Stalin likely engineered Kirov’s murder as a pretext for the purges

Evidence

In view of the many “inexplicable and mysterious” circumstances surrounding Kirov’s murder, one suspects that the “convenient pretext” was carefully planned and executed by Stalin himself. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2704

Categorization

• QUESTION: Arendt speculates here — checking the later historical record on whether Kirov’s assassination was indeed Stalin-orchestrated would firm this up.