How Zinoviev and Kamenev “brought” Stalin to power

105 years ago, on October 11 and October 18, 1917, Zinoviev and Kamenev, close friends and associates of Lenin, publicly spoke out against the October armed uprising, against Lenin and Trotsky.

October 10, 1917 in Petrograd, at a secret meeting of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b), which was attended by Lenin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Trotsky, Stalin, Sverdlov, Uritsky, Dzerzhinsky, Kollontai, Bubnov, Sokolnikov and Lomov (Oppokov), was received as later they wrote in all history textbooks, “a course towards an armed uprising.” Only Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev opposed. Their objections were rejected. And then the next day they published an appeal to the party in the New Life newspaper:

“We are deeply convinced that declaring an armed uprising now means putting at stake not only the fate of our party, but also the fate of the Russian and international revolution … The chances of our party in the elections to the Constituent Assembly are excellent … In the Constituent Assembly we will be such a strong opposition party that in a country of universal suffrage, our opponents will have to yield to us at every turn.”

In my opinion, they advocated a civilized parliamentary political struggle.

A week later, on October 18, Kamenev published a Statement in the same newspaper confirming their position.

The very next day, October 19, Lenin’s angry shout was heard from the pages of the Pravda newspaper:

“A party that respects itself cannot tolerate strike-breaking and strike-breaking in its midst… After a decision has been made, no challenge is permissible, since the matter concerns immediate and secret preparations for a strike.”

Conspiracy… He called the armed uprising a “strike”.

Lenin demanded the expulsion of Zinoviev and Kamenev from the party. With a private addition: “It is not easy for me to write this about former close comrades, but I would consider hesitation here a crime … The more “visible” the strikebreakers are, the more obligatory it is to immediately punish them with expulsion.”

They were not excluded. So that there would be no “split in the Central Committee.” A week later, on October 25, the Bolshevik coup took place, which went down in Soviet history as the Great October Socialist Revolution. Zinoviev and Kamenev took an active part in it and took leading positions in the state. Immediately after the coup, Kamenev even served as chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee for 12 days – formally the head of state. Then – the chairman of the Moscow Council, a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee.

Zinoviev is a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee, chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, chairman of the Executive Committee of the Communist International.

In 1936, Zinoviev and Kamenev were shot. At the trial, they were accused of all mortal sins, including communication with Trotsky, who had long been expelled from the country, of the murder of Kirov and the attempted assassination of Stalin. What they confessed to. Without specifics, in general terms.

Kamenev said: “The organizers of the conspiracy were: me, Zinoviev and Trotsky. Why did I do it? Convinced of the success and victoriousness of the policy of Joseph Stalin, we, as the opposition, could no longer count on any serious internal difficulties that would allow us to remove Stalin from power. We were driven by boundless hatred and a lust for power.”

Zinoviev: “I would like to repeat that I am very guilty. It is my fault that I was an organizer second only to Trotsky. The main task was the assassination of Stalin.

It is still not clear why they slandered themselves. Most likely under torture and, of course, because Stalin took their wives and children hostage.

When foreign newspapers began to write that the defendants were giving confessions, possibly under torture, at subsequent trials, another defendant member of the Politburo, Bukharin, declared that these were “foreign inventions.” I wonder in what ways he received foreign press in prison? Bukharin – after his confession – was shot in 1938.

Yes, in Soviet history there was an image of a “flint” Bolshevik underground worker as a person who went through all the torments. But in fact, the “satraps of the accursed tsarist regime” could not even think of torturing or arresting relatives. The most dangerous (including terrorist fighters) political prisoners in the Shlisselburg fortress were asked what they wanted for Christmas, roast goose or duck, served oranges, apples, grapes. Some were outraged if there was no chocolate.

And here – real torture, families held hostage. Only “recognition” did not help. Kamenev’s wife and two sons were shot anyway. Zinoviev’s son was also shot, and his wife was sent to camps for many years.

The following passage, known from the book The Great Terror (1968) by Robert Conquest, is circulating in the information space in different versions and in different authors. And the primary source used by Conquest is a book by Alexander Orlov, absolutely unknown to us.The secret history of Stalin’s crimes“.

