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Stalin's Golden Boy?

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SSTTAALLIINN’’SS GGOOLLDDEENN BBOOYY?? Sergei Kirov’s Political Profile, 1926 to 1934 A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at The Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, IAKH The University of Oslo by MARIA DIKOVA May 2010 1 SSTTAALLIINN’’SS GGOOLLDDEENN BBOOYY?? Sergei Kirov’s Political Profile, 1926 to 1934 A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at The Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, IAKH The University of Oslo by MARIA DIKOVA May 2010 ABSTRACT Sergei Mironovich Kirov, a close associate of Joseph Stalin and Leningrad Party Chief in the period between 1926 and 1934 was shot to death in his headquarters in Leningrad on 1 December 1934. Before the opening of the Soviet archives in the early 1990s, there was a prevailing theory that Stalin was in some way involved in the assassination of Kirov. It was suggested that Kirov was eliminated on Stalin‟s order as a potential political rival. There were prevalent assumptions among scholars and the public that, in cooperation with other regional secretaries, Kirov advanced an independent set of reforms aimed at relaxation of policies and reconciliation with Stalin‟s former rivals. Sergei Kirov was repeatedly portrayed as an independent politician who, despite his close relationship with Stalin, could oppose him on central political issues. This Master of Arts dissertation is aimed at examining the question of whether Kirov‟s political vision of the Soviet central policies was in any way different from the political programme advanced by Stalin and the rest of his inner circle in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It also seeks to discuss whether Kirov was in any way more liberal in his treatment of various oppositional groups, and whether he faithfully supported the implementation of Stalin‟s policies in the Leningrad region, which was under Kirov‟s authority. The main approach to studying the research question is biographical. Due to the chosen genre of writing, the dissertation is structured chronologically as well as thematically. The discussion is primarily limited to the assessment of domestic policies. It has been decided to concentrate mainly on such issues as economic planning and the fate of oppositionists because these matters were central in the Party debates in the late 1920s and early 1930s. This research has been principally based on the examination of the accessible archival documentation preserved in the Russian State Archive for Social and Political History, RGASPI, in Moscow. It includes documentations from personal archives of Kirov and Stalin, and the archive of the Politburo, or policy-making body of the Soviet Union. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Winston Churchill I have greatly benefited from comments, support and advice from different people at various stages of my work. My first thanks are due to my supervisor, Professor Åsmund Egge, at the University of Oslo. I am grateful to him for suggesting write about this topic for my dissertation. His profound knowledge of the Soviet Communist Party history has provided me with a unique source of academic supervision. I am thankful for his advice, comments and assistance in the course of two years. I also wish to express my special gratitude to my other supervisor, Professor Iver B. Neumann, at the Russia Studies department at the University of Oslo. Thank you for encouragement and valuable guidance along the way. It was always a pleasure and motivating to talk about the Soviet Party history and Stalin at the SV cafeteria. I also thank the Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History at the University of Oslo for financial assistance during my four stays in Moscow for researching the archives. I am appreciative of all the help from librarians at the RGASPI archive, the State Public History Library in Moscow and the University Library in Oslo. My friends, Olga and Julia, should be thanked for letting me stay with them during my research in Moscow. I would not have been able to complete this research without encouragement and support from my incredible classmates Christine, Mari, Maren and Hilde. They have been amazing friends throughout the entire process. We have suffered our ups and downs together and their support has meant a lot to me. A special thank you goes to my dear friend, Cristine Delaney, who always manages to find the right words to encourage me. Finally, I would like to thank my loving parents, sister, niece Dasha, and my dear fiancé Stig Arne for patience, care and concern. Most of all, I am grateful to them for believing in me along the way. Thank you for all your contributions. Oslo 2010, Maria Dikova TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS A NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 MYSTERIES AROUND KIROV’S LIFE AND DEATH Kirov‟s Line and its Origins 1 Literature Review 3 Primary Sources 6 Speeches and Interpretation 10 Writing a Biography 11 Focus of the Research and Structure 13 CHAPTER 2: BECOMING A BOLSHEVIK 15 SERGEI KIROV’S POLITICAL CAREER BEFORE 1926 Introduction 15 Political Awakenings 15 A Revolutionary or a Journalist? 