In August 1936, the first of the Moscow show trials began. Sixteen defendants, all prominent Old Bolsheviks, confessed to a fantastical conspiracy to assassinate Stalin and restore capitalism. This episode focuses on the trial of Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev, two of Lenin's closest comrades. We walk through the courtroom choreography — the pre-written confessions, the prosecutor Andrey Vyshinsky's theatrical denunciations, the defendants' humiliating self-abasement. Why did they confess? We explore the psychological pressure, the threats against their families, the promise of leniency that never came. The trial marked a turning point in Stalin's consolidation of power, destroying the last vestiges of internal party democracy and paving the way for the Great Terror of 1937-38. We also touch on the role of the NKVD under Genrikh Yagoda, the secret police chief who orchestrated the arrests, and the eerie public spectacle that was broadcast across the Soviet Union. This is the story of how a revolution devoured its children.
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