Sevket Sureyya (Aydemir) in Aydinlik Community (1924-1925)

Abstract

Following the World War, Sevket Sureyya (Aydemir) went to Azerbaijan for teaching with the dreams of Turanism. After a short period of teaching experience here, he met with socialism, entered the Communist Party of Turkey and received a revolutionary education at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East. After this education, he came to Istanbul with revolutionary missions at the end of 1923 or the beginning of 1924. Then, he held one of the senior positions at the Communist Party of Turkey and carried out organization and propaganda activities. He wrote theoretical articles in Aydinlik journal, one of the legal media organs of the party. Sevket Sureyya wrote a booklet named What is Strike? in 1924, contributed also to the book named Lenin and Leninism which was published again in Aydinlik publications in the same year and wrote a section in this book. In his articles in Aydinlik journal, he evaluated the Marxist Theory, analyzed the views of Marx, Engels and Lenin; in his booklet What is Strike?, he addressed to workers and workers' leaders as a leading, conscious, revolutionary leader and explained them the various methods and tactics of strike; evaluated Lenin and Bolshevik Revolution in the section he has written in the book Lenin and Leninism. In all these writings, he also expressed his views on the Turkish Revolution and evaluated the Turkish revolution with his Marxist identity. This article focuses on the years of Sevket Sureyya in Aydinlik Community, especially on 1924 and 1925. First of all, the mentioned community was emphasized in these years, and the political views of Sefik Husnu, the leader of the Aydinlik community and the spokesman of Aydinlik views, were briefly explained. Afterwards, this period of Sevket Sureyya, which has not been studied much and was incomplete, was evaluated by examining the aforesaid publications.