Who was Sergei Kirov?

The History Faculty - University lectures for secondary schools

[TheFacultiesPods]

You mean the Riutin platform? You will grasp from the podcast that I share Lenoe's view that Stalin was not behind the murder, and I do not think that Kirov represented a moderate alternative to Stalinism. Therefore, the Riutin platform did not affect Stalin's view of Kirov. Neither would it have affected Nikolaev's motivation for committing the murder. However, Stalin blamed the murder on the "Zinovievites" (as "morally complicit" in the murder) and some of them were accused of having read the platform without reporting it to the Party. In that sense, the Platform and the murder are connected though not in the way the question implies ie in Kirov's "downfall"

[TheFacultiesPods]

I should add that no one has found any archival evidence to suggest that Kirov voted against Stalin on the question of Riutin's punishment for writing the platform. That assertion in Conquest among other sources seems top be a matter of baseless speculation. JH

[TheBengalDragon]

Hey!!! My former university, 2008-2012! University of Leeds!

[euanaustin]

What was the significance of Martemyan's letter and what role did it play in Kirov's downfall?

[MrQbenDanny]

When the Imperial Mariinsky ballet was renamed, was it named after this man Kirov?

[gigodotbernard]

The wife of the man who killed Kirov was Kirov’s lover. That maybe could explain.