Nikolay Alexandrovich Milyutin

Nikolay Alexandrovich Milyutin, alternatively transliterated as Miliutin (Russian: Николай Александрович Милютин, 21 December [O.S. 8 December] 1889 – 4 October 1942) was a Russian trade union and Bolshevik activist, participant in the October Revolution in Petrograd and Soviet statesman and architect. After the revolution Milyutin held various executive appointments in Soviet Russia related to social security, urban and central planning and finance; reaching that of Commissar of Finance of the RSFSR in 1924–1929. Milyutin is, however, remembered as an urban planner and an amateur architect, author of Sotsgorod concept, and as the editor of Sovetskaya arkhitektura magazine in 1931–1934.

Biography

Milyutin was born in Saint Petersburg; his grandfather was a port stevedore, his father a fisherman and fishmonger of noble origins who also attempted to return to farming and work in the port; after Nikolay's birth he was injured at work and lived the remainder of his life on a disability pension, then already in place in Russian Empire. Despite father's wishes, teenager Nikolay was not inclined to business, rather, he tried to get an education and at the same time was involved in politics. Around 1904 he made contacts with Russian Social Democratic Labour Party; he took part in the Bloody Sunday rally of 22 January [O.S. 9 January] 1905 and later in the storming of police departments to free up political detainees.

Milyutin looked for a training in architecture but lacked the secondary education required by established state colleges. Independent "free" colleges established after the 1905 Russian Revolution eased access to education; in 1908–1909 Milyutin studied the Free Polytechnicum (Вольный Политехникум) and in 1910–1914 at the Baron Schtiglitz School of Arts (class of easel painting). Through all these years Milyutin held a variety of jobs to make a living; he formally joined the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1908 and remained an active Bolshevik agent. Since 1912 Milyutin also worked at the Trade Union of Office Workers (Союз конторщиков), having a seat on its board since 1913 and managing the largest disability insurance fund in Russia, that of Putilov Works, since 1914.