Aristov, Mina Lvovich

Aristov, Mina L’vovich 

Born 1887; died 1942. Soviet Party and state figure. Member of the CPSU from 1905.

Aristov was born in Astrakhan into the family of a Cossack sergeant. In 1907 he was expelled from the University of Kiev and exiled to his native province for taking part in the Revolution of 1905–07. In 1910 he graduated from the Orenburg Cossack Military School. During World War I he was a squadron commander. He carried on revolutionary propaganda among the soldiers. In April 1917 he was a delegate to the First Congress of Soldiers’ Deputies of the Western Front and was elected a member of the Executive Committee. In the autumn of 1917 he carried out revolutionary work among the Cossacks in Astrakhan. In December 1917 he was elected commander of the 156th Regiment, the sole army unit in Astrakhan; he became chairman of the Astrakhan Revolutionary Military Committee and one of the leaders of the struggle against the counterrevolutionary revolt of the White Cossacks in January 1918. In 1918 he became secretary of the Astrakhan Province Committee of the RCP (Bolshevik). He served in the Red Army until 1921. In 1925 he became chairman of the Astrakhan Province Executive Committee. From 1925 he was a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) and the Central Executive Committee (TsIK); from 1926 to 1929 he worked in the VTsIK. After 1929 he was involved in economic work.