Here, in London, we also remembered our departed leader. The embassy flag flew at half-mast. Our entire Soviet community gathered in the embassy. The hall was decorated with greenery and flowers. A bust of Lenin and portraits of Stalin and Kirov were placed near and along the walls. I made a brief speech in memory of the deceased. Lazyan

I. Lazyan, a protegé of Mikoyan in the London trade mission.

(from the trade mission) shared with us his reminiscences of Kirov. We sang a funeral march to piano accompaniment. Then we parted, in a quiet and pensive mood…

I simply cannot come to terms with this awful tragedy. Only six weeks ago I was sitting in Kirov’s office, deep in discussion with him about the international situation, and in particular Anglo-Soviet relations. Kirov had an excellent understanding of foreign affairs. His opinions were usually simple in form, but profound and vivid in substance. He viewed the British Conservatives as an extremely serious enemy. I remember visiting him in Leningrad on my way to Helsinki in the autumn of 1931, after the elections in Britain had handed the Conservatives a landslide victory. When our conversation touched on the elections, Kirov exclaimed: ‘To win such a victory while fully retaining one’s self-control – it’s the highest manifestation of the art of governance! Only yesterday was there a mutiny in the navy (he meant Invergordon).

The sailors of the British Atlantic Fleet took industrial action, protesting against a 10 per cent pay cut.

What would Mussolini

Benito Mussolini, Italian fascist dictator and prime minister of Italy, 1922–43.

have done after such a triumph? He would have crushed the mutineers into smithereens; he would have shot hundreds of sailors… And what did the Conservatives do? They kept their heads; they were not intoxicated by success. They won a tremendous victory and said to the mutineers: let’s forget the past! Yes, these people know how to rule. They need to be taken seriously.’

Kirov’s voice expressed deep loathing, mixed with deep respect.

During our last meeting Kirov welcomed the prospects of improvement in Anglo-Soviet relations that I had laid out to him. He believed that the British card was worth a high price, and promised to apply himself to the placement of big orders in Great Britain. He never had to!

The assassination of Kirov comes at a very bad time for us politically. It runs counter to the general course of our internal and external development. It is impossible that it derived from some serious processes occurring in the depths of the Soviet system. Rather, it smacks of the dregs of the past, still not entirely expunged. But which?!…

In any case, the assassination will have some repercussions for us in Europe. Not major complications, perhaps, but complications nevertheless. Time will tell.