On the role of Grigory Ordzhonikidze in the inner-party struggle of the 1920s

The article examines the role of Grigory Ordzhonikidze in the inner-party struggle of the 1920s. The purpose of the article is to determine what position Ordzhonikidze held at different stages of the inner-party struggle. The transcripts and other documents of the leadership of the Bolshevik Party, stored in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI), became the basis for the research. Contrary to the popular opinion in historiography, the author states that Ordzhonikidze acted independently and was not an obedient satellite of Joseph Stalin during the inner-party struggle. After being appointed the Chairman of the Central Control Commission, he tried to some extent to alleviate the severity of political conflicts and prevent the use of harsh punishments against Stalin's opponents. There is a version in historiography according to which in 1928, during the conflict between Stalin and the Rykov - Bukharin group, Ordzhonikidze initially supported the «right wing» of the Politburo, but then suddenly revised his views and supported Stalin’s position. Based on the analysis of archival documents, the author concludes that this statement is invalid. At the same time, Ordzhonikidze, although he was on friendly terms with Stalin and shared his views on the peasant question had a conciliatory attitude and was inclined to seek a compromise with the «right». Ordzhonikidze's conciliatory attitude disappeared after the Trotskyists published a recording of a secret conversation between N. I. Bukharin and L. B. Kamenev. This compromising material formed among the Bolshevik leadership the perception of the «right wing» of the Politburo as an opposition group capable of splitting the «monolithic unity» of the party. For this reason, at the beginning of 1929, when the supreme party court over the «right» was held at the joint meetings of the Politburo and the Presidium of the Central Control Commission, Ordzhonikidze acted as one of the main accusers.