Roshal, Mikhail

Born May 10 (22), 1897, in St. Petersburg. Figure in the Russian revolutionary movement. Member of the Communist Party from 1915. Brother of S. G. Roshal’.

Roshal’ became involved in the revolutionary movement in 1913. He joined the army after the February Revolution of 1917 and became one of the organizers of a Bolshevik cell in Novgorod. In April 1917 the Central Committee of the RSDLP(B) sent him to Helsingfors, where he was elected secretary of the city committee of the RSDLP(B). During the preparation and implementation of the October Revolution of 1917, Roshal’ was secretary of the Novgorod provincial committee of the party and a member of the Military Revolutionary Committee. In 1918 he was a member of the executive committee of the Voronezh provincial soviet. In 1919 he was chairman of the council of the economy of Kazan Province and a member of the provincial committee of the party. In 1920 he was chairman of the Council of the Economy of Tataria and a member of the Tatar Central Executive Committee.

Roshal’ was later engaged in party, soviet, and economic work. He retired on a merit pension in 1954. Roshal’ wrote two books of memoirs, The October Events in Novgorod (1957) and On the Road to the Revolution (1957), as well as articles on S. G. Roshal’.