During Bukharin's imprisonment, he wrote a personal letter to Stalin in which he proclaimed his innocence. Even though this letter was addressed to Stalin, Bukharin probably hoped that one day the world would see it and recognize that he was a victim of Stalin's quest to become the undisputed leader of the Soviet Union. Bukharin was not the only one to be falsely accused of imaginary crimes against the Soviet Union. Before the show trials began in 1936, "there had always been an unwritten rule within the party, based on Lenin's warning, that the Bolsheviks should not repeat the mistake of the French revolutionaries, the Jacobins." , and exterminate each other. » 275 (Suny Experience) Although party members did not always agree on the direction the Soviet Union should take and what policies should be adopted, they tolerated these political disagreements to a certain extent. However, Stalin became more intolerant of political dissent over time and eventually accused those who disagreed with him of being counter-revolutionaries who did not have communist beliefs. Bukharin seemed to recognize that Stalin was focused on strengthening the party by prosecuting suspected dissidents, stating in his letter: "I understand that big plans, big ideas and big interests trump everything, and that would be petty to present a proposal. question of his own person in the same way as the world historical tasks which rest primarily on your shoulders. (structure 270) Bukharin placed the party above his own well-being, but he disagreed with Stalin's drastic measures to form his own version of communism and believed that it was 'a dangerous deviation from what Lenin had predicted. Stalin had to publicly destroy Bukharin because... in the middle of a paper... at the limit of what he was doing, there were a mass of contradictions in his testimony”156. Did he do this to make others understand that the whole trial was a giant web of contradictions and falsifications? 107 “The defeated men were not only to be physically annihilated, they were to be insulted, humiliated and trampled. " (107 predatory prey) Conclusion: "In me, you have lost one of your most capable generals, someone truly devoted to you. " (273 Structure) "I am sure that sooner or later the filter of history will inevitably cleanse my head of dirt" (136-37 Bukharin, later years) Bukharin – "it is his masterly mastery of deception which allowed, at the very beginning, the end of his trial to formulate the final plea which […] can still be understood by future generations, and reveal to them the agony in which he had to live the last ten years of his life. 53-Trial of Bukharin