A KREMLIN COVER-UP PARTY IMPLICATIONS OF A 1934 HERDER ANNIVERSARY

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33626, 30 August 1974, Page 8

A KREMLIN COVER-UP PARTY IMPLICATIONS OF A 1934 HERDER ANNIVERSARY

<By I

VICTOR ZORZA)

The Kremlin may now be approaching the moment of decisnm about its own cover-up of the Kirov murder, one of the most mysteri is episodes in Soviet history. At the last party congress which N Krushchev addressed as Party Secretary before Leonid Brezhnev wrested power from him. Khrushchev said: “Great efforts are still needed to find out who wa> really to blame for Kirov’s death. The ni”e deeply we study ihe materials connected with his death, the more questions arise ... A thorough inquiry is ivw | being made into the circumstances of this complicated case.

But when Brezhnev took over, the enquiry was suppressed — or. ar least, its results were. Although the [crime occurred in 1934. it is 'still regarded by the Kremlin [as a can of worms — and ’with good reason, j The party congress held at :the beginning of 1934 made it clear to Stalin that Sergei Kirov, the popular Leningrad [party boss, might soon be in I a position to challenge him for the job of General Secretary. A disgruntled young party member named Leonid Nikolayev was arrested twice ifor trying to get too close to Kirov — and was promptly 'released, although the police had found on him a pistol and a map of Kirov’s usual ’ ■ route. Kirov paid no attention 1 when the chief of his body- I guard. Borisov, tried to tell [ him of the strange goings on. At the third attempt. Nikola- 1 yev got into the party head- i quarters and waited un- : hindered outside Kirov’s f usually well-guarded office. I

! As Kirov came out, Nikola- . yev shot him dead. Stalin immediately travelled to Leningrad to take per- ' sonal charge of the investigai tion. He claimed to have uncovered a nation-wide conspiracy, issued orders to "speed up” all police investigations of .“terrorist acts," and to execute immediately all those sentenced to death as a result of such investigations, without appeal. Within the next few days, more [than 100 people were shot [after secret “trials” held in the Soviet Union's four [major cities. In the weeks and years that followed, hundreds more [were killed, then thousands, then millions. The great terror had begun, and it soon engulfed the remaining party leaders who might have posed [a challenge to Stalin’s power. They were accused among [other things, of plotting the murder of Kirov. i Nikolayev himself was executed within a month. 'Several N.K.V.D. (security | police) officers were "tried” for negligence, but at a time! when hundreds were being executed for no visible con-, nection with the case, the! N.K.V.D. men were sent off; to manage prison camps. ; Borisov, the faithful body-; guard who might have had evidence of the cover-up, was said to have died in a motor! crash while being taken to an , interrogation. His wife was i questioned about the informa- i tion he might have passed on i to her. She was put in a madhouse, escaped, and died in i circumstances suggesting i that she had been, poisoned. ■ In his “secret speech” at the twentieth party congress in i 1956, Khrushchev called for i an inquiry into the “inexplic- i able and mysterious” cireum- i stances surrounding the Kirov i case. In 1961. he said that,, Borisov had not been killed i in the motor crash. The I N.K.V.D. did try to stage an[ accident, but the driver of

-ihe truck took avoiding action The two N.K.V D men - who were in the back of the -truck with Boriscn then - killed him In due < »trse ? they. too. were shot. “Some- ? one," said Khrushchev, "wan * ted to have them liquidated 1 and to remove all traces." f The investigation, he insisted, ) should continue 1 But the cover-up which > Khrushchev was then blant -,ing on Stalin has continued t under Brezhnev. Now Mos- • cow is preparing to mark the : fortieth anniversary of i Kirov's death on December 1 •.with the publication of comimemorative articles and books. If these are to tell i anything approaching the . truth, the Kremlin will have : to do away with the cover up ! But it is not iust the facts 'of the murder that the KremI Jin has been concerned to [suppress. What it is really afraid of is that, if the coverup disintegrates, the full [political rehabilitation of the party leaders who were once [accused of murdering Kirov [could not be long delaved. |One of them, Nikolai Bukharin, left a political testament which, if it were pubilished and read in Russia to[day, would lead many partv imembers to Question not only [Stalin’s policies but also [those of Brezhnev, and to [challenge the very basis o: ihe party’s totalitarian rule. Brezhnev and his associates would not normally be inclined to risk their hold on the party for the sake of the truth—unless they have learned, from a more recent case, that truth has a way of catching up with politicians who refuse to face it. [Some readers have asked that this column should carrv suggestions for further reading, and this seems an appropriate occasion on which to respond: Robert Con,quest’s “The Great Terror.” and Roy Medvedev's “Let History Judge.”| (Copyright, Victor Zorza. 1074)