Editing Grigori Voitinsky

{{Short description|Russian communist official (1893–1953)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Grigori Voitinsky<br>Григорий Войтинский
| image               = G.N. Voitrngsky.jpg
| image_size          = 
| caption             = 
| birth_name          = Grigori Zarkhin
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1893|04|17|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Nevel (town)|Nevel]], [[Vitebsk Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|1953|06|11|1893|04|17|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Moscow]], [[Russian SFSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| occupation          = 
| order               = Head of the Far Eastern Bureau
| term_start          = 
| term_end            = 
| premier             = 
| predecessor         = 
| successor           = 
| party               = [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] (CPSU)
| spouse              = 
| relations           = 
}}

'''Grigori Naumovich Voitinsky''', born '''Zarkhin''' ({{Langx|ru|Григорий Наумович Войтинский}}; 17 April 1893 – 11 June 1953) was a Soviet [[Communist International]] (Comintern) official. He was sent to [[China]] in 1920 as a senior advisor to contact the top prominent Chinese communists such as [[Chen Duxiu]], just before the formation of the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP). Voitinsky is considered to be the "chief architect" in founding the CCP.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dirlik |first=Arif |url=https://archive.org/details/originsofchinese00dirl |title=The Origins of Chinese Communism |date=1989 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-505454-5 |pages=191 |language=en}}</ref>

He was born on 17 April 1893 in [[Nevel (town)|Nevel]] to a [[Russian Jewish]] family. In 1918, he joined the [[Bolshevik Party]]. He took an active part in the [[Far Eastern Front in the Russian Civil War]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yoshihiro |first=Ishikawa |title=The Formation of the Chinese Communist Party |date=2012-01-31 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-50416-4 |location= |doi=10.7312/ishi15808 |jstor=10.7312/ishi15808}}</ref>

== Work in China ==
In 1920, the [[Soviet Union]] established the [[Far Eastern Bureau of the Comintern|Far Eastern Bureau]] in [[Siberia]], a branch of the Third Communist International, or the [[Comintern]]. Thus he was directly responsible for managing the establishment of a communist party in the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] and other far east countries. Soon after its establishment, the bureau's deputy manager Voitinsky arrived in [[Beijing]] and contacted the [[Li Dazhao]]. Li arranged for Voitinsky to meet with another Communist leader, [[Chen Duxiu]], in [[Shanghai]]. In August 1920, Voitinsky, Chen Duxiu, [[Li Hanjun]], [[Shen Xuanlu]], [[Yu Xiusong]], [[Shi Cuntong]], and others began to establish the Comintern China Branch.{{cn|date=November 2024}}

The ''[[Shanghai Chronicle]]'' (not to be confused with the [[Shanghai Jewish Chronicle]]) was set up in 1919 in Shanghai by [[Shemeshko]] and other Russians with [[socialism|socialist]] leanings, and received financial aid from the Soviet Russian government in early 1920. In the spring of 1920, Voitinsky and his colleagues came to China on a mission to establish a communist party in China. They not only came to China in the guise of editors and reporters for the newspaper, but also set up the Comintern's [[East Asia Secretariat]] in the newspaper office. From then on, the ''Shanghai Chronicle'' became both a propaganda vehicle for the East Asia Secretariat and a cover for [[Bolshevik]] activity in China. Because the newspaper staff assisted Soviet Russian and Comintern personnel stationed under cover at the newspaper in activities to establish a communist organization in China, the newspaper as a whole played a special role in the early communist movement in China. Although the ''Shanghai Chronicle'' stopped publication at the end of 1922 because Russian aid came to an end, many staff members continued to work for Bolshevism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Britton |first=Frank L. |url=https://archive.org/details/B-001-002-034 |title=Behind Communism 1917-2010 |date=2017-08-09 |publisher=Blurb, Incorporated |isbn=978-1-389-75235-3 |language=en}}</ref>

== Later career ==
He worked as Comintern representative until 1926.  Then worked in the Siberian government in [[Irkutsk]] until 1929, when he moved to Moscow, where he worked in various [[Oriental studies|Orientalist]] institutions. In 1934, he became a professor in [[Moscow State University]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pseudology.org/Bolsheviki_lenintsy/Voitinsky_Zaxrin.htm |access-date=2023-08-09 |website=www.pseudology.org}}</ref>

He is considered one of the founders of Soviet [[Sinology]]. He wrote several books about contemporary China politics. He died in 1953 during an unsuccessful surgical operation.{{cn|date=August 2023}}

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Voitinsky}}
[[Category:1893 births]]
[[Category:1956 deaths]]
[[Category:Comintern people]]
[[Category:Communist Party of the Soviet Union members]]
[[Category:Delegates to the 5th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Jewish socialists]]
[[Category:Jewish Soviet politicians]]
[[Category:People from Nevelsky Uyezd]]