Bookvica

[CLUB IN THE KREMLIN] Chetyre goda Kluba imeni Ia.M. Sverdlova: 1919-1923 : Sbornik statei [i.e. Four Years of Ia. Sverdlov Club : 1919-1923: Collection of Articles]

Moscow: Izd. Klubnogo otdela VTsIK, [1923]. Item #1441

100, [2] s., 5 ills. 22x16 cm. In original printed wrappers. Spine and back cover restored, water stains on inserts, nearly erased stamp on front cover, otherwise very good.

First and only edition. One of 500 copies produced. Extremely rare. Issued without the title page – printer’s information was published on the back cover.
For the names of Trotsky, Bukharin, Zinoviev, Enukidze, the book was certainly withdrawn from circulation.
Iakov Sverdlov (1885-1919) was one of the key figures leading the October Revolution, the Red Terror during the Civil war and probably authorizing execution of the Romanov family. According to an official version, he died of Spanish flu. Sverdlov was buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis; diverse settlements, factories and institutions were named after him.
In particular, the Sverdlov Club was founded as a recreation and culture center for all Kremlin residents: officials of the Kremlin departments, workers, Red Army soldiers and officer cadets. It became one of the earliest institutions that were later widespread in the Soviet Union. The 1920s clubs were “forges of proletarian culture”; they were organized by the Proletkult organization and were supported by Soviet authorities.
This club was established when the war was still covering the country, but its heart had been entirely occupied by Bolsheviks. The Sverdlov Club was located on the second floor of the Small Nicholas Palace. Some premises on the first floor housed a printing shop of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee that was used by the club as well. Among club activities was the publication of a periodical ‘Mech i molot’ [Sword and Hammer] in 1921-1925.
Being a kind of report, the book overviews early years of the club’s existence, lists various sections formed and includes some accounts by officer cadets. Group photographs of members of those sections are printed on separate leaves alongside a portrait of Sverdlov himself.
Also, the edition contains memoirs about Sverdlov and his role in central and provincial Bolshevik organizations by politicians A. Lunacharsky, Iu. Steklov, K. Kirsanova, A. Enukidze, Z. Litvin-Sedoi and N. Semashko.

Not found in Worldcat.

Price: $450.00