25. Dullin, Men of Influence, 97 (citing AVP RF, f. 05, op. 14, d. 103, l. 117); Adibekov et al., Politbiuro TsK RKP (b)—VKP (b) i Evropa, 318–9 (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 162, d. 17, l. 75–6). In Nov. 1934, the regime belatedly created a training institute inside the foreign affairs commissariat.
26. Medvedev, Let History Judge, 587.
27. On Nov. 3, 1934, Stalin repaired to his Kremlin apartment after meetings in his office until 8:30 p.m. On Nov. 4, he had late supper at his Kremlin apartment with Kaganovich and Zhdanov. Murin, Stalin v ob”iatiakh, 158–9 (Svanidze diary: Nov. 4, 1934); Na prieme, 139–40. Rybin, Stalin v oktiabre, 9; See also Barmine, One Who Survived, 268.
28. Sergeev and Glushik, Besedy o Staline, 108.
29. Stalin would also be rumored to be having Kremlin rendezvous with the Bolshoi soprano Valeria Barsova [Vladimirova] and the mezzo-soprano Vera Davidova, who many years later would assert that Stalin had wanted her to be his “housekeeper.” Kun, Stalin, 222.
30. Gromov, Stalin, 63.
31. Shumyatsky had replaced the Stalin critic Ryutin, who had been shunted over to the then backwater film industry for a time. Kepley Jr., “The First Perestroika.” Shumyatsky compiled notes of his notes on his film showings at the Kremlin from May 1934 through Jan. 26, 1937. In summer 1935, in Shumyatsky’s absence, Ia. Chuzin, his deputy, made notes. Anderson et al., Kremlevskii kinoteatr, 919–1053. The first Soviet sound film, Putevka v zhzin’, by N. V. Ekka, had premiered in June 1931. Shumiatskii, Kinematografiia millionov, 121; RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 892, l. 93; Christie, “Making Sense of Early Soviet Sound,” 176–92; Kul’turnaia zhizn’ v SSSR, 1928–1941, 184, 199, 255.
32. Mar’iamov, Kremlevskii tsenzor, 9.
33. Alliluyeva, Twenty Letters, 144–5.
34. Late into the 1930s, all Soviet sound films were released in silent versions, too, for many movie projectors still lacked audio equipment. Bulgakova, Sovetskii slukhoglaz, 98.
35. Stalin first saw Chapayev on Nov. 4, 1934; an anxious Shumyatsky had asked Stalin’s permission to summon the directors, the brothers Sergei and Georgy Vasilyev, to help answer questions. Stalin would watch Chapayev again and again that month (the viewing on Nov. 8–9 lasted until 3:51 a.m.). Anderson et al., Kremlevskii kinoteatr, 949–51 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 828, l. 56). On the arguments between the Vasilyev brothers and the actor who played Chapayev, Boris Babochkin (b. 1904) of the Leningrad Drama Theater, see Babochkin, Litso Sovetskogo kinoaktera.
36. Anderson et al., Kremlevskii kinoteatr, 959–61 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 828, l. 63–63ob.). Stalin invited Budu Mdvinai, with whom he had clashed in the 1920s over Georgian affairs, to the screening that evening.
37. Pravda, Nov. 3, 1934 (S. S. Dinamov); Izvestiia, Nov. 10 (Kh. N. Khersonsky). Stalin directed Shumyatsky to work more closely with Mekhlis; on Nov. 20, the dictator again phoned Mekhlis directly from a screening, which resulted in “The Whole Country Is Watching Chapayev” (Pravda, Nov. 21, 1934). Anderson et al., Kremlevskii kinoteatr, 969–70 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 828, l. 69–69ob.: Nov. 20, 1934). See also Brooks, “Thank You, Comrade Stalin!,” 59–60.
38. Anderson et al., Kremlevskii kinoteatr, 961–7 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 828, l. 64–6).
39. Murin, Stalin v ob”iatiakh, 160–2 (Nov. 14 and 26). See also Alliluyeva, Twenty Letters, 138.
40. Bullard and Bullard, Inside Stalin’s Russia, 243; Rosliakov, Ubiistvo, 68–70.
41. Rosliakov, Ubiistvo, 70–1; Kokurin and Petrov, Lubianka, 49. Medved had served as OGPU boss in the Soviet Far East (1926–1929) before his transfer to Leningrad in Jan. 1930. Petrov and Skorkin, Kto rukovodil NKVD, 295.
42. Viktorov, Bez grifa “Sekretnosti,” 140 (Stalin to Kuibyshev and Zhdanov). At the May 2, 1934, Kremlin reception, when Voroshilov observed “from the Chekists no one has come. Neither Yagoda nor anyone else,” Stalin responded, “Yesterday I somewhat offended them. They arrested people for nothing.” Banac, Diary of Georgi Dimitrov, 18 (May 2, 1934).
43. In Medved’s case, Yagoda singled out lapses in reconnoitering the Finnish frontier (permitting spies and saboteurs to cross), grain procurements, and the struggle against factory sabotage. Vinogradov, Genrikh Iagoda, 372–4 (TsA FSB, f. 3, op. 2, d. 9, l. 243–5); Khaustov et al., Lubianka: Stalin i VChK, 569–71.
