Pravda Pays Homage to Another Old Bolshevik Purged by Stalin

The Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda published an article Friday in homage to Pavel Postyshev, a Bolshevik revolutionary who was shot during the purges of the late Kremlin dictator Josef Stalin.

In an article marking the 100th anniversary of Postyshev’s birth, Pravda described him as a professional revolutionary who rose to become a member of the ruling Politburo after being exiled to Siberia before the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.

“But the tragedy of 1937 did not pass him by,” Pravda said, referring to Stalin’s purge of party officials. It did not mention Stalin by name.

“Postyshev’s striving to protect illegally accused people from repressions led to Pavel Petrovich himself being accused of favoring ‘hostile elements.’ The life of the remarkable revolutionary was cut short in December, 1939.”

Stalin’s party purges during his 1924-53 rule have come under increasing scrutiny by the Soviet press under Kremlin leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s glasnost (openness) campaign.

A low-key but persistent drive to publicize Stalin’s crimes, once unmentionable in the Soviet media, and to refurbish the reputations of some historic figures excoriated by the late dictator, is interpreted by veteran observers as part of a drive.