Report of Court Proceedings - Anti-Soviet Trotskyite Centre (1937 Moscow Trial)

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PEOPLE'S COMMISSARIAT OF JUSTICE OF THE U.S.S.R.

REPORT OF COURT PROCEEDINGS IN THE CASE OF THE

ANTI-SOVIET TROTSKYITE CENTRE Heard Before The

MILITARY COLLEGIUM OF THE

SUPREME COURT OF THE U.S.S.R. Moscow, January 23-30, 1937 IN RE:

Y. L. Pyatakov,K. B.Radek,G. Y.Sokolnikov, L. P.Serebryakov, N. I. Muralov, Y. A. Livshitz, Y. N. Drobnia, M. S. Bogualavaky, I. A. Knyazev, S. A. Rataichak, B. 0. Norkin, A. A. Shestov, M. S. Stroilov, Y. D. Turok, I. Y. Hrasche, G. E. Pushin, V. V. Arnold Accused of trnson against the country, espionage, act; of diversion, wrecking activities and the preparation of terrorist act•, i.e., of crimes covered by Articles 58 I a, 588, 589anJJ(s, __ M. S. Boguslavsky, I. A. Knyazev, S. A. Rataichak, B. 0. Norkin, A. A. Shestov, M. S. Stroilov, Y. D. Turok, I. Y. Hrasche, G. E. Pus.bin and V. V. Arnold, aecused of treason against the eountry, espionage, committing acts of diversion, wrecking activities and fhe preparation of terrorist acts, i.e., of crimes covered by Articles .:5s1a, 58'5, 589 and 58 11 of the Criminal Code of the R.S.F.S.R. 4

The investigation of the case of the united Trotskyite-Zinovievite terrorist centre, members of which were convicted by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the U.S.S.R. on August 24, 1936, established that in addition to the above-mentioned centre, there existed a so-called reserve centre, formed on the direct instructions of L. D. Trotsky, for the eventuality of the criminal activities of the Trotskyite-Zinovievite bl"oc being exposed by Ute orgians of the SoYiet government. The convicted members of the united 'Trotskyite-Zinovievite centre, Zinoviev, Kamenev and others, testified that the reserve centre consisted of Y. L. Pyatakov, K. B. Radek, G. Y. Sokolnikov and L. P. Serebryakov, all known for their past T:rotskyite activities. The preliminary investigation of the present case established fuat fue so-called reserve centre was actually a parallel Trotskyite the platform of Soviet power? Knyazeu: Yes. Vyshinsky: And la.ter you entered the Party? Knyazev: Yes. Because the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries took action, and this criminal act I forsook the Left Socialist-Rev-0lutionaries and joined the Party. Vyshinsky: So up to 1930 you had waverings, and in 1934 yotl joined a group of Trotskyites under the influence of Turok? Kngazev: Yes. Vyslzinskg: Permit me to ask Turok. Accused Turok, do you ~onfirm Knyazev's reference to you as the man who drew him into the Trotskyite organization? . Turok: No, n-s regards 1931 I he arrival switches.. He had ordered Chudinova, a girl apprentice on duty at that time, to turn arrival switch No. 14 onto a track that w.ais occupied. Since this apprentice did not under-' stand what the oorrect positfon of the switches should have been, she ~p.rrie.d O!J.t his instructions. An old skilled switchman who was standing at the switch on the track along which the train should really have arrived was meanwhile sent off by Koiesnikov to clean the glass on the lamps. Vyshinsky: And who was left at the switch? . Knyazev: There was no one at the switch. The traiin, travelling at high speed, about 40 or 45 kilometres an hcQllr, sped off down the eighth track, on which a freight train ·of o~ was standing. · Vyshinsky: How many were killed? Knyazeu: Twenty-nine Red Army men, and 29 were also injured_ Vyshinsky: Injured severely or slightly?. Knyazev: I ·cannot say at the moment. Vyshinsky: This did not interest you? Knyazev: I was interested, bu~ l cannot say ·exactly just now. Vyshinsky: You, the chi~f of the line, were not interested how many men were injured and how? Knya::.eu: I undoubtedly knew this. Vyshinsky: You, the chief of the railroad? Knyazev_· Yes. Vysliinsky: You arrived at the scene of the wreck? Knyazev: Quite right. Vyshinsky: Here was a train wreck quite out of the ordinary, 366

involving a large number of victims-Red Army men killed, Red Army men injured-and you, the chief of the railroad, do not know whether the injuries were severe or slight? Knyazev: At that moment I undoubtedly knew. Vyshinsky: If you knew, you ought to remember, or wais this. not the only such train wreck on your line? Don't evade the question. Knyazev: There were train wrecks, but not such big ones as. this. Vyshinsky: You do not remember if these twenty-nine Red Army men were badly mutilated? Knyazev: About fifteen were badly mutilated. Vyshinsky: But what sort of serious injuries were there? Knyazev: They had arms broken, heads pierced. . . . Vyshinsky: Heads pierced, arms broken, ribs broken, legs. broken? Knyazev: Yes, that is so. . Vyshinsky: This happened by the grace of you and your accomplices? · Knyazev: Yes. Vyshinsky: And do you know how the preparations for this. train wreck were organized? How were forces distributed, how was the trairi WTeck itself organized? · Knyazev: Rykov, the acting station master, received word from the dispatcher at Chelyabinsk that a troop train was coming through, and he told Kolesnikov, the head switchman, to "get ready to receive it." Vyshinsky: What did Rykov say? Knyazev: Rykov said that a troop train was coming, and we mu-st cause a itrain wreck, route it so as to "prepare it wrongly." Yyshinsky: Not "prepare it wrongly," but receive it wrongly? Knyazev: Prepare it wrongly and thereby see that it was wrongly received. Vyshinskg: Did not you say it more simply: "The train must be wrecked"? Knyazev: (Remains silent.) Yyshinsky: Can't you rem,ember? Knyazev: I do not remember. Vyshinsky: Let me remind you. (Reading.) "Two or three stations before Shumikha station, the .acting station master Rykov received a message from the man on duty at Chelyabinsk station that train No. 504 was due to arrive at Shumikha station. Having received this message, Rykov informed Markevich that a trooptrain was coming, saying: "\Ve'll start action at once."

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"After this Rykov summoned the head switchman Kolesnikov and warned him that a troop train vrns coming and it had to be wrecked." . Not "get rea.dy to receive it"-it was sai