Stalin and the Kirov Murder Robert Conquest, Author Oxford University Press, USA $16.95 (192p) ISBN 978-0-19-505579-5. Many of them, including Stalin, were seen to weep. “After the murder of Kirov, Leningrad’s population shrank by 35,000 people in the first quarter of 1935,” Tatyana Sukharnikova, director of the Kirov Museum, told journalists and scientists. Publication date 1989 Topics Kirov, Sergeĭ Mironovich, -- 1886-1934., Stalin, I. This book by historian Matthew Lenoe assembles multiple investigations and official documents of the Kirov murder, which set the Great Purge in motion. This was not new in Russian History. Conquest, Senior Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, is author of 14 other works on Soviet issues, the latest of which was Harvest of Sorrow (1986). AbeBooks.com: Stalin and the Kirov Murder (9780195055795) by Conquest, Robert and a great selection of similar New, Used and Collectible Books available now at great prices. The turning point of Soviet history occurred when a young party functionary allegedly aimed and fired a round from his Nagan revolver into the back of the neck of one Sergei Kirov. Later others in the party were arrested and imprisoned or executed. This would have not only marked Kirov as a dangerous rival in Stalin’s eyes but also convinced Stalin of the party’s disloyalty to him and may explain not only the Kirov assassination but the use of it as a pretext for the Great Purge which saw the removal of 850,000 members from the Party, or 36% of its membership, between 1936 and 1938. The working team observed that the source of the rumours that Stalin was behind the murder of Kirov was the emigre text by Alexander Orlov entitled 'Secret History of Stalin's Crimes'. 114–18, and Lesley Rimmel,“Another Kind of Fear: The Kirov Murder and the End of Bread Rationing in Leningrad,” Slavic Review 56 (Autumn 1997): 481–99. Sergei Kirov, Russian Communist leader whose assassination marked the beginning of the Great Purge in the Soviet Union (1934–38). Stalin's Involvement in the Kirov Murder Stalin's actions prior and subsequent to the Kirov murder give much credence to rumors that he was intimately involved in the assassination. Two weeks ago, I did a post on 75 years since the Kirov law. Publisher Oxford University Press Collection Kirov’s murder in 1934 triggered the infamous Great Purge that led to the execution and imprisonment of more than one and a half million “enemies” of the Communist state. Who's done it and why? Sergei Kirov . Kirov was a rising star in the Communist Party of the 1930s. Clue Five – After the murder: Stalin came to Leningrad and interrogated Nikolayev. The Kirov Murder. Stalin and the Kirov murder by Robert Conquest, 1989, Oxford University Press edition, in English Painted 1937, three years after the assassination. A brief but well-documented investigation into the murder of Sergei Kirov—once considered Stalin's possible successor—on December 1, 1934. It is however not and I must therefore conclude that Khrushchev investigation stating no condemning evidence exists implicating Stalin in Kirov’s murder, is true. Barmine asserts Stalin even used the Kirov assassination to eliminate the remainder of the Opposition leadership, accusing Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, Abram Prigozhin, and others who had stood with Kirov in opposing Stalin (or simply failed to acquiesce to Stalin's views), of being "morally responsible" for Kirov's murder, and therefore guilty of complicity. Kirov’s deputy Mikhail Chudov called Stalin’s secretariat from Leningrad with news of Kirov’s assassination sometime soon after 5:00 P.M.¹ Stalin was meeting in his Kremlin office with his close collaborators Molotov, Kaganovich, Voroshilov, and Zhdanov at the time. Buy a cheap copy of Stalin and the Kirov Murder book by Robert Conquest. Thus, at the very outset, the Western world was shocked by the harshness of the reprisals which followed Kirov's murder, and already the cry was raised abroad that this wave of killings and arrests was a sign of panic on the part of the Kremlin or that Stalin and his associates were taking advantage of an "accident" to rid themselves of political opponents. To get some understnading of Stalin, the Kirov Murder, mass terror, etc. kill Kirov. OTHER BOOKS. Brief Summary of Book: The Murder of Sergei Kirov: History, Scholarship and the Anti-Stalin Paradigm by Grover Furr. These are the questions discussed here about the assassination of one of the top leaders of the Soviet Union in 1934. I was happy to find that the New Times published an interview with Matthew Lenoe whose forthcoming book, Kirov’s Murder and Soviet History, is a hefty reexamination of the famous assassination. Primary Sources – Kirov’s murder: Left: Stalin and other leading Communists carry Kirov’s ashes. 64 (Moscow, 1934), Art. Stalin and the Kirov murder by Robert Conquest. 