Background
Bonch-Bruevich, Vladimir was born on June 28, 1873 in Moscow.
Bonch-Bruevich, Vladimir was born on June 28, 1873 in Moscow.
Was close to Lenin during his time as a student in Zurich. Organized most of the publishing ventures of the Bolsheviks in Russia before 1917 (the publishing houses Vpered, and Zhizn’ i Znanie, and the newspapers Zvezda, and Pravda). In 1917 one of the editors of Izvestia.
Editor of the Bolshevik newspaper Rabochii i Soldat. Also known as an ethnographer and an authority on Russian sects. Before the revolution, wrote a special report denying that Rasputin should be considered a sectarian, thus ensuring his continued presence in public life, which proved very useful for revolutionary propaganda purposes.
Took part in the Bolshevik take-over in Petrograd as first chairman of the Commission for the Struggle against Counter-revolution (later Cheka, the Soviet secret police). Supervised the move of the Soviet government from Petrograd to Moscow, 1918. Organizer of publishing during the early years of Soviet rule.
Director of the State Literary Museum, 1933. Director of the Museum of History of Religion and Atheism at the Academy of Sciences in Leningrad, 1945-1955.