In Stalin's Shadow: Career of Sergo Ordzhonikidze: Career of Sergo Ordzhonikidze by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Political Science, Public Affairs & Administration, General
ISBN: 9781317468226
Google: PFvrBgAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 28022357
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1995-07-01T00:00:00+00:00

But Ordzhonikidze was no longer able to help, and in fact turned Piatakov over to Stalin. On September 10–11, the Central Committee members polled agreed with a Politburo proposal to expel Piatakov from both the Central Committee and party. While on vacation, Ordzhonikidze sent the following coded message on September 11: “I fully agree with and vote for the Politburo resolution to expel Piatakov from the Central Committee and the party. Ordzhonikidze.”10 On September 11, the Politburo resolved to remove Piatakov from the post of deputy commissar of heavy industry; he was arrested on the night of September 12. The wording of the Politburo’s resolution is worth noting: “To remove Piatakov, Iu.L., from the post of deputy commissar of heavy industry of the USSR (without mention in the press until further notice).”11

For the first thirty-three days of his arrest, Piatakov categorically denied his guilt. Recent research reveals how those arrested in the case of the Parallel Trotskyist Center were subjected to cruel interrogations: the so-called conveyor belt [continual interrogation for hours and days at a time—Ed.], endless hours “standing at attention,” and physical tortures. NKVD investigators tried any methods to get confessions. They often fabricated “affidavits” themselves and forced prisoners to sign them.12 Like many other unfortunate comrades, Piatakov could not endure the torture and made the required “confessions.”

After this, copies of the transcripts of Piatakov’s interrogations were routinely sent to Ordzhonikidze. Two of them are preserved in Sergo’s personal papers—from November 14 and January 4.13 What could Ordzhonikidze have learned from these documents? They indicate that wrecking over the course of many years was responsible for the numerous problems besetting heavy industry and the economy in general. Piatakov confessed that under his leadership, managers improperly estimated output, commissioned incomplete projects, allowed worker social services to decay, damaged the means of production, organized “work delays,” and impaired the development of various branches of industry, such as copper smelting. It is unlikely that Ordzhonikidze, who knew all too well the real state of the economy and reasons for the collapses and mix-ups, could take this testimony seriously. After all, in his many speeches he himself addressed these problems and gave them a completely “materialistic” explanation. Ordzhonikidze often signed off on impossible plans that he knew required the employment of projects yet to be completed. He himself strove for quantity, while closing his eyes to quality. He himself asked people to put off improving living conditions until better times and to build temporary barracks. Ordzhonikidze could not help but understand that the numerous “consequences of wrecking” enumerated by Piatakov were the results of actual economic practices. In general, Ordzhonikidze could every bit as much see himself and other leaders of the country as saboteurs.

It cannot be ruled out that Piatakov hoped that Ordzhonikidze would see things this way. In any event, it was as if he sent Ordzhonikidze faint signals of his innocence, in places giving contradictory testimony. This is especially clear in the transcripts from November 14 (Piatakov had only just begun to give evidence, and the investigators apparendy were still not on top of things).

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