This is a companion document for the following video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22agG1a4EZQ
As the story goes, Stalin was Lenin’s right-hand-man and the person slated to succeed him upon his death. Or if not Stalin, sometimes emphasis is placed on Leon Trotsky as a possible alternative. However, in actuality there was a man more senior than both Stalin and Trotsky, a man who was Lenin’s original right-hand-man: Yakov Sverdlov. Up to his untimely death in 1919, Sverdlov held the reins of the Secretariat, placing in him in a position to succeed Lenin if the opportunity arose. He was effectively Stalin before Stalin, serving as the blueprint for the latter’s rise to power.
This companion document is organized as follows:
Footnotes
From my research, there doesn't appear to be a fully comprehensive biography written on Sverdlov. A similar conclusion was reached by Evgeny Burdenkov, head of the scientific and information department of the Yekaterinburg History Museum, who noted: “There is still no good, objective political biography of Sverdlov.” Dmitry Krasnoukhov, “Iakova Sverdlova eshche predstoit otkryt' istorikam,” Regnum, 17 March 2021, https://regnum.ru/article/3218333/.
There were several biographies produced in the Soviet Union, but they tend to be propagandic (i.e. seeking to aggrandize Sverdlov), and not very thorough in execution. This is most especially the case with the biography written by Sverdlov's wife Klavdia, which other biographies often rely upon. Though this book serves as an interesting primary source for Klavdia’s recollections of her late husband, it’s written with the goal of presenting their best moments as a couple, and so leaves out unflattering or unrelated details (e.g. making no mention of Sverdlov’s apparent first wife). The work was produced as part of an effort to rehabilitate Sverdlov and his family, and so is also colored by political and ideological considerations of the time period. Additionally, about 100 pages were removed by censors beginning with its 1960 edition. K. T. Sverdlova, Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov (Moscow: Young Guards, 1957).
In describing Sverdlov’s introduction to revolutionary activity, Soviet sources tend to round down and simplify Sverdlov’s path to the Bolsheviks, in order to present him as a loyal student of Lenin. As a result, they place Sverdlov as being introduced to Lenin’s writings immediately in 1901 (when Sverdlov was 15), but there is little to corroborate this: V. A. Pankratov, Yakov Sverdlov (Moscow: Politizdat, 1989), 14–24; E. Gorodetsky and Yu. Sharapov, Sverdlov (Moscow: Young Guard, 1971), 11–48; a timeline of Sverdlov's early life is also given in: V. N. Nelidov, ed., Izbrannye proizvedeniia, vol. 1 (Moscow: State Publishing House of Political Literature, 1957), 371–390.
Sverdlov's primary biographer outside the Soviet Union appears to be Charles Duval, although his work is a bit dated and limited in scope. Charles Duval, “The Forgotten Bolshevik: Jacob Mikhailovich Sverdlov, 1885–1917” (PhD diss., University of Texas at Austin, 1971), 14–19; idem, “Iakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov: Founder of the Bolshevik Party Machine,” in Reconsiderations on the Russian Revolution, ed. Ralph Carter Elwood (Columbus: Slavica Publishers, 1976), 211–214; see also: Yuri Slezkine, The House of Government: A Saga of the Russian Revolution (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017), 28–29; 40–46.For the comparison between Sverdlov and Stalin: Stephen Kotkin, Stalin, vol. 1: Paradoxes of Power, 1878–1928 (New York: Penguin Press, 2014), 154; E. Gorodetsky and Yu. Sharapov, Sverdlov, 56; 85; Charles Duval, "Bolshevik Party Machine," 215–217; William E. Odom, “Sverdlov: Bolshevik Party Organiser,” The Slavonic and East European Review 44, no. 103 (1966): 422–423; for Sverdlov's time in exile: Yuri Slezkine, House of Government, 49–55; 63–66.
Although they did not meet in person until 1917, they communicated indirectly on several occasions prior. It was traditionally asserted that the two first met upon Lenin's initial return to Russia in April, but Sverdlov may have missed Lenin's arrival as he departed for Yekaterinburg around the same time; O. G. Popova, “Rol' Ia. M. Sverdlova v deiatel'nosti Ural'skogo oblastnogo komiteta RSDRP(b) v 1917 g. v dokumentakh epokhi,” Document, Archive, History, Modernity, no. 8 (2008): 219–23.
