Moisei Solomonovich Uritsky (1873-1918) was a Bolshevik who chaired the Petrograd Cheka from March 1918 until his assassination. He had been a Menshevik-leaning member of Trotsky’s Mezhraiontsy group before joining the Bolsheviks in 1917, and he served on the Military Revolutionary Committee during the October seizure of power.

On August 30, 1918, he was shot dead at the Petrograd Cheka headquarters by Leonid Kannegisser, a young poet and student. Lenin was shot in Moscow the same day. The two attacks prompted the Red Terror decree of September 5, 1918, and mass hostage executions in Petrograd. Uritsky was succeeded by Gleb Boky.

Sources

• Rabinowitch, Alexander. The Bolsheviks in Power: The First Year of Soviet Rule in Petrograd. Indiana University Press, 2007.
• Leggett, George. The Cheka: Lenin’s Political Police. Clarendon Press, 1981.

Summary entry. A fuller, document-based profile is in preparation.