Sereda, Semyon Pafnutievich

From the nobles . Born in the family of a railway employee. Father - Pafnutiy Yakovlevich, from impoverished noblemen , served as the head of the Dubrovka station of the Oryol-Vitebsk railway. Mother, Varvara Pavlovna, was engaged in raising children. There were three of them in the family: Gregory, Nikolai and the younger Semyon. Gregory taught in the Bryansk district . Nikolai, the second lieutenant of the Koporsky regiment , served in Smolensk.

At first he was sent to the gymnasium of the small county town of Roslavl , where he studied for three years. In 1885 he was transferred to the Alexander Real School in Smolensk. He studied with enthusiasm, was very inquisitive.

At seventeen, he was a member of the Smolensk revolutionary circle of the people's movement, where he became acquainted with Marxist literature. In the class’s classes, the question “about changing the existing way of government in Russia” was repeatedly raised, as police observers reported in their reports. There were more than twenty people in the circle of various professions and social status, mainly of the same age: seventeen to twenty years. They gathered in a small room on the second floor of Morozov’s house, which stood on the corner of Staropeterburgskaya ulitsa and Sennaya square.

From the very beginning of participation and work, the circle stood out for its energy and desire for practical revolutionary actions.

In the spring of 1889 he went to Moscow, where, through familiar students, he became close to the Marxists. Returning to Smolensk, with a group of comrades organizes an underground printing house. At the apartment of the typographer Y. M. Zvirin, he prints leaflets “From the Executive Committee”. In the same period, S. Sereda kept a library of illegal literature; he maintained contacts with the Marxists not only in Moscow and Orel, but also in St. Petersburg, Minsk, and other cities.

The vigorous activity of the young man was noticed by the police, and on July 21, 1889, an eighteen-year-old pupil of the fourth grade of the Smolensk Real School was arrested. He was charged with involvement in the activities of the revolutionary circle.

The investigation lasted almost a year. S. Sereda, both at the preliminary investigation and in prison, kept himself with great restraint and calm, found the strength to support his comrades arrested with him.

Here is how one of the members of this circle, who was also arrested on charges of anti-government activities, but much older in age, spoke of him: “From time immemorial, Smolensk was considered the leader of all revolutionaries, since he was, in any case, smarter than all of the youth, and is known all from school. He has many acquaintances among seminarians, gymnasium students, realists and gymnasium students. Even when I was not familiar with him, I already heard about him as an outstanding person, smart, original and talented. It should be noted that Sereda is indeed, despite his youth, a very smart person and, in addition, has undoubted organizational skills, firmness and clarity of thoughts, and a sufficient dose of practicality. All this, combined with the remarkable straightforwardness of his extreme beliefs, makes a special impression and makes one involuntarily pay attention to this person. "

Perhaps the review is somewhat subjective, but the main character traits of the young man from this document are clearly visible.

On June 6, 1890, six out of forty members of this circle, brought on charges, including the nineteen-year-old S. Sereda, were sentenced to a solitary confinement for a term of one year with the tsar’s decree, followed by a three-year submission to public police surveillance.

From June 6, 1890 to June 6, 1891 he was serving his sentence in the St. Petersburg prison “ Crosses ”.

In this "model" prison, the conditions of detention were such that S. Sereda fell ill with tuberculosis . But neither illness, nor solitary confinement broke his will. He got out of jail and kept his convictions.

On June 6, 1891, the mayor of St. Petersburg informed the police department that S. Sereda, after serving his prison sentence, was sent for permanent residence to his parents at Dubrovka station, which was located within the Bryansk district , and was subject to the public supervision of the Oryol governor (with a daily report in the police department about their activities).

In November 1894 he left for Kiev. From 1894 to 1897 he worked in the Office of the Southwest Railway, and is closely associated with revolutionary youth, takes part in the activities of Marxist circles.

The police conduct secret surveillance of him, notes in observation magazines: "He constantly rotates in the circle of revolutionary-minded young people who are under the supervision of the police." Even about the marriage of S. Sereda to the police department, in St. Petersburg, a special report comes from the head of the Kiev provincial gendarme department.

Motivating his request by the fact that his elder brother Grigory lives in Moscow and his mother is often there, S. Sereda asks the police department to permit him to reside in Moscow, but is refused because of his “unreliability”.

Since 1896 he worked in the bodies of zemstvo statistics.

Sereda moved to Orel , but did not live there for long, and in early January 1897 he and his family were already in Kaluga , working in the Kaluga Provincial Zemstvo Council .

Many subsequently prominent Bolsheviks were serving a link in Kaluga at that time: I. Dubrovinsky , N. Dobrokhotov , P. Bykov and others. Thanks to their active participation in the city, the activation of the Social Democratic movement began. Illegal literature began to spread among the progressively-minded intelligentsia and young people: proclamations , brochures, some of which were printed in Kaluga. There was a struggle between the Marxist and Narodnik directions. S. Sereda is a member of the Marxist group and takes an active part in all its endeavors. With his participation, "Statistical Reviews" for 1897 and 1898 were issued, issued by the provincial zemstvo and dedicated to the economy of the Kaluga province .

Together with other Marxists, he took an active part in the work of the cultural and educational society of the Kaluga free reading library. Through this library, social and economic knowledge was promoted in the city.

In the spring of 1898 he lived for a short time in Smolensk , and in the summer of the same year, after receiving permission, he finally moved to live in Moscow. A top secret report from the police department to the head of the public safety and order department in Moscow emphasized that since he “belongs to a special group of propagandists,” he must establish continuous, unceasing, covert police surveillance.

