Zhitnikov, Iakov

Born Oct. 9 (21), 1886; died July 24, 1918. Revolutionary figure, participant in the struggle to establish Soviet power in Middle Asia. Member of the Communist Party.

Zhitnikov was born in the city of Biriuch, now the village of Krasnogvardeiskoe in Belgorod Oblast. He first became active in the revolutionary movement in 1905 in Voronezh Province and was exiled to Askhabad (Ashkhabad) in 1906. In 1917 he was a member of the soldiers’ committee of the Askhabad garrison, one of the founders of the Bolshevik organization, and the chairman of the Askhabad revolutionary committee. In 1918, Zhitnikov was a member of the Council of Peoples’ Commissars of the Transcaspian Oblast as commissar for provisions. He commanded detachments of the Transcaspian Red Guards during the White Cossack mutiny of the summer of 1918. He was captured by the mutineers and was among the group of nine Askhabad commissars who were executed 15 km from Askhabad.