K. T. Sverdlova, Sverdlov, 292–295; Trotsky claims that Sverdlov had considerable support "from below", ensuring he was elected to the Central Committee despite apprehension from certain other leaders (keep in mind this is in the context of his criticism of Stalin, so he is saying this to suggest it was Stalin who was the oppositional one); Leon Trotsky, Stalin: An Appraisal of the Man and His Influence, ed. Alan Woods (London: Wellred Books, 2016), 256.
Charles Duval, “The Bolshevik Secretariat and Yakov Sverdlov: February to October 1917,” The Slavonic and East European Review 51, no. 122 (1973), 49–51; idem, "Bolshevik Party Machine," 218–220; Stephen Kotkin, Stalin, 1:193–194; Yuri Slezkine, House of Government, 133–136; William E. Odom, "Party Organizer," 425–427.
William E. Odom, "Party Organizer," 428–431; Charles Duval, "Bolshevik Secretariat," 51–53; idem, "Bolshevik Party Machine," 220–221. Stephen Kotkin, Stalin, 1:204–205; 212; Alexander Rabinowitch, The Bolsheviks Come to Power: The Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd, Second Edition (London: Pluto Press, 2017), 57–59; Robert V. Daniels, Red October (Boston: Beacon Press, 1984), 31–35; E. Gorodetsky and Yu. Sharapov, Sverdlov, 166–192.
Leon Trotsky, History of the Russian Revolution, trans. Max Eastman, vol. 3 (London: Sphere Books, 1967), 198.
Robert V. Daniels, Red October, 74–78; Alexander Rabinowitch, Bolsheviks Come to Power, 202–208; 241–242; 249–251; Charles Duval, "Bolshevik Party Machine, " 221–222; idem, "Bolshevik Secretariat," 53–57; William E. Odom, "Party Organizer," 430–434.
Charles Duval, "Bolshevik Party Machine," 222; Robert V. Daniels, Red October, 180.
M. A. Saveliev, ed., Protokoly tsentral’nogo komiteta RSDRP (Moscow: State Publishing House, 1929), 191.
Charles Duval, "Bolshevik Party Machine," 231; Stephen Kotkin, Stalin, 1:228–229; Yuri Slezkine, House of Government, 146.
Stephen Kotkin, Stalin, 1:236–237; Alexander Rabinowitch, Bolsheviks in Power, 52–53; William E. Odom, "Party Organizer," 436–437.
For example, at a fraction meeting of the CEC, Sverdlov phrased the vote over the treaty as a vote on "party discipline", such that opponents of the treaty were forced to approve it reluctantly. He also carefully planned the Seventh Party Congress and limited representation, such that supporters of the treaty would obtain a majority; Charles Duval, "Bolshevik Party Machine," 225–229; Stephen Kotkin, Stalin, 1:264–265; Alexander Rabinowitch, Bolsheviks in Power, 171–180; 203–206.
Alexander Rabinowitch, The Bolsheviks in Power: The First Year of Soviet Rule in Petrograd (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007), 49–50; Charles Duval, "Bolshevik Party Machine," 223; Orlando Figes, A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution (London: The Bodley Head, 2017), 506.
See for example: Stenograficheskii Otchet 4-Go Chrezvychainogo s"ezda Sovetov Rabochikh, Soldatskikh, Krest’ianskikh i Kazach’ikh Deputatov (Moscow: State Publishing House, 1920), 6–8; 69–75; see also: Charles Duval, "Bolshevik Party Machine," 224–225; 228–230; Oliver Radkey, The Sickle under the Hammer: The Russian Socialist Revolutionaries in the Early Months of Soviet Rule (New York: Columbia University Press, 1963), 445–447; William E. Odom, "Party Organizer," 437–439.
