269. Voennye arkhivy Rossii, 103–4. By Oct. 5, OGPU interrogators had Kakurin imagining that Tukhachevsky had indirectly revealed he was contemplating Stalin’s assassination. Voennye arkhivy Rossii, 104; Lebedev, “M. N. Tukhachevskii i ‘voenno-fashistskii zagovor,’ 248.
270. Zdanovich, Organy, 395–6 (citing TsA FSB, f. 2, op. 8, d. 258, l. 248).
271. Chuev, Tak govoril Kaganovich, 60.
272. Kosheleva, Pis’ma Stalina Molotovu, 216–8, 220–2, 222–3; Lih et al., Stalin’s Letters to Molotov, 213–5, 216–7, 217–9. This frustration extended well beyond Stalin. Gregory and Markevich, “Creating Soviet Industry,” 802, citing RGAE, f. 7297, op. 38, d. 104, l. 2; Khlevniuk, Politbiuro, 42; Davies, Soviet Economy in Turmoil, 439.
273. Syrtsov made some critical remarks at the 16th Party Congress in July 1930, but Stalin had permitted him to be reelected a candidate member of the politburo. Still, the dictator continued to grumble. Kosheleva, Pis’ma Stalina Molotovu, 214–6; Lih et al., Stalin’s Letters to Molotov, 212. On Sept. 25, the politburo dispatched Syrtsov to the Mid-Volga territory to expedite grain procurements. RGASPI, f. 17, op. 3, d. 798, l. 4.
274. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 769, l. 37–8; Khlevniuk, “Stalin, Syrtsov, Lominadze,” 90–1 (citing RGASPI, f. 17, op. 3, d. 797, l. 1–2). Mężyński and Olsky, for their part, kept sounding alarms about planned “terrorist acts,” including against Stalin. Sevost’ianov et al., “Sovershenno sekretno,” VIII/ii: 1451–2 (TsA FSB, f. 2, op. 8, d. 258, l. 236: Sept. 19, 1930).
275. Khlevniuk, Politbiuro, 40–52; Watson, Molotov, 99–104. On Rykov, see Aleksei Ivanovich Rykov; Oppenheim, Practical Bolshevik; Shelestov, Vremia Alekseia Rykova; and Senin, A. I. Rykov.
276. Voennye arkhivy Rossii, 103–4.
277. Khaustov et al., Lubianka: Stalin i VChK, 256–7 (TsA FSB, f. 2, op. 9, d. 388, l. 270–1: Oct. 1930); Kommunist, 1990, no. 11: 99–100 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 1, d. 5276); Kosheleva, Pis’ma Stalina Molotovu, 187–8; Lih et al., Stalin’s Letters to Molotov, 195–6.
278. Murin, Stalin v ob’iatiakh, 30 (l. 34–5: Sept. 5), 31 (36–7: Sept. 8). Fifteen and sixteen years earlier, Stalin had written to fellow revolutionaries asking for something to read in English or French while he was in remote Siberian exile. Ostrovskii, Kto stoial, 399–401, 409, 413.
279. Murin, Stalin v ob”iatiakh, 31 (APRF, f. 45, op. 1, d. 1550, l. 36, 37), 32 (l. 41–2), 32–3 (l. 43–5), 33 (l. 38–40), 34 (l. 48–9). Stalin responded on Oct. 8: “You hint at some kind of excursions by me. I inform you that I have not traveled anywhere (anywhere at all!) and I have no intention of traveling.” Murin, Stalin v ob”iatiakh, 34–5 (l. 50–1).
280. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 738, l. 110.
281. Kvashonkin, Sovetskoe rukovodstvo, 144–6 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 765, l. 68a); Enker, “Struggling for Stalin’s Soul,” 172–5.
282. Khlevniuk, Politbiuro, 42–3.
283. Khlevniuk, Master of the House, 30–3 (citing RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 769, l. 68a; d. 765, l. 55–58; d. 738, l. 110–1; d. 778, l. 43); Khlevniuk, Politbiuro, 42–3. Kaganovich later in life recalled that he had supported Molotov, in the event Stalin declined to head the government. Chuev, Tak govoroil Kaganovich, 60.
284. Stalin is listed as meeting (with Nikolai Popov of Pravda) on Oct. 13, his first meeting since July 22. Na prieme, 34–5.
285. Stalin to Bukharin, Oct. 14, and Bukharin’s second letter of Oct. 14: Kvashonkin, Sovetskoe rukovodstvo, 146–7 (RGASPI, f. 329, op. 2, d. 6, l. 78); 147–8 (l. 77).
286. Iakovlev et al., Reabilitatsiia: politicheskie protsessy, 242, 244. The politburo meeting also censured a pamphlet Syrtsov had published based on a presentation he had made on control figures for output in physical units for 1930–31, supposedly “among those series of questions that are not to be made public and disseminated.” Khlevniuk et al., Stalinskoe politbiuro, 95 (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 2, d. 446, l. 2–4), 106n4 (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 3, d. 800, l. 7); Khlevniuk, Politbiuro, 44. Syrtsov’s pamphlet is reprinted in Khlevniuk et al., Stenogrammy zasedanii politbiuro, 323–46 (RGASPI, f. 82, op. 2, d. 53, l. 92–108).
