Statesman.
A close comrade of Stalin. His immense growth of popularity made him a dangerous rival to Stalin’s power. His assassination gave Stalin a pretext to start the Great Purge against party officials.
Background
Lived 1886-1934.
Born Sergey Mironovich Kostrikov, he had a tough childhood. After his father left and his mother died, he spent his childhood in an orphanage. He first sympathized with the Mensheviks.
Kirov became a Bolshevik agitator in Caucasus and Azerbaijan and helped form the Transcaucasian Socialist republic.
Career
In 1926, after the political defeat of Zinoviev, Stalin promoted Kirov to be the next head of the Leningrad party organization. He was promoted to member of the Politburo in 1930.
Kirov was a brilliant orator and a good manager. His popularity in Leningrad among the party members became legendary. Kirov stood out for his subjects and, on several occasions, he openly confronted Stalin. Many of the provincial party bosses would have preferred Kirov to become the new leader instead of Stalin.
In 1934, the Seventeenth Party Congress was held (“The Congress of the Victors”). In a secret voting Stalin got hundreds of negative votes compared to only 3 negative votes given to Kirov. The results were covered up.
Assassinaton
On 1 December 1934, a disappointed party member Leonid Nikolayev sneaked into the Leningrad party headquarters of Smolny and shot Kirov in a corridor near his cabinet.
Stalin used the murder as a pretext to start a large-scale purge of all the old Bolsheviks and other opponents including Kamenev, Zinoviev, Bukharin and Rykov.
In 1956, Nikita Khrushchev suggested that Kirov’s murder was arranged by Stalin to get rid of his rival.
Sergey Kirov
Statesman.
A close comrade of Stalin. His immense growth of popularity made him a dangerous rival to Stalin’s power. His assassination gave Stalin a pretext to start the Great Purge against party officials.
Background
Lived 1886-1934.
Born Sergey Mironovich Kostrikov, he had a tough childhood. After his father left and his mother died, he spent his childhood in an orphanage. He first sympathized with the Mensheviks.
Kirov became a Bolshevik agitator in Caucasus and Azerbaijan and helped form the Transcaucasian Socialist republic.
Career
In 1926, after the political defeat of Zinoviev, Stalin promoted Kirov to be the next head of the Leningrad party organization. He was promoted to member of the Politburo in 1930.
Kirov was a brilliant orator and a good manager. His popularity in Leningrad among the party members became legendary. Kirov stood out for his subjects and, on several occasions, he openly confronted Stalin. Many of the provincial party bosses would have preferred Kirov to become the new leader instead of Stalin.
In 1934, the Seventeenth Party Congress was held (“The Congress of the Victors”). In a secret voting Stalin got hundreds of negative votes compared to only 3 negative votes given to Kirov. The results were covered up.
Assassinaton
On 1 December 1934, a disappointed party member Leonid Nikolayev sneaked into the Leningrad party headquarters of Smolny and shot Kirov in a corridor near his cabinet.
Stalin used the murder as a pretext to start a large-scale purge of all the old Bolsheviks and other opponents including Kamenev, Zinoviev, Bukharin and Rykov.
In 1956, Nikita Khrushchev suggested that Kirov’s murder was arranged by Stalin to get rid of his rival.
Genrikh Yagoda