Sergo Ordzhonikidze (1886–1937) was a Bolshevik and Soviet politician from Georgia. Joining the Bolsheviks at a young age, he became an important figure and was arrested repeatedly. After the Bolsheviks came to power in 1917, he oversaw the invasions of Azerbaijan, of Armenia, and of Georgia. He backed their union into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic in 1922, one of the original Soviet republics, and served as its first secretary until 1926. He then oversaw Soviet economic production and led a massive overhaul; he implemented five-year plans, helped create the Stakhanovite movement and was named to the Politburo. He was reluctant to join the campaign against so- called wreckers and saboteurs in the early 1930s, causing friction with Joseph Stalin. Before a meeting where he was expected to denounce workers, Ordzhonikidze shot himself. He was posthumously honoured, and several towns and cities in the Soviet Union were named after him.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergo_Ordzhonikidze
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1872:
HMS Challenger departed Portsmouth on a scientific expedition that laid the foundations of oceanography. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Challenger_%281858%29
1937:
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length cel- animated feature in film history, premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White_and_the_Seven_Dwarfs_%281937_film%29
1970:
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat (example pictured), the primary fighter aircraft of the U.S. Navy for nearly 30 years, made its first flight. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_F-14_Tomcat
1995:
In accordance with the Oslo II Accord, Israeli troops withdrew from Bethlehem in preparation for the transfer of control to the Palestinian National Authority. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlehem
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
Sherman necktie: (US, rail transport, historical, chiefly in the plural) A segment of rail that has been heated and twisted into a loop, as a means of destroying a railway. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Sherman_necktie
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
The tide has turned! The light will come again! In a new dawn, in a new day, The sun is rising! Io! Evohe! Blessed Be! --Starhawk https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Starhawk