125

p It began like any other day. The CC Secretariat was full of callers; there was lots to do. The telephone rang at about midday. I picked it up; it was Sverdlov.

p ’News from Petrograd. Uritsky’s been killed. Dzerzhinsky’s on his way there...’

p Nothing had changed, but Uritsky was gone. That ardent 126 revolutionary, to whom the revolution, the Soviet state, owed so much, was gone. First Volodarsky, then Uritsky...

p It was a Friday, the day for Party meetings all over Moscow. Lenin was to speak in the Basmanny district and at the Michelson factory in Zamoskvorechie. Sverdlov was expected in the Lefortovo district, at the Vvedensky People’s House. The topic was: Two kinds of power: the dictatorship of the proletariat and the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie’.

p Towards evening I phoned Sverdlov to ask if the meetings had been cancelled. He was surprised—were we going to hide, let that bourgeois filth frighten us? Of course not! The meetings had not been cancelled—Uritsky would have his due.

p I had to go to the country that evening, to see the children who were staying in Kuntsevo. At the end of the day, when I had done my most pressing work, I left, taking some food with me. Sverdlov had promised to join us later that night.

p I had hardly arrived when he phoned. His voice was almost unrecognisable; it had lost its habitually calm tone and was full of anxiety.

p ’Lenin’s wounded... It’s serious...’

p That was all. He gave no more details, told me not to expect him, to bring the children back to Moscow the following day—and hung up.

p After a sleepless night we set out for Moscow when it was barely light. The Kremlin had an odd watchful look. It was all the same as the day before, the same as ever, and yet different. There were the usual guards on the gates, but they were abnormally stern, their faces troubled and their hands unusually tense on their rifles. They were astonishingly punctilious in checking our passes.

p As always there were a few people up at that early hour, but they all seemed to be in a hurry. A morose, anxious silence hung over the Kremlin.

p Our flat was deserted; Sverdlov’s bed had not been slept in. He had spent the night close to Lenin, either in Lenin’s flat or in his office, perched uncomfortably on a chair’, as Nadezhda Krupskaya later said.

p I went to Sverdlov’s office during the day on urgent Secretariat business and found him there. He briefly gave me the details of this monstrous crime. Lenin’s condition was serious, but not beyond hope. He did not stop repeating serious but not beyond hope’ until the crisis was past and Lenin began to improve.

p Neither then nor at any time afterwards did I see the slightest hint of irresolution or nervousness in Sverdlov. He seemed even more steadfast and composed than usual. Krupskaya, who had returned unsuspecting from a meeting to find that Lenin had been brought home wounded, wrote:

127

p Our flat was full of people I didn’t know and there were unfamiliar coats on the rack. It was strange to see the door wide open. Sverdlov was standing by the coat-rack with a serious and determined look on his face... "What’s going to happen now?" I muttered. He replied, “I’ve agreed it all with Lenin.’"

p Sverdlov accepted as a matter of course the great burden of responsibility that fell to him; immediately after the attack it was particularly heavy, because many CC members were out of Moscow at the time. Along with his full-time work for the CC and CEC he now had to make fundamental Sovnarkom decisions and chair a number of its meetings. According to Lidia Fotieva he spent two or three hours every day in the Sovnarkom offices, working at Lenin’s desk.

p He usually slept in his office and rarely came home. When he did it was only for a few hours and he was so exhausted that I was afraid for him. But he would have a short sleep and in the morning be cheerful and full of energy again. He mentioned several times how glad he was that he had always been involved with the Sovnarkom. His job was easier because he was up to date on everything—though he added: But it’s hard, impossibly hard without Lenin.’

p ’At a CEC meeting on 2 September he said:

p ’Every one of you did your revolutionary training, worked and matured under Comrade Lenin’s guidance. And you know that no one could ever take his place.’

p The news of the attack was telephoned to Sverdlov when he came back from his meeting. He rushed to Lenin’s flat to find Vera BonchBruevich, the first doctor on the spot, and Lenin’s sister Maria doing all they could. Two professors, Rozanov and Mints, came later, followed by Krupskaya. Sverdlov contacted Avanesov, Petrovsky and Kursky; they went together to the Cheka offices, to see Kaplan, the would-be assassin. Sverdlov enquired into the course of the investigations, and assigned Petrovsky and Kursky to begin questioning her.

p On the same evening he sent out an appeal from the CEC to the working people of Russia:

p Some hours ago there was a villainous attempt on the life of Comrade Lenin... The working class will react to such crimes against its leaders by a closer consolidation of its forces, and will respond with merciless mass terror against all enemies of the revolution.

p Comrades! Remember that the safety of your leaders is in your hands. By closing your ranks yet further you will deal bourgeois supremacy a decisive and mortal blow.

p Be calm! Be organised! Stand firm at your post! Close ranks!

p Yakov Sverdlov,
Chairman, All-Russia Central Executive Committee.

