Alternatively, "... his father was Fedor Ilyin, a progressive St. Petersburg churchman, a widower who could not legally remarry and whose sons were therefore technically illegitimate.

On the Eastern Front, he commanded, starting in August 1918, the Red Volga Flotilla, which participated in the Kazan Operation.

Appointed commander of the Caspian Flotilla[1] he led the assault on the British base at Enzeli, on May 18, 1920[7] which captured what remained of the White Russian navy and British garrison stationed there, and established the short-lived Iranian Socialist Soviet Republic, in northern Iran.

In August 1920, Raskolnikov wrote a report warning that the shipbuilding facilities in Petrograd had been so sorely depleted of technical specialists during the civil war that they were not capable even of repairing damaged ships.

He called for a recruitment drive, a wage system based on piece work, and an end to 'interference' by the Metal Workers' Union.

[8] During the trade-union debate from 1920 to 1921, Raskolnikov supported Leon Trotsky's position of taking a hard line about state control of unions.

During his tenure, relations between the commanding officers and seamen deteriorated, and tensions would culminate a few weeks later with the Kronstadt rebellion of March 1921.

[9] Raskolnikov's actions caused a diplomatic rift with Great Britain, and the British government insisted on his removal.

After his return, Krasnaya Nov was filled with articles by advocates of proletarian literature, such Ilya Vardin, whom Voronsky had refused to publish.

But Raskolnikov was ousted from the magazine early in 1925, possibly because Maxim Gorky had angrily refused to contribute while he was in charge.

[1] However, "Around the end of the decade his photographs disappeared from reference books, and editors mentioning him favourably were reprimanded or dismissed.