Address at the Plenum of the CC VKP(b), October 12, 1937

Andreev. We proceed to the second item on the agenda. Comrade Stalin has the floor.

Stalin. On the second item of the agenda of the Plenum, I have, at the proposal of the Politburo, several questions to put before the CC Plenum for discussion and several proposals to make.

The first question concerns the composition of the CC. In the period since the June Plenum (meaning the Plenum of the CC VKP(b) held June 23-29, 1937. -- Ed.) up to the present Plenum, several members of the CC have been expelled and arrested: Zelensky turned out to be a tsarist Okhrana agent; Lebed, Nosov, Pyatnitsky, Khataevich, Ikramov, Krinitsky, Vareikis -- eight persons. Upon examination of all the materials, upon verification of the materials, it turned out that these people are enemies of the people.

If there are no questions, I would propose that this report be taken to note.

Voices: Correct. Take to note.

Stalin. Of the candidate members of the CC, in the same period, sixteen persons have been expelled and arrested: Grinko; Lyubchenko -- shot himself; Eremin; Deribas -- turned out to be a Japanese spy; Demchenko; Kalygina; Semenov; Serebrovsky -- turned out to be a spy; Shubrikov; Gryadinsky; Sarkisov; Bykin; Rozengolts -- turned out to be a German, English, and Japanese spy.

Voices. Really!

Stalin. Lepa, Gikalo, and Ptukha -- sixteen persons.

Likewise, after examination and verification of all materials, it turned out that these people are enemies of the people. If there are no questions or objections, I would ask that this matter also be taken to note.

Voices. Approve.

Andreev. There is a proposal to approve the Politburo's proposal. Are there objections?

Voices. No.

Andreev. All those in favor of approving this decision of the CC, please raise your hands. Please lower them. Who is against? Who abstains? Adopted unanimously.

Stalin. In the practice of our party, when people leave the CC either because they have died or because they have been expelled, the composition of the CC is usually replenished with candidates. This is what we have done up to now. And the Politburo of the CC thinks it would be expedient to proceed in the same way now. Our list of candidates for CC membership is compiled at the congress, as you know, not in alphabetical order, but in order of the number of votes received -- not in alphabetical order.

The Politburo of the CC thinks it would be expedient to transfer the first ten candidates to CC membership. Who are they?

Pakhomov -- People's Commissar of Water Transport; he received the most votes. After him, by number of votes received at the congress: Isaev, chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of Kazakhstan. Smorodin -- first secretary of the Stalingrad obkom. Blyukher -- you all know him well. Bulganin -- you know him well too. Bulin -- works in the military department. Kulkov -- you should know him well too. Lozovsky -- you know him well also. Bagirov -- first secretary of the Azerbaijani CC. Makarov -- he works in steel at the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry. Ten persons.

Voices. Correct.

Stalin. The Politburo proposes to adopt a resolution on the transfer of these candidates to CC membership as those who received the most votes at the Seventeenth Party Congress.

Andreev. Are there any other proposals?

Khrushchev. I would make an addition to Comrade Stalin's proposal. I would propose that comrades who do not appear in the order that Comrade Stalin mentioned -- that is, in order of the number of votes received -- but comrades who are known to the Central Committee of the party and who are carrying out very important work, I believe these people should also be transferred from candidates to full members of the CC. Pramnek -- secretary of the Donetsk obkom, one of the largest obkoms, and everyone knows him. Mekhlis -- heads the newspaper Pravda, candidate member of the CC. Mikhailov -- secretary of the Voronezh oblast party committee; the comrade also works in a very important capacity. Ugarov -- second secretary of the Leningrad oblast party committee. He has been working for a long time and has proven himself a Bolshevik, working in such a major organization. The proposal is to transfer these comrades as well from candidates to full members of the CC.

Andreev. How does the Plenum wish to proceed...

Voices. Vote.

Andreev. Vote separately on the Politburo's proposal and on Comrade Khrushchev's proposal...

Voice. Not a proposal, but an addition.

Andreev. Or together with the amendment, with the addition.

Voices. Together.

Andreev. I am putting to a vote the Politburo's proposal together with Comrade Khrushchev's addition. All those in favor of this proposal, please raise your hands. Please lower them. Who is against? None. Who abstains? None. Adopted unanimously.

Stalin. It would have been possible to transfer all candidates to CC membership; we have every right to do so. But, firstly, there is no such need, and secondly, one cannot have a CC without a reserve, without candidates. Therefore, we can limit ourselves to the resolution that has been adopted.

The second question. On the composition of the Politburo. The Politburo proposes to introduce Comrade Yezhov as a candidate member of the Politburo and to confirm him as a candidate member of the Politburo.

Voices. Correct.

Andreev. What proposals will there be?

Voices. Vote.

Andreev. All those in favor of adopting the Politburo's proposal -- to introduce Comrade Yezhov as a candidate member of the Politburo -- please raise your hands. Who is against? None. Who abstains? None. Adopted unanimously.

Stalin's Politburo in the 1930s. Pp. 157-159.
RGASPI. F. 17. Op. 2. D. 628. L. 115-119.