128

p Thousands of telegrams, resolutions and statements sped to the Kremlin from every part of the country, from abroad, from the fronts, the factories and the countryside. At meetings in Moscow, Petrograd, Tula, Nizhni Novgorod, Ivanovo, in hundreds of towns and thousands of villages throughout our boundless land, the workers and peasants poured out their scorn and hatred for the enemies of the working class. The Communists closed ranks.

p Before long Lenin’s strong constitution overcame his grave injury. He returned to work towards the middle of September, but too soon: he fell ill again and his doctors insisted that he go to the country for an extended convalescence.

p Sverdlov commissioned Pavel Malkov to search the outskirts of Moscow for a place that could quickly be got ready for Lenin. Malkov looked carefully at several of the many detached houses that had recently been vacated in the area. Following Sverdlov’s instructions to pick a house in good condition with an extensive garden, or preferably a park, but not so large or sumptuous that Lenin would turn it down, Malkov finally chose an estate in Gorki. Sverdlov approved it and asked for it to be put in order as quickly as possible, warning Malkov not to make Lenin’s whereabouts known to everyone.

p The work only took a few days. After Sverdlov had checked that nothing more was needed, Lenin and Krupskaya moved in.

p Sverdlov kept Lenin in touch by writing notes on issues of importance and sending him the most vital documents, and in fact spent as much time at Gorki as he had in Lenin’s Moscow flat. He sometimes took the children with him, Vera more often than Andrei; Lenin was fond of her. In early October we heard of the revolutionary events in Germany. Though his doctors disapproved, Lenin wanted to return to Moscow, if only for a few days. On 1 October 1918 he wrote to Sverdlov:

p ’Events are accelerating at such a rate in Germany that we could be left behind. Tomorrow you must arrange a joint meeting of:

p the CEC 

p the Moscow Soviet 

p the district Soviets 

p the trade unions and so on and so forth...

p ’Set it for 2 p.m. on Wednesday... give me a quarter of an hour for the introductory remarks. I’ll leave immediately after that. Send a car for me tomorrow morning (but phone me and just say “Agreed”).

p ‘Greetings,
Lenin.

129

p The meeting was held as Lenin had asked, though one day later but he was not there because, as Krupskaya explained, *they would not agree to his going to Moscow however much he insisted—they were taking great care of his health. The meeting was set for 3 October, a Thursday. The previous day Lenin had written a letter which was read out at the meeting, and a decision was taken on the lines that he had indicatedHe knew that no car would come for him, but all the same he waited by the side of the road...’

p This was one of the rare cases when Sverdlov went against what Lenin wanted. For him Lenin’s wish was law and his authority absolute; from the beginning of his revolutionary career until the day he died, Sverdlov followed Lenin and learned from him. They met in April 1917, and as their relationship grew, Sverdlov’s admiration for Lenin came to be coupled with love for him as a friend and comrade. At the Sixth Congress of Soviets, summing up the past year, Sverdlov said:

p ’You all understand that for every one of us without exception the name of our leader, Comrade Lenin, is an essential part of the revolution and our involvement in it.’

p And Lenin kept a close eye on Sverdlov, appreciated him more and more, and counted on his political insight and experience.

p I think I actually understood Lenin’s attitude to Sverdlov in 1917. I was in Smolny one day in late October of that year, and came upon Lenin walking down a corridor with Krupskaya and talking in a low tone. He looked tired, preoccupied and gloomy. It was the first time he had seen me since 1906, at the Fourth Party Congress, and of course did not recognise me; we had not even spoken then and many years had passed. But I had met Krupskaya several times.

p I moved to one side and nodded to them from a distance, but Krupskaya came up to say hello. Lenin stood and waited; it was obvious that he was pressed for time and not pleased by this unexpected delay.

p ‘Don’t you know who this is?’ Krupskaya asked him.

p He stared at me, screwing up his eyes slightly, as I went closer.

p ’You know, it’s Klavdiya Novgorodtseva, the head of Priboi, Sverdlov’s wife.’

p Lenin changed instantly. The lines on his high forehead smoothed out, a kindly smile lit up his face and his eyes began to sparkle with wonderful warmth and good humour. We shook hands cordially and exchanged a few words before they had to go.

p Later I often saw Lenin and Sverdlov together, sometimes sat in on their discussions and often heard news of Lenin from Sverdlov. I became increasingly convinced that they were like-minded people. It took literally only, a word or two for them to understand each other. Sverdlov 130 instantly grasped and accepted without question Lenin’s every idea and every instruction, not only because he had unbounded faith in his wisdom and perception but also because they had identical views.

p Lenin would often invite Sverdlov to join him when he talked to Party members or received visitors, and would sometimes ask Sverdlov to see them in his stead. Lenin once received a letter from Vladimirov, who at that time shared responsibility for food deliveries. He wanted to go south to organise supplies for the army. Lenin replied: Why did you not discuss this with Sverdlov, as we agreed?’ Another time a note came to Lenin during a Sovnarkom meeting, pressing for a decree to send Sovnarkom officials to the front. Lenin wrote back: What decree? I thought we’d announce it and have done. Sverdlov is picking them out.’

p Many a time Lenin telephoned to give Sverdlov an instruction, only to hear the calm reply, ’It’s on’, meaning that what Lenin had in mind had already been acted on.

p There was a meeting in the Hall of Columns at the Trade Union House in the autumn of 1918. Sverdlov and I often went to meetings together but this time he had phoned to say that he would be delayed and I should go alone. I arrived before the meeting began to find Lenin in the foyer surrounded by people, insisting earnestly that the text of the Soviet Constitution be engraved on the Obelisk of Freedom which had recently been erected across from the Moscow Soviet building. Just then Sverdlov came in and Lenin asked for his opinion.

p ‘Oh that!’ he replied. ‘We can go after the meeting and see how it looks. It was done yesterday. It’s all on hand.’

Lenin burst out laughing: Well, of course! Sverdlov’s always got everything on hand.’