A. V. Lunacharsky, Vospominaniia i Vpechatleniia [Memories and Impressions] (Moscow: Soviet Russia, 1968), 215–216.
The model of a well-regulated Party centralized under Moscow arguably began with Sverdlov’s efforts in 1918; Stephen Kotkin, Stalin, 1:271–272; Charles Duval, "Bolshevik Party Machine," 230–231; Richard Sakwa, “The Commune State in Moscow in 1918,” Slavic Review 46, no. 3–4 (January 27, 2017): 445–447; William E. Odom, "Party Organizer," 438; 442; see also: Yakov Sverdlov, "Doklad na fraktsii kommunistov II vserossiiskogo s"ezda professional'nykh soiuzov," 16 January 1919, in Izbrannye proizvedeniia, 3:120–124; "Tsirkuliarnoe pis'mo tsentral'nogo komiteta RKP(b) vsem partiinym organizatsiiam," 7 February 1919, 3:149.
This will be quite evident in the 5th Soviet Congress video; Alexander Rabinowitch, Bolsheviks in Power, 287–288; Stephen Kotkin, Stalin, 1:264–265; 274; William E. Odom, "Party Organizer," 439.
William E. Odom, "Party Organizer," 439–440; Vladimir Brovkin, The Mensheviks After October: Socialist Opposition and the Rise of the Bolshevik Dictatorship (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1987), 100–104.
Robert Service, The Last of the Tsars: Nicholas II and the Russian Revolution (New York: Pegasus Books, 2017), 154; 233–234; Mark D. Steinberg and Vladimir M. Khrustalev, The Fall of the Romanovs: Political Dreams and Personal Struggles in a Time of Revolution (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995), 287–288; 299–301; 307–310; Orlando Figes, A People's Tragedy, 636–638.
According to a member of the Urals Regional Soviet named Pavel Bykov, Goloshchyokin relayed to Moscow that the Urals Soviet had endorsed execution and asked Moscow to approve of this, but Moscow rebuffed their request for the time being. Robert Service, Last of the Tsars, 241–242; 248–249; Mark D. Steinberg and Vladimir M. Khrustalev, Fall of the Romanovs, 289–291.
Robert Service, Last of the Tsars, 249–252; Mark D. Steinberg and Vladimir M. Khrustalev, Fall of the Romanovs, 290–291.
Stephen Kotkin, Stalin, 281 (see footnote 342); Mark D. Steinberg and Vladimir M. Khrustalev, Fall of the Romanovs, 290; Robert Service, Last of the Tsars, 252–253.
Telegram from Zinoviev to Lenin and Sverdlov, 16 July 1918, in Fall of the Romanovs, 333; Robert Service, Last of the Tsars, 252; I. F. Plotnikov, Pravda istorii gibel’ tsarskoi sem’i (Yekaterinburg: For Spirituality and Morality, 2003), 206–208.
In 1920 the lead executioner, Yurovsky, would report that he received an affirmative order via telegram, which many people often confuse for a reply. However, this telegram was reportedly received around 6 PM (so prior to the first telegram being sent), and specifically came from Perm rather than Moscow or Petrograd. As a result, this telegram may be an unrelated endorsement from leading members of the Urals Soviet in Perm. Mark D. Steinberg and Vladimir M. Khrustalev, Fall of the Romanovs, 291–292; Yurovsky's Note on the Execution, 1920, 351–356.Robert Service, Last of the Tsars, 253; I. F. Plotnikov, Gibel’ tsarskoi sem’i, 208.
The argument that Trotsky's diary proved Lenin's culpability for the execution is made by Richard Pipes, who called it "incontrovertible positive evidence"; Richard Pipes, The Russian Revolution (New York: Vintage Books, 1991), 770; conversely, see: Mark D. Steinberg and Vladimir M. Khrustalev, Fall of the Romanovs, 292–293; "Protocol of a Session of Sovnarkom," 18 July 1918, 339–340.
Two telegrams appear to have been sent. The first includes a draft for the announcement of the execution, with the Urals Soviet requesting that Moscow look it over before it was to be published (Moscow then replied, instructing the Urals Soviet to claim sole responsibility for Nicholas’ death, and to keep secret that the rest of the family had also been killed). The second telegram, discovered in the Yekaterinburg telegram office by investigators after the fall of the city, is a matter-of-fact statement saying Nicholas and his family had all been killed (at the time, the death of Nicholas’ family was not public knowledge). According to the memoirs of Cheka officer I. I. Radzinsky, recorded in 1963, he had heard from one of Sverdlov's secretaries named Vinogradskaya that the news in the telegram(s) took Sverdlov by surprise; Robert Service, Last of the Tsars, 258; Telegram from Ural Regional Soviet to Lenin and Sverdlov, 17 July 1918, in Fall of the Romanovs, 335–337; Deciphered telegram from Boloborodov to Gorbunov, 17 July 1918, 337.
