Party congress while the gendarmes, uncannily tipped off, were raiding the socialist printing presses in Tbilisi.
Stockholm attracted many more delegates than Tampere. Here Stalin saw the doyen of Russian Marxism, Giorgi Plekhanov, as well as familiar Tbilisi faces such as Mikhail Kalinin. He also first encountered two men who would be instrumental in his struggle for total power: the first head of the Soviet secret police, Feliks Dzierżyński, and Klim Voroshilov, future commissar for defence and eventual butcher of the Red Army. Koba shared a hotel room in Stockholm with Voroshilov (an uneducated metalworker endowed with the voice of an opera singer). Koba and Klim bonded, master and servant, for life. As for those who would be killed by Stalin after they attained power, Koba first met in Stockholm Andrei Bubnov, Aleksandr Smirnov and Aleksei Rykov. In Stockholm Koba briefly acquired a suit, a tie, a hat and a pipe (the latter the only one of these bourgeois accessories he retained).
Back in Tbilisi, when Kato Svanidze realized she was pregnant, Koba married her, at one in the morning. They enjoyed little conjugal life: Koba was off to Baku, and the gendarmes arrested Kato for sheltering revolutionaries on the run. It took six weeks to free Kato: her sister, Aleksandra Monaselidze-Svanidze, went to see the wife of a gendarme colonel whose dresses she made. The colonel secured for Kato visits from Koba (allegedly her cousin) and then release, and at the same time a reprieve for Kato’s real cousin, who was to be hanged.
Stalin took up writing again, not lyrical poetry but political prose. He compiled in Georgian treatises on socialism and anarchism which were published in the periodicals Akhali droeba (New Times) and Chveni Tskhovreba (Our Life). The birth of a son, Iakov, on 18 March 1907 did not distract him. A month later, the sole Bolshevik at liberty to travel from Transcaucasia to the fifth Social Democrat congress, Koba was in Copenhagen. The Danish government succumbed to Russian protests and the congress moved to London. On his way Stalin apparently visited Lenin in Berlin, where they agreed to authorize a bank robbery by Kamo Ter-Petrosiants to fund their activities – against party policy, for the fifth congress was about to vote for the ballot box and against the gun.
Koba returned to Georgia via Paris on a dead Georgian’s passport where his first exploit was to organize a spectacular robbery, carried out by Kamo on 13 June 1907 in the middle of Tbilisi. Koba put Kamo in touch with an old school friend who worked in the posts and telegraph at Gori, and he provided information on the transportation of banknotes. The robbery netted a quarter of a million roubles, unfortunately in 500-rouble notes the numbers of which were circulated throughout Europe. Kamo’s hand grenades killed and maimed about fifty people, mostly bystanders, and Koba was expelled from the Caucasian Social Democrat Party for terrorism.
With his wife and infant son, Koba retreated east to Baku where he could rely on Bolshevik supporters among the oil workers. A new ally and eventual victim, Sergo Orjonikidze, joined Koba’s circle. Stalin’s authority derived from his unofficial mandate from Lenin; it is likely that he made two more journeys to see Lenin – in August 1907 to Stuttgart and to Switzerland in January 1908.
Koba was soon free of family ties. On 22 November 1907 Kato died, perhaps of TB. Koba handed his baby son Iakov over to his sister-in-law and did not ask after the child for fourteen years. On 25 March 1908 the Baku gendarmerie rounded up Baku’s Bolsheviks, including Koba, now known as Kaioz Nizheradze. Incompetence and perhaps corruption blinded them to the fact that Koba was a leading Bolshevik organizer on the run from Siberia. Besides, times had changed in Russia: the Tsar’s government had conceded a parliament and political prisoners were amnestied. Koba claimed he had been abroad all 1904 and 1905 and thus
Stockholm attracted many more delegates than Tampere. Here Stalin saw the doyen of Russian Marxism, Giorgi Plekhanov, as well as familiar Tbilisi faces such as Mikhail Kalinin. He also first encountered two men who would be instrumental in his struggle for total power: the first head of the Soviet secret police, Feliks Dzierżyński, and Klim Voroshilov, future commissar for defence and eventual butcher of the Red Army. Koba shared a hotel room in Stockholm with Voroshilov (an uneducated metalworker endowed with the voice of an opera singer). Koba and Klim bonded, master and servant, for life. As for those who would be killed by Stalin after they attained power, Koba first met in Stockholm Andrei Bubnov, Aleksandr Smirnov and Aleksei Rykov. In Stockholm Koba briefly acquired a suit, a tie, a hat and a pipe (the latter the only one of these bourgeois accessories he retained).
Back in Tbilisi, when Kato Svanidze realized she was pregnant, Koba married her, at one in the morning. They enjoyed little conjugal life: Koba was off to Baku, and the gendarmes arrested Kato for sheltering revolutionaries on the run. It took six weeks to free Kato: her sister, Aleksandra Monaselidze-Svanidze, went to see the wife of a gendarme colonel whose dresses she made. The colonel secured for Kato visits from Koba (allegedly her cousin) and then release, and at the same time a reprieve for Kato’s real cousin, who was to be hanged.
Stalin took up writing again, not lyrical poetry but political prose. He compiled in Georgian treatises on socialism and anarchism which were published in the periodicals Akhali droeba (New Times) and Chveni Tskhovreba (Our Life). The birth of a son, Iakov, on 18 March 1907 did not distract him. A month later, the sole Bolshevik at liberty to travel from Transcaucasia to the fifth Social Democrat congress, Koba was in Copenhagen. The Danish government succumbed to Russian protests and the congress moved to London. On his way Stalin apparently visited Lenin in Berlin, where they agreed to authorize a bank robbery by Kamo Ter-Petrosiants to fund their activities – against party policy, for the fifth congress was about to vote for the ballot box and against the gun.
Koba returned to Georgia via Paris on a dead Georgian’s passport where his first exploit was to organize a spectacular robbery, carried out by Kamo on 13 June 1907 in the middle of Tbilisi. Koba put Kamo in touch with an old school friend who worked in the posts and telegraph at Gori, and he provided information on the transportation of banknotes. The robbery netted a quarter of a million roubles, unfortunately in 500-rouble notes the numbers of which were circulated throughout Europe. Kamo’s hand grenades killed and maimed about fifty people, mostly bystanders, and Koba was expelled from the Caucasian Social Democrat Party for terrorism.
With his wife and infant son, Koba retreated east to Baku where he could rely on Bolshevik supporters among the oil workers. A new ally and eventual victim, Sergo Orjonikidze, joined Koba’s circle. Stalin’s authority derived from his unofficial mandate from Lenin; it is likely that he made two more journeys to see Lenin – in August 1907 to Stuttgart and to Switzerland in January 1908.
Koba was soon free of family ties. On 22 November 1907 Kato died, perhaps of TB. Koba handed his baby son Iakov over to his sister-in-law and did not ask after the child for fourteen years. On 25 March 1908 the Baku gendarmerie rounded up Baku’s Bolsheviks, including Koba, now known as Kaioz Nizheradze. Incompetence and perhaps corruption blinded them to the fact that Koba was a leading Bolshevik organizer on the run from Siberia. Besides, times had changed in Russia: the Tsar’s government had conceded a parliament and political prisoners were amnestied. Koba claimed he had been abroad all 1904 and 1905 and thus
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