Fritz Platten

Fritz Platten (8 July 1883 – 22 April 1942) was a Swiss Communist.

After the collapse of the Second International, Platten joined the Zimmerwald Movement and became a Communist.

Fritz Platten is mostly known for having been the main organizer of Lenin’s return trip from the exile in Switzerland back home to Russia after the February Revolution. Due to the First World War, the trip was not easily arranged, but Lenin and his company traveled through Germany in a sealed traincar. They then took the ferry to Sweden and were greeted in Stockholm by the Swedish communist leaders Otto Grimlund, Ture Nerman, Carl Lindhagen and Fredrik Ström, who together with Platten had helped plan the trip. The train ride then continued through northern Sweden and Finland back to Russia and St Petersburg.

Fritz Platten participated in the foundation of the Communist International, and as a representative of the Swiss Communist Party, Platten spent a great deal of his time in the Soviet Union.

Fritz Platten was also present when Lenin’s car was under attack in Petrograd on 14 January 1918. The two were riding in the back of the car together after having given a public speech. When the shooting started "Platten grabbed Lenin by the head and pushed him down. ... Platten’s hand was covered in blood, having been grazed by a bullet as he was shielding Lenin." [Volkogonov, Dmitri "Lenin: A New Biography", 1994. Page 229.]

Platten became a victim of the Stalinist purges of the 1930s and died in prison camp in 1942 after being extradited to Nazi Germany. [McDermott, Kevin "The Comintern: A History of International Communism from Lenin to Stalin", 1996. Page 146.]

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