459. Right: Painting of Stalin before Kirov’s coffin mourning the loss. The first event of the Great Purge took place in 1934 with the assassination of Sergei Kirov, a prominent Bolshevik leader. This assassination was arguably one of the most significant crimes of the century. Robert Conquests' book STALIN AND THE KIROV MURDER is a good case study that those in political power will resort to anything to enhance political power. An unprecedented reign of terror raged across the Soviet Union between the fall of 1936 and the end of summer, 1938. -- 1879-1953., Terrorism -- Soviet Union., Soviet Union -- Politics and government -- 1917-1936. ***** “Stalin used Kirov’s murder as justification for mass executions” On December 1, 1934, a lone gunman shot and killed Sergei Kirov, Secretary of the Central and Leningrad Party Organization, member of the Moscow Politburo, and once... Free shipping over $10. Below is a translation I did of the interview. Conquest, Robert. It is suspicious however that In March 1934 (9 months before Kirov’s murder), Nikolayev was thrown out the party for a breach of discipline, then in the summer of 1934 after Stalin and the new most popular member of the communist party Kirov had some disagreements, Nikolayev is then reinstated in the party and within a couple of months assassinates Kirov. This massive assemblage reexamines Stalin’s role in the famous assassination. Was Leonid Nikolaev, Kirov's killer, a lone gunman acting from personal motives whose crime Stalin then "used Investigation of this crime soon led to the three public Moscow "Show" Trials, to the "Tukhachevsky Affair" trial of eight top Army commanders; and then to the "Ezhovshchina" or "Great Terror". Stalin’s complicity in Kirov’s murder relies on circumstantial evidence and hearsay and if based in fact would appear to suggest a conspiracy that could involve Stalin. The relationship between Josef Stalin and Sergey Kirov has always caused much debate; the two politicians were thought of either as the best of comrades or as main rivals for leadership of the Soviet Union. This is a common theory, as it allowed for Stalin to use Koriv’s assassination as an excuse to investigate and purge his political opponents and those he deemed potentially dangerous to his authority (Freeze, 364-365). The Kirov Murder and Soviet History. They were accused of being part of a “Leningrad Centre” that wanted to damage Russia and kill Stalin. Investigation of this crime soon led to the three public Moscow “Show” Trials, to the “Tukhachevsky Affair” trial of eight top Army commanders; and then to the “Ezhovshchina” or “Great Terror”. Robert Conquest chronicles this story of political misfeasance and cover-up on the eve of what may be the first disclosure by the U.S.S.R. of the actual facts of the case. Stalin and the Kirov Murder, written by the much acclaimed author of Harvest of Sorrow, is the first book-length examination of the case. Most of the arrested were supporters of Trotsky, Zinoviev or another or Stalin’s enemies. Robert Conquest chronicles this story of political misfeasance and cover-up on the eve of what may be the first disclosure by the U.S.S.R. of the actual facts of the case. Orlov's story that assassin Nikolaev the day after the killing had said that Zaporozhets had recruited him (and that Stalin then struck Zaporozhets) 'does not correspond to reality', according to the team's report. His death was blamed on both general secretary Joseph Stalin and on anti-Stalinist Communists, without a clear culprit ever getting identified. More By and About This Author. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010. The History Faculty - University lectures for secondary schools Written with the same meticulous attention to detail as his 2011 work Khrushchev Lied, Furr’s book The Murder of Sergei Kirov: History, Scholarship and the Anti-Stalin Paradigm is a bold rejoinder to decades of omission, distortion and misinformation by Soviet, Russian, and Western historians. A prominent Soviet politician, Sergey Kirov was known either as Stalin’s “true friend and closest comrade-in-arms” or his main rival for the post of head of the USSR. If he did not plan it, he certainly must have sanctioned it and was instrumental in covering up what actually happened. The Murder of Sergei Kirov: History, Scholarship and the Anti-Stalin Paradigm On December 1, 1934 Leningrad Party leader Sergei M. Kirov was murdered. Stalin and the Kirov Murder (Book) : Conquest, Robert : On December 1, 1934, a lone gunman shot and killed Sergei Kirov, Secretary of the Central and Leningrad Party Organization, member of the Moscow Politburo, and heir apparent to Joseph Stalin. Stalin and the Kirov Murder, written by the much acclaimed author of Harvest of Sorrow, is the first book-length examination of the case. A result of Kirov’s assassination and the resulting actions of Joseph Stalin was the widespread and popular theory that Stalin himself had ordered Kirov’s assassination. 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