Ryutin Affair
The Ryutin Affair began in the summer of 1932 in the Soviet Union. Martemyan Ryutin was a right-wing communist. He wrote a 200-page document called the "Ryutin platform".[1] In it he criticized Joseph Stalin's leadership of the communist party.[1] Twelve or so party members met with Ryutin and read the document.[2] This was in August 1932. They passed it on to other party members. Stalin thought Ryutin and his friends were trying to have him assassinated.[2] Ryutin was arrested. When Stalin tried to have him executed, he was instead sent to a labor camp for ten years.[3] Every party member who read the document was arrested. In 1933 as many as 800,000 were arrested.[1] In 1934 another 340,000 were sent to camps.[1] This shows that Stalin did not yet have enough power to order Ryutin's execution.[3] But by 1937 things had changed. After a 40-minute trial on 1 January 1937 Ryutin was executed.[4]
References[change | change source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Martin McCauley, The Soviet Union 1917-1991 (Oxford; New York: Routledge, 2013), p. 101
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Robert William Davies, Soviet History in the Gorbachev Revolution (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989), p. 84
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Steve Phillips, Stalinist Russia (Oxford: Heinemann, 2000), p. 97
- ↑ Robert William Davies, Soviet History in the Gorbachev Revolution (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989), pp. 84–85
