Sheinkman, Iakov

Sheinkman, Iakov Semenovich 

Born Dec. 22, 1890, in Tobol’sk; died Aug. 8, 1918, in Kazan. Figure in the Russian revolutionary movement. Member of the Communist Party from 1910.

The son of a worker, Sheinkman entered the University of St. Petersburg in 1910; he was arrested for taking part in student disturbances and placed in the prison known as Kresty. After his release, Sheinkman emigrated to Switzerland in 1912 and took part in the Basel Congress of the Second International. He became involved in party work in Ekaterinburg (now Sverdlovsk) in 1914.

In September 1917, Sheinkman traveled to Kazan, where he served as deputy chairman of the provincial food committee and chairman of the RSDLP(B) faction in the Kazan soviet. He served on the Investigatory Commission of the Petrograd military revolutionary committee in October 1917 and became chairman of the Kazan soviet and of the provincial committee of the RCP(B) in November.

Sheinkman was a delegate to the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets and a member of the commission appointed to frame a draft of the Constitution of the RSFSR. He helped suppress the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Revolt of 1918 and served on the investigatory commission of the Council of People’s Commissars that conducted an inquiry into the revolt.

Beginning on July 19, 1918, Sheinkman directed the defense of Kazan against the White Czechs. After the city was taken, Sheinkman was captured by White Guards and shot.

REFERENCES

Belokopytov, V. I., and N. Ia. Shevchenko. Ikh imenami nazvany ulitsy Kazani. Kazan, 1973.
[Mukhariamov, M.] “Ia. S. Sheinkman (1890–1918).” In the collection Bortsy za schast’e narodnoe. Kazan, 1967.
Za vlast’ Sovetov [part 1], Kazan, 1957.