How a former clerk became commander of the Black Sea Fleet
October 17, 9:03 PM
A fantastic document was posted on "Historical Materials."
Former Black Sea Fleet commissar Romanets recounts his life and the revolution. It's not a biography, but a veritable whirlwind. He started out as an anarchist terrorist serving as a clerk in the navy, became a commissar and commander of the Black Sea Fleet, and ended up working for the NKVD and the People's Commissariat of Waterways of the USSR and the People's Commissariat of the Coal Industry. He served several prison terms, was wounded twice, sentenced to death, and fought as a partisan several times in various parts of the country. And the 20,000-ruble bounty on Romanets' head, announced by Kutepov, also speaks volumes. He personally promised Stalin never to engage in anarchy again. Plus, he fell into disgrace at the hands of Trotsky. I was especially touched by the story about how "they were driving past Kerch and decided to capture the local fortress along the way." A man of boundless energy. Just read it and imagine what kind of mega-series could be made based on such a plot. It's also worth noting that the Ukrainian Romanets fought against Ukrainian chauvinism and the Ukrainization of the Black Sea Fleet (a reference to Sablin), which he specifically notes.
Romanets, V.V., Brief Memories (1947 edition),
October 29, 1957.
A brief autobiography of Vasily Vasilyevich Romenets, member of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) since August 1917, party card No. 0925261.
I was born on January 1, 1886, in the town of Krolevets, Chernigov province (now Sumy region). My father was a worker-mason, my mother a weaver. Denikin's gang hanged my father at the age of 83 in 1919. I am Ukrainian by nationality. I myself am a worker: first a weaver, a mason, and then bookkeeping and clerical work in the Krolevets treasury.
[From] the age of 7 to 18, I studied first at a parochial school , then at a zemstvo school, and then at the Krolevets city three-year school, which I graduated with honors.
My revolutionary work began at the dawn of the workers' movement, i.e. From 1903 to 1907 I was a maximalist terrorist, from 1907 to April 1917 – an anarchist communist. I was twice brought to justice by the old police and gendarmerie: for revolutionary work, but due to the complete secrecy of my work, due to the lack of evidence, I was not tried, but was officially under police surveillance for two years, reporting to the police weekly.
The first time I was called up to the Baltic Fleet in October 1907, and in January 1908 I escaped from military service and hid for three years. In 1910 I was called up for military service for the second time in the same Baltic Fleet in Petrograd and was stationed in the Kryukov barracks of the 2nd Baltic Fleet crew, where I served in combat until I took the oath. After taking the oath, I was appointed to the clerk's detachment of the General Staff and the Main Naval Staff, where I was first arrested for swindling for nine days and brought to trial. Before the trial, I spent two months in the Lithuanian Prison in Petrograd; the court sentenced me to eight months. This comparatively light sentence was handed down because Father Medved, the archpriest of the Church of St. Spyridon , had given me a good character reference, citing my good voice. After serving my sentence, I was transferred to the 2nd Cadre Company of the 2nd Baltic Fleet Crew (as a sailor of the 2nd class, in the penal category), where I was assigned only to dirty work in the kitchen, stables, etc. In the event of the arrival of any of the highest persons, I was always isolated or assigned to remote assignments. In 1912, he was transferred to the Kronstadt Naval Detachment, where he performed the same duties. That same year, he served as a sailor on the cruiser Rurik and, after returning from an overseas voyage, was again transferred to the Kronstadt Naval Detachment.
For failing to comply with the orders of Senior Lieutenant Veshchitsky, he was brought to trial a second time, but due to mental illness, he was placed in the Kronstadt Nikolaevsky Naval Hospital, a detention facility. After a three-month stay (no trial on this ground), he was released home for a year to recuperate.
After recovering for a year, I again worked in accounting at the Krolewetsky treasury. After a year, he was recognized by the military commission as fit to continue his naval service and was sent to finish his service in the Black Sea naval crew, where he worked in the office of the Black Sea crew, first with the rank of clerk's apprentice, and at the end of his service he was promoted to clerk of the 1st class (senior clerk) and was discharged into the reserve in March 1914.
