Fyodor Raskolnikov Fyodor Fyodorovich Raskolnikov ( ; ( 28 January 1892 , Saint Petersburg , Russia – 12 September 1939 , Nice , France ) , real name Fyodor Ilyin ( ) , was a Bolshevik , participant in the October Revolution , commander of Red fleets on the Caspian and the Baltic during the Russian Civil War , and later a Soviet diplomat . The pseudonym Raskolnikov most probably came from Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov , the fictional protagonist of " Crime and Punishment " , the novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky . Career . Early life . Fyodor Raskolnikov was born out of wedlock to a general ' s daughter , A . V . Ilyina , and an Orthodox priest F . A . Petrov ( according to other sources , archpriest Sergushenkov ) . He graduated from Prince Oldenburgsky Orphanage , studied at Saint Petersburg Polytechnical Institute , and then at the Midshipman ( " gardemarin " ) School in Saint Petersburg . In 1910 he entered the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party . In 1917 he received the Naval rank of Midshipman ( " michman " ) but he never participated in World War I . Kronstadt . In March 1917 he was sent to the sea fortress of Kronstadt , where he edited the newspaper " Golos Pravdy " ( Voice of Truth ) : an incarnation of the forbidden at that time Pravda newspaper . He was one of the organizers of the Kronstadt Mutiny in July 1917 . He was arrested by troops loyal to the Russian Provisional Government but released on October 11 , 1917 , a few weeks before the October Revolution . Remainder of the revolution . In November 1917 Raskolnikov with a group of Kronstadt seamen was sent to fight anti - Bolshevik insurgents in Moscow . He was elected to the Russian Constituent Assembly . On 29 January 1918 he became the deputy Narkom of " Naval Affairs " . In July 1918 , he was sent to the Eastern Front , as the Commissar ( member of Revvoeyensovet ) of the Eastern Front . On the Eastern Front , he commanded ( since August 1918 ) the Red Volga Flotilla , which participated in the Kazan Operation . Raskolnikov was promoted to membership of the Revvoeyensovet of RSFSR on ( September 2 , 1918 ) . At the end of 1918 he became the deputy commander of the 7th Army and the Commissar of the Baltic Fleet . Some time during 1918 , Raskolnikov married Larisa Reisner . While commanding a fleet consisting of a battleship , cruiser and two destroyer s that was supposed to counter the British fleet , he became a prisoner of war when his destroyer " Spartak " was captured by the Royal Navy in the beginning of 1919 . On May 27 , 1919 he was exchanged for 17 British prisoners of war and became the commander of the Caspian Flotilla . Under his command the flotilla attacked the British base at Enzeli , on the 18th of May 1920 . Soviet service . During the Trade Union debate ( 1920 ) Raskolnikov supported Leon Trotsky . In June 1920 – January 1921 Raskolnikov commanded the Baltic Fleet . During his tenure relations between the commanding officers and seamen deteriorated and ended with the Kronstadt Rebellion . A month later Raskolnikov was removed from that command . During 1921 – 1923 Raskolnikov was the ambassador to Afghanistan ( the first country that established diplomatic relations with RSFSR ) . Raskolnikov ' s actions caused a diplomatic rift with Great Britain and the British government insisted on his removal . Eventually he was replaced . From 1930 Raskolnikov was the plenipotentiary representative to Estonia , then Denmark , then Bulgaria . In March 1938 he was recalled to the USSR . On April 1 , 1938 he refused to return . In 1939 he published his famous " Open Letter to Stalin " , and promptly died from " falling out of a window . " According to historian Roy Medvedev he might have been assassinated by NKVD agents . There are theories that the assassin might have been Sergei Efron , husband of the poet Marina Tsvetayeva . Raskolnikov was posthumously rehabilitated in 1963 . Literary career . During 1924 – 1930 Raskolnikov was the editor - in - chief of the literary magazine " Molodaya Gvardiya " ( later also publishing house " Moskovsky Rabochy " ) . From 1928 he was the chairman of the " Repertory Committee " , the de facto main censor of theatre and cinematography . He also wrote his own play " Robespierre " which even servile critics labelled " dry and boring " .