Moisei Uritsky
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Image:MoiseiUridsky.jpg Moisei Solomonovich Uritsky (Моисей Соломонович Урицкий; 1873–August 17 1918) was a Bolshevik revolutionary leader in Russia.
He was born in the town of Cherkasy, Ukraine, to a Jewish family. His father, a merchant, died when Moisei was little. Moisei's mother raised her son in a religious environment.
Moisei studied at the University of Kiev. Becoming involved in the revolutionary movement, he participated in the revolutionary Jewish bunds. He became a Menshevik, and was active in dispatching revolutionary agents (i.e. with his association with Parvus). Uritsky joined the Bolsheviks a few months before the October Revolution of 1917.
Uritsky was made head of the Petrograd Cheka, or secret police. Many victims are attributed to his name. A young poet and military cadet of Jewish descent, Leonid Kanegeiser, successfully assassinated Uritsky on August 17 1918 in retaliation for the execution of his friend and other officers. This event, along with the assassination attempt on Vladimir Lenin by Fanya Kaplan on August 30, provoked the Bolsheviks into a wave of persecution known as the Red Terror.