On January 25, 1928, at night, under guard, Leon Trotsky was taken to Alma-Ata. At the end of 1927, the politician, whose name resounded throughout the world for more than ten years, suffered a crushing defeat and was expelled from the CPSU (b).
So disappointing for Trotsky was the result of the struggle for the "Leninist inheritance" that lasted for more than five years, which began between him, Joseph Stalin and Grigory Zinoviev during the life of Vladimir Lenin. Trotsky and Zinoviev, who considered Stalin a mediocrity, initially clashed primarily with each other. And when they were convinced that they had underestimated the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and entered into a political union, he already firmly held all the threads of power in his hands.
Pre-Congress "discussion"
By the beginning. In 1927, Stalin established tight control over the main levers of power in the Bolshevik Party and in state structures. In 1926, the leaders of the anti-Stalinist alliance, Leon Trotsky, Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev, lost their positions in the Politburo of the Central Committee, where Stalin's nominees Vyacheslav Molotov, Klim Voroshilov, Yan Rudzutak, Mikhail Kalinin and Valerian Kuibyshev settled.
The leaders of the Trotskyite-Zinoviev opposition did not accept defeat and still hoped for revenge. And the very defeat of Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev from the point of view of ordinary communists did not yet look complete and final, since the opposition leaders expelled from the Politburo were part of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b).
It is also important that at that time not all communists could sort out the disputes of the party leaders. Passed in the middle. The 1927 All-Union Party Census revealed that 63% of the Communists had a lower education, and 26% were self-taught. At the same time, there were only 0.8% of people with higher education. The average level of cadets of provincial and district communist schools was such that schools, before proceeding to the implementation of the main program, often had to start with classes in the Russian language and arithmetic.
Checks constantly revealed facts of blatant illiteracy. For example, some communists considered the ex-head of the Moscow security department, Sergei Zubatov, a revolutionary who attempted to assassinate Alexander II, Stepan Khalturin as the head of the Comintern, and Vladimir Lenin's comrade-in-arms Yakov Sverdlov as a teacher of the Sverdlovsk courses. In the Vladimir Party organization, one of the Communists counted five Internationals. Not all members of the CPSU (b) even knew when the February and October revolutions took place!
At the same time, even among ordinary communists, there were enough of those who sincerely wanted to understand the essence of the discussions that had been tearing apart the "top" of the party for several years. For example, Rodionov from the Tver province (party ticket no. 0201235) directly wrote: “The opposition materials published by the Central Committee are too insufficient for an ordinary party member to understand them and clearly draw a conclusion to himself what the opposition's mistake is. The Central Committee writes that the opposition to the last ECCI (meeting of the Executive Committee of the Communist International - ON) issued a large "party" of all kinds of theses, proposals and other lies and slander against the Central Committee and the party. The ordinary mass of Party members knows only those excerpts that are printed in the reports of comrades speaking on the results of the work of the plenum (Comrade Bukharin). Declaring ourselves, of course, a supporter of the Central Committee and condemning the attacks of the opposition, the thought still creeps in that we condemn the opposition because the Central Committee condemns it”.
Not only Rodionov did not understand that this state of affairs was in the hands of Stalin. At the same time, any attempts by Trotsky and Zinoviev to convey their views to the mass party audience were invariably interpreted by the secretary general as a violation of party discipline, which threatened with organizational consequences.
A serious threat loomed over the leaders of the Trotskyite-Zinoviev opposition in August 1927. Then the demand for the withdrawal of Trotsky and Zinoviev from the Central Committee was formulated in a statement by 17 members of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission (CCC), and then submitted to the plenum. Apparently, this action was inspired by Stalin. However, seeing that the expulsion of Zinoviev and Trotsky still did not find the unconditional support of the majority of the plenum participants, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks played the role of a peacemaker. As a result, after a stormy discussion, Trotsky and Zinoviev were left in the Central Committee. For this, the opposition leaders had to sign a statement in which they announced their refusal to conduct factional activities. Formally, they retained the right during the pre-Congress discussion to defend their views in the party cell and on the pages of the "discussion sheet" that came out in the pre-Congress period.
Why Trotsky Was Unconvincing
The upcoming events clearly demonstrated that such "inner-party democracy" already seemed excessive to Stalin. And if the supporters of Trotsky and Zinoviev had the right to speak only in their party cells, their "ideological vacillations" were exposed everywhere and everywhere. In the pre-Congress period, the Stalinist propaganda machine started working with tripled energy. The opposition was branded at all meetings and in the newspapers.
