Alexei
Rykov,
the son of peasants, was born in 1881. He joined the Social
Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) at the age of 20 and supported
the Bolsheviks after the split with
the Mensheviks in 1903. Rykov worked
as a Bolshevik agent in Moscow and
St. Petersburg and played an active role in the 1905
Revolution.
Rykov resented
the dictatorial style of Vladimir Lenin
and in 1910 he broke with the Bolsheviks.
He became a leading member of the Moscow
Soviet and called for a left-wing coalition to be formed in Russia.
In September,
1917, Rykov was invited to join the Bolshevik Central Committee and
the Petrograd Soviet. The following month
he was appointed to the Military Revolutionary Committee in Moscow.
Despite
his differences with Vladimir Lenin, Rykov
was appointed Commissar of the Interior (1917-18), Chairman of the
Supreme Council of National Economy (1918-20) and Deputy Chairman
of the Council of People's Commissars (1921-24) and Chairman of the
Council of People's Commissars (1924-29).
Rykov supported
Joseph Stalin, Nikolay
Bukharin and Mikhail Tomsky against
Leon Trotsky. In 1929 Stalin turned against
the right-wing of the party and Rykov was removed for all posts.
In 1938
Rykov Nikolay Bukharin, Genrikh
Yagoda, Nikolai
Krestinsky and
Christian
Rakovsky were
arrested and accused of being involved with Leon
Trotsky in a plot against Joseph Stalin.
Found guilty Alexei
Rykov
was executed on 15th March, 1938.
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