Alexander Orlov is the pseudonym of Lev Feldbin, a member of the Cheka-OGPU-NKVD, an illegal resident of Soviet intelligence in Austria, France, Spain, a major of state security (according to the army table of ranks – brigade commander, colonel / general). In 1938 he fled to America. In 1953 he published a book. Exact quote:

“On December 20, 1936, on the anniversary of the founding of the VChK-OGPU-NKVD, Stalin arranged a small banquet for the leaders of this department, inviting Yezhov, Frinovsky, Pauker and several other Chekists to it. When those present had drunk thoroughly, Pauker (Karl Pauker, head of the security service for senior officials, the current FSO – S.B.) showed Stalin an impromptu performance. Supported by the arms of two colleagues who played the role of prison guards, Pauker portrayed Zinoviev, who was taken to the basement to be shot. “Zinoviev” hung helplessly on the shoulders of the “guards” and, dragging his feet, whimpered plaintively, moving his eyes in fright. In the middle of the room, “Zinoviev” fell to his knees and, clasping the boots of one of the “guards” with his hands, yelled in horror: “Please … for God’s sake, comrade … call Joseph Vissarionovich!”

Stalin followed the performance, bursting into laughter. The guests, seeing how much he liked this scene, vying with each other demanded that Pauker repeat it. Pauker complied. This time, Stalin laughed so furiously that he bent over, clutching his stomach..

And in the final – about the grimaces of history.

After Lenin’s death, it was clear to everyone that there was only one main leader in the country – Leon Trotsky.

Back in October 1917, the day after the storming of the Winter Palace, at a meeting of the Central Committee, Lenin proposed that he be appointed head of the first revolutionary government – chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars. (By the way, “commissars” instead of “ministers” and “Council of People’s Commissars” were invented by Trotsky.) But he refused, saying that, firstly, the government of the new Russia should be headed by the leader of the Bolshevik Party, and secondly, Russian by nationality: “Is it worth it … to give into the hands of enemies such an additional weapon as my Jewry?”

Trotsky was the organizer and leader of the October armed uprising, the creator and first commander-in-chief (chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council) of the Red Army, the winner in the Civil War, His authority in the party, state, among the masses was absolute. By the way, Stalin, who hated him, wrote in the Pravda newspaper on November 6, 1918:

“All work on the practical organization of the uprising took place under the direct supervision of the chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, Trotsky. It can be said with certainty that the Party owes the quick transition of the garrison to the side of the Soviet and the skillful organization of the work of the Military Revolutionary Committee, first of all and mainly to Comrade Trotsky.

Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev looked down on Stalin. They were the “leaders”, the cities of Trotsk and Zinovievsk were already named after them.

Here is a poster issued by November 7, 1918 – “Leaders of the proletarian revolution”: Lenin, Zinoviev, Trotsky, Kamenev, Sverdlov and even Lunacharsky.

Stalin is not.

They are leaders. And who is Stalin? “Wonderful Georgian”, according to Lenin’s definition? Well, yes, still the General Secretary of the Central Committee. But they considered this post technical, secondary. That did not prevent Zinoviev and Kamenev, who envied and did not want the official rise of Trotsky (Zinoviev himself claimed leadership), to call Stalin as an ally and, together with him, begin the fight against Trotsky. Soon they won – Trotsky was removed from all posts.

After that, Stalin took up them, for Zinoviev and Kamenev. Moreover, Alexander Orlov noted:

“When it came to Zinoviev, Kamenev, Smirnov and Trotsky, Stalin’s rudeness was further aggravated by his inhuman hatred for these people… The boundaries dictated by common sense ceased to exist, and the line between reality and absurdity was generally erased.”

Thus, Zinoviev and Kamenev “brought” Stalin to power.

Thus, the tragedy of Zinoviev and Kamenev is also a story about how a seemingly unremarkable person suddenly found himself at the pinnacle of power.

Sergey BAIMUKHAMETOV

On the pictures: Leon Trotsky, Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev; poster “Leaders of the proletarian revolution”.