Read Online Stalin's Children by Owen Matthews - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Owen Matthews
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organization of Trotskyite work. In our last conversation we agreed to set up a Trotskyite group at the KhTZ . . . "
'Question to Bibikov: "Do you confirm the suspect Fedayev's statement?"
'Bibikov's reply: "No. That is a lie. We never had such a conversation.',
'This statement has been read to us and is accurate. (Signed) Fedayev. The accused Bibikov refused to sign.'
But in the end his defiance was useless, witnessed only by NKVD Lieutenants Slavin and Chalkov, who conducted the confrontation, and Fedayev himself, who was probably too terrified to think Bibikov's stand was anything other than masochistic stupidity. Bibikov eventually broke completely.
'At the Kharkov Tractor Factory we decided to sabotage an expensive, complicated machine which was crucial to the production of wheeled tractors . . .' he wrote in blotted, tiny writing in his third and last detailed confession. 'We persuaded engineer KOZLOV to leave a tool in the machine so that it would be broken for a long period. The machine alone cost 40,000 in gold and is one of only two in the whole country . . . At the KhTZ we plotted to throw an artillery round from the war into a blast furnace to put it out of action for two or three months . . . I also recruited my own deputy, Ivan KAVITSKY, into our organization . . . We attempted to undermine the work of the KhTZ by delaying the fulfilment of orders for the Hammer and Sickle Tractor station, and delayed the payment of wages to the workers.'
In the margin are inexplicable notes in his own writing, apparently written under dictation, saying, 'Who, What, When?', 'More precise', 'Which organization?'
'Our evil counter-revolutionary act was averted only by the vigilance of senior engineer GINZBURG,' the last confession concludes. 'This is how I betrayed my Party. Bibikov.'
The manuscript had been carefully torn across halfway down the page. Above the tear are signs of some kind of scribble, as though the writer had tried, in despair, to erase the death sentence he had just written for himself.
Then his voice disappears. There are excerpts from the transcripts of other accused in which Bibikov's name is mentioned - sixteen interlinking confessions, all meticulously typed with angry, almost punched-through commas between the capitalized names, 'ZELENSKY, BUTSENKO, SAPOV, BRANDT, GENKIN, BIBIKOV . . .'
He was brought to trial before a closed session of the Military Collegium in Kiev on 13 October 1937, the so-called troika courts of three judges who heard in camera the cases of those accused under Article 58 of the Soviet Criminal Code, which covered 'any act designed to overthrow, undermine or weaken the authority of the workers' and peasants' Soviets'. The court's conclusion is long and detailed, mostly repeating word for word the accounts of acts of sabotage included in the confessions. But for good measure, the final draft upped the charges and concluded that 'Bibikov was a member of the k.r. [the term kontrarevolustionnaya is used so often that the typist begins to abbreviate it] Trotskyite-Zinovievite terrorist organization which carried out the wicked assassination of Comrade Kirov on 1 December 1934 and in following years planned and carried out terrorist acts against other Party and government leaders . . . We sentence the accused to the highest form of criminal punishment: to be shot and his property confiscated. Signed, A.M. ORLOV, S.N. ZHDANA, F.A. BATNER.'
Bibikov signed a form confirming that he had read the court's ruling and sentence. They were the last recorded words he wrote. Signing off, with bureaucratic neatness, on the file which contained the state's version of his life's story. It was the final act of a life devoted to serving the Party.
The last form of the seventy-nine pages in the so-called 'living' file, the flimsiest of all, was a mimeographed quartersheet strip of paper roughly cut off at the bottom with scissors, which confirms that the sentence of the court has been
'Question to Bibikov: "Do you confirm the suspect Fedayev's statement?"
'Bibikov's reply: "No. That is a lie. We never had such a conversation.',
'This statement has been read to us and is accurate. (Signed) Fedayev. The accused Bibikov refused to sign.'
But in the end his defiance was useless, witnessed only by NKVD Lieutenants Slavin and Chalkov, who conducted the confrontation, and Fedayev himself, who was probably too terrified to think Bibikov's stand was anything other than masochistic stupidity. Bibikov eventually broke completely.
'At the Kharkov Tractor Factory we decided to sabotage an expensive, complicated machine which was crucial to the production of wheeled tractors . . .' he wrote in blotted, tiny writing in his third and last detailed confession. 'We persuaded engineer KOZLOV to leave a tool in the machine so that it would be broken for a long period. The machine alone cost 40,000 in gold and is one of only two in the whole country . . . At the KhTZ we plotted to throw an artillery round from the war into a blast furnace to put it out of action for two or three months . . . I also recruited my own deputy, Ivan KAVITSKY, into our organization . . . We attempted to undermine the work of the KhTZ by delaying the fulfilment of orders for the Hammer and Sickle Tractor station, and delayed the payment of wages to the workers.'
In the margin are inexplicable notes in his own writing, apparently written under dictation, saying, 'Who, What, When?', 'More precise', 'Which organization?'
'Our evil counter-revolutionary act was averted only by the vigilance of senior engineer GINZBURG,' the last confession concludes. 'This is how I betrayed my Party. Bibikov.'
The manuscript had been carefully torn across halfway down the page. Above the tear are signs of some kind of scribble, as though the writer had tried, in despair, to erase the death sentence he had just written for himself.
Then his voice disappears. There are excerpts from the transcripts of other accused in which Bibikov's name is mentioned - sixteen interlinking confessions, all meticulously typed with angry, almost punched-through commas between the capitalized names, 'ZELENSKY, BUTSENKO, SAPOV, BRANDT, GENKIN, BIBIKOV . . .'
He was brought to trial before a closed session of the Military Collegium in Kiev on 13 October 1937, the so-called troika courts of three judges who heard in camera the cases of those accused under Article 58 of the Soviet Criminal Code, which covered 'any act designed to overthrow, undermine or weaken the authority of the workers' and peasants' Soviets'. The court's conclusion is long and detailed, mostly repeating word for word the accounts of acts of sabotage included in the confessions. But for good measure, the final draft upped the charges and concluded that 'Bibikov was a member of the k.r. [the term kontrarevolustionnaya is used so often that the typist begins to abbreviate it] Trotskyite-Zinovievite terrorist organization which carried out the wicked assassination of Comrade Kirov on 1 December 1934 and in following years planned and carried out terrorist acts against other Party and government leaders . . . We sentence the accused to the highest form of criminal punishment: to be shot and his property confiscated. Signed, A.M. ORLOV, S.N. ZHDANA, F.A. BATNER.'
Bibikov signed a form confirming that he had read the court's ruling and sentence. They were the last recorded words he wrote. Signing off, with bureaucratic neatness, on the file which contained the state's version of his life's story. It was the final act of a life devoted to serving the Party.
The last form of the seventy-nine pages in the so-called 'living' file, the flimsiest of all, was a mimeographed quartersheet strip of paper roughly cut off at the bottom with scissors, which confirms that the sentence of the court has been
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