Martemyan Ryutin

Martemyan Ryutin (1890-) was a Russian-born Soviet politician and the temporary leader of General Secretary Nikolai Bukharin's government prior to its collapse.

Biography

Ryutin was born to a peasant family living in the Irkutsk oblast of the Russian Empire with his father descended from an Estonian rebel who was exiled to Siberia for his activities. He later worked in a factory from the age of 13, but later graduated from the Irkutsk Teachers' Seminary and worked as a teacher and journalist. It was through his work that Ryutin ingratiated himself into the moderate faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, the Mensheviks. During World War I, he served as an ensign in a Russian rifle regiment and was transferred to the Chinese city of Harbin, where he was elected chairman of the local Soviet Union during the February Revolution. By December, however, he was forced to return to Irkutsk after the Chinese threatened military action. He would then command a Red military group in Irkutsk throughout the Russian Civil War.

After his time in the military, Ryutin became a full-time functionary of the All-Union Communist Party and was elected a delegate to the Party Congress following the Red victory. He became an outspoken supporter of Nikolai Bukharin and the New Economic Policy alongside Alexei Rykov and Nikolai Uglanov. Ryutin and his allies represented the moderates within the party. When Bukharin defeated Joseph Stalin in the power struggle and became the leader of the Soviet Union, Ryutin ascended the party ranks to become the Head of the Propaganda Department of CPSU Central Committee and Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the National Economy. He was now one of the most important figures in the Soviet political landscape.

When World War II broke out, Ryutin worked to spread propaganda to rouse the Soviet people and manage the economy. After the Germans took the Caucasus in 1943, he eventually found himself in a dire situation as Bukharin mysteriously disappeared, leaving Ryutin to serve as a temporary leader while Stalin was trying to take control. In response, Ryutin distributed a document titled the Irkutsk Platform criticizing Stalin's actions and calling for his removal. But things took a turn for the worse as the Supreme Soviet blocked the Irkutsk Platform to prevent it from being publicly known. Eventually, it would spiral out of control as NKVD chief Genrikh Yagoda would stand down and the first shots of the Second Russian Civil War began. By the time it was over, Ryutin failed to prevent Russia's eventual descent into anarchy and would spend the rest of his life pondering what he had done.

Trivia

• In real life, Ryutin was one of Nikolai Bukharin's supporters who led a peasant resistance faction against Joseph Stalin and was executed in 1937 during the Great Purge. As Stalin did not take power in The New Order, Ryutin played a far more prominent role here.