Sergei Kirov

Sergei Kirov
Сергей Киров
Kirov c. 1930s
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Azerbaijani Communist Party
In office July 1921 – January 1926
Preceded by	Grigory Kaminsky
Succeeded by	Levon Mirzoyan
First Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
In office 1 August 1927 – 1 December 1934
Preceded by	Post established
Succeeded by	Andrey Zhdanov
First Secretary of the Leningrad City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
In office 8 January 1926 – 1 December 1934
Preceded by	Grigory Yevdokimov
Succeeded by	Andrey Zhdanov
Full member of the 16th, 17th Politburo
In office 13 July 1930 – 1 December 1934
Additional positions Candidate member of the 14th, 15th Politburo In office 23 July 1926 – 13 July 1930 Member of the 17th Secretariat In office 10 February – 1 December 1934 Full member of the 17th Orgburo In office 10 February – 1 December 1934
Personal details
Born	Sergei Mironovich Kostrikov (1886-03-27)27 March 1886[1] Urzhum, Vyatka Governorate, Russian Empire[1]
Died	1 December 1934(1934-12-01) (aged 48)[1] Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union[1]
Manner of death	Assassination
Resting place	Kremlin Wall Necropolis, Moscow
Political party	RSDLP (Bolsheviks) (1904–1918) All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (1918–1934)
Signature

Sergei Mironovich Kirov^[a] (born Kostrikov;^[b] 27 March 1886 – 1 December 1934) was a Russian and Soviet politician and Bolshevik revolutionary.

Kirov was an early revolutionary in the Russian Empire and member of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. Kirov became an Old Bolshevik and personal friend to Joseph Stalin, rising through the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ranks to become head of the party in Leningrad and a member of the Politburo.

On 1 December 1934, Kirov was shot and killed by Leonid Nikolaev at his offices in the Smolny Institute. Nikolaev and several alleged accomplices were convicted in a show trial and executed less than 30 days later. Kirov's assassination was used by Stalin as a reason for starting Moscow trials and the Great Purge.^[2] Based on circumstantial evidence, a number of historians concluded that the assassination was ordered by Stalin.^[3]

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