Sergei Kirov

Translated from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Vol. 32 (1936), pp. 397-411:

Kirov, Sergei Mironovich, one of the most prominent leaders of the CPSU(b), Stalin's closest ally and disciple, a fiery tribune of the revolution. Member of the Politburo and secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU(b), secretary of the Leningrad regional party committee, member of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR. Villainously killed on 1 / XII 1934 by an agent of the Trotskyite-Zinovievskon terrorist counter-revolutionary group. Sergei Mironovich Kostrikov (party name Kirov, also: Sergei, Serne) was born on March 27 (15), 1880 in the city of Urzhumo, Vyatka province, now the Kirov Territory, in a poor family. Father Kirov, when Sorolso was 3 years old, went to work and went missing. Chorez was killed by consumption for 4 years by Seryozha's mother, straining from overwork-. Cut 7 lots were given to the r-Zhum home of minors (orphanage), where the scarcity of food and clothing was replenished with an abundance of prayers, instructions, and sometimes cuffs. Seryozha stayed in the orphanage until 1902. Living in the orphanage, he studies at the primary school, and then at the city school. In Urzhum Kirov makes acquaintance with political exiles (Vyatka province was a bridge of exile under tsarism). As the best student of Soronsu after graduating from the city school (in 1902), the Urzhum "charitable society" sends him to study in Kazan at the lower Mohanic-technical school. Living in extremely difficult conditions, Kirov studies brilliantly here too. In Kazan, Kirov ulse establishes contacts with the revolutionary underground Krulsk, reading from illegal literature. At the Tokhnichi school, Kirov takes an active part in the struggle of students with the reactionary authorities. Coming on vacation to Urlsum, Kirov converges even closer with the "political". He sets up a home-made hectograph in the garden in the bathhouse, on which he reprints the proclamations, and he and his comrades scatter them around the city. In 1904 Kirov graduated from the Tokhnichi school; he leaves there ulse with firm revolutionary sentiments. Together with an acquaintance student of the Social-Democrats Nikonov Kirov left for Tomsk in autumn 1904. There, finding meager earnings, he enters the evening general education courses. IIa courses Kirov converges with the workers working there and through them ties up with the revolutionary Krulsk. Choroz briefly vromya Kirov uiso a member of the small Bolshevik group of the Tomsk Social-Democrats. organization (the Social-Democratic committee was at that time united in Tomsk, and the monitors in the nom imoli had a significant advantage), works in the so-called. subcommittee, performing a wide variety of functions: printing and distribution of illegal literature, convening underground meetings, establishing ties with workers, etc. On January 9, 1905, the Tomsk Committee of the RSDLP decides to organize a demonstration. Kirov is one of the most active organizers of the demonstration. For the Bolshevik-minded workers, it is decided to hold a demonstration by the army. At the 18/1 demonstration itself, Kirov marches in the ranks, speaking at the head of the armed guard next to the flag-bearer, his friend, the worker Kononov. Demon / Grace was dispersed by the Cossacks and the police, who opened the fire. Kononov was killed, many demonstrators were wounded, Kirov manages to escape with his coat cut by a sword. This was the first fighting kroshonio Kirov. On that night, Kirov, showing his inherent resinousness, went to look for the corpse of the murdered Kononov in order to save the red flag — the battle banner of the demonstrators — from the hands of the police. Kononov's banner is spason, it becomes the battle banner of the Tomsk Committee of the RSDLP. Correspondence about the Tomsk demonstration on 18/1 was published in the newspaper "Vporod" published by Lonin, and there was a complete reprint of the battle proclamation, drawn up by Kirov instead of with other comrades, to smash Kononov "To the killed comrade." 2 / II 1C. arrested at an illegal meeting where a new demonstration is being discussed. Although during a search of the apartment of Kirov and other arrested persons they find illegal literature, but owing to the resolute refusal of the arrested persons to testify, no "case" is being created by the andandarms.

