Martemyan Ryutin

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Martemyan Ryutin (1890–1937, Рютин Мартемьян Никитич) was an Old Bolshevik and a secretary of the Moscow City Communist Party Committee in the 1920s. In December 1927-September 1930 he was a candidate (non-voting) member of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party and a supporter of the moderate ("Rightist") wing within the Party led by the Communist theoretician Nikolai Bukharin and prime minister Alexei Rykov. When the latter were defeated and demoted by Stalin in 1928–1930, Ryutin was demoted as well.

[edit] Ryutin's opposition

In September 1930, Ryutin was expelled from the Communist Party and six weeks later arrested for oppositionist views. See Ryutin Affair for details.

Ryutin was executed during the Great Purge. He, nearly alone of the Old Bolsheviks tortured and killed by Stalin's henchmen, did not recant and refused to admit guilt regarding the falsehoods with which he was charged. He was shot on January 13th, 1937. (Radzinsky, Stalin, p. 346)