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Stalin- Transcripts from Soviet ArchivesFrom the speech of Comrade Stalin. February 27, 1937
A source: Questions of history, 1994, no. 1, pp. 12‐13
[In the journal publication of the materials of the plenum it was indicated (1993, No. 7, p. 24) that the record of JV Stalinʹs speech on February 27 was absent. Now we have managed to find this text, as amended by Stalin, in the Archives of the President of the Russian Federation (f. 45, op. 1, d. 1120, l. 23‐27). It was prepared for publication by the expert‐expert of the archive Yu.G. MURIN.]
Andreev (presiding). The meeting opens. The floor for the report from the commission on the first item on the agenda is given by Cde. Stalin
[In the upper left corner of the text it is written: “Viewed. Art. ʺ.].
Stalin.
Comrades! The commission of the plenum of the Central Committee instructed me to make a report on the results of its work. Let me make this message. There was no disagreement in the commission as to whether Bukharin and Rykov should be considered a measure of punishment, and, moreover, at least excluding them from the list of candidates for members of the Central Committee and from the ranks of the CPSU (b). There was not a single vote in the commission that would speak out against this proposal. There were disagreements over whether or not to prosecute them, and if not to prosecute, what to limit. Some of the members of the commission spoke in favor of bringing them to trial by the Military Tribunal and ensuring that they were shot. Another part of the commission spoke out in favor of bringing them to trial and ensuring that they were sentenced to 10 years in prison. The third part spoke in favor of to bring them to trial without prejudice to the question of what the sentence should be. And, finally, a fourth part of the commission spoke out in favor of sending the Bukharin and Rykov case to the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Internal Affairs rather than handing over to the court. The last offer prevailed.
As a result, the commission unanimously decided to exclude them from the list of candidates for members of the Central Committee and from the ranks of the CPSU (b) and send the case of Bukharin and Rykov to the Peopleʹs Commissariat of Internal Affairs.
Commission motives. Of course, the feeling of indignation both at the anti‐Party and anti‐Soviet activities of Bukharin and Rykov and at their behavior here at the plenum, during the discussion of the question of them, was very strong in the commission, as well as at the plenum. But the commission believed that it could not and should not be guided by a sense of indignation.
There were votes, a fairly significant number of votes in the commission, just as here, at the plenum of the Central Committee, in favor of the fact that there is supposedly no difference between Bukharin and Rykov, on the one hand, and those Trotskyists and Zinovievites who were attracted by known lawsuits and were punished accordingly. The commission did not agree with this position and considers that it is impossible to lump Bukharin and Rykov in one heap with the Trotskyists and Zinovievites, since there is a difference between them, and this difference speaks in favor of Bukharin and Rykov.
It is one thing ‐ the Trotskyists and Zinovievites, who were excluded once from the party, then reinstated, then expelled again, and another thing ‐ Bukharin and Rykov, who were not excluded. It is impossible to draw an equal sign between the Trotskyists and Zinovievites, who, as you know, at one time staged an anti‐Soviet demonstration in 1927, and Rykov and Bukharin, who have no such sins in the past.
The commission could not fail to take into account the fact that Bukharin and Rykov did not have such sins in the past and that until recently they did not give a reason and reason to raise the question of their exclusion from the party ]. Therefore, the commission had to take into account that until recently neither Bukharin nor Rykov had serious party penalties, except for such a serious penalty that they were removed from the Politburo and, in addition, Rykov was removed from the post of Chairman of the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars [ Then the phrase was crossed out: “As for the fact that they were transferred from the membership of the Central Committee to the list of candidates, this was carried out not in the order of repression, but in the order of nonelection. The commission took this difference into account so that the decision was fair and objective. ”]. As a result, the commission adopted the following draft resolution. Can I read it?
(Voices from the seats. Please.)
“The resolution of the plenum of the Central Committee of the AllUnion Communist Party of Bolsheviks on the case of Comrades Bukharin and Rykov, on the basis of the investigative materials of the Peopleʹs Commissariat of Internal Affairs, a confrontation ... (Reads.) ... to transfer the case of Bukharin and Rykov to the Peopleʹs Commissariat of Internal Affairs ʺ... This draft was adopted by the commission unanimously.
Andreev. Are there any people willing to speak? No. Are there any other proposals besides the one introduced by Comrade Stalin? No.
Are there any amendments to the proposal submitted by Comrade Stalin on behalf of the commission? No.
Vote as a whole? I Voice.
I must warn the comrades that besides the members of the Central Committee and besides candidates for members of the Central Committee, in accordance with the charter, members of the Party Control Commission are also voting,
Who is in favor of accepting the offer, please raise your hands? Lower it.
Who is against? No. Who is abstaining? Two.
So, the decision was made with two abstaining ‐ Bukharin and Rykov. At this point, the meeting is closed until tomorrow, at 12 oʹclock.
Source,
ʺTranscripts from Soviet Archivesʺ, Svitlana M, Erdogan A.