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Milan Gorkić (real name Josip Čižinski; 19 Febrary 1904 - 1 November 1937) was a Bosnian high-ranking communist of Czech origin. He was a leader of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in exile from 1932 until 1937. He was killed by the NKVD in November 1937 during the Great Purge.

Early life

Family

Gorkić was born into a Czech family who migrated in Sarajevo in 1899, when at the time, Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of the Austria-Hungary. His father, Vaclav Čažinsky was an upholster and earlier member of the Social Democratic Party of Czechoslovakia. After a shorter vacation in his hometown, he brought his wife, Gorkić's mother, Antonija Mimerova to Bosnia and Herzegovina. She worked as a seaseamstress. Gorkić was born in Sarajevo in 1904; his older brother Ladislav (1901) was a machinist and younger brother Bohumil was an architect who lived in Czechoslovakia until 1986.

Early activity

Gorkić was an excellent student, and while in high school, he was arrested for expanding communist propaganda leafs. After he left the prison, he joined the Young Communist League of Yugoslavia (SKOJ) in Sarajevo in 1919. He become member of the SKOJ's Central Committee in 1924, but was soon expelled from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, after which he become representative of the CPY in the Comintern in Moscow. After three years working as a representative, he was elected to the Presidium of the Executive Concil of the Communist International in Moscow (EXCCIM) in 1927. At the same time he worked in EXCCIM's secretariat as a commisioner for the Balkan countries.

As a member of party, Gorkić traveled alot: in Austria, Germany and Czechoslovakia. In Germany he married Berta Nikolayevna Glen, also member of the Comintern, and had a daughter named Jelena with her. At the beginning of 1928, he was elected Secretary of the Communist International of Moscow, and in summer he was elected to Comintern's International Control Commission. In 1930 he was Comintern's representative in the British Communist Party. At the same time, he worked for the CPY and Balkan Secretariate of the Comintern headed by Georgi Dimitrov. From 1928 until 1931, Gorkić was also an associate of Nemanja Borjan.

Leader of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia

Gorkić returned to Yugoslavia for several times, but when he was elected as leader of the CPY, he was forbbiden to return in Yugoslavia because of safety reason. From 1932 he led Central Committe of the CPY in emigration, in Vienna, Paris and Moscow. From 1932 until 1936 he stayed in Moscow only for three months. In 1935 he was a delegate on the Sevent Congress of Comintern where he was elected into the Executive Committee.

At the beginning of 1937 he was in Paris and for the last time in his life, he reported to his wife in Germany. During a struggle for leadership of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito was an agent of the NKVD, a Soviet secret police. In order to replace Gorkić, who previously brought Tito in Moscow and held him under patronage, Tito made an report about Gorkić to NKVD. Gorkić recieved an emergency call from Moscow to return and make an report. When he arrived, NKVD showed him a large indicment writen on 70 pages, and accused him for trotskyism. On 23 October he was arrested and imprisoned in Lubyanka. On 1 November Gorkić was executed. After Tito took leadership over the CPY, Gorkić was posthumously expelled from the party. After Joseph Stalin's death, Soviet Union rehabilitated Gorkić.

Book

Gorkić's book Revolution Under the Aegis of the Comintern (Revolucija pod okriljem Kominterne) was published only in 1987.

References

Notes

1. ^ Pašalić, Davor (27 November 2006). "'Tito je na vrh KPJ došao cinkanjem'". Nacional (in Croatian). Retrieved 31 May 2012.
2. Očak 1988, p. 162-164.
3. Banac, Ivo. "Milan Gorkić". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
4. "Revolucija pod okriljem Kominterne". Open Library. Retrieved 31 May 2012.

Bibliography

• Očak, Ivan (1988). Gorkić, život, rad i pogibija (in Croatian). Globus. ISBN 863430339X. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• 1904 births
• 1937 deaths
• People from Bosanski Brod
• Bosnia and Herzegovina communists
• Czech communists
• Yugoslav communists
• Expatriates in the Soviet Union
• Executive Committee of the Communist International
• Executed Czech people
• People murdered in the Soviet Union