Piggy Foxy and the Sword of Revolution: Bolshevik Self-Portraits (Annals of Communism Series)

225 Pages·2006·1.26 MB·English

by  Alexander Vatlin

Piggy Foxy and the Sword of Revolution

Piggy Foxy and the
Sword of Revolution
Bolshevik Self-Portraits
Edited by
Alexander Vatlin and Larisa Malashenko
Translated by Vadim A. Staklo
Foreword by Simon Sebag Montefiore
Yale University Press New Haven & London
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1.SovietUnion—Politicsand
government—1917–1936—Caricatures
andcartoons.2.Vsesoiuznaia
kommunisticheskaiapartiia
(bol’shevikov)—Caricaturesand
cartoons.3.Politicians—Soviet
Union—Caricaturesandcartoons.
I.Vatlin,A.IU.II.Malashenko,
Larisa.III.Title:Bolshevik
self-portraits.IV.Series.
dk268.4.p542006
947.08402'07–dc22
2006009070
Contents
Foreword by Simon Sebag Montefiore vii
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction 1
part one.
Gallery of Leaders 11
V.I.Lenin 16 L.M.Kaganovich 44
I.V.Stalin 18 S.M.Kirov 46
L.B.Kamenev 20 A.I.Mikoyan 48
L.D.Trotsky 22 G.K.Ordzhonikidze 50
G.Ye.Zinoviev 24 V.V.Kuibyshev 52
N.I.Bukharin 26 V.Ya.Chubar 54
M.I.Kalinin 28 S.V.Kosior 56
V.M.Molotov 30 S.I.Syrtsov 58
A.I.Rykov 32 A.S.Bubnov 60
Ya.E.Rudzutak 34 G.M.Krzhizhanovsky 62
M.P.Tomsky 36 N.K.Krupskaia 64
F.E.Dzerzhinsky 38 M.M.Litvinov 66
A.A.Andreyev 40 G.L.Piatakov 68
K.Ye.Voroshilov 42 K.B.Radek 70
I.T.Smilga 72 R.P.Eideman 96
A.A.Solts 74 M.M.Lashevich 98
M.F.Shkiriatov 76 V.A.Antonov-Ovseyenko 100
Ye.M.Yaroslavsky 78 S.S.Kamenev 102
L.Ye.Mariasin 80 I.P.Tovstukha 104
S.L.Kruglikov 82 V.N.Vasilievsky 106
N.G.Tumanov 84 A.M.Nazaretian 108
N.P.Briukhanov 86 Ya.A.Yakovlev 110
G.I.Lomov(Oppokov) 88 D.Bedny 112
A.I.Gurevich 90 N.D.Kondratiev 114
N.Osinsky(V.V.Obolensky) 92 D.B.Riazanov 116
V.V.Shmidt 94 O.Yu.Shmidt 118
part two
. Comrades and Problems 123
Deviations and Oppositions 123
Supplementary Agendas 141
Economic Conflicts and Rapid Industrialization 167
The Congress of theVictors and the Plenum of the Condemned 185
Index of Drawings by Artist 206
Foreword
simon sebag montefiore
T
he history of the Bolsheviks during the brutal turbulence of their long
revolution,fromtheseizureofpowerinOctober1917throughtheCivil
Warandcollectivization,uptotheritualcannibalismoftheGreatTer-
ror, is as absurd as it is grim. Its tragedy is made for satire yet defies
caricature,foritsmadnessseemsbeyondhumor.Hencethegreatvalue
of this remarkable collection of cartoons, caricatures, and drawings is that both the
artists and the subjects were Bolshevik magnates. Not only most of the subjects but
most of the artists toowere shot on Josef Stalin’s orders during theTerror.
The caricatures are often outrageously, perversely funny. Indeed this book is
highly comedic. But the laughter has an echo in the dungeons of Lubianka, and we
can follow the foreboding and sadness and then the tragic bloodbath through these
images.They are much more than just funny cartoons: they are golden assets for the
historian,andIthink,inthefuture,historiansofStalinandStalinismwillhavetouse
this book.
They are of course part of the treasure chest formed by the Stalin and Politburo
papersintheRussianStateArchiveofSocialandPoliticalHistory(RGASPI),formerly
the Communist Partyarchive, in Moscow.The drawings and the archives themselves
revealatotallydifferentpictureoftheSovietleadership:beforehand,wewerelimited
to monolithic histories of grim institutions—Politburo, Orgburo, Sovnarkom—filled
with mustachioed men without biographies.
viii foreword
TheRGASPI’swealthofarchivalmaterialrevealsthehumanityoftheleadersand,
moreimportant,howtheentireregimeworkedonhumanterms:patronsandpatron-
age, personal alliances and rivalries between characters and departments, fighting for
power and, of course, for financial resources, were the essence of high politics in the
Kremlin.WelearnthatStalinhimselfdidnotemerge,fullyformedafterLenin’sdeath,
as a steely figure of fear and reserve. Far from it, he built power not on fear but on
personal relationships not only with his henchmen, such as Molotov or Kaganovich,
but also with more formidable intellectual figures such as Kamenev, Bukharin, and
Radek.Thevery top of the Bolshevik pyramid was a tiny group of fanatical Marxist-
Leninistsandtoughmanagers,hardenedbyalonglifeofundergroundconspiracyand
