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• Gregory Ordzhonikidze

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• Gregory Ordzhonikidze

Sergo Ordzhonikidze, the son of a small landowner, was born in 1886. He became a student at the Mikhailov Hospital Medical School in Tiflis where he became involved in radical politics.

In 1903 Ordzhonikidze joined the Social Democratic Party and supported the Bolshevik faction. Soon after graduating as a doctor, Ordzhonikidze was arrested for conveying arms. He was released and decided to live in Germany.

Ordzhonikidze returned to Russia in 1907 and settled in Baku, where he worked with Joseph Stalin and Stepan Shaumyan. In October, 1907, he was arrested for being a member of the Social Democratic Party and deported to Siberia. Three years later he escaped and went to live in Paris.

In April, 1912, Ordzhonikidze and Joseph Stalin returned to St Petersburg. Ordzhonikidze was soon captured and sentenced to three years' hard labour.

After the February Revolution Ordzhonikidze joined with other Bolshevik to gain control of Yakutsk. In June he arrived in Petrograd where he joined his long-time friend Joseph Stalin. During the Civil War Ordzhonikidze became Commissar for the Ukraine. He was involved in fighting at Tsaritsyn and the Caucasus. In 1920 he helped establish Soviet power in Armenia and Georgia.

In November, 1926, Joseph Stalin appointed Ordzhonikidze to the presidency of the Central Control Commission where he was given responsibility for expelling the Left Opposition from the Communist Party. Ordzhonikidze was rewarded by being appointed to the Politburo in 1926 and later became Commissar for Heavy Industry.

However, in 1936 Stalin began to question Ordzhonikidze's loyalty. Stalin was particularly upset when he discovered that Ordzhonikidze was using his influence to protect party members such as Georgy Pyatakov who were being investigated by the NKVD. Rumours began to circulate that Ordzhonikidze planned to denounce Stalin before the central Committee Plenum in February, 1937. It was therefore not surprising that Ordzhonikidze was found dead before he could make his speech. The death certificate, signed by Dr. Kaminsky, the Commissar for Health, claimed that had committed suicide. Kaminsky was himself arrested soon afterwards and executed.