| Sergei Kirov | |
|---|---|
| |
| General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union | |
| In office 16 July 1930 – 1 December 1934 | |
| Premier | Leon Trotsky |
| Preceded by | Grigory Zinoviev |
| Succeeded by | Lev Kamenev |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Sergei Mironovich Kostrikov 27 March 1886 Urzhum, Russian Empire |
| Died | 1 December 1934 (aged 48) Leningrad, Soviet Union |
| Political party | CPSU (Internationalist) |
Sergei Kirov (27 March 1886 - 1 December 1934) was a Soviet Bolshevik revolutionary and politician who served as General Secretary of the CPSU from 1930 to his assassination in 1934.
Kirov, an ambitious and charismatic strongman, managed to quickly climb his way through the ranks of the regional division of the Communist Party in Leningrad. From there, he emerged as a prominent member of the 'Right-Internationalists,' or members of the 'Internationalist' faction of the Communist Party that opposed the doctrine of 'Permanent Revolution' and believed that Premier Trotsky's foreign policy was too adventurist, only serving to drag the Soviet Union into an unwinnable war against the West.
Eventually, Kirov managed to amass enough power in Leningrad that at the next Party Congress, he was able to expel 'Left-Internationalist' Grigory Zinoviev from his position as General Secretary. Kirov assumed the position, but would only hold it for four years, as he was quickly assassinated. His assassin, Leonid Nikolayev, was a failed junior functionary of the Communist Party and he implicated no other members during his trial. However, this did not stop the 'Right-Internationalists' from accusing Zinoviev of either hiring or framing the man.