Unshlikht, Joseph Stanislavovich

(1879–1938)

   Born into a middle-class Polish Jewish family, Unshlikht joined the under-ground Social Democratic Party of Poland and Lithuania in 1900, but gravitated to the Bolsheviks. Between 1902 and 1916, he was repeatedly arrested for his work in the Bolshevik underground and spent several years in jail or exile. Following the 1917 Revolution, Unshlikht joined the Cheka and acted on the northern front as the security service’s troubleshooter. Unshlikht was Feliks Dzerzhinsky’s de facto deputy in 1921–1923, dealing with sensitive dangers such as the Tambov revolt and rural insurrection in the Ukraine. Subsequently, he held important military and party posts and served as the chief of the security service in Moscow. He was a member of the Communist Party Central Committee for several years and was repeatedly decorated. Unshlikht was described by Leon Trotsky as “ambitious but a talentless intriguer.” Joseph Stalin may have shared Trotsky’s opinion, at least about his capacity for intrigue: Unshlikht was arrested in June 1937 and shot on 28 July 1938.