Grigory Zinoviev

Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev, . Transliterated ''Grigorii Evseevich Zinov'ev'' according to the Library of Congress system.}} (born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky;}} – 25 August 1936) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. A prominent Old Bolshevik, Zinoviev was Vladimir Lenin's closest associate prior to 1917 and a leading government figure in the early Soviet Union, serving as chairman of the Communist International (Comintern) from 1919 to 1926.

Born in Ukraine to a Jewish family, 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 followed Lenin across Europe, serving as his constant aide-de-camp. Zinoviev returned to Russia after the February Revolution of 1917, but joined with Lev Kamenev in opposing Lenin's "April Theses" and later the armed seizure of power which became the October Revolution. He lost the trust of Lenin, who began relying on Leon Trotsky, but 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 briefly entered with Trotsky in the United Opposition against Stalin, who was quickly becoming a dictator. 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, a close ally of Stalin, and was sentenced to ten years in prison. While imprisoned, Zinoviev was further accused of treason and other offenses during the Stalinist Great Purge, and was executed after a show trial in August 1936. Provided by Wikipedia