Vladimir Karelin

Born 1891; died 1938. One of the organizers of the left Socialist Revolutionaries (Left SR’s) and a member of the party’s Central Committee.

At the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, Karelin was elected to the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee from the Left SR’s. In December 1917 he became people’s commissar for state properties in the Council of People’s Commissars of the RSFSR. He was a member of the collegium of the People’s Commissariat of Justice and a member of the second through fourth convocations of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Karelin was part of the Soviet delegation at the peace negotiations in Brest-Litovsk. In March 1918, as a result of his opposition to the signing of the Brest treaty, he resigned from the Council of People’s Commissars. He was one of the organizers of the Left SR revolt in July 1918. After the rebellion was suppressed, he went into hiding. In November 1918, he was tried in absentia and sentenced by a Soviet court to three years in prison. In February 1919 he was arrested and then released. Karelin then fled abroad and engaged in anti-Soviet activity.