December 8, 2008 at 22:21:51

On Stalin's Order?

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By Ludwik Kowalski (about the author) Page 1 of 2 page(s)

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For OpEdNews: Ludwik Kowalski - Writer

Many are familiar with the famous Kirov Ballet. But how many know who Kirov was and what happened to him? Sergey Mironovich Kirov (1886-1934), a Communist Party Chief in Leningrad, was a very popular Bolshevik. According to the website

The website, In Depth Info states he was “a rising star in the Communist Party (CPSU) of the 1930s. Although...no capitalist, he surreptitiously opposed the extreme measures Stalin was forcing upon the Soviet peoples. His popularity in Leningrad (Petersburg) coupled with some speeches he gave at party congresses would make him appear to be a rival to Stalin. Rivals were something Stalin could not tolerate.”

In a short article on his website, Don PalabraZ, reminds readers that S. M. Kirov was gunned down 74 years ago. The author writes that “Perhaps, as Russian historian Dmitri Volkogonov had suggested, the Great Stalinist Purges of 1937 may have started on December 1st, 1934.”

Was Kirov killed on Stalin’s order? The first “official” answer to this question was given by Nikita Khrushchev, the first secretary of the CPSU. Speaking at the 20th party congress, three years after Stalin’s death, Khrushchev said: “After the criminal murder of Sergey M. Kirov, mass repressions and brutal acts of violation of socialist legality began. On the evening of December 1, 1934, on Stalin's initiative (without the approval of the Politburo --which was casually given two days later), the Secretary of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee, Abel Yenukidze, signed the following directive:

1. Investigative agencies are directed to speed up the cases of those accused of the preparation or execution of acts of terror.

2. Judicial organs are directed not to hold up the execution of death sentences pertaining to crimes of this category in order to consider the possibility of pardon, because the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR does not consider as possible the receiving of petitions of this sort.

3. The organs of the Commissariat of Internal Affairs [NKVD] are directed to execute the death sentences against criminals of the above-mentioned category immediately after the passage of sentences.

This directive became the basis for mass acts of abuse against socialist legality. During many of the fabricated court cases, the accused were charged with ‘the preparation’ of terroristic acts; this deprived them of any possibility that their cases might be re-examined, even when they stated before the court that their ‘confessions’ were secured by force, and when, in a convincing manner, they disproved the accusations against them. . . The online version of the entire report can be seen at Don PalabraZ’s website.

Stalin was probably afraid that Kirov, younger than himself, might be chosen to lead the party. It is remarkable that Nikolayev, who killed Kirov (in his Leningrad office), was himself eliminated, the next day, presumably in a car accident. Secret police assigned to protect Kirov were also shot in the Great Stalinist Purges of 1937. Khrushchev said this was done “in order to cover up the traces of the organizers of Kirov's killing.”

In a recently published book, Grover Furr, an American author claims that Khrushchev’s speech consisted of nothing but lies. Recognizing that there is very limited archival evidence, the author hints at the possibility that Kirov was killed by the underground opposition group led by Zinoviev (another Bolshevik executed in 1937) and that Stalin was not personally involved in the assassination. Other examples of attempts to rehabilitate Stalin can be seen in my recent OpEdNews article, & in excerpts from my work in Hell on Earth.

References for this article:

http://www.indepthinfo.com/kirov/

http://donpalabraz.com/2008/12/01/subversive-historian-120108/

Grover Furr, “Ugly Anti-Stalinism,” Algorithm, Moscow, 2007

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Stalin-was-a-victim-by-Ludwik-Kowalski-

081118-970.html

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Ludwik Kowalski is a retired physics teacher (Professor emeritus, Montclair State University, New Jersey, USA). He and his wife, Linda, live in Fort Lee, close to New York City. Born in 1931, Ludwik is still able to enjoy downhill skiing, walking (more...)

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