An important stage in the elimination of the opposition was the Plenum of the Central Committee and Central Control Commission of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), held at the end of October. “Perhaps I got over it then and made a mistake,” Stalin said meaningfully, recalling the unrealized opportunity in August to expel Trotsky and Zinoviev from the Central Committee. These words were hardly sincere. The general secretary's kindness was not evidenced by the fact that on September 27 Trotsky was expelled from the Executive Committee of the Comintern.
The October plenum was preceded by the following events. A group of oppositionists tried to organize the illegal publication of their own literature. The OGPU introduced its employee into the environment of the “underground workers”. Historian Georgy Chernyavsky writes: “The agent of the special services Stroilov offered the opposition a service - to get paper and technical materials for publishing. The negotiations did not go beyond probing. But that was enough for the chairman of the OGPU Menzhinsky. He announced the disclosure of plans for subversive print propaganda "Trotskyists". In addition, Stroilov was declared a former Wrangel officer …"
The provocation was aimed at finding a pretext for the exclusion of the opposition from the ranks of the CPSU (b). They were accused of creating a united anti-Soviet front "from Trotsky to Chamberlain" and began to be vilified in the press and at meetings. In turn, opposition leaders accused the Stalinist majority of provocation. Passions ran high.
There was no lack of emotion at the plenum either. Historian Dmitry Volkogonov in his book "Triumph and Tragedy" described Trotsky's speech, which turned out to be the last in his life at the Bolshevik forums: “The speech was chaotic, unconvincing … Trotsky, bending over the podium, quickly read his entire speech on paper … exclamations: "slander", "lie", "chatterbox" … There were no convincing arguments in his speech."
Volkogonov did not consider it necessary to inform the readers that Trotsky's speech was immediately removed from the transcript of the plenum, and for many years it remained inaccessible to historians. The cited remarks "slander", "lies", "talker" give reason to assume that Volkogonov saw the record of Trotsky's speech recorded by stenographers. And it is difficult to draw such conclusions without reading the text. It is all the more surprising that, while giving his comments, Volkogonov did not ask the completely obvious question: why did the speech of the best tribune of the Bolshevik Party at such a fateful moment for him turn out to be unconvincing?
In order to imagine the atmosphere in which Trotsky spoke, let us present the final fragment of his speech. Responding to the accusations that “the opposition is in connection with the Wrangel officer,” he said: “Only to the question posed bluntly by comrades. Zinoviev, Smilga and Peterson, who is this Wrangel officer, is he arrested - Comrade Menzhinsky declared that the Wrangel officer is an agent of the GPU. (VOICES: This is not the order of the day. Enough.) The party was deceived. (Shouts: Enough.) In order to intimidate … (Shouts: Enough chatter.) I propose to the Plenum to put on the agenda the question … (VOICE FROM THE PLACE: You can ask, not propose) … how the Politburo, together with the Presidium Central Control Commission, deceived the party. (Noise, call from the chairman. Voices: this is impudence! Slander! Impudent man! Lies. Down with him!) Whether it is a lie or not, can be verified only after the Plenum examines the issue with documents in hand. (Noise. The call of the chairman.) (VOICE: do not slander!) … that we have before us an attempt in the spirit of Kerensky, Pereverzev. (Call of the chairman. Loud noise.) This was an attempt to deceive the party from start to finish. (LOMOV: impudent! Down with Clemenceau and the Clemenceauers. Get him out of this rostrum! Down with this rostrum.) (Continuous noise and call from the chairman.) (Kaganovich: Menshevik, counter-revolutionary!) (Voices: expel him from the Party! Scoundrel!) (Call of the chairman.) (Skvortsov: down with slanderers!).
This ends the transcript. The roar in the hall during Trotsky's short speech stood constantly. And if Trotsky was kicked out of the party, some of Stalin's supporters had bowed down at the previous plenum, but now they were ready to tear him to pieces. From the statement of October 24, submitted by Trotsky to the Secretariat of the Central Committee, we learn that during his speech they tried to pull him from the rostrum, Nikolai Shvernik threw a weighty book at him "Control Figures of the National Economy of the USSR for 1927/1928", and Nikolai Kubyak launched a glass …
Trotsky was interrupted ten times by Nikolai Skrypnik, five times by Klim Voroshilov, four times by Ivan Skvortsov-Stepanov, three times by Grigory Petrovsky and Vlas Chubar, two times by Georgy Lomov and Pyotr Talberg, and once by Philip Goloshchekin, Emelyan Yaroslavsky and Joseph Unshlikht. And these are only the most vociferous, whose screams were caught by the stenographers. Subsequently, Trotsky compared what happened at the plenum with the events of October 1917: “When I read out in 1927 the declaration on behalf of the left opposition at a meeting of the Central Committee, I was answered with shouts, threats and curses, which I had to hear when the Bolshevik declaration was announced on the day of the opening of Kerensky's Pre-Parliament. … I remember that Voroshilov shouted: "He behaves like in the Pre-Parliament!" This is much more apt than the author of the exclamation expected."
