The trial that was not held

Abstract

THE PERIOD 1936-38 has become known in Soviet history as the Ezhovshchina, after the then Commissar of Internal Affairs, N. I. Ezhov. The repression and show trials of 'enemies of the people' struck leading figures in all branches of society, including representatives of the 'staff of the world socialist revolution', the executive committee (ispolkom) of the Cominter, which was located in Moscow. The NKVD was preparing an open trial for them too, in which the key role was to be played by I. A. Pyatnitsky. A member of the party since 1898, professional revolutionary and active participant in the October events in Moscow, he became secretary of the Cominter ispolkom in 1933. In 1935, after the VII Congress of the Comintern, he was unexpectedly appointed head of the political-administrative department of the Central Committee (TsK) of the VKP(b). This trial was intended to begin in spring 1938, immediately after the trial of the right-trotskyist block. But it did not take place. Why? Russian and foreign specialists have put forward various theories but have not given a conclusive answer and continue to ask questions. Hitherto both Russian and foreign historiography has been confined to particular pages of the tragedy of the Cominter.1 Basically the literature is devoted to individual personalities or parties. Even after the veil of secrecy was lifted from the documents and records, the sources in the Russian centre for the preservation of historical documents of recent times (RTsKhIDNI) proved to be somewhat limited. They did not allow us to present the full tragedy of the Comintem. The historical truth can only be reconstructed on the basis of documents and records in the archives of the former Ministry of Security of the Russian Federation and the Chief Military Procuracy of the USSR. Particularly valuable sources are the records of investigations and rehabilitations of members of the Comintem ispolkom, and those of the supervisory procedure of the USSR procuracy. Another interesting source is the records of investigation of former NKVD SSSR staff, who were brought to account in the mid-1950s for violation of socialist legality. These and other documents provide the basis for this article.