar of the Baltic Fleet[1].
When commanding a fleet consisting of a battleship, cruiser and two destroyers that was supposed to counter the British fleet, he became a prisoner of war when his destroyer Spartak was captured by the Royal Navy in the beginning of 1919[1]. On May 27, 1919 he was exchanged for 17 British prisoners of war and became the commander of Caspian Flotilla[1].
During the Trade Union debate (1920) Raskolnikov supported Leon Trotsky. In June 1920 - January 1921 Raskolnikov commanded the Baltic Fleet. During his tenure the relations between the commanding officers and seamen deteriorated and ended with the Kronstadt Rebellion. A month after Raskolnikov was removed from the command[1].
In 1921-1923 Raskolnikov was the ambassador to Afghanistan (the first country that established diplomatic relations with RSFSR). Raskolnikov's actions caused a diplomatic conflict with the Great Britain that insisted on removal of Raskolnikov. Eventually he was replaced.[1].
In 1924-1930 Raskolnikov was the director of magazine Molodaya Gvardiya (later also publishing house Moskovsky Rabochy). Since 1928 he was the chairman of the Repertory Committee, de facto the main censor of theatre and cinematography. He also wrote his own play Robespierre that even servile critics labelled dry and boring[1].
In 1930 Raskolnikov was the ambassador to Estonia, then Denmark, then Bulgaria.
In March 1938 he was requested to return to the USSR. On April 1, 1938 he refused to return. In 1939 he published his famous Open Letter to Stalin, and promptly died from "falling out of a window". According to historian Roy Medvedev he might have been assassinated by NKVD agents[1]. There are theories that the assassin might be Sergey Efron, husband of the poet Marina Tsvetayeva[2].
Raskolnikov was posthumously rehabilitated in 1963[1].