During the German War of 1914, he was called up to the Black Sea Fleet, where he initially sailed on the destroyer "Stremitelny" - senior clerk of the 6th destroyer division, after the first battle with the cruiser "Breslau" he was written off due to illness to the Sevastopol naval detachment , where he also held the same rank for 5 months, and was discharged on leave due to neurasthenia for 6 months in March 1915. More at the front I didn't participate in the imperialist war, receiving deferments due to illness.
While on sick leave, I again worked as a clerk for the Land Development Commission in Krolevets, in my hometown.
The February Revolution found me in my hometown of Krolevets, where I was actively campaigning for an end to the war, disarming and arresting the police and the military commander's team. In April 1917, I was elected the first chairman of the Krolevets Soviet and by then pursued a Bolshevik line. At the same time, I left the anarchist-communist group.
There, in the city of Krolevets, I organized a revolutionary group of seven comrades, with whom I pursued the Bolshevik line, where I joined the party in April 1917. By order of the Kerensky military command, I was subject to arrest for disobeying the directives of the Provisional Government , but [was not arrested] thanks to the fact that a telegraph operator from the Krolevets postal telegraph office, Comrade Baulin, was a member of our group. He warned me about receiving a telegram addressed to the military commander about my arrest and promised to delay this telegram for two or three days. I was forced to flee from the city of Krolevets to the city of Leningrad via the city of Kharkov in June 1917.
In Kharkov, I met the following sailors of the Baltic Fleet, who were traveling to the Black Sea: Comrades. Fedorov, Sergienko, Zaitsev, Zhuravlev, and others, with whom I learned that I would be much more at ease in Leningrad and that I could also receive a commission in the Black Sea Fleet.
I arrived in Petrograd and met with my old Baltic Fleet sailors: Comrades Skulsky, Polukhin, Kovalsky, Kiryanov, and others, and a few days later I received an assignment to the Black Sea Fleet as well. I had been warned that the Black Sea Fleet was not allowing Bolsheviks into Sevastopol and that they considered the Bolsheviks to be German spies.
Having received precise instructions from Comrade Ya. M. Sverdlov on how to proceed in the Black Sea Fleet, I arrived on July 10, 1917, and arrived at the Sevastopol Naval Detachment. Three days later, I was elected Chairman of the Sevastopol Naval Detachment Committee at the first general meeting, at the suggestion of Comrade Nechayev. Nechayev was then required to leave for Petrograd. From that moment on, I actively worked to revolutionize the Black Sea Fleet, following the directives I received from Comrade Ya. M. Sverdlov, and immediately contacted the Bolshevik organization in Sevastopol.
From the Sevastopol Naval Detachment, I was delegated to the Sevastopol Executive Committee of the City Council in place of Comrade Nechayev, who had resigned. At the First Congress of Black Sea Sailors, I was elected a member of the Presidium of the Black Sea Fleet's Centerfleet, where I served as chairman of the military section. Three days later, I was simultaneously appointed by Centerfleet to the "Commission of Ten," which served as the Black Sea Fleet Commander-in-Chief's staff. I was also delegated by Centerfleet to the Democratic Conference in Petrograd , where I spoke alongside the Bolshevik faction.
The entire sailor community became particularly aware of my Bolshevik line and my Bolshevik credentials when I spoke at a garrison meeting in the Truzzi Circus on the issue of Kornilov and Savinkov's introduction of the death penalty at the front and in military units.
Following my speech, a protest resolution against the death penalty was passed, and the Executive Committee of the Sevastopol Soviet was immediately reconstituted, to which I was also elected. This was a major undertaking by the Sevastopol Bolshevik Party organization.
During the preparations for the October Revolution, I traveled to Petrograd to receive further instructions, where I participated in the overthrow of Kerensky's Provisional Government, captured the Winter Palace, and fought against the cadets holed up in the Astoria Hotel.
After the October Revolution, I returned to Sevastopol and, at the following Black Sea Sailors' Congress, was elected General Chief Commissar of the Black Sea Fleet on the proposal of the Bolshevik faction and confirmed by the Revolutionary Committee of the Republic by telegraph signed by Comrade V. I. Lenin and the People's Commissar for Naval Affairs. My assistants were the Bolsheviks Comrades Bolyshevsky and Kislitsa from the fleet, and Comrade M. Bondarev, a former social democrat and internationalist, from the fortress of soldiers.
