The First Soviet Political Trial: Countess Sofia Panina before the Petrograd Revolutionary Tribunal

The Bolshevik leadership had reason to expect that their first trial of a political opponent would be a success. The defendant was a wealthy aristocrat, a member of the Central Committee of the outlawed Constitutional Democratic (Kadet) party, and a vice minister in the Provisional Government. The unambiguous charge against her-taking and concealing government funds from the former Ministry of Education-would clearly demonstrate the moral bankruptcy of liberal leaders and further discredit the former government. A public trial would introduce the Bolsheviks' new instrument of revolutionary justice-the Revolutionary Tribunal of the Petrograd Soviet, created in late November 1917 and composed of ordinary workers and soldiers in conscious imitation of the French Revolution. From the perspective of her accusers, the likely guilty verdict against Countess Sofia Panina would show the world the superiority of Bolshevik justice and morality, and the legitimacy of their seizure of power. To the Kadets, the trial of a woman widely respected for her progressive philanthropy held equally great significance as an event that would demonstrate the illegitimacy of Bolshevik rule and their violation of the most fundamental norms of justice. The actual proceedings that took place on 10 December 1917 yielded no unequivocal triumphs, however. The trial took several surprising turns, and its ambiguous outcome enabled both supporters and opponents of the defendant to declare victory and draw different lessons. Attracting national and international attention at the time, the trial is often mentioned briefly in histories of the Revolution.1 It has received somewhat more attention