During the course of the afternoon it is estimated that between 800,000 and 1,200,000 people marched in review before Stalin and his associates and Lenin’s Tomb.
Suspension of Business For three days during the celebration all government offices were closed and generally business was suspended. There were no deliveries of either mail or newspapers during that period.
Underlying Significance The underlying significance of this twentieth-anniversary celebration of the Red Revolution should not be discounted. The fact is important that this regime has persisted for a period of twenty years. Its importance is illumined by the expressions of joy which Lenin was reputed to have given when the first ninety days of the Soviet Revolution had elapsed, that their Revolution had at least outlasted the French Revolution.
Despite the admittedly great strengths economically, politically, and from a military point of view of this regime, there are many indications that the evolution of this revolution is following the traditional and accepted lines which human nature has a manner of injecting into revolutions. The tempo in the development of the revolution here is slower; but the yeast appears to be working, just the same.
Barring a European war, assassination or similar accident, it is the consensus here that the army is loyal, that the agencies of propaganda are working efficiently, that the party functionaries are either fanatic or cowed by the secret police, and that this government, by reason thereof, is at least for the time being firmly entrenched and strong.
I have the honour to be, Sir, respectfully yours,
Joseph E. Davies
Conversations in the inner circle of power
Parallel to this but on the other side of the stage – in the wings of historical events, as it were – Georgii Dimitrov, the chairman of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, made his own notes. He recorded there the conversations taking place on the periphery of the parade, perhaps on the stands of Lenin’s Mausoleum or before the banquet in the Kremlin. On 7 November 1937, Georgii Dimitrov wrote in his diary:4
– Parade and demonstration
– From a conversation with Stalin:
We have to delay a statement on the facts that have been discovered about counter-revolutionary activities (arrests, etc.) in the CPSU(B) and the CI as long as the requisite materials are still being processed. It is not worthwhile basing information on fragments.
Knor[in] is a Polish and German spy (and has been for a long time and until recently).
Rakovskii – working for the Intelligence Service since before the Revolution and until very recently. He recruited Bogomolov for the English secret service. [Page removed]
Piatnitskii – a Trotskyite. They have all testified about him (Knorin, Abramov, etc.).
Kun – worked against the Party with the Trotskyites. In all probability he too was involved in spying. His role in the suppression of the Hungarian Revolution is highly suspect.
Antipov, Vareikis et al. were agents of the tsarist espionage service.
– There are materials suggesting that even Trotsky was in the service of the tsarist espionage service in 1904–1905. This is now being investigated.
– Iakovlev’s wife (Varvara Iakovleva) turned out to be spying for the French. In 1918 she betrayed the revolutionary military committee in Odessa.
– Lunch with Voroshilov (following the demonstration). Present were 1) Sta[lin], 2) Mol[otov], 3) Voro[shilov], 4) Kag[anovich], 5) Kalin[in], 6) Andreev, 7) Mikoian, 8) Yezhov, 9) Chubar, 10) Shkiriatov, 11) Khrushchev, 12) Bulganin, 13) Budennyi, 14) Egorov, 15) Shaposhnikov, 16) Viktorov, 17) Kosarev, 18) Shvernik, 19) Frinovskii, 20) Redens, 21) Digal, 22) the Red Army NKVD representative, 23) Mezhlauk, 24) Commandant of the Kremlin, 25) Voroshilov’s wife, 26) D[imitrov]. Voroshilov’s toast to Stalin.
Tamada [toastmaster] Mikoian gave a shrewd toast for each of those present. Voroshilov and Mikoian. And yet another toast to the Great Stalin.
