On the morning of August 22, the fourth day of the trial, the defendants presented molchanov with the papers of their “final statements,” which he sent to Yerov for review. The first thing Yerov did was to cross out all references in the manuscript to the defendants’ close ties to Lenin and their revolutionary exploits. The directors of the farce of the trial were reluctant to allow the old Bolsheviks to present their glorious past to the court, because then the whole charge would seem more flimsy. It is also for this reason that in the published trial materials it is not at all clear that the main defendants were involved in the creation of the Party and the Soviet state and were leading members of the October Revolution. Even their official posts in the Soviet regime were not mentioned, and the columns of posts next to their names in indictments and court verdicts were filled with the words “staff”.
The defendants’ “final statement” was one of the saddest moments of the whole trial. In this scene, the defendants reached the limit of their own destruction in the hope of saving their families and comrades from Stalin’s persecution. Aware of Stalin’s vindictiveness and cruelty, they were desperate, even “excessive”, to fulfil the “task” imposed on them by the inquisition, lest Stalin seize the slightest reason to tear up his promises. Sometimes they revile themselves as ruthless murderers and fascists, and sometimes they extol the virtues of Stalin, who they know to be an ambitious usurper and a traitor to the revolutionary cause.
The first to stand up for his “final statement” was Muraczkowski. In spite of his warning against mentioning the revolution to the court, he could not resist ignoring it and began with a brief account of his own history. He has nothing to be ashamed of in his past. Even his grandfather was a revolutionary who organized and led the famous Workers’ Union of Southern Russia. His parents were revolutionary workers who had been jailed by the Tsar, and he was first arrested at the age of 13 on charges of distributing revolutionary leaflets.
“But now,” Muraczkowski cried with a wry smile, “I am standing before you as a counter-revolutionary!”
The president exchanged alarmed glares with the attorney general, then looked warily at Muraczkowski again. Visinski even got up to give the signal that the trained “audience” in the hall would shout and muraczkowski would not go on. At this point, Muraczkowski himself could not go on. With tears of despair, he hit the wooden fence in front of the dock with all his strength. Presumably, the pain of the flesh helped him overcome his mental weakness, and he regained his self-control.
He quickly explained that he just mention his past and set of merit for the revolution, and not to exculpate himself, but to let people know that the present, not only the czar’s generals, the duke and noble be counter-revolutionary, and workers like he was born of the proletariat descent, as long as a little deviation from the party’s general line, will also be a counter-revolutionary.
I distinctly remember that when Muraczkowski had finished speaking, Chief Judge Ullich gave Visinski a satisfied smile, and he, too, was visibly relieved and sat down.
After that, Muraczkowski never deviated from the pre-approved “lines.” He lambasted Trotsky from every Angle and acknowledged that the central government had been right to punish the opposition.
As he came to the end of his “final statement”, Muraczkowski practically begged Stalin for mercy. His misfortunes threw him into a state of sadistic ecstasy, and he unexpectedly burst out: “He taught us a good lesson for not obeying him in time! What a good reprimand he gave us!”
In fact, this was Muraczkowski’s last Trump card, to show Stalin that even in such circumstances he still hoped for forgiveness.
He knew very well that nothing could please Stalin better than such stupid and disgusting compliments. In other words, the people Whom Stalin hated and punished the most were those who dared to challenge him. Muraczkowski must have believed that Stalin would live up to his promise not to shoot him this time, so in his “final statement” he did not make a public plea for clemency. “What I have done has betrayed the cause of the Party, so as a traitor, I deserve to be shot!”
In his “final statement”, Gaminiev again stressed that he admitted all the charges against him. Instead of defending himself, he proved to the court that he did not deserve leniency. But when he had finished and sat down, he suddenly rose and said:
‘I want to say a few words to my children. … I had no other chance to speak to them. I have two sons. One is an air force pilot and the other is a young pioneer. Before I die, I want to say to them: Whatever judgment I am about to receive, I now consider it just. Please don’t look back, children. Move forward. Along with the Soviet people, go with Stalin.”
Then he put his hand over his eyes and sat down again. All the people present were moved, and even the faces of the judges lost their stony indifference.
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