Dec 03 2009
The Kirov Murder Solved?
Reuters has a story (picked up by Johnson’s Russia List and the New York Times) that Russian archivists have finally settled the question of who killed Kirov.
For those who don’t know much about Soviet history, Sergei Mironovich Kirov, party boss of Leningrad, was shot in his office on 1 December 1934. Stalin used this as his pretext for beginning the Great Purges–dismantling what protections existed against arbitrary arrest and execution.
The question then and since is whether Leonid Nikolaev, the man who ostensibly did the deed, actually did it, and if he was the one who did it, whether he did it at Stalin’s behest. As usual for these questions, the rumors in Russia run the gamut. My personal favorite is the one I was told over tea in one Moscow archive: Kirov, allegedly a notorious babnik (womanizer), had worked his charms on Nikolaev’s wife, and the assassination was payback.
In any event, the documents suggest that Nikolaev was the classic disgruntled loner, not part of any conspiracy, who shot Kirov out of a sense of personal affront. This certainly sounds plausible to me, though I’m under no illusions that it will settle the debate.
How exciting that some new material regarding such an important murder in Soviet history (and even right around the anniversary of his death) has been found! Do you by any chance know what new evidence for such a conclusion it is that they’ve dug out of the archives?
The New York Times story linked above has some of the details. It includes a diary that expresses the gunman’s resentment over expulsion from the party and loss of privileges.
Further insight on the death of Kirov can be read in the book “Special Tasks”by former KGB member Pavel Sudoplatov, one hell of a read about the darkest years of the Soviet Union from an insider, perhaps one of the few who lived to tell what he knew.
The story of Kirov having an affair with Nikolaev’s wife has been around for some time. Oleg Khlevnyuk in his “Master in his own house” (about Stalin gradually assuming full control) refers to earlier books and articles that suggest that. The trouble with the theory of Nikolaev being just a loner rather than somebody with personal grievances who was being used by the NKVD is that it does not explain a few things. For example, why had he been arrested several times in the vicinity of Smolnyi with a handgun and released each time? How is it that Stalin seemed completely prepared for something as big as Kirov’s assassination and moved ahead with an immediate purge? What is one to make of those very odd responses Yagoda gave during his trial about the whole event? But the biggest problem of all is the ease with which Nikolaev managed to get close to Kirov as the latter’s personal guard, Borisov, was detained at the last minute. Two days later Borisov was killed (actually probably murdered by NKVD officers) on his way to being interrogated by the investigating committee. So, um, no, the debate will not be settled any time soon.
Alos, according to Wikpedia (caution!!!), Kirov’s escort had been withdrawn just days before along with the guards at the entrance of the building. Coincidence?
Helen and JFM–the problem is that most of the piquant details that suggest Stalin’s involvement are very problematic source-wise. They tend to come from defector memoirs, are third- or fourth-hand, and haven’t been confirmed by the archival evidence now available. Matt Lenoe outlines some of the evidentiary problems in “Did Stalin Kill Kirov and Does It Matter?” Journal of Modern History 74.2 (2002), pp. 352-380, and will have a table-breaker of a book on the subject coming out later this spring from Yale University Press.
In case anyone stumbles upon this thread five months after it began, Matthew Lenoe’s massive book on the Kirov Murder makes it clear this rumor about the withdrawal of Kirov’s bodyguard isn’t true. Kirov’s bodyguard was with Kirov when he was assassinated, but old and slow and a substantial distance behind Kirov up the stairs to his office. Kirov himself resented having a security detail and didn’t want them close to him.