Kote Zinzadze

Kote Zinzadze ( Georgian კოტე ცინცაძე , * 1887 , † 1930 ) was a Georgian Bolshevik . He was the first permanent head of the Georgian Cheka . Under Stalin he was persecuted as a member of the “Left Opposition” in the CPSU .

Life

In 1904 he became a member of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Russia (RSDLP) and joined the Bolshevik faction. During the Russian Revolution of 1905 he worked closely with the revolutionary Kamo, serving in the armed arm of the party, which had specialized in expropriations and robbery .

He later took part in underground Bolshevik activities in Transcaucasia and became the first permanent head of the Georgian Cheka, which was founded in February 1921, immediately after the invasion of the Democratic Republic of Georgia . He also became a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Russia (KPR) and the Executive Committee of the Communist Party of the Georgian SSR .

While he was ruthless against the anti-Soviet opposition in Georgia, he also advocated greater independence for Georgia from the Moscow headquarters. In 1922 he was involved in a sharp argument with Stalin and Sergo Ordzhonikidze , whom the moderate Georgian communists accused of " Great Russian chauvinism ". Those accused Zinzadse of " nationalistic deviations ". He was removed from office in the same year. His successor was EA Kwantaliani, who was more indulgent to Soviet centralism.

In 1923 he joined the Left Opposition to Stalin. He was expelled from the party in 1927 and arrested in 1928. He died of tuberculosis in prison in 1930 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ami W. Knight: Beria: Stalin's First Lieutenant , Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey 1993, p. 29, ISBN 0691010935