Kliment Voroshilov

Kliment (Klim) Voroshilov, the son of a railway worker, was born in Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine, on 4th February 1881. He found work as a turner and became active in politics. He took part in the 1905 Revolution and soon afterwards joined the Bolsheviks. During this period Voroshilov became a close friend of Joseph Stalin.

Leon Trotsky also got to know him during this period. "The life of Voroshilov illustrates the career of a worker-revolutionist, with its leadership in strikes, underground work, imprisonment, and exile... He was a national revolutionary democrat from among the workers... In the official biographies of voroshilov the years 1914 to 1917 are a great blank, as is true of most of the present leaders. The secret of this blank is that during the war most of these men were patriots, and discontinued their revolutionary work."

After the overthrow of the Provisional Government Voroshilov he became the Head of Leningrad Police. He then became a general in the Red Army and took part in the defence of Tsaritsyn during the Civil War. According to Edvard Radzinsky, the author of Stalin (1996), Voroshilov helped Stalin in his conflict with Trotsky: "The North Caucasian Military District was under the command of Snesarev, a tsarist general who had changed sides. Several other former tsarists officers were working with him. They had all been assigned to Tsaritsyn by Trotsky. So Stalin began playing a game which was sure to please Lenin: he wrote an endless string of complaints against Trotsky. Single combat with Trotsky was, however, dangerous. stalin needed a comrade-in-arms to act for him when risks had to be taken... Stalin knew how to win over such people, and Varoshilov, who was not very bright, became his devoted comrade... They joined in attacking Trotsky's people, accusing them of treason."

Voroshilov was elected to the Central Committee in 1921, where he became a loyal supporter of Joseph Stalin and helped him in his struggle for power after the death of Lenin. It has been argued by Simon Sebag Montefiore, the author of Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar (2003), that an important point of his strategy was to promote his friends, Voroshilov, Vyacheslav Molotov and Gregory Ordzhonikidze: "An outsider in 1924 would have expected Trotsky to succeed Lenin, but in the Bolshevik oligarchy, this glittery fame counted against the insouciant War Commissar. The hatred between Stalin and Trotsky was not only based on personality and style but also on policy. Stalin had already used the massive patronage of the Secretariat to promote his allies, Vyacheslav Molotov, Kliment Voroshilov and Grigory Konstantinovich; he also supplied an encouraging and realistic alternative to Trotsky's insistence on European revolution: 'Socialism in One Country'. The other members of the Politburo, led by Grigory Zinoviev, and Kamenev, Lenin's closest associates, were also terrified of Trotsky, who had united all against himself."

One of Stalin's main opponents was Mikhail Frunze, the Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council. Frunze died during an operation for stomach ulcers on 31st October, 1925. Some historians have argued that Stalin was involved in arranging Frunze's death. Stalin now replaced Frunze with Voroshilov. The following year he joined the Politburo. Before meetings of Stalin would meet with his supporters. This included Voroshilov, Gregory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, Lazar Kaganovich, Vyacheslav Molotov, Gregory Ordzhonikidze and Sergy Kirov. As Robert Service, the author of Stalin: A Biography (2004), has pointed out: "He demanded efficiency as well as loyalty from the gang members. He also selected them for their individual qualities. He created an ambience of conspiracy, companionship and crude masculine humour. In return for their services he looked after their interests."

Voroshilov was appointed People's Commissar for Defence in 1934 and a Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1935. Roy A. Medvedev, has argued in Let History Judge: The Origins and Consequences of Stalinism (1971) that Voroshilov, along with Vyacheslav Molotov, Lazar Kaganovich and Georgy Malenkov played an important role in the Great Purge: "Molotov, Kaganovich, Malenkov and Voroshilov not only did not restrain Stalin but actively helped his lawlessness." Research shows that Voroshilov personally signed 185 execution lists.

In September 1939 the Red Army captured thousands of Polish army officers. Voroshilov originally said that they should be released. However, after pressure from Stalin he gave orders for them to be executed. This later became known as the Katyn Massacre. It was later admitted by Mikhail Gorbachev that around 25,700 Polish soldiers in Soviet prison camps had been murdered in the early stages of the Second World War.

Joseph Stalin also became concerned about the Soviet Union being invaded from the West. Stalin argued that Leningrad was only thirty-two kilometres from the Finnish border and its 3.5 million population, were vulnerable to artillery fire from Nazi Germany. After attempts to negotiate the stationing of Soviet troops in Finland failed, Stalin ordered the Red Army to invade on 30th November 1939.

Voroshilov was placed in charge of the operation. Although the advance of Soviet troops was halted at the Mannerheim Line the Finns lost more that 20 per cent of their soldiers in three months. In March 1940 the Finnish government signed a peace treaty in Moscow that surrendered 16,000 square miles of territory to the Soviet Union. Finland's small army of 200,000 men had exposed the Soviet Union's poorly trained and equipped Red Army. Stalin blamed Voroshilov for the poor performance. Nikita Khrushchev agreed with this view: "Stalin was furious with the military, and with Voroshilov - justifiably, in my opinion. Voroshilov had held the post of People's Commissar of Defence for many years. he had been vaunted as our top marksman in order to lull the people into thinking that the country's defences were in capable hands. Voroshilov deserved to bear the brunt of the blame for the way the Finnish war was going, but he wasn't the only guilty party."

Khrushchev was at a meeting when Stalin started berating Voroshilov. In his autobiography, Khrushchev Remembers (1971) he recalled how Voroshilov replied: "You have yourself to blame for all this! You're the one who annihilated the Old Guard of the army; you had our best generals killed!" Khrushchev added: "Stalin rebuffed him, and at that, Voroshilov picked up a platter with a roast suckling pig on it and smashed it on the table. It was the only time in my life I ever witnessed such an outburst. Voroshilov ended up being relieved of his duties as People's Commissar of Defence. For a long time afterwards he was kept around as a whipping boy."

Kliment Voroshilov died on 2nd December, 1969.

Primary Sources

(1) Edvard Radzinsky, Stalin (1996).

The North Caucasian Military District was under the command of Snesarev, a tsarist general who had changed sides. Several other former tsarists officers were working with him. They had all been assigned to Tsaritsyn by Trotsky. So Stalin began playing a game which was sure to please Lenin: he wrote an endless string of complaints against Trotsky. Single combat with Trotsky was, however, dangerous. stalin needed a comrade-in-arms to act for him when risks had to be taken... Stalin knew how to win over such people, and Varoshilov, who was not very bright, became his devoted comrade... They joined in attacking Trotsky's people, accusing them of treason.

(2) Simon Sebag Montefiore, Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar (2003)

An outsider in 1924 would have expected Trotsky to succeed Lenin, but in the Bolshevik oligarchy, this glittery fame counted against the insouciant War Commissar. The hatred between Stalin and Trotsky was not only based on personality and style but also on policy. Stalin had already used the massive patronage of the Secretariat to promote his allies, Vyacheslav Molotov, Kliment Voroshilov and Grigory Konstantinovich; he also supplied an encouraging and realistic alternative to Trotsky's insistence on European revolution: 'Socialism in One Country'. The other members of the Politburo, led by Grigory Zinoviev, and Kamenev, Lenin's closest associates, were also terrified of Trotsky, who had united all against himself.