Robert Service, Last of the Tsars, 258–260; Protocol of the VTsIK Presidium, 18 July 1918, in Fall of the Romanovs, 339; Protocol of Sovnarkom, 18 July 1918, 339–341.
The idea that the Tsar and his family were killed by “The Jews” was not unique to Wilton. For example, Alfred Knox, British attaché to commander Alexander Kolchak, created a report earlier in 1919 claiming as much, which was picked up also by the British press. But to my knowledge, Wilton is most responsible for popularizing the idea that Sverdlov specifically was at fault for the killings.
David Beeston, “Anti-Semitic Journalism and Authorship in Britain, 1914–21” (PhD diss., Loughborough University, 1988), 84–90 (quote is on page 86); Victor Shnirelman, “‘To Take the Katechon Out of the Milieu’: The Murder of Czar Nicholas II and Its Interpretation by Russian Orthodox Fundamentalists,” Antisemitism Studies 4, no. 2 (2020): 326–70 (esp. 332, 335–336, 339); Oleg Budnitskii, Russian Jews Between the Reds and the Whites, 1917–1920, trans. Timothy J. Portice (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), 325–326; Robert Service, Last of the Tsars, 289.William E. Odom, "Party Organizer," 442–443.
S. S. Voytikov, “‘Ofitsial’nogo zamestitelia ne naznachat’: Popytka perekhvata blasti Ia. M. Sverdlovym posle raneniia V. I. Lenina,” New Historical Herald 2, no. 44 (2015): 72–88; idem, “I. V. Stalin Protiv Ia. M. Sverdlova: Osen’ 1918 g.,” Modern History of Russia, no. 3 (2015): 30–45.
Yakov Sverdlov, "Vozzvanie fserossiiskogo tsentral'nogo ispolnitel'nogo komiteta po povodu pokusheniia na V. I. Lenina," 30 August 1918, in Izbrannye proizvedeniia, 3:5–6; "O pokushenii na V.I. Lenina," 2 September 1918, 3:7–8; "Iz rechi na zasedanii VTsIK," 2 September 1918, 3:9–10; Yuri Slezkine, House of Government, 158–159.
As Holquist notes, both Reds and Whites tended to reify juridical and economic categories into discreet populations with intrinsic attributes (p. 198). In this case, the Cossacks were treated as an inherently unreliable and counterrevolutionary "element" of society, regardless of actual political affiliation or material wealth. The circular of 24 January called for "mass terror against wealthy Cossacks, exterminating them totally...mass terror against all those Cossacks who participated, directly or indirectly, in the struggle against Soviet power", and also set out provisions for "massive resettlement" of people into the Cossack lands; as a result of this conflation of all Cossacks as collectively culpable in counterrevolution (and the fact that the Don Army implemented compulsory, universal mobilization), the order was interpreted to mean destruction of the Cossacks broadly.
The original text of the circular published by the Soviet government an be found in: Izvestiia TsK KPSS, no. 6 (1989), 177–178; for an overview of the campaign, see: Peter Holquist, “The Soviet Policy of De-Cossackization During the Russian Civil War (1919),” in The First World War as a Caesura?: Demographic Concepts, Population Policy, and Genocide in the Late Ottoman, Russian, and Habsburg Spheres, ed. Christian Pschichholz (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2020), 191–216; Shane O’Rourke, The Cossacks (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007), 244–251; Yuri Slezkine, House of Government, 159–164.Stephen Kotkin, Stalin, 1:307–309; Yuri Slezkine, House of Government, 164; for background on the work in Ukraine: Robert V. Daniels, The Conscience of the Revolution: Communist Opposition in Soviet Russia (Boulder: Westview Press, 1988), 99–101.
