Sergei Kirov
Sergei Mironovich Kirov (born Kostrikov; 27 March 1886 – 1 December 1934) was a Russian and Soviet politician and Bolshevik revolutionary.
Sergei Kirov | |||||||||||||||||
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Сергей Киров | |||||||||||||||||
Kirov c. 1930s | |||||||||||||||||
| First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Azerbaijani Communist Party | |||||||||||||||||
| In office July 1921 – January 1926 | |||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Grigory Kaminsky | ||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Levon Mirzoyan | ||||||||||||||||
| First Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) | |||||||||||||||||
| In office 1 August 1927 – 1 December 1934 | |||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Post established | ||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Andrey Zhdanov | ||||||||||||||||
| First Secretary of the Leningrad City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) | |||||||||||||||||
| In office 8 January 1926 – 1 December 1934 | |||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Grigory Yevdokimov | ||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Andrey Zhdanov | ||||||||||||||||
| Full member of the 16th, 17th Politburo | |||||||||||||||||
| In office 13 July 1930 – 1 December 1934 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | Sergei Mironovich Kostrikov 27 March 1886 Urzhum, Vyatka Governorate, Russian Empire | ||||||||||||||||
| Died | 1 December 1934 (aged 48) Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union | ||||||||||||||||
| Manner of death | Assassination | ||||||||||||||||
| Resting place | Kremlin Wall Necropolis, Moscow | ||||||||||||||||
| Political party | RSDLP (Bolsheviks) (1904–1918) All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (1918–1934) | ||||||||||||||||
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Kirov was an early revolutionary in the Russian Empire and member of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. Kirov became an Old Bolshevik and personal friend to Joseph Stalin, rising through the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ranks to become head of the party in Leningrad and a member of the Politburo.
On 1 December 1934, Kirov was shot and killed by Leonid Nikolaev at his offices in the Smolny Institute for unknown reasons; Nikolaev and several suspected accomplices were convicted in a show trial and executed less than 30 days later. Kirov's death was later used as a pretext for Stalin's escalation of political repression in the Soviet Union and the events of the Great Purge, with complicity as a common charge for the condemned in the Moscow Trials. Kirov's assassination remains controversial and unsolved, with varying theories regarding the circumstances of his death.