Trotsky's comparison may not seem entirely convincing to everyone. In any case, Volkogonov's accusations against a person who tried to speak in such conditions look strange.
Broom sweeps
In the entire crowded plenum, there was only one person who, not being an oppositionist, was sincerely indignant at what was happening. It was Grigory Shklovsky. Here is a fragment of his speech: “Comrades, I cannot forget for a minute the will of Vladimir Ilyich, where he foresaw all this. His letter clearly states that elements for a split can be members of the Central Committee such as Comrades. Stalin and Trotsky. And now this is being played out before our very eyes with extreme precision, and the party is silent. (VOICE: No, he is not silent.) You know further that Vladimir Ilyich said bluntly: a split in the party is the death of Soviet power. I remind this to the Plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission at the last, perhaps, minute. Comrades, come to your senses!.. The top is infected to the extreme by group struggle … I have no words to express my indignation at the way the preparations for the party congress are being carried out now. Even the theses of the Central Committee are still unknown to the party, and elections at the conference are already underway everywhere. (Loud noise …) Exceptions are increasingly becoming only on the eve of arrests. These measures exacerbate the internal party situation unheard of. They are directly directed against the unity of the party. The exclusion of hundreds of Bolshevik-Leninists from the party (noise) just before the congress is a direct preparation for a split, is its partial implementation."
Shklovsky, who spoke quickly to the growing roar of the hall, was never allowed to finish. He was not allowed to read out the statement of the old Bolsheviks, supporters of unity, and, having driven him from the rostrum, he was called “Christic” and “Baptist”. Shklovsky soon paid for his performance. In November, all oppositionists, members and candidates for members of the Central Committee and Central Control Commission, were expelled from the composition of these governing bodies of the party. Together with them, Shklovsky was expelled, who did not share the views of the opposition and only advocated reconciliation. However, this did not stop Stalin any more …
On November 7, oppositionists, many of whom were the most active participants in the revolution and the Civil War, attempted to hold a demonstration under their own slogans and with portraits of the leaders of the opposition. These attempts were quickly and harshly suppressed. And a week later, Trotsky and Zinoviev were expelled from the party.
The fate of the rest of the opposition in December 1927 was to be decided by the 15th Congress of the CPSU (b). The composition of its delegates, as well as their general warlike attitude, did not bode well for the opposition. And so it happened.
One of the first to enter the podium was the Stalingrad metalworker Pankratov. To the enthusiastic roar of the audience, he took a steel broom out of its case and loudly declared: "The metalworkers of Stalingrad hope that the 15th Party Congress will sweep away the opposition with this tough broom (applause)."
The comrades who listened to Pankratov were so fond of the "theme of the broom" that it sounded more than once at the congress. Against this background, Lazar Kaganovich, refuting the assertions of the opposition that the workers had a poor understanding of the discussion, triumphantly said: “This is intellectual, philistine reasoning, they are worthless. They do not take into account the fact that the workers have their own class criterion, they have a class proletarian instinct with which they grasp where the really proletarian class line is being pursued."
The 15th CPSU (b) expelled from the ranks of the party about a hundred of the most famous oppositionists, and the rank and file Trotskyists and Zinovievites were engaged in the localities. The OGPU took the most active part in the fight against the opposition.
In January 1928, the non-party Trotsky was exiled to Alma-Ata. However, even far from Moscow, he did not break down, proving that, having visited the heights of power, he remained a revolutionary. Unlike former colleagues in the united Trotskyist-Zinoviev opposition, Kamenev and Zinoviev, who wrote penitential statements and "disarmed before the party", the former People's Commissar for Military Affairs did not intend to stop fighting Stalin.
For a year, Trotsky was under the close supervision of the OGPU. On February 10, 1929, by decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, one of the leaders of the October Revolution was exiled to Turkey on the Ilyich steamer, a country where the troops of Baron Peter Wrangel, defeated by the Red Army, left in November 1920 …
