The Society of Old Bolsheviks was among the many groups targeted with mass arrest. Their collective memoirs had discussed their fellow comrades during the days of anti-czarist struggle—and Stalin’s name was conspicuously absent more often than not. He had not been a major player, and they were all living eyewitnesses to that very simple fact. One by one, they began to disappear. Many were transferred to new jobs in other cities—but they never arrived.
