The Great Terror

Some of our leading comrades, both in the centre and locally, not only failed to discern the real countenance of these wreckers, diversionists, spies, and murderers, but proved so unconcerned, complacent and naïve, that at times they themselves assisted in promoting the agents of the foreign States to one or other responsible post.²¹⁷

“The espionage-diversionist work of the Trotskyite agents of the Japanese-German secret police,” he added,

was a complete surprise to some of our comrades…. Our Party comrades have not noticed that Trotskyism has ceased to be a political tendency in the working class, that from the political tendency in the working class that it was seven or eight years ago, Trotskyism has become a frenzied and unprincipled band of wreckers, diversionists, spies and murderers, acting on instructions from intelligence service organs of foreign States.²¹⁸

He made a sinister suggestion, which was to prove a fair statement of his plans: “First of all it is necessary to suggest to our Party leaders, from cell secretaries to the secretaries of province and republic Party organizations, to select, within a certain period, two people in each case, two Party workers capable of being their real substitutes.”²¹⁹

His final speech fully implicated Bukharinites as well as Trotskyites:

Two words about wreckers, diversionists, spies, etc. I think it is clear to everybody now that the present-day wreckers and diversionists, no matter what disguise they may adopt, either Trotskyite or Bukharinite, have long ceased to be a political trend in the labour movement, that they have become transformed into a gang of professional wreckers, diversionists, spies and assassins, without principles and without ideals. Of course, these gentlemen must be ruthlessly smashed and uprooted as the enemies of the working class, as betrayers of our country. This is clear and requires no further explanation.²²⁰

The bulk of the speech concentrated on a different matter—the censure, in effect, of his next batch of victims. His theme was incorrect conduct, and unjustified expulsions, by leading Communists still in high positions. Then, after remarking that

we, the leaders, should not be conceited, and should understand that if we are members of the Central Committee or People’s Commissars, this does not yet mean that we possess all the knowledge required to give correct leadership. The rank in itself gives neither knowledge nor experience. Still less so does the title.²²¹

he went on to deal with the unfortunate case of Nikolayenko in Kiev:

Nikolayenko—is a rank and file member of the Party, she is an ordinary ‘little person’. For a whole year she had signalled about a wrong situation in the Party organization in Kiev, exposing the family atmosphere, philistine approach to workers, gagging of self-criticism, high-handed action by the Trotskyite wreckers. She was shunned like a bothersome fly. At last, in order to get rid of her, they expelled her from the Party. Neither the Kiev organization nor the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Ukraine helped her to obtain justice. It was only the intervention of the Central Committee of the Party which helped to disentangle that twisted knot. And what was revealed by an examination of the case? It was revealed that Nikolayenko was right, while the Kiev organization was wrong.²²²

and he added, of the inhuman attitude to such expulsions by some Party bureaucrats, “Only people who are essentially deeply anti-Party can have such an approach to members of the Party.”²²³

With these sinister words ringing in their ears, the defeated “moderates” dispersed to their posts, where worse awaited them.

In Postyshev’s old fief, a “Ukrainian Trotskyite Center” came to some sort of trial straight away—Kotsiubinsky being shot on 8 March, Golubenko on 9 March, and Musulbas on 10 March, together with O. P. Dzenis of the Ukrainian Institute of Marxism-Leninism. Their accomplice V. F. Loginov (named as a prominent Ukrainian “Trotskyite,” and giving satisfactory evidence as a “witness” at the Pyatakov Trial) was held over and only executed on 11 October 1938.

On 17 March, the Ukrainian Central Committee relieved Postyshev of his post as Second Secretary .²²⁴ He was demoted to be First Secretary in Kuibyshev province. There, though still officially retaining his rank as candidate member of the Politburo, he was to moulder, under constant criticism, for a year. The new post was supposed to be an opportunity to “correct his errors,” it was later to be said,²²⁵ with the verdict that he had failed to measure up.

In Kiev, a resolution was passed saying that as a result of Postyshev’s leadership, and its “un-Bolshevik style of work” which suppressed criticism and formed a solid clique, enemies of the Party had been able to penetrate the organization and sometimes to persecute honest Communists.²²⁶