Grigory Zinoviev

Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev (born Ovsei-Gershen Aronovich Radomyshelsky; 23 September [O.S. 11 September] 1883 – 25 August 1936) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. A prominent Old Bolshevik, Zinoviev was a close associate of Vladimir Lenin prior to 1917 and a leading figure in the early Soviet government. He served as chairman [predsedatel] of the Communist International (Comintern) from 1919 to 1926.

Zinoviev joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1901 and sided with Vladimir Lenin's Bolsheviks in the party's 1903 split, forging a close political relationship with him. After participating in the failed Revolution of 1905, he served as Lenin's aide-de-camp in Europe.

An advocate of multi-party socialist government at the time of the October Revolution, Zinoviev joined with party moderate Lev Kamenev in opposing seizure of power by the Bolsheviks ahead of convening of the elected Constituent Assembly — in which the Bolsheviks would have been a minority. When Kamenev defended his views in a non-party radical newspaper, signing both his name and that of Zinoviev to the statement, Lenin was outraged and called for the expulsion of the pair as "strikebreakers," despite Zinoviev's condemnation of Kamenev's action.

Zinoviev subsequently lost the trust of Lenin, who began relying on Leon Trotsky as his chief associate. Zinoviev was nevertheless elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet and the Comintern, and a full member of the Politburo in 1921.

During Lenin's final illness and after his death in 1924, Zinoviev allied with Kamenev and Joseph Stalin in a leadership "troika" against Trotsky. The arrangement fell apart, and in 1926 Zinoviev and Kamenev joined with Trotsky in the United Opposition against Stalin. Zinoviev was removed from the Politburo and Comintern in 1926 and was expelled from the party in 1927. He, like Kamenev, submitted to Stalin and rejoined the party the next year, after which he held mid-level positions. He and Kamenev were again expelled from the party in 1932, due to the Ryutin affair, and rejoined in 1933.

In 1934, Zinoviev was accused of complicity in the assassination of Sergei Kirov and was sentenced to ten years in prison. While imprisoned, Zinoviev was further accused of treason and other offenses during the Great Purge, and was executed after a show trial in August 1936.