Read Stalin Online

Authors: Oleg V. Khlevniuk

Tags: #Biography & Autobiography, #Presidents & Heads of State, #History, #Europe, #Russia & the Former Soviet Union, #Modern, #20th Century

Stalin (66 page)

31
. V. I. Lenin,
Polnoe sobranie sochinenii,
vol. 50 (Moscow, 1970), p. 389.
32
. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 1, d. 1815, ll. 2–4; Kvashonkin et al.,
Bol’shevistskoe rukovodstvo,
pp. 142–143.
33
. RGASPI, f. 558. op. 1, d. 5521, l. 2. Kvashonkin et al.,
Bol’shevistskoe rukovodstvo,
p. 148.
34
. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 1, d. 4137, l. 1; d. 1943, l. 1; Kvashonkin et al.,
Bol’shevistskoe rukovodstvo,
p. 155.
35
. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 1, d. 1961, ll. 1–2; Stalin,
Works,
vol. 4, p. 358.
36
. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 1, d. 4681, l. 1.
37
. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 1, d. 4458, ll. 1–3; Stalin,
Works,
vol. 4, pp. 360–362.
38
. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 126, l. 4.
39
. Ibid., op. 1, d. 5213, l. 1; Kvashonkin et al.,
Bol’shevistskoe rukovodstvo,
p. 156.
40
. RGASPI, f. 17, op. 3, d. 106, l. 5.
41
. Ibid., ll. 3, 4.
42
.
Izvestiia TsK KPSS,
no. 3 (1991): 167.
43
.
Deviataia konferentsiia RKP(b). Protokoly
(Moscow, 1972), pp. 60–61, 76–77; Iu. N. Amiantov et al., comps.,
V. I. Lenin. Neizvestnye dokumenty. 1891–1922
(Moscow, 1999), pp. 382, 390.
44
. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 1, d. 5541, ll. 1–2; Kvashonkin et al.,
Bol’shevistskoe rukovodstvo,
pp. 160–161.
45
. Stalin’s involvement in organizing the so-called Ukrainian Labor Army during the winter and spring of 1920 was an attempt to militarize labor by using the army as a labor force, primarily in the coal mines of Ukraine.
46
. Meeting of a section of the Twelfth RKP(b) Congress on the nationalities question, 25 April 1923;
Izvestiia TsK KPSS,
no. 4 (1991): 170. For a detailed account of Stalin’s work in the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities, see Jeremy Smith, “Stalin as Commissar of Nationalities,” in
Stalin: A New History,
ed. Sarah Davies and James Harris (New York, 2005), pp. 45–62, and V. Denningkhaus [Victor Dönninghaus],
V teni “bol’shogo brata.” Zapadnye natsional’nye men’shinstva v SSSR. 1917–1938 gg.
(Moscow, 2011), pp. 84–91.
47
. RGASPI, f. 17, op. 3, d. 234, l. 2.
48
. Ibid., d. 310, l. 2.
49
. Politburo resolution, 19 October 1922; RGASPI, f. 17, op. 3, d. 318, l. 4.
50
. Grigory Konstantinovich Ordzhonikidze (1886–1937) was one of Stalin’s closest friends and comrades-in-arms. In the 1920s he was a top party leader in Transcaucasia before being transferred to Moscow to take up the important post of chairman of the Party Control Commission. In this capacity he helped in Stalin’s climb to power. In the 1930s Ordzhonikidze was put in charge of Soviet heavy industry. He tried to oppose Stalin’s repression of key personnel, leading to conflict between the two men. In February 1937 Ordzhonikidze committed suicide. How he died became widely known only after Stalin’s death. See Oleg V. Khlevniuk,
In Stalin’s Shadow: The Career of “Sergo” Ordzhonikidze
(New York, 1995).
51
. Letters from Nazaretian to Ordzhonikidze, 14 June and after 9 August 1922; RGASPI, f. 85, op. 1c, d. 13, ll. 6, 10; Kvashonkin et al.,
Bol’shevistskoe rukovodstvo,
pp. 256, 257, 262, 263.
52
. Letters from Nazaretian to Ordzhonikidze, 12 July and after 9 August 1922; RGASPI, f. 85, op. 1c, d. 13, ll. 7, 10; Kvashonkin et al.,
Bol’shevistskoe rukovodstvo,
pp. 259, 263.
53
. Letter from Nazaretian to Ordzhonikidze after 9 August 1922; RGASPI, f. 85, op. 1c, d. 13, l. 10. Kvashonkin et al.,
Bol’shevistskoe rukovodstvo,
p. 263.
54
. Reminiscence by N. A. Uglanov, written in January 1925, at a time when Stalin had not yet established his sole power;
Izvestiia TsK KPSS,
no. 4 (1989): 196.
55
. Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (1888–1938) was a Bolshevik leader and theoretician. He took Stalin’s side in the confrontation with Trotsky, Zinoviev, and Kamenev, but after Stalin was victorious over these oppositionists, Bukharin himself became Stalin’s victim. Bukharin advocated a more moderate course and a gradual transition out of the NEP. Stalin labeled Bukharin and his supporters as “right deviationists.” The expulsion of the rightists from the party’s leadership helped Stalin solidify his dictatorship. Bukharin was arrested in 1937 and shot the following year. (See Stephen F. Cohen,
Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution: A Political Biography, 1888–1938
[New York, 1973]; Paul R. Gregory,
Politics, Murder, and Love in Stalin’s Kremlin: The Story of Nikolai Bukharin and Anna Larina
[Stanford, CA, 2010]).
56
. Cited in
Izvestiia TsK KPSS,
no. 12 (1989): 198. For another version of Ulianova’s reminiscence, see
Izvestiia TsK KPSS,
no. 3 (1991): 188.
57
.
Izvestiia TsK KPSS,
no. 4 (1989); RGASPI, f. 17, op. 3, d. 303, l. 5.
58
. Cited in
Izvestiia TsK KPSS,
no. 12 (1989): 198. Maria Ulianova’s memoirs were found among her papers after her death. They were obviously not intended for publication. Their candor and confessional nature add to their credibility as a source.
59
.
Izvestiia TsK KPSS,
no. 9 (1989): 191–216.
60
. Ibid., p. 209.
61
. Ibid., no. 12 (1989): 191.
62
. Ibid., pp. 189, 191.
63
. Cited in ibid., pp. 198–199.
64
. V. I. Lenin,
Polnoe sobranie sochinenii,
vol. 45 (Moscow, 1970), p. 345.
65
. Ibid., p. 346.
66
. Feliks Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky (1877–1926) was active in the revolutionary movement in Russia and spent many years in exile, prison, and labor camps. After the revolution he headed the Emergency Commission or Cheka, the Bolsheviks’ notorious state security organization. In the 1920s, while still head of the political police, he also ran the commissariats of transport and industry. He was still active at the time of his death from heart failure.
67
. V. I. Lenin,
Polnoe sobranie sochinenii,
vol. 54 (Moscow, 1975), p. 329.
68
. Ibid., pp. 329–330.
69
. Robert C. Tucker,
Stalin as Revolutionary, 1879–1929: A Study in History and Personality
(New York, 1973), p. 277.
70
. V. I. Lenin,
Polnoe sobranie sochinenii,
vol. 54, p. 330.
71
.
Izvestiia TsK KPSS,
no. 9 (1990): 151; emphasis by Kamenev.
72
. Ibid., no. 12 (1989): 193.
73
. Ibid., no. 9 (1990): 151–152.
74
. V. A. Sakharov,
Politicheskoe zaveshchanie Lenina: Real’nosti istorii i mify politiki
(Moscow, 2003). See also a critical discussion of this book in
Otechestvennaia istoriia,
no. 2 (2005): 162–174.
75
. Moshe Lewin,
Lenin’s Last Struggle
(New York, 1968).
76
. Cited in V. P. Vilkova, comp.,
RKP(b). Vnutripartiinaia bor’ba v dvadtsatye gody. Dokumenty i materialy. 1923
(Moscow, 2004), p. 129; emphasis by Zinoviev.
77
. Ibid., pp. 135–136; emphasis by Stalin.
78
. Transcript of a discussion of the international situation at the 21 August 1923 Politburo meeting.
Istochnik,
no. 5 (1995): 118, 124.
79
. Ibid., p. 126.
80
. Aleksei Ivanovich Rykov (1881–1938) was a well-known Bolshevik who served as the Soviet premier after Lenin’s death. An economic moderate, he joined forces with Stalin in opposing Trotsky, Zinoviev, and Kamenev. Together with Bukharin, Rykov was accused of “right deviation” and removed from the leadership. He was arrested in 1937 and put to death in 1938.
81
. Ibid.
82
. Vilkova,
RKP(b). Vnutripartiinaia bor’ba,
pp. 147–151.
83
.
Trinadtsatyi s"ezd PKP(b). Stenograficheskii otchet
(Moscow, 1963), pp. xxi–xxii.
84
. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 126, l. 68.
85
. V. Nadtocheev, “‘Triumvirat’ ili ‘semerka’?” in
Trudnye voprosy istorii, ed.
V. V. Zhuravlev (Moscow, 1991), pp. 68–70.
86
.
Izvestiia TsK KPSS,
no. 8 (1991): 182.
87
. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 777, ll. 27–28.
88
. Letters from Kirov to Ordzhonikidze dated 10 and 16 January 1926. Kvashonkin et al.,
