Avel Enukidze

Who was Avel Enukidze?

Avel Safronovich Enukidze, a prominent "Old Bolshevik" and, at one point, a member of the Soviet Central Committee in Moscow. In 1932, along with Mikhail Kalinin and Vyacheslav Molotov, Enukidze co-signed the infamous "Law of Spikelets".

Enukidze had written a book on the history of a famous Bolshevik printing press in the Caucasus which had bombarded Russia with Vladimir Lenin's commandments during the Czarist period. Soon he was accused of having deliberately diminished Joseph Stalin's contributions to the printing press and the Bolshevik movement in Baku. In fact, Stalin had little to do with these things; it was Enukidze himself who had played the major role. But revolutionary contributions were important to a Bolshevik's prestige, and Stalin did not like Enukidze outshining him. In July 1935, after suggesting to Stalin that he give up power, Enukidze was called to account before a Central Committee Plenum in Moscow, expelled from the Party immediately, and two years later, arrested, tried, and shot. According to J. Arch Getty, Nikolai Yezhov had called for his expulsion, but Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov were reluctant. However, at Yezhov's insistence, he was expelled.