Although Sverdlov was diagnosed with Spanish Flu by doctors at the time, there is some debate over what exactly was responsible for his death. In addition to influenza, typhus is often cited as another possible culprit. There are also a number of less substantiated rumors surrounding his death, including that he was struck in the head in a attack (motivated either by anti-Semitism or anger against the Bolsheviks), or that he was poisoned by a rival. Stephen Kotkin, Stalin, 1:319; Yuri Slezkine, House of Government, 164.
Stephen Kotkin, Stalin, 1:319; see also: Vladimir Lenin, "Speech in Memory of Y. M. Sverdlov at a Special Session of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee," 18 March 1919, in Collected Works (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1974), vol. 29, 89–94; Sverdlov’s funeral was held on the same day as the opening of the 8th Party Congress, which began with a dedication to him: Vladimir Lenin, “Speech Opening the Congress,” 18 March 1919, 29:143–145; see also: “Speech Closing the Congress,” 23 March 1919, 29:221.
Vladimir Lenin, "Speech Delivered at the Funeral of Yakov Sverdlov," 18 March 1919, in Collected Works, vol. 29, 95.
Vladimir Lenin, "In Memory of Comrade Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov," March 1919, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/In_Memory_of_Comrade_Yakov_
Mikhailovich_Sverdlov; the transcript of the recording is available at: "In Memory of Comrade Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov," in Collected Works, 29:239.Leon Trotsky, Stalin, 508.
I. V. Stalin, "O Ia.M. Sverdlove," in Sochinenіia, vol. 6 (Moscow: State Publishing House of Political Literature, 1947), 277–279.
Vladimir Lenin, “On the Candidacy of M. I. Kalinin," 30 March 1919, 29: 233.
Stephen Kotkin, Stalin, 1:423–424; Yuri Slezkine, House of Government, 183; additional details are given in: Robert V. Daniels, Conscience of the Revolution, 112–113; idem, “The Secretariat and the Local Organizations in the Russian Communist Party, 1921-1923,” The American Slavic and East European Review 16, no. 1 (1957), 32–33.
It’s difficult to find information on several of Sverdlov’s family members, especially his supposed first wife Ekaterina Schmidt and their daughter Eugenie. She is mentioned in passing by Pankratov, but the details of their relationship are obscure. Likewise, he appears to have had two half-brothers, Herman (or German) and Alexander, born to Mikhail Sverdlov's second wife, Maria Kormiltseva, but very little is written on them.
Sverdlov’s older brother, Zinovy, was adopted by the famous Soviet writer and revolutionary Maxim Gorky (adopting his surname Peshkov), but emigrated to France where he became a general. Sverdlov’s other living siblings (Sofia, Sarah, Venyamin) all worked various jobs within the Soviet administration—Venyamin in particular was an official in the Commissariat for Railways and member of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the National Economy. Andrei Sverdlov’s final arrest was as a result of a 1951 purge of Jewish officers, but he outlived Stalin, becoming a Party historian and writer of spy novels.
Yuri Slezkine, House of Government, 147; 234–237; 383; 749; 784; 882–886; 931–932; Mikhail Parkhomovskii, "Elizaveta Peshkova. Sud'ba edinstvennoi docheri Zinoviia Peshkova," Masterskaia, 18 February 2014, https://club.berkovich-zametki.com/?p=9906/; additional information and pictures taken from: https://www.geni.com/people/Yakov-Sverdlov/6000000008575448120/.The artwork depicted: Mikhail Krivenko, "V.I. Lenin and Yakov Sverdlov," 1973, https://oknasocrealisma.com/authors/krivenko-mixail-ilich/; German A. Melentyev, “Arrest of Yakov Sverdlov and Klavdiya Novgorodtseva in Perm in 1906,” https://a-malyavin.livejournal.com/128392.html; this section draws from: Yevgeny Alekseev and Yevgeny Burdenkov, “‘Ikonografiia’ Tovarishcha Andreia (Iakova Sverdlova) i mekhanizm sovetskogo mifotvorchestva,” Quaestio Rossica 4, no. 2 (2016): 45–79.
The artwork depicted: Ernst I. Neizvestnyi, "First Meeting," 1952, in Yevgeny Alekseev and Yevgeny Burdenkov, "Ikonografiia," 66–67; idem, "Ya. M. Sverdlov Calls for an Armed Uprising," 1953–54, ibid, 68–69.
