Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Zinoviev | |
|---|---|
Григорий Зиновьев | |
9th Politburo | |
| In office 25 March 1919 – 16 March 1921 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky 23 September 1883 (1918–1927, 1928–1932, 1933–1934) |
Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev[a] (born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky;[b] 23 September [O.S. 11 September] 1883 – 25 August 1936) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. A prominent Old Bolshevik, Zinoviev was Vladimir Lenin's closest associate prior to 1917 and a leading government figure in the early Soviet Union, serving as chairman of the Communist International (Comintern) from 1919 to 1926.
Born in Ukraine to a Jewish family, Zinoviev joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1901 and sided with Vladimir Lenin's Bolsheviks in the party's 1903 split, forging a close political relationship with him. After participating in the failed Revolution of 1905, he followed Lenin across Europe, serving as his constant aide-de-camp. Zinoviev returned to Russia after the February Revolution of 1917, but joined with Lev Kamenev in opposing Lenin's "April Theses" and later the armed seizure of power which became the October Revolution. He lost the trust of Lenin, who began relying on Leon Trotsky, but was nevertheless elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet and the Comintern, and a full member of the Politburo in 1921.
During Lenin's final illness and after his death in 1924, Zinoviev allied with Kamenev and
After the 1934 assassination of Sergei Kirov, a close ally of Stalin, Zinoviev was accused of complicity in his killing and sentenced to ten years in prison. While imprisoned, Zinoviev was further accused of treason and other offenses during the Stalinist Great Purge, and was executed after a show trial in August 1936.
Biography
Before the 1917 Revolution (1901–1917)
Grigory Zinoviev was born in Yelizavetgrad,
1917
Zinoviev spent the first three years of
On 29 October 1917 (Julian calendar), immediately after the Bolshevik seizure of power during the
The Civil War (1918–1920)
Zinoviev soon returned to the fold and was once again elected to the Central Committee at the
Sometime in 1918, while Ukraine was under German occupation, the rabbis of Odessa ceremonially anathematized (pronounced herem against) Trotsky, Zinoviev, and other Bolshevik leaders of Jewish descent in the synagogue.[7]
Shortly after the assassination of
To overcome our enemies we must have our own socialist militarism. We must carry along with us 90 million out of the 100 million of Soviet Russia's population. As for the rest, we have nothing to say to them. They must be annihilated.[8]
He became a non-voting member of the ruling
Zinoviev was responsible for Petrograd's defence during two periods of intense clashes with
Rise to the top (1921–1923)
In early 1921, when the Communist Party was split into several factions, and policy disagreements were threatening the unity of the Party, Zinoviev supported Lenin's faction. As a result, Zinoviev was made a full member of the Politburo after the
Zinoviev was one of the most influential figures in the Soviet leadership during Lenin's final illness in 1922–23 and immediately after his death in January 1924. He delivered the Central Committee's reports to the XIIth and XIIIth Party Congresses in 1923 and 1924, respectively, something that Lenin had previously done. He was also considered one of the Communist Party's leading theoreticians.[citation needed] One of the main functions of the Comintern was Bolshevization, whereby the proletarian revolution was postponed, and an emphasis was put on unconditional support for the Kremlin's foreign policy.[citation needed] The Comintern closely supervised many national parties, and reorganized them along Soviet lines, with a healthy dose of Soviet political rhetoric as well.[11]
Trotsky attributed Stalin's appointment to the initial recommendation of Zinoviev.[12] This view has been supported by several historians.[13][14] According to Russian historian, Vadim Rogovin Stalin's election occurred after the Eleventh Party Congress (March–April 1922), in which Lenin, due to his poor health, participated only sporadically, and only attended four of the twelve sessions of the Congress.[15]
With Stalin and Kamenev against Trotsky (1923–1924)
During Lenin's final illness, Zinoviev, his close associate Kamenev and Joseph Stalin formed a ruling Triumvirate (also known by its Russian name Troika) in the Communist Party, playing a key role in marginalization of Leon Trotsky. According to political scientist, Michael Reiman, Zinoviev was unable to assert a dominant position in the party on his own and that position passed onto Stalin.[16]
The triumvirate carefully managed the intra-party debate and delegate-selection process in autumn 1923, during the run-up to the XIIIth Party Conference, and secured the vast majority of the seats. The Conference, held in January 1924 just before Lenin's death, denounced Trotsky and Trotskyism. Some of Trotsky's supporters suffered demotion or reassignment in the wake of his defeat, and Zinoviev's power and influence seemed at its zenith. However, as subsequent events showed, his real power base was limited to the Petrograd/Leningrad Party organization, while the rest of the Communist Party apparatus came increasingly under Stalin's control.
