Question by : Did Lenin order the execution of the Romanov family?
I understand this has been the historical commonly-held belief. However, I have read (truth unclear) that there is now evidence suggesting that [1] Lenin wanted to only execute the Tsar and send the rest of the family into exile, and [2] EITHER Yakov Sverdlov personally gave the order, or [3] the Ural Soviet (the local government that had jurisdiction over the town where the Romanovs were held captive) gave the order completely autonomously.
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Answer by Martin
3 is believed to be the correct answer.Read Robert K.Massie’s’Nicholas and Alexandra’.
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Spellbound says
Robert Service in both his biographies of Trotsky and of Lenin claims that Lenin himself gave the order, through Sverdlov, to have the entire Imperial Family executed.
There is absolutely no evidence that Lenin favoured a trial for Nicholas and exile for the rest of the family.
Yakov Sverdlov DID give the order to have them executed – there has been no doubt about this since about 1993 or 1994 when the telegram was released from the archives.
It is true that the Ural Soviet did have a large degree of autonomy, but it would have been extremely foolish of them to have unilaterally taken such an extreme course of action without approval from the Sovnarkom.
The encirclement of ‘Ekaterinburg by White forces did present the Bolsheviks with a worrying scenario – that the Tsar and his family would be rescued. Lenin seems to be, after the assassination attempt of January 1918, to be ramping up the violence, not only towards the Imperial family, but also against kulaks, speculators, Whites and members of the bourgeoisie.
See:
Lenin A Biography Pp 363 – 366
Trotsky A Biography Page 431