V. A. Serov, "Lenin Proclaims Soviet Power," 1947, Chuvash State Art Museum, Cheboksary, in A. N. Bulganina, "Proizvedenie V.A. Serova 'Lenin provozglashaet sovetskuiu vlast' v Chuvashskom gosudarstvennom khudozhestvennom muzee," Modern Scientific Research and Innovation, no. 7 (2017), https://web.snauka.ru/issues/2017/07/84047/; “Speech by VI Lenin at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets,” 1955, https://soviet-art.ru/soviet-artist-vladimir-alexandrovich-serov-1910-1968/.
More specifically, Serov produced a direct copy of the 1947 painting in 1955, which simply has the entire group of leaders behind Lenin omitted. The 1955 painting was initially held in the Zhukovsky City Museum, but has since become lost. Another painting identical to the 1955 version, produced in 1962, is held in the State Tretyakov Gallery. The second image shown on screen, “Speech by VI Lenin at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets”, was also produced in 1955 as a less direct successor to the 1947 painting.
For more information and images: https://soviet-art.ru/soviet-artist-vladimir-alexandrovich-serov-1910-1968/; PV Gallery, “Vl. A. Serov,” https://pv-gallery.com/author/89374/Serov-Vl-A/; “Serov. Lenin Proclaims Soviet Power (Two Versions), 2 August 2014, https://www.liveinternet.ru/users/
gregoryh/post332685557/.Vasily Svarog, "Headquarters in October," 1934, Central Museum of the Armed Forces, Moscow, in Valery Ronshin, Istoriia Russkoi Zhivopisi: Pervaia Polovina XX Veka (Moscow: White City, 2007), 108–109; "Entsiklopediia mirovoi zhivopisi (spetsial'nyi 343 vypusk)," Studio-I, 2019, https://www.stydiai.ru/gallery/
encyclopedia-95/; cf. V. S. Svarog, "October Headquarters," 1940, Kemerovo Regional Museum of Fine Arts, https://soviet-art.ru/soviet-artist-vasily-svarog/.For details of this meeting, see footnote 8; for the painting and information behind it, see: Vladimir Pchelin, "Historic Decision on an Armed Uprising on 10 October 1917," 1929, State Historical Museum, https://lenin.shm.ru/kartina-zasedanie-ck-rsdrpb-2310-oktyabrya-1917-g-istoricheskoe-reshenie-o-vooruzhennom-vosstanii-10-oktyabrya-1917-g-pod-predsedatelstvom-v-i-lenina/; Federal Archival Agency, “To the 1150th Anniversary of Russian Statehood,” https://projects.rusarchives.ru/statehood/oktjabrskaja-revoljucija-sovetskoe-gosudarstvo.shtml.
“Wig of V. I. Lenin,” 1917, State Historical Museum, https://lenin.shm.ru/en/wig-of-v-i-lenin-brown-haired-sewn-on-a-pink-cotton-cap-which-v-i-lenin-used-in-august-september-1917/.
Stalin personally oversaw the production of this film and gave numerous comments, including a request to have this specific scene between Lenin and Sverdlov reshot. Jan Plamper, The Stalin Cult: A Study in the Alchemy of Power (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), 134.
Reasons for Sverdlov’s absence in the public consciousness are given in: Charles Duval, "Forgotten Bolshevik," 1–7; William E. Odom, “Party Organiser,” 421; 443.
Video/Film Sources
Eisenstein, Sergei, dir. October. Codirection by Grigori Aleksandrov.
Mosfilm, 1927.“Events in Petrograd in 1918, Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library, https://www.prlib.ru/en/node/446381/.
Romm, Mikhail, dir. Lenin in 1918. Mosfilm, 1939.
———. Living Lenin. Codirection by M. Slavinskaya. 1969.
“Transfer of the Soviet Government,” Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library, https://www.prlib.ru/en/node/436773/.
Yutkevich, Sergei, dir. Yakov Sverdlov. Soyuzdetfilm, 1940.
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Please keep doing these, it's something no one else does and adds so much to the video. Truly a first in self-made youtube documentaries to publish/organize sources for public viewing like this. Thanks a bunch!