Nikolai Podvoisky
Russian revolutionary (1880–1948)
Nikolai Ilyich Podvoisky (Russian: Николай Ильич Подвойский; Ukrainian: Микола Ілліч Подвойський; 16 February [O.S. 4 February] 1880 – 28 July 1948) was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary, Soviet statesman and the first People's Commissar of Military and Naval Affairs of the Russian SFSR.
He played a large role in the Russian Revolution of 1917 and wrote many articles for the Soviet newspaper Krasnaya Gazeta. He also wrote a history of the Bolshevik Revolution, which describes progress of the Russian Revolution.
Early life
Nikolai Podvoisky was born in the village of Kunashivka in modern-day Chernihiv (formerly Chernigov) province, to a Ukrainian family, one of seven children of a former teacher who had become a priest. In 1901, he was expelled from Chernigov Seminary for political activities. In that same year, he enrolled in the Law Faculty in Yaroslavl, and joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), using the alias 'Mironovich'. After the RSDLP split in 1903, he became a leading figure in the Bolshevik organisation in Yaroslavl. He was arrested in 1904 and again in 1905, for helping organise a strike by the city's railway workers, but soon released on both occasions. Injured during a demonstration, he sought treatment in Germany and Switzerland. He returned to Russia in 1906, and worked illegally as Bolshevik organiser in St. Petersburg, Kostroma, and Baku.
The public source identifies “Nikolai Podvoisky” as russian revolutionary (1880–1948). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Nikolai, Podvoisky and Russian.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2424014. VIAF identifies the subject as 72736645. The Library of Congress control number is n82066149. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1880, 1948, 1917 and 1901.
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This entry incorporates text from “Nikolai Podvoisky” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.