Leaving prison, Kirov again fights for Bolshevik work. In July 1905 Kirov became a member of the Tomsk Committee of the RSDLP and took out a lot of work at the large junction station Taiga, where he prepared and successfully carried out a railroad strike in October, using, despite his youth, the great popularity and respect of the workers. After the publication of the tsarist manifesto, Kirov came up with decisive proposals to prepare the armed forces for a new inevitable battle. However, in the Tomsk Committee of the RSDLP, he is almost alone. The Mensheviks, who have seized the leadership, are not concerned with arming the masses, but with the preparation of elections to the Tomsk City Duma. The Black Hundreds, led by the governor, are introducing their own "amendment" to the Menshevik program: they organize a bloody massacre on the 20th of October against the demonstrators driven into the building of the administration building. e. Kirov — among the militiamen who rescued the demonstrators and organized a rebuff to the Black Hundreds. Only after this pogrom, at the insistence of Kirov and the bolsheviks of the workers, more significant armed squads were organized, and the Black Hundred thugs did not dare to march until the end of the year. After the defeat of the December uprising in Moscow, reaction everywhere reared its head, and mass arrests were made. 1/30/1900 Kirov is arrested when he is about to leave Tomsk. They find proclamations from him, try to create a "case", but a few months later Kirov is released from prison on bail. In the spring of 1900 Kirov was founded by will and again at the Bolshevik work. On the instructions of the committee, he, together with Popov, Shpilov and Reshotov, organizes a large, carefully conspiratorial printing house in a house specially rented on the outskirts of Tomsk. But in July, when the printing house was already established and skillfully disguised in the basement, with great labors dug under the house, the gendarmes appeared there, apparently on a denunciation. In spite of all their efforts, the police snoopers can detect the printing house, but Kirov and his comrades are arrested. The gendarmes have not succeeded in creating a special "case" about the underground printing house, and they have to release Kirov's comrades. But there is still an old "case" against Kirov, and in February 1907, after being in prison for seven months, he was sentenced by the court to 1 year 4 mine. confinement in the fortress. Kirov was released from prison only in July 1908 — after serving his sentence. Upon release, Kirov leaves for Irkutsk. However, Kirov did not have to stay for long in Irkutsk: in May 1909 he learned that the printing house he organized in Tomsk in the summer of 1906 (already abandoned) fell into the hands of the gendarmes, since the house under which it was located collapsed, and now the gendarmes are strenuously were looking for.

Kirov hastily moved to Vladikavkaz (now the town of Ordzhonikidze), lives in an illegal position, working as a proofreader and then as an employee in the liberal newspaper Terek. Kirov makes connections with the workers and makes attempts to restore the Social-Democrats. an organization that had been completely destroyed by the police three years before. In the fall of 1910, Kirov speaks at an illegal working crowd. The police tracked down Kirov in Vladikavkaz; in August 1911 Kirov was arrested again and sent in a convoy to Tomsk for trial in the case of an underground printing house. In March 1912, it is heard in the Tomsk District Court; but the main witness for the prosecution, a police officer who arrested Kirov in 1906, recognized him at the trial; Moreover, in 1912 there was a new political upsurge, and the court acquitted Kirov.

Kirov returns to Vladikavkaz, the gendarmes establish surveillance over him. Kirov again establishes contact with the workers, again forges an illegal organization and wages a vigorous struggle against the Mensheviks. He continues to work for the Terek newspaper. In November 1912, Tereko published an article entitled "The Simplicity of Morals" signed "S. Kirov "(this literary pseudonym later becomes the party name of Kirov). The article sharply exposes the reactionary nature and groveling of the right-wing deputies of the State Duma. Persecution is initiated against Kirov as the author of the article. Continuing his work among the Vladikavkaz workers, Kirov establishes contacts with the workers of illegal circles in Grozny, Mineralnye Vody, Pyatigorsk, who often turn to him for instructions. Kirov worked a lot on himself, carefully studying the living conditions and life of the mountain peoples; gets acquainted with the practice of the colonialist policy of Russian tsarism.

During the imperialist war, Kirov firmly adheres to the Leninist position of transforming the imperialist war into a civil war, fighting opportunism and for the creation of the Third International. The February bourgeois-democratic revolution finds Kirov in Vladikavkaz a member of the Vladikavkaz Committee of Social-Democrats. organizations, where he, at the head of a small group of Bolsheviks, develops a large agitation and propaganda work, speaking at all kinds of meetings and tirelessly exposing the treacherous policies of the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries. In August 1917 Kirov, on the instructions of the Vladikavkaz Bolshevik organization and the Soviet, went to Petrograd. During the Kornilov rebellion, to-ry found Kirov in Moscow, the Moscow Sovot, on the initiative and proposal of Kirov, seeks from the Central Committee of Mountain Peoples (in Vladikavkaz) to send a special Muslim delegation to the “Wild Division” and keeps it from participating in the rebellion.

The energetic work of the Vladikavkaz Bolsheviks led by Kirov in September led to a decisive victory over the Compromisers. When the Vladikavkaz Soviet is re-elected, the Bolsheviks receive a majority. Kirov was elected as a delegate to the 2nd All-Russian Congress of Soviets and in the growing days of October, in the ranks of the St. Petersburg workers, participates in the struggle for the victory of the Great October proletarian revolution. Upon his return to Vladikavkaz, Kirov develops intensive work to mobilize revolutionary forces against the counter-revolution, which has raised its head in the North Caucasus. In early January 1918 Kirov was forced to leave Vladikavkaz, since the counter-revolutionary Cossack officers defeated the Vladikavkaz Soviet and organized the hunt for the Bolsheviks. In fovral Kirov as a delegate from Pyatigorsk takes part in the congress of the peoples of the Terek region in Mozdok. This congress was convened on the initiative of the counterrevolutionary Cossack officers, who, striving to inflame an interethnic war, were preparing the Cossack campaign against the Ingush and Chochens. Kirov, at the head of a small group of Bolsheviks, with skillful tactics and his ardent eloquence, ensured that the congress rejected the proposals of the Cossack officers; t. about. interethnic war, ready to break out, was averted. At the second session of the congress of the peoples of the Terek region, held in Pyatigorsk in February-March 1918, Kirov was already the recognized leader of the congress. At the suggestion of Kirov, the congress solemnly proclaims Soviet power in the North Caucasus and sends a telegram of greetings to Lenin. Soon Kirov with the entire congress arrives from Pyatigorsk to Vladikavkaz - the administrative center of the Terek region. There the congress elects the Council of People's Commissars headed by the Bolshevik Noy Buachidze. Kirov is directly involved in the elimination of the armed struggle between the Ingush and Ossetians, and by his courageous performance is seeking to end the fighting. In April-May, Kirov, on behalf of the North Caucasian organizations, went to Moscow for help against the advancing counter-revolution. In November, as a delegate from the Terek region, Kirov took part in the work of the 6th All-Russian Congress of Soyots. At the end of December, accompanied by Ya. M. Sverdlov, Kirov headed an expedition with a large transport of weapons and military supplies to the North Caucasus (Choroz Astrakhan, since Rostov was occupied at that time by the White Guards). But Kirov managed to get to the North Caucasus, since the XI Army, under the pressure of the Bologuards, was already retreating to Astrakhan along the desert Kalmyk steppes. Kirov remains in Astrakhan. Here he organizes the defense of this strategic point and gathers forces for an attack on the North Caucasus.

