Ruhulla Akhundov

Ruhulla Akhundov
Born	Template:Birth date Baku, Azerbaijan (then Russian Empire)
Died	April 21, 1938(1938-04-21) (aged 41)
Occupation(s)	Politician, journalist, publisher
Years active	1916–1936
Known for	Second Secretary of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan (1925–1926); translator of Marx, Engels, Lenin into Azerbaijani; People's Commissar of Education of Azerbaijan SSR

Ruhulla Akhundov (; born 1 January 1897 – died 21 April 1938) was an Azerbaijani Soviet figure in politics, publishing, and journalism who held the position of Second Secretary of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan between 1925 and 1926 during the era of Joseph Stalin's rule.

Life and career

Originating from a family of educators, Akhundov was proficient in multiple languages. His career began in 1916 at a printing establishment. By 1917, he became affiliated with the Azerbaijani Left-Socialist-Revolutionaries' Farmers' Party. In 1918, he took on the role of editor for the Baku Council's newspaper Izvestia, and in 1919, he edited the clandestine Bolshevik Azerbaijani publication Kommunist. That same year marked his entry into the Communist Party.

After Soviet power was established in Azerbaijan, Akhundov led the rural department within the Central Committee, acted as secretary for the Baku party committee, and managed editorial responsibilities for various publications including Kommunist. Between 1924 and 1930, he served as secretary of the Azerbaijan SSR Communist Party Central Committee, directed Azerneshra (the state publishing house), and fulfilled duties as People's Commissar of Education. During this period, he encountered criticism linked to the “right-leftist bloc” but admitted to errors.

In 1930, Akhundov assumed the role of secretary for the Transcaucasian Regional Committee of the VKP(b). He participated as a delegate at Party Congresses from the 10th through the 17th and attended the 2nd Congress of the Communist International. Subsequently, he worked at the Institute of Party History under Azerbaijan's Communist Party Central Committee and oversaw arts administration within the Azerbaijan SSR Council of People's Commissars. He played a significant role in founding Azerbaijan's branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Akhundov was among the pioneers translating works by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Lenin into Azerbaijani. He authored numerous texts on historical, artistic, and literary subjects and edited a two-volume Russian-Azerbaijani dictionary published between 1928 and 1929.

During the 1930s, he contributed to the editorial board of Revolution and Nationalities, a journal issued by the People's Commissariat of Nationalities.

Arrest and execution

In December 1936, Akhundov was dismissed from all official roles and expelled from the Communist Party. He was arrested in 1938 on charges of "participation in terrorist activities" and subsequently condemned to death by firing squad by a Military Tribunal. His execution took place on April 21, 1938, at Butovo firing range. In 1959, he received posthumous rehabilitation from the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR.