An early Bolshevik responsible secretary later put in the dock
On the first day of the Third Moscow Trial, March 1938, Krestinsky rose and declared: 'I am not a Trotskyite and was never a member of the anti-Soviet bloc.' Across all three Moscow show trials, it was the only open-court repudiation of a confession.
Born in Mogilev to a teacher's family, Krestinsky trained as a lawyer before becoming a Bolshevik revolutionary. He led the party in Yekaterinburg, joined the first Politburo, and after Sverdlov's death served as Responsible Secretary (effectively party leader) from 1919 to 1921. His support for Trotsky in the trade union debate cost him his posts. He spent nine years as Soviet plenipotentiary in Germany, the republic's most important diplomatic mission, before his arrest in the Great Purge. At the Third Moscow Trial he alone repudiated his confession in open court, the only defendant across all three show trials to do so.
Career Timeline
- 1918–22People’s Commissar for Finance
- 1919–21Responsible Secretary and Politburo member
- 1938Shot after the Third Moscow Trial
Related historical events
A Sensation at the Third Moscow Trial
In March 1938, Krestinsky stood trial as one of 21 defendants in the 'Anti-Soviet Bloc of Rights and Trotskyites' case, the Third Moscow Trial. The charges included links to Trotsky and German intelligence, and plotting terrorist acts against the party leadership. On the first day in court, Krestinsky alone caused a sensation by repudiating his pre-trial confession and pleading not guilty. He declared, 'I am not a Trotskyite and was never a member of the anti-Soviet bloc.' Flustered, the court removed him for 'further investigation' that afternoon. When he reappeared the next day, he apologized for his previous denial and confessed to all charges. What 'special measures' were applied overnight remains uncertain, but testimony suggests his left shoulder had been dislocated. Sentenced to death on 13 March, he was shot two days later. Across all three Moscow show trials of the Great Terror, Krestinsky's courtroom defiance stands as the only instance of a defendant rejecting a confession in open court.