tsaristprison,bloodiedinthesavagekillingoftheCivilWar,andlaterthewaronthe
peasantry.
Stalinwasthelinchpinofthesepersonalrelationships,thepatronofpatrons,and
thearbiterofdepartmentalrivalries,butwemustbecarefulnottowritehistoryback-
ward.Until1937,hewasregardedasthetoughestoftheBolshevikhardmen,buthewas
stillanoldcomrade:thearchivesrevealhowintimatelyStalinlivedwiththeotherBol-
shevikleaders.HeconstantlydroppedinonhisneighborsandfriendsintheirKremlin
apartments, suburban dachas, and Black Sea holiday villas, as witnessed by his many
notes to friends like Klim Voroshilov, Vyacheslav Molotov, and Demian Bedny sug-
gesting dinners or trips to the countryas well as the discussion of political matters.
These grandees, with their wives and children, their country houses and family
parties,presidedoverastateofrepressionandpropaganda,arealmofmiseryandmass
murder and prison camps.Yet the leaders could still tease and laugh at one another.
The archives reveal the constant joshing and joking in Politburo meetings in which
notes were constantly sent around the table and often Stalin himself took part. Only
in1937 did this collegial political world disappear forever.
Allthisisinthesedrawings,whichhelpsuslisteninonthetoneofthesetalented
but brutal leaders with their towering egos and ambitions. The cartoonists, leaders
themselves like Nikolai Bukharin and Valery Mezhlauk, mock the vanities of their
comrades in witty and sophisticated jokes and often obscene language and images:
amongsomuchpoliticaljargonandtoughbargaining,weseehilariousimagesofcas-
trations and genital dismemberments.
Here we can sense the idiosyncratic culture of high Bolshevism and its contra-
dictions: the intellectual cultureversus the rudeworking-class machismo; the strange
foreword ix
system of repressive dictatorship mixed with the dying relics of partydemocracy; the
mateycomradeshipoffriendlyequalsinapartywithoutaFührerprinzipalongsidethe
growth of Stalin’s personal tyranny; the cheerful rough bonhomie of old comrades
undermined by the cheerless, po-faced ambition of Stalin’s rising apparatchiks.
The story is told in these invaluable historic documents: they are often enjoyed
by Stalin himself, whowrites in his unmistakablyemphatic scrawl: ‘‘Correct’’ or ‘‘To
allmembersofthePlenum,’’becausethedrawingsoftenservehisimmediatepolitical
purposes. Manyare especially revealing.The drawings by Bukharin and Yaroslavsky
ofStalinhimself(figs.4–6)revealhimasfriskilyvigilant,grimlydetermined,andun-
attractivelylong-nosed:theycouldhavebeendrawnonlybySovietleadersbefore1937,
anditisnosurprisetheyweredrawnbefore1930.Similarly,TrotskyappearsasStalin’s
comradessawhim—apreeningSpanishtroubadour(fig.8).ThatwashowStalinsaw
him too.
The famous characters come across strongly: Yan Rudzutak’s notorious laziness
(fig. 25), Feliks Dzerzhinsky’s almost religious fervor in his persecution of enemies
(fig.28),Bukharin’saffablecharmthroughout,Voroshilov’smixtureofvanityandfun.
TherearepricelessportraitsofSergoOrdzhonikidze’sdashingvigor,explosivelypas-
sionate Georgian temper, and relentless pursuit of Stalin’s enemies (fig.103).There is
Anastas Mikoyan’s dapper Caucasian glamour and Stalinist hardness. Both of these
menwereruthlessStalinists,butOrdzhonikidzeisironicallyshownasatsaristofficer,
MikoyanasaCaucasianmountainwarrior(fig.157).Interestingly,Ordzhonikidze,the
lastbigbeastoftheBolshevikjungle,wouldbedriventosuicidebyStalinin1937,while
theshrewd,felineMikoyanturnedouttobetheultimateSovietsurvivor—amanwho
carriedLenin’scoffinin1924andattendedJohnF.Kennedy’sfuneralin1963,finishing
his careeras chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from1964 to1965.
EventhefutureNKVDheadLavrentyBeriaappearsatthe1937plenum,stillboss
ofCaucasia,usingthreatsanddenunciationstomakehisnameandprovehispotential
tohispatron,Stalin.Aswellasfamouscomrades,suchastheblowhardleftistGrigory
ZinovievandhisallyLevKamenev,thedreadedfacesoflessknownStalinisthatchet-
men are fascinating too: the colorless Andrei Andreyev was one of theworst.The far
fromcolorlessbutalmostunhingedLevMekhlis,editorofPravda,laterpoliticalboss
oftheRedArmyandkillerofmanyofitsofficers,wassoexcessivelyStalinistthateven
Stalin often mocked him for it. Mekhlis accumulated huge power as one of Stalin’s
privatesecretaries,andtwoothersappearhere:IvanTovstukha,untilhisdeathin1935