The defense of Astrakhan is one of the heroic pages in the biography of Kirov.In the city, which at that time did not have solid proletarian cadres, overcrowded with officers, the petty and large bourgeoisie, Kirov, without any serious armed forces, organized a decisive rebuff to the White Guards who were pressing from all sides. To this must also be added the desperate food supply in Astrakhan (which was widely used for underground agitation by the White Guards, Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries), as well as a strong typhus epidemic brought into the city by the retreating units of the XI Army. In early March 1919, a White Guard uprising broke out in Astrakhan, which was quickly suppressed only thanks to Kirov's personal energy and resourcefulness.In this extremely difficult period, Kirov, as chairman of the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Astrakhan Territory, personally supervised all military and civil work. At the end of April-at the beginning of May 1919 Kirov was confirmed as the head of the political department, and then as a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the XI Army; he directs the gathering and putting the army in order. Kirov was faced with a logical task. At that time, the defense of Astrakhan seemed to many to be a completely no-brainer business. Trotsky from the headquarters of the commander-in-chief gave alarmist, treacherous instructions about the evacuation of Astrakhan. Kirov and other workers of Revsonot of the XI Army strongly objected to this and turned directly to the Central Committee of the party to Lenin, from whom they received instructions - to defend Astrakhan at all costs. Kirov develops a vigorous activity: he organizes the work of civil and military institutions, often visits factories, especially those working for the defense, in the Red Army units, on the ships of the Volga combat flotilla (to a large part organized by himself), speaks at meetings of workers, Red Army men, sailors, women, prisoners of war, at meetings and conferences of party and Soviet activists. Kirov keeps up wherever it is necessary to cheer up, inspire for a new struggle, where it is necessary to strengthen resolve, ignite enthusiasm. The battle call, the fiery word Kirov is forced to do what seemed impossible. In the most difficult moments, Kirov personally appears at the front in dangerous places, inspires the Red Army by his personal example and achieves success there, when the case seemed to be lost.

At the beginning of July, Kirov was approved as a representative of the southern group of forces with the rights of a member of the RVS of the southern group. Just at this time, Astrakhan was supposed to become even more difficult, since Tsaritsyn was taken by the White Guards and the communication along the Volga was broken. Kirov in these bleak days, speaking at numerous meetings, arouses a new surge of enthusiasm among the masses, creates detachments of volunteers and repels the onslaught of large gangs. At the same time, Kirov maintains contact and organizes assistance with literature, means, weapons, sending people to the communists of the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia, who are on the other side of the front, and to the insurgent detachments operating in the rear of Denikin. Kirov, with the help of his Baku comrades and revolutionary seamen of the Caspian Sea, organizes on boats a nominal supply of gasoline to Astrakhan, in which the aviation and vehicles of the Red Army were experiencing an extremely acute nuyaoda at that time. Thanks to the successful formation of new ones, in which Kirov took an active personal participation, in September-October the situation on the fronts near Astrakhan becomes significantly favorable, and Kirov uise is preparing an offensive plan against the White Guard bands. 18 / XI, according to a plan developed under the direct leadership of Kirov, an operation begins against General Tolstoy, who threatened Astrakhan from the east. The operation ends successfully within 12 days; 1 / X1I Kirov telegraphed Lonnn about the liquidation of the armed forces of the White Astrakhan Cossacks. 24 / XII Kirov admonishes the Red fighters going on a campaign on 10.-3. along the Caspian footsteps. At that time, a ring of red troops was drawn near Tsaritsyn, and on 3/1 1920, with a heroic onslaught of parts of the X and XI armies, Tsaritsyn was captured.

