A TSENTROBALT MEMBER: REVISING THE REVOLUTIONARY BIOGRAPHY OF A SARAPUL-BORN MAXIMALIST

Abstract

The article addresses the problem of mastering the anthropological approach and the biographical method in studying the events of early Soviet history. This research aimed to reconstruct the life path of a member of the Central Committee of the Baltic Fleet (Tsentrobalt), one of the leaders of the Socialists-Revolutionaries Maximalists Pavel Agafangelovich Krasnopyorov, who was born in Sarapul Prikamye. The study relies on official documents, periodical press of the Russian Civil War period, sources of private origin, including protocols of the Red Guards and Red Partisans committees, publication in such Soviet, Red Army and party newspapers as Volya, Truzhenik and Borba, memoirs of Krasnopyorov’s wife A.D. Krasnopyorova-Egorova-Zamytskaya, memoirs of prisoners of the Death Barges P.M. Nevler and A. Ralnikovs and others. Many of sources were first introduced into scientific discourse. The materials and conclusions were compared with historiographic results obtained by other authors. The analysis of historical evidence revealed how Krasnopyorov, who was born in a poor peasant family in the village Chernovo in Arzamastsevsky volost, Sarapul uyezd, Vyatka governorate, Russian Empire, rose to become a statesperson and a party leader at the regional level. Commissioned by Tsentrobalt and Petrosoviet, he actively contributed to the establishment of Soviet power in the Kama region and was killed by his enemies during the Izhevsk-Votkinsk Uprising in October 1918. The findings can be useful for those who study biographies of historical figures of the same period, helping to understand and evaluate their place and role in the socio-political process without bias.