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Stalin and the Kirov Murder
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 considered Joseph Stalin's possible successor. As one of the most significant crimes of the century, the assassination not
only sealed the fates of thousands--and, indirectly, millions--of people spuriously connected to the killer, but it eliminated the second most powerful man in Russian politics and gave Stalin free rein to dominate Soviet policy.
Written by the highly acclaimed author of The Harvest of Sorrow , Stalin and the Kirov Murder presents the first book-length examination of the case. Robert Conquest chronicles the details of the Kirov affair and all of its astonishing consequences. He tells us that now, fifty-five years after
Kirov's murder, glasnost has prompted a new examination of this singular crime--one that will perhaps reveal the truth about the case for the first time. Based on all the available evidence, including official documents as well as the reports of numerous Russian defectors, Conquest has written a
fascinating, at times chilling, account of the murder and its aftermath. He firmly establishes that Stalin not only sanctioned Kirov's assassination, but used it as a justification for the terror that culminated in 1937 and '38.
only sealed the fates of thousands--and, indirectly, millions--of people spuriously connected to the killer, but it eliminated the second most powerful man in Russian politics and gave Stalin free rein to dominate Soviet policy.
Written by the highly acclaimed author of The Harvest of Sorrow , Stalin and the Kirov Murder presents the first book-length examination of the case. Robert Conquest chronicles the details of the Kirov affair and all of its astonishing consequences. He tells us that now, fifty-five years after
Kirov's murder, glasnost has prompted a new examination of this singular crime--one that will perhaps reveal the truth about the case for the first time. Based on all the available evidence, including official documents as well as the reports of numerous Russian defectors, Conquest has written a
fascinating, at times chilling, account of the murder and its aftermath. He firmly establishes that Stalin not only sanctioned Kirov's assassination, but used it as a justification for the terror that culminated in 1937 and '38.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
4 people are currently reading
191 people want to read
About the author
Robert Conquest
131 books155 followersGeorge Robert Ackworth Conquest was a British historian who became a well known writer and researcher on the Soviet Union with the publication, in 1968, of his account of Stalin's purges of the 1930s, The Great Terror.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 17, 2015
An excellent review of the Kirov murder, sanctioned by Stalin and lead directly to the Great Terror that followed. Conquest has written the definitive book on the Great Terror and this book is no different. He demonstrated that the Kirov murder and later show trials were the product of torture, blackmail, and falsified evidence by Stalin and his cronies. If you haven't read ALL of Conquests' work, what are you waiting for?
March 3, 2024
Hakkinda oldurulmeseydi tarih farkli akabilirdi yorumlari yapilan bir sahsiyet, Kirov.
Olumu ayni zamanda bir teror mekanizmasinin ortaya cikmasini tetikliyor.
Her devrim once kendi evlatlarini yer. Bu tarihten bildigimiz bir konsept fakat bu kitapta kendi evlatlarini topluca, kitleler halinde yiyen acimasiz bir mekanizmayi goruyoruz.
Olumu ayni zamanda bir teror mekanizmasinin ortaya cikmasini tetikliyor.
Her devrim once kendi evlatlarini yer. Bu tarihten bildigimiz bir konsept fakat bu kitapta kendi evlatlarini topluca, kitleler halinde yiyen acimasiz bir mekanizmayi goruyoruz.
October 14, 2022
„Jeśli sprawa Kirowa jest w Związku Sowieckim kluczem dla lat trzydziestych, jest zarazem kluczem do lat osiemdziesiątych. Dopiero kiedy ostatecznie w Moskwie przedstawi się prawdę bez ogródek, można będzie mówić o prawdziwym przezwyciężeniu stalinizmu.”
May 21, 2016
A fantastic factual account of the attempted assassination by motorcade, plotting and eventual murder of Stalin's proposed successor, Sergei Kirov. Multiple accounts from eyewitness. Partial descriptions and motivations of the perpetrators. Repression of Ukrainian intelligentsia, subsequent arrests and executions of white guards. Trial of zinoviev and kamanev. Zinovievite conspirators. Treatment of medved, conditions of labor camps, solovki, leftorvo, medvezhaya gora and kolyma from years 33-35', 35-37', 37- liberation. Role of Chudov and Kodatsky, eventual replacement and zhdanovs personal denunciation of the two. Major trials: anti-Soviet Trotskyite center, Bukharin and rykov rightists, arrest of yagoda. Leningrad participation in Nikolayev aspirations & subsequent plot to murder Kirov, those who knew of the Kirov plot: yagoda, Yezhov, poskrebyshev, arganov, Stalin and in Leningrad Zaporozhets and underlings Bal'tsevich, Kotomin, Gubin etc.
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August 16, 2015About the author http://www.economist.com/news/europe/...
Bonus limerick, quoted in the article:
There was a great Marxist called Lenin
Who did two or three million men in.
That’s a lot to have done in,
But where he did one in
That grand Marxist Stalin did ten in.
Bonus limerick, quoted in the article:
There was a great Marxist called Lenin
Who did two or three million men in.
That’s a lot to have done in,
But where he did one in
That grand Marxist Stalin did ten in.
May 9, 2018
Astonishingly balanced and exhaustive (as of 1989) account of a key episode in Russian history. Scary, psycho and reminiscent of the tenure process at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
September 22, 2022
Spoiler alert, but Conquest (biased as he may be) is pretty convincing that Stalin was responsible.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews