Bidspirit auction | ZINOVIEV GRIGORY: (1883-1936)

ZINOVIEV GRIGORY: (1883-1936) - ZINOVIEV GRIGORY: (1883-1936) Russian revolutionary. A prominent Old Bolshevik and a close associate of Vladimir Lenin prior to 1917 and a leading figure in the early Soviet government. He was executed by firing squad. Very rare A.L.S., ` G. Zinowiew´, one page, to the blank verso of a Swiss postcard, Bern, 19th May 1916, to Mr. Henri Guilbeaux, director of the ”Demain” newspaper offices in Geneva, in German. Zinoviev states ` Dear camerad! I am sending you a copy of the “Vorbote.” Would you be so kind as to send me a copy of “Demain” containing your essay on the conference? Address: Bern, Freiestrasse 15 I, Mr. Radomyslski. ´ Postmarked in Bern. VG Henri Guilbeaux (1885–1938) was a French socialist politician and poet. He was active in the Zimmerwald Anti-War Movement during World War I. Guilbeaux was a prominent figure in a group of intellectuals in Geneva who opposed continuation of the war. Another member of the group was his friend Stefan Zweig, whose poems he translated into French. Der Vorbote (”The Precursor”) was a historic theoretical journal and organ of expression of the Zimmerwald Left, the most radical international socialist faction opposed to the First World War. Published in German, its journey in 1916 had only two issues published throughout its existence: one in January 1916 and the second issue in April 1916. Demain was an influential pacifist and anti-militarist magazine in French, founded in January 1916 in Geneva (Switzerland) by the French writer and journalist Henri Guilbeaux. In August 1936, after months of rehearsals in secret police prisons, Zinoviev, Kamenev and 14 others, mostly Old Bolsheviks, were put on trial again. This time, the charges included forming a terrorist organization that killed Kirov and tried to kill Stalin and other leaders of the Soviet government. This Trial of the Sixteen was the first Moscow Show Trial and set the stage for subsequent show trials where Old Bolsheviks confessed increasing egregious crimes, including espionage, poisoning and sabotage. Zinoviev and the other defendants were found guilty on 24 August 1936. Before the trial, Zinoviev and Kamenev had agreed to plead guilty to the false charges on the condition that they not be executed, a condition that Stalin accepted, stating ”that goes without saying”. A few hours after their conviction, Stalin ordered their execution that night. On the morning of 25yh August, Zinoviev and Kamenev were executed by firing squad.