In January, on the instructions of Comrade Stalin and under the direct leadership of Kirov, it. Ordzhonikidze launched an offensive of the XI Army in the North Caucasus. Kirov telegraphed the Central Committee of the party about the entry of the Red Army into the Stavropol province. The offensive unfolds successfully, on 30 / III Kirov, together with Comrade Ordyaeonikidze, arrives in Vladikavkaz, which had just been occupied by the Red Army units, and by 1 / V they unso in Baku, when the insurgent Baku workers at the subdorlsk of the approaching Red Ronopods overthrew the power of the Musavatzhts (see) proclaimed the power of the Soviets. The offensive under the leadership of Comrade Stalin on the Yulsh Front ends with the defeat of Denikin and the restored Soviet power in the North Caucasus and Baku.

After the conclusion of a peace treaty between the RSFSR and the Georgian Menshevik government Kirov was appointed the plenipotentiary representative of the RSFSR in Georgia and worked in an atmosphere of tense relations between Soviet Azerbaijan and Menshevik Georgia. Two and a half moslets Kirov is fighting through diplomacy, notes and protests with the government of Noah Jordania due to the latter's failure to fulfill the most important points of the peace treaties, especially the part of it that obliged them to stop persecuting the communists. In early September Kirov participates in the work of the Congress of the Peoples of the East in Baku and is elected to the Council for Action and Propaganda in the East. At the end of September 1920, Kirov received a new responsible diplomatic assignment — he was appointed the representative of the RSFSR in peace negotiations with Poland. After the signing of the agreement with Polyna, Kirov again in the North Caucasus became a member of the Caucasian Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b). He plunges headlong into the work, especially difficult in the conditions of the multinational North Caucasus, to unite the party ranks, create the organs of Soviet power and ensure revolutionary order. Kirov is successfully carrying out this extremely difficult task together with Comrade Ordzhonikidze on the instructions and with the direct participation of Comrade Stalin. Kirov together with Comrade Stalin on 17 / XI takes part in the work of the Congress of the Peoples of the Terek Region, at which Comrade Stalin makes a declaration on the formation of the Mountain Autonomous Soviet Republic. In December, Kirov took part in the work of the VIII All-Russian Congress of Soviets and was elected to the All-Russian Central Council Kirov. In February 1921, Kirov organized aid to the workers and peasants of Georgia who had rebelled against the mon-shevist tyranny. Along the mountain gorges covered by deep snow, Kirov directs a horse brigade through the Mamison Pass. By carefully preparing this heroic transition he has seen, he achieves the successful completion of an extremely important task.

In the midst of a discussion about the trade unions, Kirov launched a fierce struggle against Trotskyism. He repeatedly speaks at party meetings. In mid-February, after Kirov made a report at the 2nd regional party conference in Vladikavkaz, 172 delegates voted for Lenin's platform, and Z. Kirov was unanimously elected as a delegate to the X Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) for Trotsky's platform. In March 1921 Kirov took part in the work of the X Congress and was elected a candidate for membership in the Central Committee of the RCP (b). 10-22 / IV Kirov directs the work of the constituent congress of the Mountain Autonomous Soviet Republic in Vladikavkaz. There is 1C. delivers a number of speeches brilliant in form and deep in content, in which he, exposing the lurking enemies of Soviet power, indicates the ways to resolve the most complex issues arising in the Sonoran Caucasus. Particularly remarkable is his speech on the Shariah (see). At the end of May Kirov is already in Tifliso; he makes a number of reports there. In mid-June, Kirov took a direct part in the holding of the 1st logical conference of trade unions of Georgia, sharply opposed the monksheviks there, the branches in the trade unions tried to conduct demoralizing anti-Soviet work. At the beginning of July, K, in Tiflis, at the plenum of the Caucasian Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), whose work is headed by Comrade Stalin, K, was elected secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan. The most important task of the party in Azerbaijan at that time was to fight against national deviators and restore the unity of the party ranks. Under the leadership of Kirov, the Communist Party of Azerbaijan defeated national deviationism and ensured a clear implementation of the Lenin-Stalin nationality policy in multinational Azerbaijan. Six months later, 1C. I had the opportunity to declare in my report at the IV Congress of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan that the internal struggle that had paralyzed the work of the Azerbaijani organization was liquidated.

The defeat of the national deviationists in the party organization of Azerbaijan was of great importance for the entire Transcaucasia: relying on the largest proletarian organization in the Transcaucasus, the Caucasian Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), headed by Comrade Ordzhonikidze, was able to successfully carry out the struggle against the nationalist deviators and in other Transcaucasian republics, especially in Georgia, where the national deviationists were especially strong. Already in 1921, on the direct orders of Lenin and Stalin, the question of organizing the Transcaucasian fodorization was raised, despite the stubborn resistance of all local national deviators, who saw in the organization of the Transcaucasian federation an infringement of the national interests of the local republics. Under the leadership of Kirov, "the Baku proletariat, faithful to the international banner of Lenin-Stalin, came forward in the front ranks of the fighters for the formation and strengthening of the Transcaucasian Federation" ). In 1922, the First Transcaucasian Congress of Soviets gathered in Baku, which formed the Transcaucasian Federation, and the Transcaucasian Central Executive Committee was elected. The resistance of the national deviators was broken. That completely justified form of fraternal cooperation of the Transcaucasian republics is being created, which paved the way for a peaceful comradely resolution of all national disputes and joint friendly work of the peoples of Transcaucasia in the struggle to build socialism. The Transcaucasian Federation ensured the overcoming of local nationalism and prepared the transition of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan to the number of union republics on the basis of the Socialist constitution. In all this immense work carried out on the direct instructions of Comrades Lenin and Stalin, Kirov played the leading role together with Comrade Ordzhonikidze.