In December 1917, I was summoned to Petrograd together with the fleet commander, Vice-Admiral A.V. Nemitz, in connection with sharp disagreements of principle, especially regarding the dispatch of the Azov flotilla by sea to the Don against Kaledin (there were other disagreements with him).The former fleet commander, A. V. Nemitz, deceived me and coupled his carriage in Kharkov to a train bound for Kiev, then departed for the Ukrainian Rada.
After reporting to the Revolutionary Committee in Petrograd and personally to Comrade V. I. Lenin, I returned to the Black Sea Fleet, receiving further instructions from Comrade Podvoisky, from whom I also received a badge and a Mauser revolver.
During this departure, Comrade I. V. Stalin said to me: "Go back, but be careful not to engage in anarchy there." I replied: "Yes, go back," and immediately declared "that I had already turned the wheel 180° long ago."
Due to the fact that the former fleet commander, Vice-Admiral A. V. Nemitz, fled to the Ukrainian Rada, I was also appointed fleet commander at that time. Rear Admiral Sablin served as my naval specialist, and I conducted all my work under the supervision of the Centerfleet and the Bolshevik organization of the city of Sevastopol. This appointment was confirmed by the naval command of the Republic, and I held this position until March 1918. During this period, there were two assassination attempts on me by the Socialist Revolutionaries and the entire Sevastopol gang.
With the issuance of the decree on the creation of the Red Army and Navy on new principles, by order of the Revolutionary Committee of the Republic, signed by Comrade V. I. Lenin, I was appointed Commissar for the Demobilization and Mobilization of the Black Sea Fleet and the Ports of the Black and Azov Seas , reorganizing the fleet and army on the principles of the Red Navy sailors, and the soldiers on the principles of the Red Army soldiers. Comrade Kovalsky and Comrade Kiryanov were sent from Petrograd to assist me.
This extremely important and complex work was successfully carried out thanks to the full support of the leadership of the Sevastopol Bolshevik organization and personally of Comrade S. G. Sapronov as the first chairman of the Sevastopol City Committee of the Bolshevik Party, together with CentroFlot and my assistants, with the assistance of the naval specialist Sablin, who was attached to me, and especially Captain 2nd Rank Comrade M. M. Bogdanov.
By this time, a Central Committee brigade from the Council of People's Commissars had arrived, with whom I had fundamental disagreements, and individual members of the Sevastopol Revolutionary Committee also sided with them. I failed to fulfill the brigade's demands, supported by individual comrades from the Revolutionary Committee, after which I only coordinated my work on specific issues with the CentroFlot Bolshevik faction and the staunch Bolsheviks of the Sevastopol organization. He did not go to the Revolutionary Committee, but appointed Captain 2nd Rank Comrade M. M. Bogdanov from the command of the Black Sea Fleet to the Revolutionary Committee.
At the extraordinary congress of sailors of the Black Sea Fleet in March (at the end) of 1918.In my place, Left SR William Spiro, a member of the Council of People's Commissars' brigade, was elected Chief Commissar of the Black Sea Fleet with the support of the Socialist Revolutionaries. Sailor Anatoly Zheleznyak, a member of the brigade, disagreed with my position and left for the Center, since I had received a telegram from the Center stating that I had acted correctly.
From the October Revolution and at the beginning of 1918, I, together with the Bolshevik organization of the city of Sevastopol, organized detachments of Red Guards against Kornilov, Kaledin, the Ukrainian Rada, the Kurultai, and others. I appointed reliable commissars to all ports, such as: comrade Kondrenko was appointed to the city of Odessa, comrade Rastrepin to the city of Novorossiysk, comrade Zaitsev to the city of Batumi, comrade Drachuk to Rostov, who headed the five, and so on.
In this work, I was especially assisted by the Bolshevik organization of the city of Sevastopol and its first chairman, comrade Sapronov S. G., gunner from the destroyer "Captain Savin", and then comrade Sapronov S. G. sailed on the destroyer "Lieutenant Shestakov". A very complex and difficult campaign was also conducted against the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, and especially the Ukrainian chauvinists, regarding the Ukrainization of the fleet and its division among the individual republics and regions. Here, the fleet's political leaders, with my participation and under the leadership of the Sevastopol Party Organization, accomplished a great deal of work. Anyone who remembers February 22, 23, and 24, 1918, will understand the full complexity of this issue.
