Grigori Sokolnikov

Grigori Yakovlevich Sokolnikov (Russian Григорий Яковлевич Сокольников, born Girsch Jankelewitsch Brilliant, russ Гирш Янкелевич Бриллиант; * 3 Augustjul / August 15 1888greg in Romny, Poltava province, Ukraine today, .. † May 21, 1939 in Werchneuralsk ) was an early Bolshevik and Soviet politician.

Life

In April 1920 Sokolnikov returned to Moscow, where he worked for Pravda. After the death of Sverdlov he was regarded as the closest follower of Trotsky - Zinoviev - Kamenev Troika. In the same year he took part in the Second Congress of the Communist International. In November 1922 he was appointed People's Commissar of Finance. In addition, he was appointed by decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee in August 1923 along with Felix Dzerzhinsky, Lev Kamenev, Yuri Piatakov, Karl Radek, Joseph Stalin, Leon Trotsky and Georgi Chicherin in a Commission headed by Grigory Zinoviev in preparation for an armed uprising in Germany. In 1926, he joined as Deputy Chairman for the Committee for Economic Planning. In 1928 he became chairman of the state oil company.

1935 Sokolnikov was First Deputy People's Commissar for forestry. In 1936 he was arrested and sentenced during the Moscow trials for alleged membership in an " anti-Soviet Trotskyite Center" to ten years in prison. In May 1939 he was killed by a fellow prisoner disguised as NKVD, because he other prisoners towards commented on the show trial character of the Moscow Trials.