Sergei Mrachkovsky

Mrachkovky was born in a family of Russian ethnicity if the Surgutsky Uyezd of Tobolsk Governorate,[1] in Siberia, where his mother was a political exile.

In 1919, he led the Special Northern Expeditionary Detachment, which operated behind enemy lines, fighting against the White Army commanded by Admiral Kolchak.

[2] He also commanded a division reputedly made up of army deserters and criminals released from prison by the revolution, who put down localised rebellions against Bolshevik rule with great severity.

In 1923, Mrachkovsky supported Trotsky against the ruling triumvirate of Joseph Stalin, Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev in the power struggle that began while the Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Lenin was terminally ill. For this reason, he was prevented from continuing military service, and was appointed in charge of an industrial trust in Sverdlovsk.

"[4] In September 1927, when the Politburo, which was controlled by Stalin, banned the publication of a political programme drawn up by the left opposition, Mrachkovsky arranged to have it printed illegally.

Unable to recruit a large workforce to complete the line, the Politburo decided to use convict labour, and put the OGPU in charge.

[7] Eventually, worn down by sleep deprivation, on 20 July he signed a confession implicating himself in the Kirov murder and in plots to assassinate Stalin and other leaders, on instruction from Trotsky.