The forgotten names of Stalin's repressions: Vasily Kotov

Kotov Vasily Afanasyevich - one of the notorious politicians of the past. Like many of his contemporaries, he fell victim to the harsh regime of Comrade Stalin. And what is sadder of all: only a small part of the information that sheds light on the work of Vasily Kotov has reached our days. After all, in those days, "disagreeable" documents quickly disappeared from the archives of the bodies of the Soviet Themis.

Vasily Kotov: biography of early years

Vasily Afanasevich was born in 1885 in Dorokhov, Moscow province. His father was a simple postal worker, because of which the family lived on a meager salary. However, soon and this money was gone. When the boy was 13 years old, the head of the family died, leaving the boy a round orphan (the history of the mother is unknown to historians).

In order not to die of hunger, Vasily Kotov arranged to work as an apprentice in a blacksmith shop. This was a very successful move, because he allowed the young man not only to acquire his own money, but also to get a technical education. Later, the ability to work with metal will more than once play into the hands of an ambitious Kotov.

After the completion of the training, Vasily Kotov takes a job at the Abrikosov factory. In those years it was a very famous confectionery, producing the best sweets in Moscow. As for Vasily Afanasevich himself, the management of the firm always saw him as a reliable employee, and therefore boldly entrusted him with the right to manage the cash register.

The Lights of the October Revolution

In 1915, Vasily Kotov inadvertently joined the ranks of the Social Democrats, which soon turns out to be a big problem for him. So, according to an anonymous tip, he is accused of some fraud, which is the reason for drafting a lawsuit. Fortunately the court is gracious, if I may say so, and only condemns to administrative expulsion from the capital.

In connection with this, the fires of the October Revolution Vasily Kotov met in Rostov-on-Don. Here he quickly found friends among the Communists. Soon he himself joined the Red Army. Thus, expulsion from Moscow prompted him to a new political activity aimed at strengthening the power of the people.

Party activity

After the revolution, Vasily Kotov got a job in a Moscow motel. However, less than a year later, he switched to party activities. Thanks to this in 1919 he was appointed secretary of the Sokolniki district of Moscow. In this position he stayed until 1925.

After that Vasil Kotov's career is rapidly rising. He is then appointed secretary of the party committee, then promoted to a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU (1930). Subsequently, he even served as a manager of the construction trust of the People's Commissariat of the RSFSR (1933-1935 gg.). And yet this post becomes the last in his life, because soon his person will be superfluous on the political scene of that time.

Execution and Justification

It is difficult to say what triggered the repression of Vasily Kotov. All documents are either classified, or erased from the face of the earth. Only what is known is true: in September 1936 he was tried according to Art. 58-7 and 58-8 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (preparation and organization of a terrorist act). As a consequence, the maximum penalty is execution. The verdict was carried out on May 27, 1937.

And only in 1958, after the death of Comrade Stalin, the court reviewed the case of Kotov. All the judges agreed that the verdict was initially untrue, and acquitted Vasily Afanasyevich. After that (in 1962) he was returned to the ranks of members of the CPSU. What is true, such a decision is unlikely to be able to redeem the damage that was inflicted on the family of Kotov.