Victor Serge

Victor Serge ( French: [viktɔʁ sɛʁʒ]; born Viktor Lvovich Kibalchich, Russian: Ви́ктор Льво́вич Киба́льчич; 30 December 1890 – 17 November 1947) was a Belgian-born Russian revolutionary, novelist, poet, historian, journalist, and translator. Serge was a key eyewitness to and participant in the revolutionary movements of the 20th century and the opposition to Stalinism, which influenced his writing along with contemporary Modernist experiments. His notable and best-known works as an author include such novels as The Case of Comrade Tulayev, his historical account Year One of the Russian Revolution, and his Memoirs of a Revolutionary, 1901–1941.

Originally an anarchist, Victor Serge joined the Bolsheviks in January 1919 after arriving in Petrograd (Saint Petersburg) at the height of the Russian Civil War. He worked for the Comintern as a journalist, editor, and translator and was an early critic of the emerging Stalinist regime. Serge joined the Left Opposition in 1923 and was expelled from the Communist Party in late 1927 or early 1928. He was imprisoned by the Soviet regime in 1928 and again from 1933 to 1936.