339. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 729, l. 36. On Nov. 20, 1930, Pravda had published a statement by Bukharin, edited by Kaganovich, again admitting his mistakes, condemning the Syrtsov-Lomoindze “right-left bloc,” and calling for unity. Kvashonkin, Sovetskoe rukovodstvo, 147n1 (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 3, d. 805, l. 6).
340. The repeated delays of the plenum sparked rumors: the Menshevik Socialist Herald speculated about a rift between Stalin and other members of the politburo over the right deviation; Trotsky’s Bulletin of the Opposition imagined a break between Stalin and Molotov, with Stalin blaming Molotov for the failures in industry. Khlevniuk, Politbiuro, 21–2 (citing Biulleten’ oppozitsii, 1930, no. 17–18: 3, and Sotsialisticheskii vestnik, 1930, no. 24: 15); Artizov and Naumov, Vlast’, 134–7 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 2939, l. 1–6); Sochineniia, XIII: 23–7 (excerpts). The last such joint plenum had been April 1929, for the assault on Bukharin. Rykov’s fate, formally, was not included on the agenda.
341. RGASPI, f. 17, op. 2, d. 735, l. 81–3, 87. See also Khlevniuk, Master of the House, 28–37. Molotov’s appointment took effect that day. His two deputies were Kuibyshev and Nikolai Voznesensky. Platon Kerzhentsev (Lebedev) became business manager of the Council of People’s Commissars, moving over from agitprop in the party apparatus and succeeding Nikolai Gorbunov.
342. Molotov, V bor’be za sotsializm, 76.
343. Getty and Naumov, Road to Terror, 45–50 (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 2, d. 453, l. 53–61, 70–4, 77–8, 87–92).
344. Shepilov, Kremlin’s Scholar, 9.
345. Besedovskii, Na putiakh k terimodru, 294. The memoir of Besedovsky, a Soviet diplomat who defected, contained fanciful nonsense (for example, that Stalin used Lenin’s old dacha at Gorki and Lenin’s Rolls-Royce), but also correctly explained the crucial roles of Molotov and Kaganovich. Besedovskii, Im Dienste der Sowjets, 219. Besedovsky had defected in Paris on Oct. 2, 1929. The next month, Kaganovich told a Central Committee plenum, “Besedovskys are not few, unfortunately.” In fact, by then seventy-two Soviet officials had refused to return from abroad since late 1928. RGASPI, f. 17, op. 2, d. 441, l. 110, 113.
346. At the time of Lenin’s fatal illness, the politburo had had seven members and six candidates, but now only four of those remained: Stalin, Molotov, Kalinin, and Rudzutaks (now a full member). The new full members besides Orjonikidze were Kaganovich, Voroshilov, Kuibyshev, Kirov, and Kosior; the new candidate members were Mikoyan, Vlas Chubar, and Petrovsky. All were Stalin loyalists. VKP (b) v rezoliutsiiakh (1933), II: 669–73.
347. “Blizhaishee okruzhenie diktatora,” Sotsialisticheskii vestnik, Nov. 10, 1933: 3–10. “If we have used the word ruthless for Kaganovich,” Robert Conquest wrote, “it must be taken quite literally—there was no ruth, no pity, at all in his make-up.” Conquest, Reassessment, 13. “There was no question about his devotion to the party and to the cause,” Kaganovich’s protégé Khrushchev would recall. “He never flagged in strength or energy. He was as stubborn as he was devoted.” Khrushchev, Khrushchev Remembers, 65.
348. Rees, “Stalin as Leader, 1924–1937.” Rees, Iron Lazar, 123–43.
349. Chuev, Tak govoril Kaganovich, 53.
350. Stalin entrusted the party’s Central Control Commission and the workers’ and peasants’ inspectorate to his young protégé Andreyev. By party rules, the chairman of the Central Control Commission could no longer be a member of the politburo. On Oct. 2, 1931, however, Stalin would name Andreyev transport commissar; Rudzutaks got the Central Control Commission. On Feb. 4, 1932, Andreyev became a full member of the politburo, replacing Rudzutaks.
351. Fitzpatrick, “Ordzhonikidze’s Takeover.” Trotsky misjudged Orjonikidze, too. Trotsky, Stalin, 348.
352. Orjonikidze added that the Magnitorgorsk Iron and Steel Works, Nizhny Novgorod Auto Plant, and other well-under-way highest-priority constructions projects still “lacked blueprints.” RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 145, l. 43–54.
353. Another example: In Dec. 1931, Amayak Nazaretyan, Stalin’s first top aide in the party secretariat, proposed publishing the impressions of the foreign workers who had participated in the socialist construction. “Correct. To the politburo,” Stalin wrote on the memo. On the fifteenth anniversary in Nov. 1932, a 700-plus-page book, Through the Eyes of Foreigners, with testimonies of more than 100 people, would be published. Glazami inostrantsev; Maksimenkov, Bol’shaia tsenzura, 210 (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 163, d. 920, l. 126).