After Trotsky's defeat at the XIIIth Conference, tensions between Zinoviev and Kamenev, on the one hand, and Stalin on the other became more pronounced and threatened to end their alliance. Nevertheless, Zinoviev and Kamenev helped Stalin retain his position as General Secretary of the Central Committee at the XIIIth Party Congress in May–June 1924 during the first Lenin's Testament controversy.
After a brief lull in the summer of 1924, Trotsky published Break with Stalin (1925)
With Trotsky finally on the sidelines, the Zinoviev-Kamenev-Stalin triumvirate began to crumble early in 1925. The two sides spent most of the year lining up support behind the scenes. Stalin struck an alliance with a Communist Party theoretician and Pravda editor Nikolai Bukharin and Soviet prime minister Alexei Rykov. Zinoviev and Kamenev allied with Lenin's widow, Nadezhda Krupskaya, and Grigory Sokolnikov, the Soviet Commissar of Finance and a non-voting Politburo member. The struggle became open at the September 1925 meeting of the Central Committee and came to a head at the XIVth Party Congress in December 1925. With only the Leningrad delegation behind them, Zinoviev and Kamenev found themselves in a tiny minority and were soundly defeated. Zinoviev was re-elected to the Politburo, but his ally Kamenev was demoted from a full member to a non-voting member and Sokolnikov was dropped altogether, while Stalin had more of his allies elected to the Politburo. Within weeks of the Congress, Stalin wrested control of the Leningrad party organization and government from Zinoviev and had him dismissed from all regional posts, leaving only the Comintern as a possible power base for Zinoviev.
According to Rogovin, Zinoviev would later lambast Stalin with the words, "Does comrade Stalin know what gratitude is?", as a reminder that Kamenev and himself had saved him from political downfall with the censure of Lenin's testament during the Thirteenth Congress. Stalin responded with the words: "But of course I know, I know very well - it's an illness that afflicts dogs".[17]
With Trotsky and Kamenev against Stalin (1926–1927)
During a lull in the intra-party fighting in the spring of 1926, Zinoviev, Kamenev and their supporters gravitated closer to Trotsky's supporters and the two groups soon formed an alliance, which also incorporated some smaller opposition groups within the Communist Party. The alliance became known as the United Opposition. In May 1926, Stalin, weighing his options in a letter to Vyacheslav Molotov, directed his supporters to concentrate their attacks on Zinoviev since the latter was intimately familiar with Stalin's methods from their time together in the triumvirate. Following Stalin's orders, his supporters accused Zinoviev of using the Comintern apparatus in support of factional activities (the Lashevich Affair) and Zinoviev was dismissed from the Politburo after a tumultuous Central Committee meeting in July 1926. Soon thereafter the office of the Comintern Chairman was abolished, and Zinoviev lost his last important post.
Zinoviev remained in opposition to Stalin throughout 1926 and 1927, resulting in his expulsion from the Central Committee in October 1927. When the United Opposition tried to organize independent demonstrations commemorating the 10th anniversary of the October revolution in November 1927, the demonstrators were dispersed by force and Zinoviev and Trotsky were expelled from the Communist Party on 12 November. Their leading supporters, from Kamenev down, were expelled in December 1927 by the XVth Party Congress, which paved the way for mass expulsions of rank-and-file oppositionists as well as internal exile of opposition leaders in early 1928.
