N. N. Tagunov — a Stalin’s Correspondent

Abstract

The article explores one Bolshevik functionary between 1917 and the early 1930s, N. N. Tagunov. A child of the working class who completed secondary education, Tagunov represents a type of young Bolshevik actively involved in political life, passionate about philosophical problems, and irreconcilable to any deviation from the party line. In 1925–1934, Tagunov repeatedly sent letters to Joseph Stalin and several times received responses. In November 1925, Tagunov, as a member of the district committee bureau of the Central city district in Leningrad, sent a letter to the gubkom with sharp criticism of Zinoviev’s supporters on the eve of the Fourteenth party congress. Information about Tagunov’s letter was brought to Stalin, who replied to Tagunov; Tagunov in turn sent Stalin two long letters about the mood of Leningrad’s party leadership. At the same time, Tagunov tried to interest Stalin in his own theoretical works in the field of philosophy. After a short stay at the Institute of Red Professors in 1927, he sharply attacked leading Marxist philosophers of the time, accusing them of serious theoretical errors. At that time Stalin did not support Tagunov. After moving from Leningrad to Moscow in 1931, Tagunov worked in various institutions. At the end of December 1934, he sent Stalin a long letter for the last time, accusing former chairman of the Leningrad Soviet N. P. Komarov and a number of employees of the Party apparatus of feeding a gang of “Zinoviev’s murderers”. Stalin’s resolution read: “I read it. It is possible that comrade Tagunov is right”. The letter was sent to a number of Politburo members. After 1940 Tagunov was a personal pensioner.