Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze

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Grigoriy Konstantinovich Ordzhonikidze (Georgian: გრიგოლ (სერგო) ორჯონიკიძე - Grigol (Sergo) Orjonikidze, Russian: Григо́рий Константи́нович Орджоники́дзе, generally known as Sergo Ordzhonikidze (Серго́); October 24 [O.S. October 12] 1886 – February 18, 1937) was a Georgian Bolshevik, later member of the CPSU Politburo and close friend to Stalin. Ordzhonikidze, Stalin and Anastas Mikoyan comprised what was jokingly referred to as the "Caucasian Clique".

Born in Kharagauli, western Georgia, Ordzhonikidze became involved in radical politics in 1903, and after graduating as a doctor from the Mikhailov Hospital Medical School in Tiflis, was arrested for arms smuggling. He was released and went to Germany, but in 1907 returned to Russia and settled in Baku where he worked with Stalin and others. Sergo participated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution on a mission by the Bolshevik party and stayed in Tehran for a while around 1909.

He was arrested for being a member of the Social Democratic Party and deported to Siberia, but managed to escape three years later. He returned with Stalin to St. Petersburg in April 1912, but again was apprehended and sentenced to three years hard labour. During the course of the Russian Civil War, he became a commissar for the Ukraine and took part in fighting against the [{White Army]] of Denikin in the Caucasus. Appointed chairman of the Caucasian Bureau of the Russian Communist Party in 1920, he was instrumental in the incorporation of the Caucasus in the nascent Soviet Union. After Azerbaijan and Armenia had been taken over by the Bolsheviks, in 1921 Ordzhonikidze led a Bolshevik invasion of the Democratic Republic of Georgia and established the Socialist Republic of Georgia. Later, he fought to reduce Georgian autonomy from the Russian SFSR and hence became a key figure involved in the Georgian Affair of 1922. During the same period, he also aided Mirza Koochak Khan in establishing the short-lived Socialist Republic of Gilan in northern Iran.

Ordzhonikidze was appointed to the Politburo in 1926, and became Commissar of the Soviet Heavy Industry. According to historian Roy Medvedev, Ordjonikidze opposed the purges of Stalin, Kaganovich and Yezhov and the arrest of his deputy in the Commissariat of Heavy Industry, Georgy Pyatakov.^[1] Other sources claim the contrary and that there is no evidence that Ordzhonikidze disagreed with the Moscow Trials, including the arrest, conviction, and execution of Pyatakov. According to them, Ordzhonikidze questioned Pyatakov personally, and was convinced of his guilt. He drafted a speech for the February-March 1937 Central Committee Plenum that left no doubt of his determination to uproot saboteurs like Pyatakov from his commissariat. There allegedly exists a copy of the speech, which was delivered to the Plenum by Molotov after Ordzhonikidze's death.^{[citation needed]}

In 1936 Ordzhonikidze's eldest brother Papulia was arrested and died after hours of torture.^[1] His collaborators were then arrested and tortured, while Stalin began sending false reports of these interrogations to Ordzonikidze saying: "Look at what they say of you comrade Sergo".^[1] Some months later Ordzhonikidze had a heated discussion on the phone with Stalin and was found dead on February 18, 1937. His death was ruled the result of a heart attack, the Pravda publishing a report signed by three doctors and by the People's Commissar for Health Kaminski. His files and papers were later confiscated by Lavrenty Beria, while Ordzhonikidze's bodyguards and personal secretary, along with his brothers Ivan and Konstantin, were also arrested.^[1] Almost 20 years later Khrushchev revealed that Ordzhonikidze in fact committed suicide. Khrushchev's account clashes with that by Mikoyan, who obviously did not have first-hand information either. Research by Russian historian Vladimir L. Bobrov ^[2] in 2008 shows that there is no reason to reject the official story of the day that Ordzhonikidze committed suicide. Likewise there is no evidence that Ordzhonikidze had quarreled with Stalin.

Several towns in the USSR were renamed Ordzhonikidze after him, such as Vladikavkaz.

Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) was named in honour of Sergo Ordzhonikidze.

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[edit] Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sergo Ordzhonikidze

• Bobrov, Vladimir L'vovich. "Taina smerti Ordzhonikidze ('The Secret of Ordzhonikidze's Death"
• Ebrahim Fakhrayi, Sardar-e Jangal (The Commander of the Jungle), Tehran: Javidan,1983.
• Gregor Yaghikiyan, Shooravi and jonbesh-e jangal (The Soviet Union and the Jungle Movement), Editor: Borzouyeh Dehgan, Tehran: Novin, 1984.

v • d • e First Secretaries of the Transcaucasian SFSR Aleksandr Miasnikyan • Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze • Mamia Orakhelashvili • Rukholla Akhundov • Vissarion Lominadze • Mamia Orakhelashvili • Lavrentiy Beria