Stal[in]: I should like to say a few words that are perhaps not very solemn. The Russian tsars did many bad things. They plundered the people and enslaved them. They fought wars and conquered territories in the interests of the landowners. But they did achieve one great thing: they cobbled a great empire together – as far as Kamchatka. We have inherited this empire. We Bolsheviks have been the first to consolidate this state and to turn it into a unified, indivisible state, not in the interests of landowners and capitalists but for the benefit of the workers of all the peoples that go to make up this state. We have united the state in such a way that if any part of it were torn away from this universal socialist state, it would not just harm the state; it would be unable to survive on its own and would inevitably fall under a foreign yoke. For this reason anyone who tries to destroy the unity of the socialist state, or who strives to separate single parts and nationalities from the whole, is an enemy, a sworn enemy of the state, the peoples of the USSR. And we shall annihilate each of these enemies, even if he be an Old Bolshevik, we shall completely destroy his family, his associates. We shall mercilessly annihilate everyone who attempts by his deeds and even his thoughts to attack the unity of the socialist state. To the destruction of all enemies, themselves and their associates – to the very end! (Applause and calls of, ‘To the Great Stalin!’)
Stal[in]: I have not yet come to the end of my toast. There is much talk of great leaders. But no cause triumphs if the preconditions for it are absent. In this respect the middle-ranking cadres of the Party, the economy and the military are the most important. They elect the leaders, they explain the situation to the masses, they guarantee the success of the enterprise. I propose a toast to these middle-ranking cadres! They stay in the background and no one notices them.
D[imitrov]: And to him who inspires them, who shows them the way, who leads them – to Comrade Stalin!
Sta[lin]: No, no. the most important cadres are the middle-ranking ones. Generals are nothing without a good officer corps. Why were we able to defeat Trotsky and the others? It is well known that Tr[otsky] was the most popular man in the country after Lenin. Bukharin, Zinoviev, Rykov and Tomskii were also popular. Whereas we were scarcely known. Me, Molotov, Vor[oshilov], Kalinin … at that time. In Lenin’s day we were the practical men, his fellow fighters. But we were supported by the middle-ranking men; they explained our views to the masses … For his part, Trotsky paid them no attention at all.
D[imitrov]: It was you who pointed to the correct path after Lenin, and continued his work tenaciously and wisely. For it frequently happens in history that the successors destroy the work of their predecessors.
…
Vor[oshilov] and Molot[ov]: Dimitrov would like to propose a toast!
D[imitrov]: … I have nothing to add to what Comrade Stalin has said about the merciless struggle against our enemies and the significance of the middle-ranking cadres. That will be taken note of in the Party, and I myself shall do everything in my power to see to it that the same thing happens in the ranks of the Comintern. But I have to say, and this is not merely my firm conviction, but I have also found it to be the case in prison, in the most difficult conditions, that the greatest piece of good fortune for the socialist revolution and the international proletariat is the fact that Comrade Stalin has continued Lenin’s work in such a brilliant and tenacious fashion, despite all vicissitudes, and that he has secured the victory of our cause in this way. We cannot speak about Lenin without linking his name to that of Stalin! (They all raise their glasses!)
Stalin: I have great respect for Comrade Dimitrov. We are friends and shall remain friends. But I do not agree with him on this point. He has even expressed himself in an un-Marxist way. For our cause to succeed, certain preconditions must always be present. Leaders, however, can always be found. It is not enough just to point out the right path. Thus the English Party pursues a correct policy, but is unable to achieve anything because the middle-ranking cadres support the Labour Party. The French Party pursues a correct policy but the Socialist Party is still very str
ong. It’s the middle-ranking cadres that are decisive. We must remain conscious of this and must never forget that, where other things are equal, it is the middle-ranking cadres who will decide on whether there will be a successful outcome.
Khrushchev: there is a happy constellation in our case: a great leader and great middle-ranking cadres!
– After dinner – in the Kremlin.
– Saw the film about Lenin
– Red Army manoeuvres!
24
A Miniature of High Society before the Massacre
To write a comprehensive history of Moscow high society in the thirties would be a fascinating task. One would have to reconstruct its networks and key focal points from the memoirs of the period; it would be challenging to trace the ambitions, the taste, and the manners of the elite that had emerged following the Revolution. But such a history would have to portray that elite at the moment when, following the breathtaking rise of so many careers, they all plunged once more into the abyss. It would be a story of rise and fall in a historical second; it would portray a class of people who had not had the time to accustom themselves to the privileges flowing from their power and who had not yet found the leisure in which to enjoy a pause in the fraught struggle to consolidate their position. For we are not speaking here of an ossified establishment, or of a juste milieu, whose days were numbered and which had had the time to prepare itself for its end. It was an end without preparation, a death without fanfare. Entirely new luxury paired with a cold death.