Submission to Stalin (1928–1934)
While Trotsky remained firm in his opposition to Stalin after his expulsion from the Party and subsequent exile, Zinoviev and Kamenev capitulated almost immediately and called on their supporters to follow suit. They wrote open letters acknowledging their mistakes and were readmitted to the Communist Party after a six-month cooling off period. They never regained their Central Committee seats, but they were given mid-level positions within the Soviet bureaucracy. Bukharin, then at the beginning of his short and ill-fated struggle with Stalin, courted Kamenev and, indirectly, Zinoviev during the summer of 1928. This was soon reported to Stalin and used against Bukharin as proof of his factionalism.
After once more admitting their supposed mistakes, they were readmitted to the Party in December 1933. They were forced to make self-flagellating speeches at the XVIIth Party Congress in January 1934, with Stalin parading his erstwhile political opponents, now defeated and outwardly contrite.
The Moscow trials (1935–1936)
After the murder of Sergei Kirov on 1 December 1934 (which served as one of the triggers for the Great Purge of the Soviet Communist Party),[citation needed] Zinoviev, Kamenev and their closest associates were once again expelled from the party and arrested in December 1934. They were tried in January 1935 and forced to admit "moral complicity" in Kirov's assassination. Zinoviev was sentenced to 10 years in prison and his supporters to various prison terms.
In August 1936, after months of rehearsals in secret police prisons, Zinoviev, Kamenev and 14 others, mostly
Before the trial, Zinoviev and Kamenev had agreed to plead guilty to the false charges on the condition that they not be executed, a condition that Stalin accepted, stating "that goes without saying". A few hours after their conviction, Stalin ordered their execution that night.[18] Shortly after midnight, on the morning of 25 August, Zinoviev and Kamenev were executed by firing squad.
Accounts of Zinoviev's execution vary, with some having him beg and plead for his life, prompting the stoic Kamenev to tell Zinoviev to "quiet down and
Zinoviev's futile pleading was later re-enacted and mocked by Stalin's personal bodyguard, Karl Pauker.[20] Stalin was described to have "laughed immoderately on seeing an imitation of the old Bolshevik leader Grigori Zinoviev being dragged to his execution, making pleas for mercy with obscenities".[21][22][23] Pauker would himself later perish in the purges.[24]
The execution of Zinoviev, Kamenev and their associates was a sensational news event in the USSR and around the world, paving the way for the mass arrests and executions of the Great Purge of 1937–1938. In 1988, during perestroika, Zinoviev and his co-defendants were formally rehabilitated by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union.[25]
"Zinoviev Letter"
Zinoviev was the alleged author of the "
"The letter of 15 September 1924, which has been attributed to me, is from the first to the last word, a forgery. Let us take the heading. The organisation of which I am the president never describes itself officially as the Executive Committee of the Third Communist International; the official name is Executive Committee of the Communist International. Equally incorrect is the signature, The Chairman of the Presidium. The forger has shown himself to be very stupid in his choice of the date. On 15 September 1924, I was taking a holiday in Kislovodsk, and, therefore, could not have signed any official letter....
It is not difficult to understand why some of the leaders of the Liberal-Conservative bloc had recourse to such methods as the forging of documents. Apparently they seriously thought they would be able, at the last minute before the elections, to create confusion in the ranks of those electors who sincerely sympathise with the Treaty between England and the Soviet Union. It is much more difficult to understand why the English Foreign Office, which is still under the control of the Prime Minister, MacDonald, did not refrain from making use of such a white-guardist forgery."[26]
See also
Notes
- ^ Russian: Григорий Евсеевич Зиновьев, romanized: Grigoriy Yevseyevich Zinov'yev, Russian pronunciation: [ɡrʲɪˈɡorʲɪj (j)ɪfˈsʲe(j)ɪvʲɪdʑ zʲɪˈnovʲjɪf]. Transliterated Grigorii Evseevich Zinov'ev according to the Library of Congress system.