Kirov was elected to the Transcaucasian Regional Committee and a delegate to the XI Party Congress. At the congress Kirov was elected a member of the Central Committee PK 11 (6). 1C. until his departure from Baku (in 1925) he was one of the leaders of the Transcaucasian Federation. He is re-elected permanently secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, a member of the Presidium of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee and the Transcaucasian Central Executive Committee. Before Kirov, during his work in Baku, along with the major party political tasks, there was also a huge and responsible task — the restoration and reconstruction of the Baku oil industry, which was The technique and methods of work were extremely backward even in the pre-revolutionary period, and during the time of the management of the Mussavatists she came to a final breakdown, Kirov, literally from the first day of his arrival in Baku, was taken directly to the oil industry. Together with the leaders of Azneft, he visited the fields day after day, at the distillation and Mohanicho plants, meeting with old production workers, workers, engineers, technicians, studying the entire production process from scratch, getting acquainted with the geology of oil-bearing regions. Imonno thanks Kirov for his great attention to the oil industry, his daily personal assistance in resolving all major and minor issues, it is possible to successfully solve the urgent task of technical re-equipment of the oil industry and the development of new areas. The real revolution in the oil industry is inextricably linked with the imon of Kirov.

The solidarity of the party ranks under the banner of Lenin-Stalin, the strengthening of national peace and commonwealth, the successes in the field of economy, first of all in the oil industry, the unfolding cultural upsurge of the urban and rural population, the promotion and growth of new cadres of national workers - this is the result of Kirov's leadership work in Azerbaijan in turning 4 '/ g lot; Kirov enjoyed immense popularity and love among the Baku workers and workers of Azorbaidlsan and Transcaucasia. Since the XIV Congress of the Party, Kirov, together with a group of other members of the Central Committee - com. Molotov, Voroshilov, Kalinin, Potrovsky — was sent to Leningrad to expose the breeds by the Leningrad workers of the slander of the Zinoviev opposition against the Leninist leadership of the party. Kirov, instead of with other members of the Central Committee, speaks almost every day at party meetings. Kirov's performances at Eloktrosil, at the Red Weaver, at the joint meeting of the collectives of the Red Nail Art and Electroapparat, and at the Red Putilovets are especially damaging. Kirov speaks at a number of other plants and factories, at meetings of the Komsomol, trade union workers, etc.

Kirov's speeches give a harsh, crushing criticism of the anti-Leninist "theory" and "practice" of the opposition, and at the same time it shows tremendous solicitude for an ordinary party member, gives an exceptionally attentive and thoughtful analysis of questions that can cause even the slightest doubt in an ordinary party member. Kirov's performances are held with great success; he soon won great prestige and popularity among the ranks of the party members and among the broad masses of workers in Leningrad. A decisive break in the mood of the Party organization has also been reached in a short time. Ulse 10/11 1926 Kirov opens the 23rd extraordinary provincial party conference at which representatives of the Leningrad Bolsheviks expose the treacherous anti-party work of the opposition and declare their commitment to the Kirov’s Leninist Central Committee.

At the conference a new sponge is elected from among the staunch supporters of the general party. Kirov was elected secretary of the Leningrad Provincial Committee, while he was secretary of the Soviet-Zap. Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU(b). In a few months in the Leningrad organization, at the request of the broad party masses, almost the entire leadership staff is renewed, from the gubernia committee to the tsokh and ringing party organizers. Thousands of new workers, staunch defenders of the honorary line of the Leninist Central Committee of Kirov’s, are being promoted to leadership positions from the Zinoviev vuchoniks.

