GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION collector of butterflies and pets, hunter, caricaturist, he was the opposite of the narrow-minded commissar. He had a modesty, candour and puckish sense of humour that gave the impression of, as has been said, 'Bohemia come to power'. He was an inspiring orator whose simple eloquence was often compared to Lenin's. He had broad vision, a mind that was at home with complelfity and delighted in discovering unexpected truths, and he was a born teacher. Out of power in the 1930s his opposition to the official line had a pathetic grandeur. He made as few concessions to the cult of Stalin as conscience, dignity and the safety of friends would allow. And during the purges, when heroes of the Civil War like Ordzhonikidze committed suicide as they realized what Stalin was prepared to do to the party, the country and friends, Bukharin, the 'soft wax' of old, who had never fought in the Civil War, refused clear opportunities to defect to the West, even though he knew he would otherwise certainly be killed. He won a last, Pyrrhic victory as he outwitted Vyshinsky at his trial, where he looked to future generations of party leaders and the court of history to justify him. He was still only forty-nine when he was shot.
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