- ^ Russian: Овсей-Гершон Аронович Радомысльский
References
- ^ 1883 Yelisabetgrad births fond 185, op. 1, delo 64, image 131 of 152, record #260.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). . Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company.
- ^ "Grigori Zinoviev". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 2024-04-19.
- ^ "Letter to Bolshevik Party Members".
- ^ "From the C.C. to Party Members & the Working Classes".
- ^ Lenin, Vladimir. "Letter to the Congress".
- ^ Zinoviev cynically referred to this in his eulogy of Moisei Uritsky (the chief of the Petrograd Cheka, assassinated on 30 August 1918): "When we read that in Odessa, under Skoropadsky, the rabbis assembled in special council, and there these representatives of the rich Jews, officially, before the entire world, excommunicated from the Jewish community such Jews as Trotsky and me, your obedient servant, and others – no single hair of any of us has turned gray because of grief"; Zinoviev, Sochineniia, 16:224, quoted in Bezbozhnik [The godless], no. 20 (12 September 1938).
- ^ Leggett (1986), p. 114.
- ^ "Baku Congress of the Peoples of the East".
- ^ Lewis/Lih, Zinoviev and Martov: Head to Head in Halle, (2011) November Publications, London, pg117-158
- ^ Silvio Pons and Robert Service, eds., A Dictionary of 20th-Century Communism (2010) pp 63-64, 890-892.
- ^ Trotsky, Leon (1970). Writings of Leon Trotsky: 1936-37. Pathfinder Press. p. 9.
- ISBN 978-1-135-75840-0.
- ISBN 978-1-5381-3361-3.
- ISBN 978-1-893638-97-6.
- ISBN 978-0-7486-0317-6.
- ISBN 978-1-893638-97-6.
- ^ Stalin: Court of the Red Tsar; Simon Sebag Montefiore, pp. 197
- ^ Stalin: Court of the Red Tsar; Simon Sebag Montefiore, pp. 188, 193–98
- ISBN 978-0-7112-6614-8.
- JSTOR 3792241.
- ISBN 978-2-35412-054-2.
- ISBN 978-0-297-86385-4.
- ISBN 978-0-7112-6614-8.
- ^ Bill Keller (14 June 1988). "Court Vindicates 2 Stalin Victims Who Were Close Allies of Lenin's". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
- ^ Grigorii Zinoviev, "Declaration of Zinoviev on the Alleged 'Red Plot,'" The Communist Review, vol. 5, no. 8 (Dec. 1924), pp. 365-366.
Works
- Leggett, George (1986). The Cheka: Lenin's Political Police. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-822862-7.
- Boi za Peterburg: Dve Rechi (The Fight for St. Petersburg: Two Speeches). With Leon Trotsky. St. Petersburg: Gosudarstvennoe Izdatel'stvo, 1920.
- Leninizm: Vvedenie i izuchenie Leninizma (Leninism: Introduction to the Study of Leninism). Leningrad: Gosudarstvennoe Izdatel'stvo, 1925.
Further reading
- Corney, Frederick C. (ed.), Trotsky's Challenge: The "Literary Discussion" of 1924 and the Fight for the Bolshevik Revolution. [2016] Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2017.
- McDermott, Kevin, and Jeremy Agnew. The Comintern: a history of international communism from Lenin to Stalin (Macmillan International Higher Education, 1996).
External links
- . Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). 1922.
- Grigory Zinoviev Archive, part of Marxists Internet Archive.
- Anatol Lunacharsky on Zinoviev.
- Leon Trotsky on Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev
- For Jewish Anti-Semites, A Cautionary History Lesson
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