Smirnov and Mlazykowski were old friends when they met in Slutsky’s interrogation room, but bitter enemies when they were taken back to their respective cells.
Eager to take advantage of this opportunity, Slutsky immediately produced a counterdocument that differed greatly from the facts. Among other things, this was a variation on Murachkowski’s words: in 1932, he took part in a secret council where Smirnov proposed forming a joint Zinoviev group for terrorist plots. In this case. To paraphrase Mlazykowski, Smirnov could not get out of the “dirty work” because he was afraid of getting his shirt dirty. To tell the truth, Slutsky would have been eager to produce a transcript just for the richness of the sentence.
Agoda was pleased with the record. Stalin, he knew, would have admired Mratchkowski’s quarrel with Smirnov, and Argoda decided to give it a little more weight. As he typed the notes, he ordered the offending phrase to be “bloody.” Now it’s “Do you think you’re a saint? Do you think you can get out of this dirty, bloody business without getting your white shirt dirty?”
Smirnov’s confrontation with Mratzkowski was very distressed-his first hatred was slutsky: he had so mercilessly instigated Mratzkowski against his former chief and old friend. At the beginning of the trial, Smirnov recalled, Slutsky pretending to sympathize with him and saying that he did not intend to follow his superiors’ orders to the letter. After all this, Smirnov simply refused to answer any of Slutsky’s questions. When Argoda learned of this, he ordered that “Smirnov be taken from Slutsky’s hands” and handed over to Vuk Kay to continue the “work.” For Slutsky, the conquest of Smirnov was within reach, but now that hope, along with all the laurels that should have been his, had slipped from his grasp.
Meanwhile, the snare around Smirnov’s neck was getting tighter and tighter. The first allegations against him. O ‘Leberge, who had agreed to assist the Interior Ministry in making false confessions. The interrogation leaders also intend to take evidence from Golitzman and a man named Gavin (who, for some unknown reason, never appeared in the dock). Now Mr Mlazkowski’s confession fills an important part of the equation. If the “evidence” of the likes of Oliberge, Reinhold and Gavin could only make Smirnov so sick, Then Mlazykowski’s confession was the first blow to his feelings. As a result, this confession has become a powerful card in the hands of the Interior Ministry.
Since then other blows have followed. Soon Smirnov learned that Zinoviev and Kamenev had agreed to Stalin’s terms, and that they had falsely accused themselves of making a complaint against him. The confessions of these great men. It was a lie, but it weighed a great deal, and was a strong basis for further bullying Smirnov. His situation is getting more and more difficult. The royal weapon with which he defended himself was truth and his refusal to yield to the whims of falsehood and impudence. But Stalin’s camp was much stronger. He has an interrogation and trial apparatus of servile bureaucrats and a powerful propaganda machine ready to spread rumours all over the world. Smirnov had to admit, it seemed, that there was no point in continuing to resist in this battle of outnumbered foes.
Smirnov suffered another heavy blow after falling into kay’s hands. It was a blow far more powerful than Mr Mlazkowski’s betrayal. Kay presented Smirnov with a statement from his ex-wife, Sabonova, stating that in late 1932, he, Smirnov, received from Trotsky “a secret order to carry out terrorist activities.” Only later did I find out. Safonova was forced to write this statement by the Interior Ministry. And believed their promise that only in this way could she save her own life and save Smirnov.
In order to completely subdue Smirnov, Kay arranged for him to confront Safonova. As has just been pointed out, Safonova had been told in advance that her life could be saved if she signed the confession in which Smirnov was framed. But when she accepted the offer, her ransom “went up”, and now she must help the Interior Ministry “convince” Smirnov to save her life.
Safonova meets Smirnov in the Interrogation room at Kay. It’s dramatic. Safonova wailed. Implore Smirnov to save both their lives and obey the politburo’s demands. In Kay’s presence, she told Smirnov plainly that no one would take his confession seriously, and that everyone knew that the trial had been organized solely on political grounds. She advised him to “compromise with Zinoviev and Kamenev” and join them in the trial. “Then the whole world will be watching you and they won’t dare shoot you,” Safonova explained.
At last Smirnov gave in to Kay’s request, but on one condition. He had agreed only to admit the charges against him, and no other defendant would have been brought to trial if he had made such a condition. But Stalin was so intent on putting Smirnov in the courtroom that he even agreed to the terms of his “partial confession”. Stalin only asked him to testify against Trotsky, because this was a more venomous form of revenge: Smirnov was known to be one of Trotsky’s most loyal and sincere friends.
Smirnov also made one requirement he had to meet as a condition of his appearance: no charges could be brought against Safonova. This condition was accepted, and Safonova did not appear in the dock, but was called as a witness and thus avoided the death penalty.
More than once I asked myself: What was the decisive factor that forced Smirnov to agree to appear in court? Is it like Zinoviev and Kamenev? Was it advice to accompany safonova, his faithful wife of many years? Perhaps the most persuasive is Sabonova’s advice: “compromise with Zinoviev and Kamenev and go to court with them.” They dare not shoot you in front of the whole world.” But I don’t think that this advice, or any other influence, could have forced Smirnov to take part in this trial scandal directed by Stalin. If he had known that Stalin’s slander of him and his good name could be shattered at the cost of his own life, he would not have hesitated to refuse to take part in the trial scandal, choosing instead to die. But that choice does not change anything. He would be secretly executed, and other defendants, including Zinoviev and Kamenev, could perform the same trick on Stalin and discredit him in the auditorium.
So Smirnov probably felt it would be better to take advantage of his only chance. If Stalin did not keep his promise and tried to kill him, then, even under such circumstances, his appearance in court. At least in a way that would stop the muddy stream of vicious slander from allowing the other defendants and the prosecutor to speak freely, he decided to appear in court alive.
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