Lunacharski, Anatoli Vasilievich (1873–1933)

Russian politician and literary critic. From the October Revolution until 1929, he was people's commissar for education in the Russian Federal Republic. Modernistic experimentation in schools ended with his removal from the ministry. Later, liberal Soviet literary critics referred to Lunacharski's views to support an easing of cultural policy.

From early youth he belonged to Marxist circles, later joining the Social Democratic party and its Bolshevik faction. In 1904–05 he supported Lenin against the Bolshevik Central Committee. In 1909 he broke with Lenin. With Bogdanov and Gorki, he formed the left-wing Bolshevik sub-faction ‘Forward’. During World War I he was an internationalist. After the February Revolution in 1917 he returned to Russia from emigration and soon rejoined the Bolshevik party. Himself a Bogdanovist, Lunacharski was largely responsible for the flourishing of Bogdanovism in the 1920s. In 1933 he was appointed ambassador to Spain, but died in Paris on the way there.