17 Deviations from Bolshevism 19 Establishment of the Soviet Power 21 Political Intrigues 22 Conclusion 23 CHAPTER 3: LENINGRAD PARTY CHIEF 25 SERGEI KIROV AND THE OPPOSITION IN LENINGRAD, 1926 TO 1928 Introduction 25 Moscow versus Leningrad 25 Leningrad - “the Cradle of the Revolution” 27 Crashing the Leningrad Opposition 28 Stalin‟s Choice 30 Transfer to Leningrad 31 Kirov and the United Opposition 32 Conclusion 36 CHAPTER 4: STALIN’S REVOLUTION FROM ABOVE 38 THE RIGHT DEVIATION, INDUSTRIALISATION AND COLLECTIVISATION Introduction 38 New Policies, New Factional Struggles 38 Kirov, a Waverer? 39 Pravda about Leningrad 43 Industrialisation Plan 47 Views on Collectivisation 49 Conclusion 56 CHAPTER 5: STALIN’S FRIEND OR FOE? 58 SERGEI KIROV: LEADER OF A “MODERATE” COURSE? Introduction 58 The Riutin Affair 58 Stalin and Other Cases of Opposition 63 Kirov on Oppositionists 67 Kirov‟s Political Outlook in the Early 1930s 69 The Seventeenth Party Congress 75 The Question of Stalin‟s Replacement 78 The Question of the CC Elections 80 Transfer to Moscow 82 Kirov and Stalin in the 1930s 84 Conclusion 85 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION 87 SERGEI KIROV: A FIRM ASSOCIATE OF STALIN? BIBLIOGRAPHY: 92 Archives 92 Newspapers and Magazines 92 Secondary Literature 93 Internet Links 98 Illustrations 99 A NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION The transliterations from Russian to English in this dissertation will be based on a simplified version of the Romanisation of Russian presented by the US Library of Congress1, LOC. Cyrillic Alphabet LOC Thesis Romanisation Romanisation А A A Б B B В V V Г G G Д D D Е E E /Ye (initial position) Ё Ё Yo Ж ZH ZH З Z Z И I I Й I I К K K Л L L М M M Н N N О O O П P P Р R R С S S Т T T У U U Ф F F Х KH KH Ц TS TS Ч CH CH Ш SH SH Щ SHCH SHCH Ъ ‟‟ omitted Ы Y Y Ь „ omitted Э E E Ю IU iu/Yu (initial position) Я IA ia/Ya (initial position) ИЙ final position II Y ИЯ final position IIA IA НЫЙ final position NYI NY Notes on transliteration were partially borrowed from John Arch Getty and Oleg Naumov in The Road to Terror.2 By and large, proper Russian names were directly transcribed from their Russian versions. For example, Александр will be transcribed as Aleksandr rather than Anglicised Alexander. 1 http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/russian.pdf (visited 29.01.2009, 14.47 local time). 2 J. Arch Getty and Oleg Naumov The Road to Terror, (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1999), xix. CHAPTER 1 UNIVERSITY OF OSLO MARIA DIKOVA CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION MYSTERIES AROUND KIROV‟S LIFE AND DEATH On 1 December 1934 Sergei Mironovich Kirov, the chief secretary of the Leningrad Communist Party Committee in the Soviet Union, was shot to death in his headquarters in Leningrad, known today as St. Petersburg. Kirov was one of the most well-liked Communist Party leaders, a close associate and a good friend of Joseph Stalin. Labelled as one of the greatest mysteries in the Soviet Union history, scholars and the public alike have been debating the underlying motives behind Kirov‟s assassination. Among the theories questioning Kirov‟s death was a prevalent assumption before the 1990s that he represented a political threat to Stalin‟s leadership. Kirov, in cooperation with other provincial secretaries of the Soviet Communist Party, allegedly advanced an independent political course aimed at the relaxation of Stalin‟s harsh policies of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Stalin was presumably felt threatened by Kirov‟s independent position and growing popularity within the Soviet leadership as well as the Soviet masses and therefore wished to eliminate a political rival for power. While some perceived Kirov as a charismatic leader of a “moderate” course, which the Soviet Communist Party officially pursued in 1933, others insisted that Kirov was Stalin‟s golden boy: his unconditional follower and an advocate of Stalin‟s oppressive policies. The overall aim of this research is to analyse whether Sergei Kirov actually advocated his own independent set of reforms in opposition to Stalin‟s programme, whether he adhered to a group of more moderated minded party members, if there was one, and whether he represented a political alternative to Stalin for Party‟s supreme leadership. KIROV’S LINE AND ITS ORIGINS Doubts about Kirov‟s unconditional support to Stalin were initiated by the foreign press as early as the middle of the 1930s.
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