The Great Terror

Immediately after reading Vyshinsky’s announcement, Tomsky committed suicide in his dacha at Bolshevo. (He left a letter to Stalin denying the charges.)¹⁴⁴The Central Committee, of which he was a candidate member, next day denounced his suicide, attributing it (truly enough) to his having been incriminated.

The morning of 22 August was devoted to Vyshinsky’s speech for the prosecution. First he laid the theoretical basis of the trials, of the whole Purge: “Three years ago Comrade Stalin not only foretold the inevitable resistance of elements hostile to the cause of socialism, but also foretold the possibility of the revival of Trotskyite counter-revolutionary groups. This trial has fully and distinctly proved the great wisdom of this forecast."¹⁴⁵

After an attack on Trotsky, he took the court at length through the history of Zinoviev’s and Kamenev’s various recantations and promises. He then gave great prominence to the Kirov murder:

These mad dogs of capitalism tried to tear limb from limb the best of the best of our Soviet land. They killed one of the men of the revolution who was most dear to us, that admirable and wonderful man, bright and joyous as the smile on his lips was always bright and joyous, as our new life is bright and joyous. They killed our Kirov; they wounded us close to our very heart. They thought they could sow confusion and consternation in our ranks.¹⁴⁶

Vyshinsky took some time to deal with Smirnov’s “wrigglings” (and, in passing, condemned Holtzman for having “adopted the same position as Smirnov”); Smirnov had “stubbornly denied that he took any part in the terroristic activities of the Trotskyite-Zinovievite centre.”¹⁴⁷ His guilt was, however, established by the other confessions. One awkward point was dealt with thus:

I know that in his defence Smirnov will argue that he had left the centre. Smirnov will say: ‘I did not do anything, I was in prison.’ A naive assertion! Smirnov was in prison from 1 January 1933, but we know that while in prison Smirnov organized contacts with his Trotskyites, for a code was discovered by means of which Smirnov, while in prison, communicated with his companions outside. This proves that communication existed and Smirnov cannot deny this.¹⁴⁸

In fact, no evidence of any sort on this point had been, or ever was to be, produced.

Vyshinsky, in passing, dealt with an unfortunate idea which had evidently gained popularity:

The comparison with the period of the Narodnaya Volya [People’s Will] terrorism is shameless. Filled with respect for the memory of those who in the times of the Narodnaya Volya sincerely and honestly, although employing, it is true, their own special, but always irreproachable, methods, fought against the tsarist autocracy for liberty—I emphatically reject this sacrilegious parallel.¹⁴⁹

He concluded with the appeal, “I demand that these dogs gone mad should be shot—every one of them!”

The evening session of 22 August and the two sessions of 23 August saw the last pleas of the accused.

They spoke in the same order as they had given their evidence. Mrachkovsky started by telling of his background, a worker, son and grandson of workers, a revolutionary, son and grandson of revolutionaries, who had suffered his first arrest when thirteen years old.

“And here,” he went on in a bitter and ironic tone, “I stand before you as a counter-revolutionary!” The judges and Prosecutor looked apprehensive, but all was well. For a moment Mrachkovsky was overcome. He struck his hand on the bar of the dock and regained his self-contro1,¹⁵⁰ going on to explain that he had only mentioned his past so that everyone should “remember that not only a general, not only a prince or nobleman can become a counter-revolutionary; workers or those who spring from the working class, like myself, can also become counter-revolutionaries.”¹⁵¹ He ended by saying that he was a traitor who should be shot.

Most of the other pleas were simple self-condemnations; the accused described themselves as “dregs” undeserving of mercy. But an occasional wrong note was struck, as when Evdokimov said—surely not without meaning—“Who will believe a single word of ours?”¹⁵²

When Kamenev had finished his plea, and had already sat down, he rose again and said that he would like to say something to his two children, whom he had no other means of addressing. One was an Air Force pilot; the other, a boy. Kamenev said that he wanted to tell them, “No matter what my sentence will be, I in advance consider it just. Don’t look back. Go forward. Together with Soviet people, follow Stalin.” He then sat down again and rested his face in his hands. Others present were shaken, and even the judges are said to have lost their stony expressions for an instant.¹⁵³