By the 24th regular provincial conference, the Leningrad organization came with complete unanimity, tightly united under the banner of Lenin and Stalin. Questions of party life and party work, the cultivation of new strong Bolshevik cadres loyal to the party of fighters, always come first in the work of Kirov. Along with the major tasks in the area of the party, Kirov, with his inherent far-sightedness, puts on the agenda the main economic issues during the months of his work on the sprawl of which depends the future of Leningrad as the largest industrial proletarian center. Trotsky and other alarmists from the opposition proposed to close the Putilov factory and predicted the curtailment of Leningrad industry, pointing out the impossibility of working on imported fuel and imported raw materials. Valsnoyshio questions — the creation of a local fuel and energy base and the search for new sources and new types of local raw materials — Kirov set as the main tasks of economic work in Leningrad, along with the task of reconstruction and improvement of the work of Leningrad industry. Kirov paid great attention to the development of the peat industry. Kirov carefully monitored the availability of mohanization and new methods of extraction and processing of peat (hydro-peat, milled peat, etc.). As a result, the extraction of peat in the Leningrad region during the work of Kirov increased 12 times. Kirov paid great attention to oil shale mining. And here Kirov had to endure a considerable struggle against the helplessness and inertia of business executives and specialists. It got to the point that Kirov went to the Gdovskiy shale mine, went down to the test shaft and, having got out to the surface of the earth, all wet and dirty in clay, with a torso, he confirmed: “All talk about flooding is nothing, shale is separated from the aquifer a waterproof roof, it is necessary to develop slates.” This case characterizes the methods of Kirov's work: on the basis of personal verification, personal study, to resolve major issues. Oil shale mining has moved forward, the mine of Imoni Kirov is now providing oil shale for the furnaces of the Leningrad refineries, before the oil shale industry and in Leningrad there are great prospects. Kirov invested a lot of care in the construction of hydroelectric power stations. With the personal active participation of Kirov, the issue of building a powerful hydroelectric station on the Svir is being resolved. We owe the initiative and decisiveness of Kirov to the construction, in unprecedentedly difficult conditions, of the polar Nivskaya hydroelectric power station and of an even more northern station on Tulomo. On the initiative and insistence of Kirov, a new powerful peat-based power plant (Dubrovskaya) was built, the capacity of the 5th hydroelectric power station, which also runs on peat, was increased five-fold; old power plants operating on mineral fuel were reconstructed and strengthened. Osonio and in the winter of 1934, the last year of Kirov's life, Leningrad for the first time did not experience a shortage of electricity, factories did not have interruptions in their work, and the entire industry of Leningrad was provided with energy, light and fuel. The main bridge in the economic work of Kirov, especially in the interrupted years, was occupied by worries about the Leningrad industry, equipping it with definite raw materials, about re-equipping it on the basis of modern technology, about the expansion and reconstruction of the most important factories, about the construction of new plants and factories, about the development of new industries, on the transformation of industrial Leningrad into a forge of equipment for new buildings with a maximum reduction in imports of equipment. Kirov did not deal with these issues "in general", he personally and on a daily basis monitored supplies, the work of the most important factories and factories, and the most important construction projects. At the same time, he showed extraordinary insight, always knew how to highlight the most important for a given moment, grabbing the weakest link in Lenin's way in order to pull out the entire chain. It was ex. time of acute shortage of cast iron; this threatened to disrupt the fulfillment of the most important state tasks of the industry. Kirov organized in the regional committee accounting for the receipt of pig iron and personally distributed it to the factories; The same happened in difficult moments and with the distribution of fuel. Kirov especially carefully followed the work of such important factories as "Krasny Putilovets", "Electrosila", the metal plant named after Stalin, Baltic, eavod "Bolshevik", Izhora plant. The entire reconstruction of the Putilovsky plant was carried out under the direct instructions of Kirov. Kirov put a lot of energy into building the first Soviet tractors of the Fordzon-Putilovsky type on the Krasny Putilovets. In 1928, the organization of serial production of tractors was a test for the entire Soviet industry. The Krasny Putilovets passed this test only thanks to daily personal help, perseverance, and inexhaustible energy Kirov. With the same energy and the same attention, Kirov personally supervised the construction of the first Soviet blooming mill at the Izhora plant, completed in the spring of 1931. Powerful turbines of the Stalin plant, giant turbine generators "Electrosila,” new ships of the Baltic plant, electric furnaces MIGE, cultivating tractors of the 11u-Tilovsky (now Kirovsky) plant — all this was published, entered the service of the Proletarian State with the closest direct help of Kirov, the leader of the Leningrad Bolsheviks. On the direct initiative of Kirov, the development of Tikhvin bauxites was organized and the first in the Union Volkhov aluminum plant was created. The exceptional role of Kirov in the development of the wealth of the Far North is known. Kirov raised the question of the development of azatite ore. To check all sorts of "scientific" arguments about the impossibility not only to work, but even to live in the polar tundra, Kirov personally got down to business: he went to the Khibiny and there on the spot established that apatite ore can and should be mined, in the polar desert it is possible and must create a socialist city. Millions of tons of apatite ore have already been mined and are providing rich fertilizers to the fields of the Soviet Union. Apatite and nepheline, mined simultaneously with it, have found their application in the boards of various very important industries. A city was built in the frozen tundra, which in 1935 had already 40 thousand inhabitants. This city rightfully bears the glorious name of Kirov.

