Editing Sergei Kirov (section)

== Career ==
[[File:Sergei Kirov 1934.jpg|thumb|Kirov at the [[17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|17th Congress of the Communist Party]] in 1934]]
In 1921, Kirov became First Secretary of the [[Communist Party of Azerbaijan]], the Bolshevik party organization in the [[Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic|Azerbaijan SSR]].<ref>{{Cite EBO|title=Sergei Kirov|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sergei-Kirov|access-date=28 March 2025}}</ref> Kirov was a loyal supporter of [[Joseph Stalin]], the successor of [[Vladimir Lenin]], and in 1926 was rewarded with command of the Leningrad party organization. Kirov was a close personal friend of Stalin, and a strong supporter of [[industrialisation]] and forced [[Collectivization in the Soviet Union|collectivisation]]. At the [[16th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]] in 1930, Kirov stated: "The General Party line is to conduct the course of our country industrialization. Based on the industrialisation, we conduct transformation of our [[agriculture]]. Namely, we centralise and collectivise."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Selected articles and speeches 1918–1934 (Russian)|last=Kirov|first=Sergey|publisher=OGIZ The State political literature publisher|year=1944|location=Moscow Russia Valovay 28|pages=106–117, 269–289}}</ref> 

In 1934, at the [[17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]], Kirov delivered the speech called "The Speech of Comrade Stalin Is the Program of Our Party", which refers to Stalin's speech delivered at the Congress earlier. Kirov praised Stalin for everything he had done since the death of Lenin. Moreover, Kirov personally named and ridiculed [[Nikolai Bukharin]], [[Alexei Rykov]], and [[Mikhail Tomsky]]—former party allies of Stalin. Bukharin and Rykov were later tried in the [[show trial]] called [[Case of the Anti-Soviet "Bloc of Rights and Trotskyites"|The Trial of the Twenty-One]] accused of Kirov's death, while Tomsky committed suicide expecting his arrest by the [[NKVD]].