ABSTRACT
The trial of Zinoviev and Kamenev echoed through the world like a thunderclap. Stalin was mistaken: the measures taken were not enough to render the opposition powerless. Not long after the execution of the prisoners, Iagoda fell into disgrace. In November 1936 Iejov submitted a report to the Politburo, in which he demanded plenary powers for the 'great purge'. They were granted unanimously. The ideological scion imported by Lenin was undergoing a progressive transformation under the influence of the stock into which it was grafted. Immanent Justice appeared to manifest itself by striking those who for eighteen years had been the vilest of assassins. More than 4,000 members of the opposition were shot without trial. Two men were at the head of the conspiracy, which never got beyond an embryonic form: Marshal Tutkatchevsky, and an army commander of the first rank, Yakir. Stalin seized the opportunity of calling a halt to the 'bloody saraband'.
