Russian communist politician whose name was attached to a forgery, the
Zinovyev letter, inciting Britain's communists to rise, which helped to topple the Labour government in 1924.
A prominent Bolshevik, Zinovyev returned to Russia in 1917 with Lenin and played a leading part in the Revolution. He became head of the Communist
International in 1919. As one of the Old Bolsheviks, he was seen by Stalin as a threat. He was accused of complicity in the murder of the Bolshevik leader Sergei Kirov in 1934, and was tried and shot.
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