Vagzhanov, Aleksandr Petrovich

(party pseudonym, Petrovich). Born Aug. 11 (23), 1877; died June 6, 1919. A revolutionary, organizer of the struggle for Soviet power in Tver’. Joined the Communist Party in 1896.

Vagzhanov, a weaver, was born in Tver’ into the family of a worker. He conducted Party work in St. Petersburg and Tver’, and, during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, among soldiers of the army in the field. In 1906 he became a member of the Tver’ committee of the RSDLP. In 1907 he was elected a deputy to the second State Duma, where he represented the workers of Tver’ province. After the disbandment of the Duma he was sentenced to forced labor and then to deportation. In May 1917 he became a member of the Tver’ committee of the RSDLP (Bolshevik). He was a delegate to the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets and a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (first convocation). In October 1917 he became chairman of the Tver’ revolutionary committee and then chairman of the Tver’ province Soviet Executive Committee. Beginning in April 1918 he held high Party and government posts in Chita, Vladivostok, and Verkhneudinsk. He was head of the Cisbaikal underground RCP (Bolshevik) committee; in March 1919 he became a member of the Siberian Oblast underground committee of the RCP (B). In Chita he was betrayed by the Socialist Revolutionaries and shot by the White Guards.