The Soviet politician Grigori Evseevich Zinoviev (1883-1936) served the Russian Communist party in several high positions between 1901 and 1927. Opposed by Stalin, he was executed after a dramatic purge trial.

Although he did not possess Lenin's decisive leadership abilities and strong will, Grigori Zinoviev was a man of intense ambition. An indefatigable and brilliant public speaker, he used his skills in collaboration with V. I. Lenin throughout the prerevolutionary era. To a large extent his senior position within the party elite rested on his reputation as Lenin's closest supporter during the dark and hungry days after the failure of the Revolution of 1905 and before the outbreak of the Revolution of 1917.

Zinoviev, whose real family name was Radomyslsky, was born in the southern Russian town of Elizavetgrad (Kirovgrad). His parents were middle-class Jews able to provide him with an exceptionally good education as well as a financial headstart. In spite...