Zinoviev's right hand who saved Petrograd, then vanished at Stalin's first show trial
Petrograd, 1919. Serge: 'Loud of voice, fond of the bottle, he never admitted a situation was hopeless. The city was saved mainly through Grigory Yevdokimov.'
A river sailor at 15 who joined the Bolsheviks in 1903, he helped save Petrograd from Yudenich in 1919 as political chief of the 7th Army. Victor Serge wrote: 'The city was saved mainly through Grigory Yevdokimov.' He chaired the Petrograd unions, became deputy chair of the Soviet, and in 1925 rose to First Secretary of the Leningrad party as Zinoviev's closest lieutenant and leader of the New Opposition. Stalin brought him to Moscow as CC secretary in 1926, but he joined the United Opposition, lost every post, and was expelled. Reinstated, he worked obscurely in the dairy industry until Kirov's murder triggered his arrest; he was a principal defendant at the first Moscow show trial and shot with Zinoviev and Kamenev.
Career Timeline
- 1903Joined RSDLP, Bolshevik
- 1908–16Repeated arrests and exile, escaped Siberia
- 1917Organized Red Guards; Constituent Assembly member
- 1919Political chief, 7th Army; defense of Petrograd
- 1922–25Chaired Petrograd unions; deputy chair of Soviet
- 1925–26First Secretary, Leningrad; the New Opposition
- 1926.1–4CC Secretary and Orgburo member
- 1927United Opposition; expelled from CC and party
- 1929–34Dairy-industry chief, minor economic posts
- 1936.8First Moscow show trial; shot
Related historical events
- 1917.10–1918.01The October RevolutionRed Guard organizer
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign Intervention7th Army political department head
- 1937–1938The Great PurgeTarget of the First Moscow TrialA former Zinoviev ally and New Opposition leader, he was condemned in the First Moscow Trial and executed in 1936.