The bombs come closer
The entries for 1937 in many diaries of many different origins read like reports of explosions coming closer and closer. First, it is names you learn about from newspapers; then it is the friends of friends; and then, after a while, there are people from one’s own circle of friends. The news arrives like a rumour. It takes time before the rumour becomes fact or, if you are in luck, a fact turns back into a rumour. Elena Bulgakova observed the scene from the standpoint of the world of writers.1 Her account registers the accelerating advance of persecution in the circles closest to them; it consists of newspaper reports, telephone calls from friends and colleagues, rumours and denials. It is not necessary to know all the people involved – almost all are representatives of cultural life – in order to realize that what she is describing is a world of rumour and diffuse anxiety, an orgy of arbitrary acts and strokes of fate:
They said that Meyerhold had expressed remorse for his sins at the meeting of the Artists’ Committee. And that he did this so unexpectedly and obsequiously that people first thought he didn’t mean it seriously. (30 March 1937)
Rumour has it that there is something amiss with Kirshon and Afinogenov. Averbakh is said to have been arrested. Can fate have caught up with them too? (21 April 1937)
The newspapers report that Kirshon, Lerner, Sannikov and Gorodetskii have been indicted because of their activities in the administration of authors’ rights. (16 May 1937)
The city is full of rumours that some writers have been arrested. Someone by the name of Zarudin or Zarubin, then Bruno Iasenskii, Ivan Kataev, and one other person. (15 August 1937)
M.A. [Bulgakov] has heard that Adrian Piotrovskii is said to have been arrested in Leningrad. (18 August 1937)
Viktor Fedorovich Smirnov phoned; he was here once about his libretto. Said the commissar has had him appointed chairman of VOKS. His statement that ‘Arosev has fallen seriously ill and will not be coming back’ can be taken to mean that Arosev, the previous chairman of VOKS, has been arrested. (30 August 1937)
The papers have announced the suicide of Liubchenko, the chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of Ukraine. (2 September 1937)
Rumour that Kirshon has been arrested. M.A. doesn’t believe it. (25 September 1937)
Olesha phoned to ask M.A. for advice because he felt unwell. His nerves are in a bad way and in addition something bad has happened to him. He did not tell us what it was, but I know about it from the paper and from other people. His stepson jumped out of the window and fell to his death. (28 September 1937)
The paper has a report on Bubnov’s funeral. (13 October 1937)
Pravda has an article by Kerzhentsev on Meyerhold – ‘Strange theatre’. Harsh criticism of Meyerhold’s entire theatrical history. The theatre will probably be closed down. (12 December 1937)
Today the committee will decide on the closure of Meyerhold’s theatre. Yesterday we sat and talked with Iermolinskii until 5 a.m. What nonsense! (8 January 1938)
A disastrous piece of news about Kerzhentsev yesterday. At a meeting of the Supreme Soviet, Zhdanov called him a commis voyageur. That is the end of his career. But what a lot of damage and mess he has caused. (19 January 1938)
In the morning, a phone call from Dmitriev, asking whether he could come round right away. He arrived very depressed. His wife, Elizaveta Isaevna, has been arrested. Wanted advice on what he should do. (6 February 1938)
The papers have reported a terrible disaster; our airship crashed up in the North during a test flight. It was supposed to fly to the Papanin people and rescue them from the ice floe where they are stranded. (8 February 1938)
During the day Dmitriev came by. His mind is fixed on what he should do to help his wife Veta. (10 February 1938)
Something incomprehensible has happened at the Bolshoi. Kudriavtseva, Ivan Smol'tsov and someone else have been arrested. M.A. was told that Dr Blumentahl (!) had been arrested. What does it all mean? (23 February 1938)
In the paper today there is a report that on 2 March there will be a public hearing (before the Military Court of the Supreme Court of the USSR) which will deal with the cases of Bukharin, Rykov, Iagoda and others (including Professor Pletnev). In particular, Pletnev, Levin, Kazakov and Vinogradov (all of them doctors) stand accused of having murdered Gorky, Menshinskii and Kuibyshev. (28 February 1938)
