Nikolai Bukharin was considered one of Stalin’s most prominent victims during the purges and Moscow trials. Bukharin was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a soviet politician. He wrote many books and was an editor to a journal in the Soviet Union. Bukharin initially was supportive of Stalin’s views but later opposed his policies. Stalin opposed Bukharin’s views stating that he was swaying towards capitalism and that they needed to focus on industrialization. With the death of Kirov and the beginning of the great purge, Bukharin was turning into a focused target. Bukharin was a part of the left opposition and this is what eventually causes him to become guilty during the Moscow trials. He was arrested and accused of trying to overthrow the soviet state. Bukharin tried to resist to confessing to his crimes but soon the NKVD threatened to hurt his family and he eventually just confessed to his crimes. While he was in prison, he wrote letters to Stalin asking for forgiveness and that he was innocent but Stalin never replied. The last letter he wrote to Stalin stated, “Koba, why do you need me to die?” He called Stalin Koba because it was Stalin’s name during the revolution to show how at one point they worked together, and they were close. A French author, Romain Rolland, wrote to Stalin and compared Bukharin to Antoine Lavoisier, a chemist whom was taken by the guillotine during the French revolution. Bukharin was also considered the most intellectual of the Bolshevik revolutionaries and wrote many works throughout his lifetime. Even “Lenin described him as the favorite of the party.