{{Short description|Soviet spy (1898–1943)}} thumb|Neumann in the 1920s<ref name=":3" /> '''Vladimir''' '''Abramovich Neumann''' ({{langx|ru|Владимир Абрамович Нейман}}; 10 February 1889 – 21 September 1938), also known as '''Victor Alexandrovich Berg''' but more commonly known by his ''nom de guerre'' "'''Nikolsky'''",<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shichor |first=Yitzhak |date=December 2020 |title=Combining Contradictions: Jewish Contributions to the Chinese Revolution |url=https://ics.um.edu.my/img/files/IJCS-112-1Yitzhak-for-website.pdf |journal=International Journal of China Studies |publisher=University of Malaya |volume=11 |issue=2 |issn=21803250}}</ref> was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and a participant in the 1st National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.
== Biography ==
=== Early life and Russian Civil War === On February 10, 1889, Neumann was born to a Jewish family in Chitkan, Barguzin district, Transbaikal Oblast.<ref name=":0" /> He studied at the Chita Commercial School in his early years and worked as an employee in a private shop in Chita from 1912 to 1916.<ref name="xhw2" /> He began serving as a private in the 16th Siberian Infantry Reserve Regiment of the Imperial Russian Army in 1916 and was discharged in 1917.<ref name=":0" /> He was mobilized into Alexander Kolchak's army in 1919 and defected to the Red Army the same year.<ref name=":0" /> He joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1921 and became active with the Communist International (Comintern) the same year.<ref name=":02" />{{Reference page|page=229}} From 1921 to 1923, he served in the intelligence department of the Revolutionary People's Army of the Far Eastern Republic. In 1921, he worked in the China Department of the Secretariat of the Far Eastern District of the Russian Communist Party.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Нейман Владимир Абрамович |trans-title=Vladimir Abramovich Neiman |url=https://www.hrono.ru/biograf/bio_n/neyman.php |access-date=2025-11-21 |website=www.hrono.ru |language=ru}}</ref><ref name="seventeen">{{cite journal |author=徐元宫 |date=June 2009 |title=中共一大参加者尼科尔斯基的真实身份 |trans-title=The true identity of Nikolsky, a participant in the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party |journal=Contemporary World Socialism |language=zh |publisher=Ministry of Education and Shandong University |volume=2 |pages=72–79}}</ref>
=== China === In June 1921, Neumann using the ''nom de guerre'' "Nikolsky" arrived in Shanghai, being sent by the Far Eastern Bureau of the Communist International in Irkutsk with the task of leading and attending a congress to form a national-level communist party.<ref name=":02" />{{Reference page|page=|pages=229, 233}} Nikolsky met with another Comintern representative from the Netherlands, Henk Sneevliet, and they urged Li Da to convene a congress with the various communist cells across the country to found a party.<ref name=":02" />{{Reference page|page=233|pages=}} On July 23, 1921, Nikolsky attended the 1st National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai,<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Tamiatto |first=Jérémie |date=2008-02-01 |title=Un missionnaire de la révolution en Chine: L'action de Maring au sein du mouvement communiste chinois, 1921-1923 |journal=Bulletin de l'Institut Pierre Renouvin |language=fr |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=159–174 |doi=10.3917/bipr.027.0159 |issn=1276-8944 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Yoshihiro |first=Ishikawa |url=https://archive.org/details/formationofchine0000ishi |title=The Formation of the Chinese Communist Party |date=2012-01-31 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-50416-4 |location= |doi=10.7312/ishi15808 |jstor=10.7312/ishi15808 |oclc=840119719}}</ref>{{Reference page|page=|pages=229-231}} and delivered a speech at the meeting about the goals of the Profintern.<ref name="xhw2" /> Nikolsky left Shanghai in October or November the same year.<ref name=":02" />{{Reference page|page=229}}
=== Later life === From 1922 to 1925, he worked in the reconnaissance section of the Far Eastern Frontier Plenipotentiary Representative Office and carried out underground work in places such as Manchuria.<ref name="xhw2" /> After 1925, he worked in the Far Eastern Frontier and served as the head of the Foreign Affairs Department of the Far Eastern Frontier Leadership Committee. During the 1929 Sino-Soviet conflict, he was responsible for sabotage and underground work in Pogranichny. From 1930 to 1932, he was responsible for intelligence work against the Empire of Japan in Heihe City, and worked on Operation Maki Mirage.<ref name=":0" /> From 1933 to 1935, he worked in the Far Eastern Frontier Internal Affairs Department in Shanghai. From 1935 to 1937, he served as the plenipotentiary representative of the 7th Department of the State Security Leadership Committee of the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs, during which time he carried out underground work in the Republic of China.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="xhw2" />
=== Death === In February 1938, during the Great Purge, he was arrested in Khabarovsk and accused of being a spy for the Empire of Japan and a Trotskyist.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=August 16, 2008 |title=Подвиг разведчика. Из книги С. Николаева «Маки-Мираж». Печатается в сокращении., 16 августа 2008 |trans-title=A scout's feat. From S. Nikolaev's book "Maquis-Mirage." Published in abridged form, August 16, 2008 |url=http://www.amurpravda.ru/articles/2008/08/16/1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304135321/http://www.amurpravda.ru/articles/2008/08/16/1.html |archive-date=2016-03-04 |access-date=2012-12-09 |website=Amurskaya pravda |language=ru}}</ref> Following a ten-minute show trial, he was executed by firing squad in Khabarovsk on September 21, 1938.<ref name=":2" /> On November 8, 1956, the Military Tribunal of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union posthumously exonerated him.<ref name="xhw2">{{Cite web |date=May 25, 2011 |title="被遗忘的中共一大参加者"尼克尔斯基的照片与生平史料发现经过 |trans-title=The Discovery of Photos and Biographical Materials about Nikolsky, a Forgotten Participant in the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party |url=http://www.zgdsw.org.cn/GB/222988/223508/14821461.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180909073854/http://www.zgdsw.org.cn/GB/222988/223508/14821461.html |archive-date=September 9, 2018 |accessdate= |publisher=People's Daily Online |language=zh}}</ref>
== Legacy == Because Nikolsky's life and career were largely unknown for a long time, he was called the "forgotten" participant of the 1st National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party or the "fifteenth person" of the 1st National Congress.<ref name="xhw2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Российские и монгольские ученые помогли найти фотографии и архивные документы, касающиеся 15-го участника 1- го съезда КПК |trans-title=Russian and Mongolian scholars helped find photographs and archival documents related to the 15th participant of the 1st CCP Congress. |url=http://russian.cpc.people.com.cn/84053/6274190.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403163334/http://russian.cpc.people.com.cn/84053/6274190.html |archive-date=2013-04-03 |access-date=2012-12-09 |website=People's Daily |language=ru}}</ref> In the 1986, Chinese diplomats asked Mikhail Gorbachev for assistance in locating biographical materials and photographs of Nikolsky.<ref name="xhw2" /> Mongolian and Russian archival scholars later located a photograph of Nikolsky.<ref name=":3" /><ref name="xhw2" /> In September 2007, a photograph of Nikolsky was first displayed at the Site of the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.<ref name="xhw2" />
== See also ==
* History of the Chinese Communist Party
== References == <references /> Category:1889 births Category:1938 deaths Category:Military personnel of the Far Eastern Republic Category:Delegates to the 1st National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party Category:Comintern people Category:People from Transbaikal Oblast Category:Cheka officers Category:NKVD officers Category:Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Category:Great Purge victims from Russia Category:Jews executed by the Soviet Union