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In 1934 Sergey Kirov was considered the only strong rival remaining to Stalin. At the 1934 party congress he only received 3 negative votes while Stalin received hundreds out of 2000 present. In 1934 at the request of Stalin his assassination was arranged. Supposed instead the attempt fails and the plot is exposed including Stalins role in it. The Leninigrad NKVD chief was an ally of Kirov and Kirov had enough clout to ger his removal overturned.
1) Could a bungled assassination attempt against a popular rival be enough for the Central Committee to remove Stalin from power?
2) Assume Kirov replaces Stalin as leader of the USSR. No great purge, and Tuchachevsky and other top soviet generals still alive. How does this influence history?
a) I would assume Kirov would be less likely to sign a non-agression pact with the nazis.
b) A soviet union with an intact officer corps