Adolph Joffe
Adolph Joffe Адо́льф Ио́ффе | |
---|---|
6th Secretariat | |
In office 6 August 1917 – 8 March 1918 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Adolph Abramovich Joffe 10 October 1883 (1918–1927) |
Adolph Abramovich Joffe (
descent.Biography
Revolutionary career
Adolf Abramovich Joffe was born in
In Russia, Joffe was close to the
In 1912 Joffe was arrested while visiting
1917 Revolution
In 1917, Joffe, freed from the Siberian exile by the
In May 1917, Joffe and Trotsky temporarily joined
Joffe headed the Bolshevik faction in the Petrograd
In October 1917, Joffe supported Lenin's and Trotsky's revolutionary position against Grigory Zinoviev's and Lev Kamenev's more moderate position, demanding that the latter be expelled from the Central Committee after an apparent breach of party discipline. Joffe served as the Chairman of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee which overthrew the Russian Provisional Government on 25–26 October 1917. Immediately after the revolution, he supported Lenin and Trotsky against Zinoviev, Kamenev, Alexei Rykov and other Bolshevik Central Committee members who would have shared power with other socialist parties.
Brest-Litovsk
From 30 November 1917 until January 1918, Joffe was the head of the Soviet delegation that was sent to
- No forcible annexation of territories seized in the war
- Restore national independence where it was terminated during war
- National groups independent before the war should be allowed by referendum to decide question of independence
- Multi-cultural regions should be administered so as to allow all possible cultural independence and self-regulation
- No indemnities. Personal losses should be compensated out of international fund
- Colonial question should be decided according to points 1–4
Although Joffe had signed a ceasefire agreement with the Central Powers on 2 December 1917, he supported Trotsky in the latter's refusal to sign a permanent peace treaty in February.[a] Once the Bolshevik Central Committee decided to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on 23 February 1918, Joffe remained a member of the Soviet delegation only under protest and in a purely consultative capacity. Grigory Sokolnikov, leader of the signatory team, signed on behalf of Russia.
Remembering Joffe's presence with the Bolshevik delegation at Brest-Litovsk,
The leader of the Russian delegation is a Jew, named Joffe, who has recently been released from Siberia [...] after the meal I had a first conversation with Mr. Joffe. His whole theory is simply based on the universal application of the right of self-governance of nations in the broadest form. The thus liberated nations then have to be brought to love each other [...] I advised him that we would not attempt to imitate the Russian example and that we likewise would not tolerate a meddling in our internal affairs. If he continued to hold on his utopic viewpoints the peace would not be possible and then he would be well advised just to take the journey back with the next train. Mr. Joffe looked astonishedly at me with his gentle eyes and was silent for a while. Then he continued in a – for me, ever unforgettable – friendly, or I would even nearly say suppliant, tone: 'I very much hope that we will also be able to raise the revolution in your country...'[5]
At the
Diplomatic career
In 1919–1920, Joffe was a member of the
Joffe was one of the Soviet delegates at the
In 1926 his declining health and disagreements with the ruling Bolshevik faction forced his semi-retirement. He tried to concentrate on teaching, but it also proved difficult due to his ill-health.[11]
Opposition and suicide
Joffe remained a friend and loyal supporter of Leon Trotsky through the 1920s, joining him in the
Joffe's wife Maria Joffe was arrested as a left-oppositionist
Notes
- ^ Trotsky, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, appointed Joffe to lead the negotiation team, but Trotsky resigned his post prior to the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
References
- ^ See Albert S. Lindemann. Esau's Tears: Modern Anti-Semitism and the Rise of the Jews, Cambridge University Press, 1997; pg. 430.
- ^ See Chapter XVII of Leon Trotsky's 'My Life' Archived March 5, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Nadezhda A. Joffe, Back in Time: My Life, My Fate, My Epoch: The Memoirs of Nadezhda A. Joffe. Frederick S. Choate, trans. Oak Park, MI: Labor Publications, 1995; pg. 3.
- ^ Quoted in Arno J. Mayer. Political Origins of the New Diplomacy, 1917-1918, Yale Historical Publications, Studies 18, 1959. Reprinted as Wilson vs. Lenin: Political Origins of the New Diplomacy, 1917-1918, Cleveland, World Pub. Co., 1964; pg. ???
- ^ Czernin von und zu Chudenitz, Ottokar Theobald Otto Maria (1920). In the World War. New York and London: Harper & Brothers. Internet Archive. Retrieved 28 Feb. 2009. https://archive.org/stream/inworldwar00czer/inworldwar00czer_djvu.txt
- ISBN 3-593-37040-9.
- ISBN 3-486-55928-1.
- ^ A.A. Ioffe (V. Krymskii), Genuezskaia Konferentsiia (The Genoa Conference). Moscow: Krasnaia Nov', 1922.
- ISBN 0-8090-1344-4(1968 pbk)
- Trotskyist perspective on the impact of Joffe's visit on the Japanese Communist Party, see The Meiji Restoration: A Bourgeois Non-Democratic Revolution published in Spartacist, English edition, No. 58for 2004.
- ^
Wynn, Charters (11 April 2022). The Moderate Bolshevik: Mikhail Tomsky from The Factory to The Kremlin, 1880-1936. Historical Materialism Book Series. Leiden: Brill (published 2022). p. 147. ISBN 9789004514973. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
The sickly, highly-strung Joffe suffered from tuberculosis, myocarditis, stomach ulcers, and polyneuritis [...].
- ^ Joffe, p. 65
- ^ Trotsky, Leon. "My Life, chapter 24". Trotsky Internet Archive. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
Further reading
- Joffe, Maria: One Long Night: A Tale of Truth. London: 1978.
- Joffe, Nadezhda: Back in Time: My Life, My Fate, My Epoch. Frederic S. Choate, trans. Oak Park, MI: Labor Publications, 1995.
- Volobuev, Pavel Vasil'evich (ed.), Политические деятели России 1917: Биографический словарь. (Russian Politicians, 1917: A Biographical Dictionary). Moscow, Bol'shaya Rossiyskaya Entsiklopediya, 1993.
- Zalesskii, Konstantin Aleksandrovich, Империя Сталина. Биографический энциклопедический словарь (Stalin's Empire: A Biographical Encyclopedic Dictionary). Moscow, Veche, 2000.
External links
- Adolf Joffe Archive at marxists.org
- "Adolph Joffe," Spartacus Educational. www.spartacus-educational.com/
- Includes Trotsky's unfinished article about Joffe and Joffe's last letter to Trotsky (in Russian)
- Newspaper clippings about Adolph Joffe in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW