Naftalí Botwin was born into a Jewish proletarian family in Polish-controlled Galicia, he would move from the Bund to join the Communist Youth Union of Western Ukraine and then the Party. On July 29, 1925 he executed the Polish police spy Chechnovski, responsible for the persecutions of death many worker Communists. His defiant trial and August 6, 1925 execution served as the inspiration for the Bottwin Company of the International Brigades in Spain.

The the largely-Jewish Naphtali Bottwin Compnay (though it also contained the only two Arab volunteers in the Brigades) of the International Brigade’s Palafox Battalion fought in Spain, which numbered 200 so combatants recruited from Poland, France, Belgium, Palestine and Spain. A Yiddish newspaper “Botwin” was published at the front and the company’s flag was emblazoned with “For your freedom and ours” in Yiddish and Polish. Nearly 10% of Internationalist combatants in Spain were Jewish, including 30% of U.S. volunteers.

The Company went into action on 12 February 1938 in the Sierra Quemed, soon fought at Belchite in March, 1938, and would made its final assault on June 27, 1938 attempting to take Hill 281during the battle of the Ebro. Of the 120 comrades who made the charge, only 18 survived. All four successive commanders of the company would also be killed in action. Bottwin’s death was most certainly not in vain.

Naphtali Bottwin, Presente! The Naphtali Bottwin Company, Presente!’

‘The Martyr Death of Comrade Naphtali Bottwin’ by Hirny from International Press Correspondence. Vol. 5 No. 65. August 20, 1925.

Moscow, 7th August 1925. On the 5th of August there commenced in Lemberg the trial of the Communist, Comrade Bottwin, who shot the police spy Cechnovski. Bottwin bore himself bravely before the military court. He declared that he shot Cechnovski as a convinced communist because the latter was a loathsome agent provocateur. On the 6th of August Bottwin. after the announcement the death sentence was executed by being shot.

Naphtali Bottwin, a leather work of twenty years of age who shot Cechnovski, a Polish provocateur, on the street in Lemberg, was executed on the 9th of August at 1:15 in the afternoon in the “Brygidge” prison yard in Lemberg.

Comrade Bottwin behaved before the white guardist court and immediately before his execution like a true hero. The proud face of this youthful hero remained quite calm when the death sentence was pronounce.

“I am a Communist”, he said to his white guardist judges, ”and I do not repent having shot a provocateur”. When Bottwin was asked as to who were his accomplices, he replied: ”l alone bear the responsibility for my deed.” He did not betray anybody. The Polish police attempted to besmirch the name of this hero and spread reports that Bottwin had betrayed his comrades. This is a base lie. Up to the last moment of his short life this youthful hero thought of the Communist Party and the Communist ideal.

His face beamed with inward joy as, when standing on the place of execution, he met the eyes of hundreds of political prisoners who were looking out at him from their cells and called out to him their last greetings. “I am happy”, he said to his defender Dr. Axer. “this is the most beautiful hour of my life”.

Bottwin’s life was gloomy and indescribably sad. The life of a real proletarian child. Born in 1905 in a small town of Galicia, he lost his father at a very early age. Alter passing the third standard of the elementary school he had to commence work in order to support his mother and seven brothers and sisters. As a boy of thirteen he sold cigarettes and later became an apprentice to a boot-maker.

In 1923 he became a member of the Communist Youth and at the end of 1924, a member of the Communist Party. He was very active in the Leather Worker’s Trade Union. On July 28^th he shot Cechnovski, a blood-stained, abominable agent provocateur. Bottwin became the revenger of the working class of Poland. His bullet killed the betrayer of the cause of the workers, the most dangerous provocateur, who for years had done great damage to the Communist Party and had caused the death of some of our best comrades.

The news oi Cechnovski’s death spread like wild-fire through all the working class quarters of Poland. The workers of Warsaw, Lodz, etc. rejoiced. The blood of Baginski and Vieczorkievicz was at last revenged.

Bottwin showed us how a communist should behave before his class enemies how a communist should die! With proud courage, head erect and beaming eye, Bottwin went to the wall where eight soldiers with loaded rifles stood facing him. He showed the rabbi the door when the latter came to his cell. He sings the “International”. This youth of twenty years does not allow his eyes to be bandaged. “Long live the revolution! Long live Communism! Down with the bourgeoisie!” are his last words. Eight shots ring out and Bottwin falls to the ground.

All present are deeply moved, even the class enemies. The defenders weep. Above, in the cells, the political prisoners sing the “International” with trembling voices and call out: “We will revenge your heroic death and your blood.” “Down with the bourgeoisie!”

Bottwin is not dead. His spirit is immortal. He lives in us. His name is enshrined in the hearts oi the proletarians of Poland and of the whole world.

Honour to the memory oi the young hero!

‘The Martyr Death of Comrade Naphtali Bottwin’ by Hirny from International Press Correspondence. Vo. 5 No. 65. August 20, 1925.

Moscow, 7th August 1925. On the 5th of August there commenced in Lemberg the trial of the Communist, Comrade Bottwin, who shot the police spy Cechnovski. Bottwin bore himself bravely before the military court. He declared that he shot Cechnovski as a convinced communist because the latter was a loathsome agent provocateur. On the 6th of August Bottwin. after the announcement the death sentence was executed by being shot.

Naphtali Bottwin, a leather work of twenty years of age who shot Cechnovski, a Polish provocateur, on the street in Lemberg, was executed on the 9th of August at 1:15 in the afternoon in the “Brygidge” prison yard in Lemberg.

Comrade Bottwin behaved before the white guardist court and immediately before his execution like a true hero. The proud face of this youthful hero remained quite calm when the death sentence was pronounce.

“I am a Communist”, he said to his white guardist judges, ”and I do not repent having shot a provocateur”. When Bottwin was asked as to who were his accomplices, he replied: ”l alone bear the responsibility for my deed.” He did not betray anybody. The Polish police attempted to besmirch the name of this hero and spread reports that Bottwin had betrayed his comrades. This is a base lie. Up to the last moment of his short life this youthful hero thought of the Communist Party and the Communist ideal.

His face beamed with inward joy as, when standing on the place of execution, he met the eyes of hundreds of political prisoners who were looking out at him from their cells and called out to him their last greetings. “I am happy”, he said to his defender Dr. Axer. “this is the most beautiful hour of my life”.

Bottwin’s life was gloomy and indescribably sad. The life of a real proletarian child. Born in 1905 in a small town of Galicia, he lost his father at a very early age. Alter passing the third standard of the elementary school he had to commence work in order to support his mother and seven brothers and sisters. As a boy of thirteen he sold cigarettes and later became an apprentice to a boot-maker.

In 1923 he became a member oi the Communist Youth and at the end of 1924, a member of the Communist Party. He was very active in the Leather Worker’s Trade Union. On July 28th he shot Cechnovski, a blood-stained, abominable agent provocateur. Bottwin became the revenger of the working class of Poland. His bullet killed the betrayer of the cause of the workers, the most dangerous provocateur, who for years had done great damage to the Communist Party and had caused the death of some of our best comrades.

The news oi Cechnovski’s death spread like wild-fire through all the working class quarters of Poland. The workers of Warsaw, Lodz, etc. rejoiced. The blood of Baginski and Vieczorkievicz was at last revenged.

Bottwin showed us how a communist should behave before his class enemies how a communist should die! With proud courage, head erect and beaming eye, Bottwin went to the wall where eight soldiers with loaded rifles stood facing him. He showed the rabbi the door when the latter came to his cell. He sings the “International”. This youth of twenty years does not allow his eyes to be bandaged. “Long live the revolution! Long live Communism! Down with the bourgeoisie!” are his last words. Eight shots ring out and Bottwin falls to the ground.

All present are deeply moved, even the class enemies. The defenders weep. Above, in the cells, the political prisoners sing the “International” with trembling voices and call out: “We will revenge your heroic death and your blood.” “Down with the bourgeoisie!”

Bottwin is not dead. His spirit is immortal. He lives in us. His name is enshrined in the hearts oi the proletarians of Poland and of the whole world.

Honour to the memory of the young hero!

International Press Correspondence, widely known as”Inprecor” was published by the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) regularly in German and English, occasionally in many other languages, beginning in 1921 and lasting in English until 1938. Inprecor’s role was to supply translated articles to the English-speaking press of the International from the Comintern’s different sections, as well as news and statements from the ECCI. Many ‘Daily Worker’ and ‘Communist’ articles originated in Inprecor, and it also published articles by American comrades for use in other countries. It was published at least weekly, and often thrice weekly. The ECCI also published the magazine ‘Communist International’ edited by Zinoviev and Karl Radek from 1919 until 1926 monthly in German, French, Russian, and English. Unlike, Inprecor, CI contained long-form articles by the leading figures of the International as well as proceedings, statements, and notices of the Comintern. No complete run of Communist International is available in English. Both were largely published outside of Soviet territory, with Communist International printed in London, to facilitate distribution and both were major contributors to the Communist press in the U.S. Communist International and Inprecor are an invaluable English-language source on the history of the Communist International and its sections.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/inprecor/1925/v05n65-aug-20-1925-inprecor.pdf