In particular, I also remember how individual members of the Revolutionary Committee of the city of Sevastopol helped us in our common work - sailor comrade Bulatnikov G.D., when the latter worked as a commissar for the fight against counter-revolution and for the quartering of troops transported from the Turkish front, comrade Chistyakov V.S. - who worked in the transport flotilla to carry out the tasks of the political leadership of the fleet in the ports of Mariupol, Rostov and Kerch. The most serious assignments of the political leadership of the fleet were carried out personally by comrade Sapronov S.G. - near Taganrog, [in] Rostov, in Odessa and in the detachment against Yevpatoria, etc.
On March 28, 1918, after my negotiations with the government on the issue of the Brest Peace and the withdrawal of the fleet from Sevastopol to Novorossiysk, I received a special assignment to prepare the Novorossiysk port to receive the fleet, and most importantly, to supply it with fuel, and I left Sevastopol on April 2, 1918. I did not have to take part in the sinking of the fleet, since I returned at the time when the last battleship, Svobodnaya Rossiya, was being withdrawn to be sunk in the roadstead. After the sinking of the fleet, I remained in Novorossiysk and was elected assistant to the military commissar of the Kuban-Black Sea Republic, in which position I remained until August 26, 1918.
On August 26, 1918, Novorossiysk was occupied by Denikin's General Kutepov, the military commissariat was cut off and my entire archive remained in Novorossiysk, and I had to go into the mountains with comrades Dokuchaev, Fishman, Kompaneets and others, and I became the head of a partisan detachment. After capturing Novorossiysk on August 26, General Kutepov issued his first order, stating that "whoever surrenders me or my head will be awarded 20,000 rubles in gold." Three Cossack regiments were hunting our detachment, and my comrades and I remained elusive thanks to our well-established contacts with the local population and those loyal to the Revolution, who saved us every time in the most difficult moments. In particular, a young woman, Maria Georgievna Bykova, was later betrayed by neighbors, imprisoned, and tortured, but she never revealed our detachment or its location.
I was in the mountains until November 1918. In November, on the instructions of the party and the personal order of comrade Ordzhonikidze, transmitted through our connections, I left for Kerch with a group of comrades in order to then head to Moscow, but on the way it was decided to capture the Kerch fortress, [however, due to] the refusal of the Kerch workers and soldiers of the fortress artillery, who were under the influence of the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, this operation did not take place and I left for Moscow.
On the way to Moscow, I was handed over to the Petliura gang by the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks in the city of Krolevets on December 12, 1918, where I decided to take my wife, and was placed in solitary confinement in the Krolevets prison, where I was subjected to violence and torture, and when the partisans under the command of comrade Afanasenko, comrade Chernykh, comrade Konovalov and comrade Sushenko demanded my handing over, the Petliura command transferred me to the Konotop prison under a convoy of 18 people, and when my mother wanted to say goodbye to me on the way, her guard commander hit her with a rifle butt, she fell, and I don’t remember how I ended up in a freight car with a separate locomotive, and I was delivered to the station. Konotop, December 18, 1918.
As I was being led out of the train car onto the station platform, I saw the Bolshevik Comrade G.S. Spitsky, to whom I let him know who I was. The latter took action in time, that is, when the Petliura command, presided over by Ataman Paliy and the court member Colonel Kalyuzhny, whose third name I don't remember, sentenced me to death—to be shot together with Comrade Pavasitsky and others; Comrade Spitsky roused the entire working class of Konotop station, and the workers took to the streets and demanded that we, condemned men, be produced. It was then that I managed to escape with the assistance of Comrade G.S. Spitsky on December 23, 1918.
After my escape, I commanded a partisan detachment in the Chernihiv region and occupied the town of Krolevets, where I was wounded in the chest for the first time. After the capture of Krolevets on January 10, 1919, I was elected chairman of the revolutionary committee of Krolevets district, and I immediately joined the party for the second time, since all the documents remained in Novorossiysk, and there, in Krolevets, on January 29, 1919, I was elected chairman of the regional party committee.