All three years of Sereda’s life in Moscow (1898-1901) - a liaison of the Moscow Committee of the RSDLP . When there was a danger of arrest, he left for Smolensk.

From 1901 to 1908 he worked in the Smolensk Provincial Zemstvo Council, was the head of the Estimated and Statistical Division.

January 22, 1902 he went abroad - to Belgium, lived in Brussels. August 19, 1902 through Warsaw returned to Smolensk.

In 1903 he joined the Bolshevik faction of the RSDLP .

It organizes the study of materials of the Second Congress of the RSDLP among the workers of industrial enterprises of the city and employees of the Zemstvo administration, and arranges the distribution of leaflets and proclamations. By order of the Smolensk governor, he was suspended from work in the zemstvo council from January 1909.

Since the end of 1908, the head of the evaluation and statistical department of the Ryazan Provincial Zemstvo Council.

In April 1911, it gives an economic justification for the need to build a railway line to Kasimov . In the same year he sought the allocation of funds for the organization of a census of handicrafts in the province. In 1912, he conducted this census and developed specific measures for the development of crafts, organized a handicraft museum in Ryazan, arranged through it to help handicraftsmen to acquire material and to sell finished products, analyze the reasons for the abandonment and relocation from the province, and actively participated in the preparation and release of “ Economic reviews of the Ryazan province . "

To communicate with the Moscow and St. Petersburg party committees, he used his official position.

On March 3, 1917, a rally in support of the February Revolution was held at the city ​​council building on Astrakhan Street (now Lenin Street ), at which he first spoke openly. At his suggestion, the Council of Workers' Deputies of the city of Ryazan was created on the same day, which he also joined, becoming one of the five members of his presidium.

At the provincial congress of public organizations, convened by representatives of the Provisional Government in the province, which gathered more than 150 representatives from counties and volosts, was elected by majority of votes the chairman of this congress.

On September 11, 1917, the Ryazan Council of Workers' Deputies elected him as its representative at the Democratic Conference , which was held from September 14 to September 22, 1917 in Petrograd.

Member of the first provincial congress of the Bolsheviks, held on October 8, 1917. He entered the list No. 5 (list of Bolsheviks) from the Ryazan province and was elected to the Constituent Assembly.

On September 8, 1917, the Ryazan Council of Workers' Deputies, at his suggestion, decided to organize Red Guard detachments.

In late October, as deputy chairman, he became a member of the Ryazan Military Revolutionary Committee

In December 1917, approved by the provincial commissar of local affairs.

On April 4, 1918, he was approved by the People's Commissar of Agriculture of the RSFSR and left for Moscow.

In May 1919, he was also approved as a member of the editorial board of the newspaper Voice of the Labor Peasantry .

December 9, 1920 filed an application with the Central Committee of the party to relieve him of his duties as people's commissar ^[2] .

In 1920-1923 - member of the Presidium of the Supreme Economic Council of the RSFSR, member of the Presidium of the State Planning Commission at the Economic Conference of the RSFSR.

At the beginning of 1921 he was introduced to the Presidium of the State Planning Commission , was appointed deputy chairman of the State Planning Commission and chairman of the agricultural section (he was released from the duties of the people's commissar of agriculture in 1922). Then he was appointed a member of the Commission of the Council of Labor and Defense on the accounting and implementation of state funds.

He wrote the pamphlet " Restoring the economy and developing the productive forces of the southeast of the RSFSR, which suffered from the crop failure of 1921 ", published in 1922 by the State Planning Commission, and later translated into English. It revealed the causes of crop failure and indicated specific ways to eliminate the effects of hunger.

At the same time, since 1921, he worked in the Supreme Economic Council of the RSFSR , was a member of its presidium, and since June 1922 - deputy chairman.

In 1923-1927 - Chairman of the Industrial and Economic Council of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR, Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR. Since May 1923, a member of the commission of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Trade , since October 1924 - a member of the board of the Main Economic Directorate of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR , and since December of that year - a member of the Presidium of the Industrial Plan of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR . It studies the conditions and ways of developing private capital in commodity circulation, in the money market, in industry with the aim of establishing a policy regarding private capital.

In 1927 he was appointed manager of the Industrial Plan of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR, deputy manager of the Central Statistical Bureau of the USSR , from July 15, 1927 - manager of the Central Statistical Bureau of the RSFSR (in this position he worked until 1930).

The last years of his life (1930-1933) he worked as deputy chairman of the State Planning Commission of the RSFSR and deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR.

He was a delegate to I, II, III, IV and several other All-Russian Congresses of Soviets . He was elected a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, was a member of the All-Russian Party Congresses and Conferences, a member of the Society of Old Bolsheviks .

One of the main initiators of the creation of state farms and labor communes. He also emphasized “colonization” - the process of resettlement of the peasant masses on empty outskirts ^[2] .

He died on May 21, 1933 and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. An inscription was made on the tombstone: "He loved nature and the man whom he fought for happiness."

A memorial plaque was installed on the house in which he lived in 1917, on Pozhalostin Street (formerly Seleznevskaya). One of the streets of Ryazan is named after him.

• The commune is agricultural
• Labor commune

• Sereda Semyon Pafnutievich

• Storozheva A.M. Unbending Bolsheviks. - Ryazan: Moscow Worker, 1986.- S. 160.