Thanks to Kirov's initiative and perseverance, the construction of Murmansk is rapidly developing, a comfortable port is being created in it, powerful fisheries are being organized with a large trawler fleet. Under the direct observation of Kirov, the Murmanskaya oil field is being reconstructed, which received the name Kirov. The study of the deserts and swamps of the Kola Peninsula is far from being limited to the Khibiny: according to the instructions of Kirov, new and new geological surveys are being undertaken and the most valuable fossils are found on the peninsula: nickel and copper (already being developed), rich deposits of iron, lead and other valuable minerals. The Kola Peninsula is turning into one of the treasures of the USSR, and the first credit for this belongs to Kirov. With the closest help and participation of Kirov, the Baltic-White Sea Canal named after I. Stalin, who expects a great future. On the initiative and with the direct support of Kirov, research work on the production of alcohol from wood waste was launched, and in 1934 the first experimental hydrolysis plant for the production of ethyl alcohol from salmon waste was put into operation. Kirov showed great attention to the work of numerous scientific research institutions in Leningrad. Kirov played an important role in the development of the problem of obtaining artificial rubber. Kirov paid great attention to the issues of agriculture and collective farm development. Kirov initiated the introduction of wheat crops in the North, which has now won a solid and honorable place in village farming of the Leningrad region. Kirov clearly and decisively raised the question of transforming the Leningrad Region from a consuming into a producing region and mobilized the forces of party organizations to work hard to resolve this problem. Like the largest economic issues, which Kirov closely dealt with, in one of the first places, especially since 1930, are the issues of the urban economy of Leningrad. Kirov studied housing construction, urban transport, and city improvement in the most attentive way. The appeal of Comrade Stalin and Comrade Molotov to the Leningrad organizations in December 1931 on the reconstruction of the city economy ensured a powerful turnaround in work in this area. Kirov personally checked day after day how the most important works in the city were being carried out. Taking care to make socialist Leningrad more convenient and more beautiful, Kirov himself looked through the projects of new construction projects, painting houses, landscaping streets. One of Kirov's big concerns was the creation of a vast and beautiful central park — a place of rest for the proletarians and all working people of Leningrad. Kirov personally looked at the grandiose work plan for the construction of this park, was interested in the progress of its implementation. Questions of wages, life and life of workers, especially in difficult times of food difficulties, lack of manufactured goods, lack of fuel for workers' dwellings, etc., were the first questions on the order of the day Kirov. Kirov treated the Komsomol extremely attentively and thoughtfully and often raised the Komsomol to performance of one or another particularly large task. On the initiative of Kirov, a thousand Komsomol members from Leningrad were mobilized to the Gdovsk shale mines. The enthusiasm of the Komsomol members, who took up the difficult and completely unusual work with tremendous energy, saved the important construction, which was almost completely destroyed by the businessmen. A tremendous amount of work was accomplished by Kirov, strengthening the defenses of proletarian Leningrad, helping to strengthen the combat capability and enhance the combat equipment of the Red Army and the Red Navy. For almost 9 years, Kirov led the Leningrad organization, first as a secretary of the Soviet-West Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) and the secretary of the Leningrad Provincial Committee, and from 1927, after the formation of the Leningrad region, as the first secretary of the regional committee, and from 1931, after the organization of the city committee, also the first secretary of the Leningrad city party committee. Under the leadership of Kirov, the Leningrad Party organization, having smashed the Zinovievist-Trotskyist opposition and the Right-deviators, achieved complete unity and close cohesion with the Leninist Central Committee and Comrade Stalin. For the members of the party, for all honest working people, Kirov was a sensitive leader, the best advisor, a true Bolshevik educator. He brought up with his fiery speeches, his deeply thought-out remarks at various business meetings, in personal demonstrations. But Kirov brought up the strongest of all by his personal example of a strictly principled Leninist, an impeccable Bolshevik, completely devoted to the party's method. Kirov constantly and persistently spoke about the need for a thorough study of Marxism-Leninism, about the significance of Lenin's teaching. Kirov raised the Leningrad Bolsheviks and all Leningrad workers in the spirit of the greatest love and commitment to the party. Kirov enjoyed the great love of communists, non-party people, of all the working people of Leningrad, starting with schoolchildren and ending with venerable scientists. The significance of Kirov's work, his influence went far beyond the boundaries of the organization where he was currently working. So it was in the North. The Caucasus, in Baku and during his work in Leningrad. A candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee from 1926 and a member of the Politburo from 1930, secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks from 1934, Kirov was one of the first in the party's struggle against anti-party deviation. At the 14th Party Congress, when Zinoviev and his associates, with the help of lies and slander, were organizing an attack on the Leninist Central Committee, hiding behind the authority of the Leningrad organization, Kirov came out with the exposure of the opposition. At the 15th Party Congress, Kirov spoke on the issue of the Trotskyist-Zinovievist bloc: “We must cut off the opposition in the most resolute, most firm and most merciless way. (A plod and changes). This is what our Party expects from us, this is what the working class expects of us, this, comrades, is what the international proletariat expects from us. This is the real founder of the Comintern, the party from which the world revolution was born, which practically builds socialism, it must remain truly united. All that gets underfoot, that hesitates and doubts, should be left in the historical abyss, and you and I have a road only forward and only to victories! (Burnt appeals) "(XV Congress of the CPSU(b), verbatim report, Moscow, 1935, p. 235]. IIa XVI Party Congress Kirov speaks about the speech leaders of the right opposition: "We heard about the acknowledgment of mistakes after the November plenum. What do we need now? What does the party and the working class expect from you? Comrades, leaders of the right opposition, you must qualify your program in a Bolshevik manner and, without going into deep theoretical research, to say frankly that your program is essentially a kulak program (GOLOSA: “Quite right!” Applause), the implementation of which would ultimately destroy the dictatorship of the proletariat and would lead to the restoration of capitalism" [XVI Congress of the CPSU(b), Verbatim report, M., 1935, p. 2851.) At the XVII Congress Kirov mercilessly exposes the former leaders of the right-wing and Trotsky-Zinoviev opposition and calls for the greatest vigilance, for is not over, the struggle continues." Kirov from 1922 was a member of the governing Soviet bodies at first Zak Vkazsky Central Executive Committee, and then VTsP1S, a member of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR a number of convocations. IIa X Congress of the Party Kirov was elected a candidate member of the Central Committee, and since the XI Congress - a member of the Central Committee of the party. Since 1926 Kirov has been elected a candidate member of the Politburo, and since 1930 a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. Since 1934 Kirov, Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee and the City Party Committee. The Party knows Kirov as a fiery tribune, as a staunch, flexible Bolshevik, as a tried and tested leader, as Comrade Stalin's closest comrade-in-arms and friend. At the 17th Party Congress, Kirov spoke out with a bright statement, in which he sums up the period of the victorious building of socialism in our country, the implementation of the slogan of industrialization, the socialist transformation of the peasant economy and, as a result of all this, the enormous strengthening of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Comrade Stalin's report, says Kirov, is the most striking document of the era; it only summarizes the work done, but develops the work prospects for the near future on the way to the implementation of this task. Kirov was actively involved in the development of major theoretical questions of the Communist Party. "Remarks on the synopsis of the textbook on" History of the USSR "" and "Remarks on the outline of the textbook ‘New history’”, made by Stalin, 1C. and Zhdanov, open a new stage in the study of history as a science, study of the concrete general history and history of the peoples of the USSR. Kirov's huge interest in the development of culture, art, music, toatra, literature speaks of him as an exceptionally integral and multifaceted personality.

1 / XI1 1934 1C. On the direct orders of Zinoviev and Trotsky, he was treacherously killed by Nikolayev, a member of the Trotskyite-Zinovievite terrorist-fascist gang. This gang, being the first detachment of the international counterrevolutionary bourgeoisie and acting together with the fascist Gestapo, set itself the task of restoring capitalism in the USSR and considered the main means of its struggle against Soviet power to be assassination of the leaders of the party. The whole party, the whole country was shocked by the heinous murder of Kirov. The entire Party, the entire working class, all honest working people responded to the dastardly murder by even more rallying around the Bolshevik Party and its Central Committee. In the collective appeal of Comrade Stalin and a number of leading comrades on the occasion of smort Kirov [gas. Pravda, dated December 2, 1934, No. 331 (6217)] says: “Our Party has suffered a great misfortune. On December 1, Comrade Kirov perished from the hands of a villainous murderer sent by class enemies... A man died from the hand of the enemy, who devoted his entire bright life to the destiny of the working class, to the cause of communism, to the liberation of cholovestvo. Comrade Kirov presented himself as a model of a Bolshevik, but one who knew fear and difficulties in achieving the great goal set by the party. His directness, iron fortitude, his amazing qualities as an inspirational tribune of the revolution were combined in him with that cordiality and gentleness in personal comradely and friendly relations, with that radiant warmth and modesty that are inherent in a real Leninist... You were close to all of us, Comrade Kirov, as a loyal friend, beloved comrade, reliable ally... You were always with us in the years of difficult battles for the triumph of socialism in our country, you were always with us in the years of hesitation and difficulties within our party, you gave birth to us all the difficulties of the last lot, and we lost you at the moment when our country achieved great victories. In all this struggle, in our achievements, there is a lot of your share, a lot of your energy, strength and ardent love for the cause of communism."

Op. and speeches Kirov: Kirov S. M., Articles, speeches, documents, vol. I, ed. 2, L., 1936; To and about in SM, Articles and speeches 1934, M., 1934; IIa front of historical science. Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, remarks com. Stalin, Kirov and Zhdanov on the abstracts of textbooks and other materials, M., 1936.

Lit .: S. M. Kirov, 1886-1934. Materials for biography, M., 1934; S. M. Kirov, 1886-1934. Leader, teacher, friend, JI., 1934; In memory of S. M. Kirov, 1886-1934, Moscow, 1934; In memory of S. M. Kirov (Collection of articles from newspapers in Moscow and Leningrad on the anniversary of the death of 1 XII 1 935), Leningrad, 1935; Indictment in the case of L. V. Nikolaev, I. I. Kotolynov, II. Myasnnov. V. et al. State Publishing House of Crimea. ASSR, Simferopol, 1935; Sergei Mironovich Kirov in the Leningrad press 1926-1934. Bibliographic index, M, - L., 1936; Berya L., On the question of the history of Bolshevik organizations in the Transcaucasus. Report at the meeting of the Tiflis party activist 21-22 / VII 1935, Moscow, 1935.; "Restorers of capitalism and their defenders" GSb. Art.], 2nd edition, IM.], 1936. B. Pozvrn.