Grigory Zinoviev (23 September 1883-25 August 1936) was one of the first seven members of the Politburo of the Soviet Union alongside Vladimir Lenin, Lev Kamenev, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin, Grigori Sokolnikov, and Andrei Bubnov. He was killed during the Great Purge.
Biography[]
Grigory Zinoviev was born on 23 September 1883 in Yelizavetgrad, Russian Empire (present-day Kirovohrad, Ukraine) to a family of Ukrainian Jews. In 1903, he joined the Bolsheviks, and he was among Vladimir Lenin's inner circle, fleeing to Switzerland during World War I. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, Zinoviev returned to Russia, becoming one of the first seven members of the Politburo. In 1918, he was excluded from Judaism alongside Leon Trotsky by the rabbis of Odessa, and he would later side with Joseph Stalin and Lev Kamenev against Trotsky in the 1920s. In 1925, he broke the triumvirate with Stalin, and he supported Trotsky from 1926 to 1927 before being forced to submit to Stalin. In December 1934, he was expelled from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during the Great Purge, and on 25 August 1936 Zinoviev and Kamenev were executed by firing squad.