In July 1919, the Chernigov regional party committee sent me to work in Sosnitsky district, where I was elected chairman of the Sosnitsky regional executive committee and simultaneously chairman of the regional party committee.
That same year, 1919, as Denikin's forces were advancing north, I was appointed commander of a combat sector on the Makoshino-Sosnitsky Front, where I was seriously wounded in the leg and head near Bakhmach. After that, I left the army and was again elected chairman of the Krolevetsky District Executive Committee and, simultaneously, the District Party Committee.
At the end of 1920, I participated in the fight against Wrangel with a special detachment, serving as its commander, after which, as a sailor, I was placed at the disposal of the Republic's naval forces.
In December 1920, I was appointed by the Namorsi of the Republic as emergency commandant for the 9th Rifle Division and a separate fire brigade's ice crossing of the Kerch Strait in connection with the events in Georgia.
On January 11, 1921, by order of the Namorsi of the Republic, he was appointed commissar of the headquarters, and then commissar of the artillery defense of the Azov-Black Sea-Caucasus coast and was the head of the garrison of the city of Novorossiysk.
At the end of 1922, he was appointed commissar of Ubeko-Caspian and demobilized at the request of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), based on the petition of comrade Kirov S. M., on June 20, 1923 to work in Baku, since the bandit Trotsky stated that "he does not need such commanders."
In Baku, he worked in leadership positions until 1924. In 1924-1925 he worked abroad. In 1925-1928 in Baku - the head of the commercial port, in 1928-1930 - the head of the military-industrial complex "Azerbaijan". – Yalta – head of the commercial port, from 1930 to 1933 – Moscow – NKPS, senior inspector of the Main Inspectorate for Maritime Issues under the People's Commissar. From 1933, from March 4 to April 12, 1934 – Norway, Spitsbergen Island, mine manager and consultant .
From May 5, 1934 to May 15, 1935 – NKVD, from May 15, 1935 to July 8, 1936, in agreement with the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), Kiev – authorized representative of water transport under the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR. From 1936 to 1937 – head of special construction in the Gorky region. From May 1937 to November 1939, I worked at a special job at Mosgornerud. From December 1939 to November 12, 1940, I was the head of the inspection of the Main Shaft Construction Department of the People's Commissariat of Coal and the head of the mobot department. I have not worked since March 1941, following an accident at a Ural mine on November 12, 1940, and received a first-degree disability.
I did not participate in the Second Patriotic War, but while evacuated, I asked to be called up twice, but was refused each time due to my illness.
In 1944, I returned to Moscow on March 8 and worked for the public until January 1, 1947.
Currently, I live only on one pension, which I receive in the amount of 500 rubles. per month (book No. 16869), this pension was assigned to me at the republican level from August 1, 1934, at the request of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR.
I have received a commendation from the Revolutionary Military Council of the Caspian Fleet, a certificate of honor from the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR for military service on the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution, a certificate of honor from the Crimean government in connection with the 20th anniversary of the Crimean Republic, and a medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" on behalf of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
I have never participated in any factions or opposition groups. I have always followed and continue to follow the general line of our party—the party of Lenin and Stalin.
I have no repercussions, either from the party or from the Soviet Union, and have never been sued.
Party membership from August 1917 approved by the Presidium of the Central Control Commission on October 8, 1927 – Protocol No. 66.
https://istmat.org/node/69079 - zinc (there are other very interesting documents on this topic at the link, I recommend them, you'll find them fascinating).
In short, a seasoned revolutionary who spent the rest of his life after the revolution serving the country from Baku to Spitsbergen.
Perhaps, if not for Trotsky, he would have achieved even greater heights. He lived out his days on a modest pension.
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/10134863.html
80th Anniversary of the Kaliningrad Region's Accession to the USSR
October 17, 7:05 PM
Today marks the 80th anniversary of Kaliningrad and the adjacent territories of the former East Prussia becoming part of the USSR. The monument to the man who incorporated these territories into Russia (then the RSFSR) was torn down under Khrushchev. It would be good to correct this historical injustice. It was Stalin who transformed Königsberg into Kaliningrad. This part of his legacy is still with us. Russia's enemies still try to rename the city back, with the ultimate goal of separating it from the country.
(Videos in Russian at link.)
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/10134777.html
Google Translator
