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 B 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 Joseph
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 G. L. Piatakov who were being investigated
by the NKVD.
Rumours
began to circulate that Ordzhonikidze planned to denounce Joseph
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.
(1)
Sergo Ordzhonikidze's youngest brother Konstantin arrived at the Kremlin
soon after his body had been found.
When my wife and I reached the second floor, we went
to the dining room, but were stopped at the door by the NKVD agent.
Then we were let into Sergo's office, where I saw Gvakhariia. "Our
Sergo is no more," he said. I ran to the bedroom but my way was
barred, and I was not allowed to see the body.
Then Stalin,
Molotov, and Zhdanov arrived. Sergo's secretary, Makhover, uttered
words that stick in my memory: "They killed him, the rats".
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