This Iagoda really is a monster. But one thing is hard to understand. Gorky was such a good psychologist, so how come he didn’t realize who he had around him? Men like Iagoda and Kriuchkov! I remember M.A. coming back from Gorky’s house once (I think it was in 1933 and Gorky was living then, if I remember right, in Krasnye Gorki) and in reply to my question ‘What was it like? What happened’, he replied: ‘There’s an ear behind every door several square feet in size.’ (10 March 1938)
M.A. has heard that Smol'tsov, who was arrested some months ago, has been brought back into the Bolshoi together with Kudriavtseva – in a Lincoln. They are to receive eight months’ salary and a place in a convalescent home. And in MKhAT [the Moscow Academic Arts Theatre] it is said that Stepun has been arrested. (19 September 1938)
The evening paper criticizes Kataev for his superficiality and lack of artistic truth. My Shenitschka phoned and said that he had also been criticized in the Krasnaia Zvezda and the Komsomol'skaya Pravda. (27 September 1938)
A story is going round that Shumiatskii has been arrested – together with his wife. (27 November 1938)
From quite a different angle and a very different milieu, the American ambassador Joseph D. Davies likewise notes the disappearance of people, many of whom he knew. He notes on the Piatakov trial in January 1937:
Ever since the trial there have been constant recurring rumours of wholesale arrests of intellectuals and politically minded people in different parts of Russia, all alleged to be part of the Trotsky conspiracy. In addition to these there are wild rumours that Lenin’s widow, a Marshall of the Revolution and Acting Commissar of Defence, and others in high places have been imprisoned. There are also rumours which reach here from the outside that Voroshilov, the Commissar for Defence, is marching on Moscow, that the Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Litvinov, has been arrested, and so forth and so on. These last two are untrue to my knowledge. Others may be exaggerated.
It is interesting to note that, at the inception of this revolution, Lenin and the other intellectual revolutionists agreed (reportedly) that they would profit by the lesson of the French Revolution and would not permi
t internecine struggle between themselves to breed counter-revolutions. (Entry of 17 February 1937)2
Reports are current that among other persons arrested for treason were Kaminsky, Rudzutak, Mezhlauk (a member of the Politburo), Karakhan, Krestinsky, Rozengolts, Ossinsky, Unshlikht, and Stern. (8 July 1937)
Rozengolts is the Commissar for Foreign Trade. We had dinner at his country place only a few months ago. It seems unbelievable that he should be involved in this situation. (8 July 1937)
There is no question but what a major operation is going on here. On the face of things everything is quiet. There is nothing unusual on the streets or among the crowds you see, but there are constant rumours, both unverified and authenticated, of prominent people in all sections of life being in prison or liquidated. (10 July 1937)
Davies’s reports also included the mass executions in the summer of 1937 in the provinces:
During the last few weeks, literally hundreds of executions have been reported in the provincial press on charges varying from sabotage to terrorism. At the same time, such prominent Soviet officials as Bubnov, Lyubimov, Rukhimovich, Veitser, Karp, Orlov, et cetera, have been dismissed from their positions and presumably arrested.
Although there are no exact figures on the subject, it is believed by most competent observers that the number of party and government employees executed since the beginning of the present purge runs into the thousands, and arrests into the tens of thousands. The purge has affected all phases of Soviet life, including former stalwart supporters of the Bolshevik regime. For example, it is known that over 40 members or alternate members of the Central Committee of the Party, 9 former members of the Politburo, 18 former People’s Commissars, 50 Assistant People’s Commissars, 16 ambassadors or ministers, and the majority of the Presidents of the Soviet of People’s Commissars of the Constituent Republics have been arrested. (16 November 1937)
Moscow, 1937 Page 51