Grigory Zinoviev was Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet communist politician who worked in close coordination with Lenin prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917. He was amongst the first seven members of the Politburo established by Lenin and later went on to hold more significant posts in the Communist party like the chairman of Communist International and head of the Petrograd party organization and regional government. He is also known for his unsuccessful efforts to change Germany into a communist country. He allied with Joseph Stalin to prevent Leon Trotsky from becoming Lenin’s successor; however, later he himself, along with Lev Kamenev, clashed with Stalin. He was accused of ‘moral complicity’ in the murder of Sergei Kirov and became the prime accused in the ‘Trial of the Sixteen’, the first Moscow show trial that marked the beginning of the ‘Great Terror’ in the USSR. He was convicted and executed but in 1988, the Soviet Government finally absolved him of all the fabricated charges.