Bol’shevistskoe rukovodstvo,
pp. 315, 318.
89
. Lih, Naumov, and Khlevniuk,
Stalin’s Letters to Molotov,
pp. 115–116.
90
. A. G. Egorov, ed.,
KPSS v rezoliutsiiakh i resheniiakh s"ezdov, konferentsii i plenumov TsK,
vol. 4 (Moscow, 1984), pp. 49–50.
91
. See, for example, Stalin’s letter to Rykov, Voroshilov, and Molotov dated 20 September 1927; RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 797, ll. 84–85.
92
. Valerian Valerianovich Osinsky (1887–1938) was an Old Bolshevik who took part in various opposition movements and was a follower of Trotsky at one point. Soon after the departure mentioned in the letter to Stalin, Osinsky was removed as head of the Central Statistical Directorate. Nevertheless, in later years he held various senior economic posts. He was shot during the Terror.
93
. Vladimir Mikhailovich Smirnov (1887–1937) was a long-standing party member and an active participant in the revolution and Civil War who became involved in the opposition in the 1920s. In 1928 he was exiled to the Ural region for three years, a term ultimately extended to 1935, at which point he was again arrested. He was shot in 1937.
94
. Timofei Vladimirovich Sapronov (1887–1937) was a long-standing party member and a Moscow Bolshevik leader. After the revolution he held senior government posts. In the 1920s he joined the opposition. In 1928 he was exiled to the Arkhangelsk region for three years. The term of his exile was extended to 1935, as was Smirnov’s. In 1935 he was again arrested, and in 1937 he was shot.
95
. Yuly Osipovich Martov (1873–1923) was a leader of the Social Democratic movement in Russia. He collaborated with Lenin during the early stages of his revolutionary career, but in 1903 the two men broke off relations, and later Martov headed the Menshevik party. He participated in the revolutionary movement in Russia but condemned the 1917 Bolshevik overthrow of the Provisional Government. He later tried to work with the Bolsheviks and democratize the Bolshevik dictatorship. In 1920 he was sent abroad and later died of tuberculosis.
96
. Osinsky’s letter and Stalin’s following response are in RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 780, ll. 12–14;
Istochnik,
no. 6 (1994): 88.
97
. Grigory Yakovlevich Sokolnikov (1888–1939), a long-standing party member, escaped abroad after being exiled to Siberia. After the revolution he became a member of the top leadership. His greatest success was the monetary reforms he introduced during the 1920s, which provided Soviet Russia with a stable currency. Sokolnikov was subjected to persecution due to his involvement with the opposition. In 1927 he announced his break with the opposition and for some time held various senior government posts. He was shot during the Stalinist Terror.
98
. During his speech to the Fifteenth Party Congress in December 1927, Stalin again spoke of an intervention being prepared against the USSR and drew an analogy with the shooting in Sarajevo (I. V. Stalin,
Works,
vol. 10 [Moscow, 1949], pp. 281, 288).
99
. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 71, ll. 2–4ob.
100
. Yan Ernestovich Rudzutak (1887–1938) was a long-standing Bolshevik who spent years in tsarist prisons. After the revolution he held senior party and government posts before being shot during the Stalinist Terror.
101
. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 767, ll. 35–39, 45–48, 56–60.
102
. Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin (1875–1946) was a long-standing Bolshevik who shortly after the revolution was appointed chairman of the Soviet parliament and held the largely figurehead post of president of the USSR until his death. One of the more moderate members of the Bolshevik leadership, he nevertheless submitted to power. After some wavering, he threw his support behind Stalin. Kalinin’s wife was arrested in the 1930s and released shortly before her husband’s death.

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