Voytkevich Anton Feliksovich (January 6, 1876, Nizhny Novgorod — date of death unknown) — a Social-Democratic revolutionary and Bolshevik, a native of Nizhny Novgorod, and an active participant in the underground labor movement Volga Region, the Urals, and both capitals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He came from the nobility; his father was a civil servant.[1]

Early Years and First Arrests

From 1886 he studied at the Nizhny Novgorod Gymnasium, graduating in 1894, after which he enrolled in the natural sciences division of the physics and mathematics faculty of Moscow University. In 1896 he was first brought under investigation in connection with a Social-Democratic circle in Moscow (the circle of K. Baturin and others); he was held in custody from December 10, 1896 to March 10, 1897, and was then exiled under special police surveillance to Nizhny Novgorod. According to intelligence reports, meetings were held at the apartment Voytkevich shared with Iv. Yakubovsky, which was visited by the propagandist Sergey Ozerov. The investigation produced insufficient evidence, and in March 1893 the case was closed. Voytkevich was subsequently readmitted to Moscow University, from which he had previously been expelled. In March 1899, in connection with student unrest, he was again exiled to Nizhny Novgorod; in the autumn of the same year he returned to the university and graduated in 1900.[1]

Underground Work in Nizhny Novgorod and Sormovo

From 1900, Voytkevich participated in illegal Social-Democratic activity in Nizhny Novgorod and Sormovo, maintaining ties with Pyotr Zalomov, Dorofeyev, Bulatov, and others. On April 15, 1901, he was arrested on the information of a worker named Loginov and implicated in the case of a circle among Sormovo workers, which arose from the distribution of proclamations at the Sormovo Plant on September 11, 1900 (also involved in the case were Vavochkin, Dorofeyev, Pav. and Evd. Shamurov, Ven. and Anna Bulatov). According to the investigation, Voytkevich, using the name "Nikolay Ivanovich," attended meetings at the Shamurovs' and Bulatovs' homes and brought illegal literature. He was held in custody until July 13, 1901, then exiled under special police surveillance — first to Kazan, then to Poltava.[1]

In Poltava, on the night of February 9, 1902, he was arrested in connection with a Demonstration. After his release he left for Tula, where he worked in the Social-Democratic committee. In the spring of 1902 he moved to Kazan, where on July 12 he was arrested and sent back to Tula — in connection with the case of the local organization (among those implicated were M. Ivanitskaya and E. Litkens). For lack of evidence he was soon released. On January 29, 1903, an imperial decree was issued: in the Sormovo case, Voytkevich was sentenced, with credit for pretrial detention, to three years of exile in Vyatka Governorate. He was arrested in Kazan and sent along the convict road, but escaped en route and went underground.[1]

Underground Activity and Work in the Capitals

Obtaining employment under a false passport as a chemist at a factory in Kineshma belonging to Savva Morozov (with the latter's knowledge), Voytkevich moved to Baku in the autumn of 1903, where until the spring of 1904 he worked in the Social-Democratic committee on Bolshevik positions. In March 1904, Voytkevich was forced to leave Baku owing to a security breach and intensified surveillance; that summer he again worked as a chemist at the factory in Kineshma.[2] After the breach and the surveillance he left Baku, worked again at the factory in Kineshma over the summer, and from September 1904 joined the Bolshevik organization in St. Petersburg, soon being brought onto the St. Petersburg Committee. As the responsible organizer for the Vyborg District, he participated in the demonstration of January 9, 1905; he subsequently worked as responsible organizer in the St. Petersburg and Nevsky districts. At the end of April 1905, under threat of arrest, he was forced to leave St. Petersburg.[1]

Moving to Moscow, Voytkevich joined the Moscow Committee of the Bolsheviks and became the responsible organizer for the Zamoskvorechye District. From September 1905 he was appointed by the Moscow Committee as responsible combat organizer. In his clandestine work he used the aliases "Aleksey Ivanovich" and "Nikolay Ivanovich." In late October or early November 1905, he moved from this post to the position of responsible organizer for the Lefortovo District, where he took part in the December armed uprising. After the December uprising, Voytkevich, along with the majority of the Moscow Committee's members and in accordance with a resolution of that committee, briefly left Moscow — he traveled to Kostroma. In 1906, Voytkevich served as a delegate to the 4th Congress of the RSDRP (the Unity Congress).[3][2][1]

Sources

  1. histpol.narod.ru — Voytkevich Anton Feliksovich (archive)
  2. histpol.pl.ua — Voytkevich, Anton Feliksovich
  3. web.archive.org — Category: Delegates to the 4th Congress of the RSDRP — Voytkevich Anton Feliksovich was a delegate to the 4th Congress of the RSDRP (the Unity Congress), held in 1906. (archive)