December 01, 2014

The Mystery of the Kirov Assassination


The Mystery of the Kirov Assassination

Eighty years ago today, on December 1, 1934, a fellow named Leonid Nikolayev shot beloved Leningrad party chief Sergei Kirov, setting off the Great Terror. But not all is clear in this incident. In Charon’s Chronicles, Russian writer Alexander Lavrin investigates the murky background of Kirov’s death.

[…]

There exist four theories as to why Kirov was killed.

  1. Nikolayev had a personal vendetta against Kirov.
  2. Stalin either ordered or knew of the assassination.
  3. It was a terrorist plot organized by Trotsky through the employees of foreign diplomatic missions.
  4. The assassination was planned by the opposition within the USSR.

The third and fourth points have as few supporters as they have pieces of evidence. So I will elaborate only on the first two. Let us examine the historical evidence.

In the first rounds of interrogation, Nikolayev claimed that he wanted to get revenge on Kirov for allegedly “destroying his honor and destabilizing his life.” Indeed, since April Nikolayev had not had a job anywhere, and had changed jobs 11 times in the previous 15 years. He had been a minor bureaucrat in Party and Komsomol branches, and his last position was in the Party archives. The regional office in Vyborg had offered him some minor positions, but they did not appeal to him. There is evidence of Nikolayev “catching” Kirov on two occasions, when the latter was getting into his car, looking to complain to him about his situation. Could Nikolayev have come to hate the entire world so much as to choose Kirov as a target for revenge? A possibility. But although he could have made the choice himself, he could also have listened to a tip from someone else. Note that after his arrest Nikolayev demanded to see Stalin. Had he, perhaps, wanted to explain that the assassination had not been his idea, and hoped for lenience, if not a miracle?

When in 1990-1991 the Soviet press debated the mystery of Kirov’s death, an interesting pattern emerged: all the supporters of the “lone gunman” theory were conservative Party officials. So what were their arguments?

  1. In response to journalist Georgy Tselms’s question, “So could Nikolayev have killed Kirov on his own initiative?” one of the officials answered, “Sure he could! You know the kind of guy he was? A pipsqueak with a chip on his shoulder. And he’d just been fired. If they hadn’t fired him, maybe nothing would’ve happened…”
  2. Stalin could not have ordered Kirov’s assassination because the two were close friends.
  3. The death of Borisov, Kirov’s bodyguard (who died on his way to interrogation), was just an accident, caused by a defect in his car.

And from a legal standpoint, supporters of the “lone gunman” theory have the more stable position, because in December 1990 a plenary session of the USSR Supreme Court ruled that “the terrorist act targeting S. M. Kirov was planned and carried out by Nikolayev alone.”

But let’s hear the arguments for the second theory. […] In his memoirs, Nikita Khruschev writes: “First of all, we found out that not long before Kirov’s assassination Nikolaev had been apprehended near Smolny, where Kirov worked. He had appeared suspicious to the guards, and was searched. They found a gun on him (in his bag). At the time, the stance on guns was strict, but despite that, and despite the fact that he had been stopped in a high-security area, Nikolayev was immediately released.”

What do you think? Was Nikolayev really acting on his own?

A profile of the assassination appeared in the November-December 2014 issue of Russian Life, and you can read more arguments from both sides on bibliotekar.ru [ru].

 

Image credits: Wikimedia Commons

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955