Stalin's Dictatorship in the 1930's

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  • How did Stalin strengthen his rule? (30's)
    • Purges: Outcomes
      • 500,000 arrested
      • Targeted Old Bolsh, Mensheviks, & Teachers of old communism
      • 18 million sent to Gulags
      • 10 million killed, incl. 25,000 army generals, left army weak and in chaos
      • Punishments: psych. torture, phys. torture, threatening families
      • Had to obey Stalin completely to survive
    • Govt. Control
      • Used the POLITBURO to control the whole govt.
      • New secret police - NKVD
      • 1936 Constitution - gave rights and some freedoms to people (e.g. speech) BUT NKVD could ignore them
      • 1 party elections - all communist candidates
    • Purges: Causes
      • Not one set reason - Maybe Stalin loved cruelty/ was paranoid
      • He may have thought that 'Old Bolsh' could weaken his position
      • Helps gain Nationalist support, unify the nation, and improve Russia by removing imperfection
    • Purges: Events
      • Show trials - ridiculous accusations, confessed out of fear, published in papers
      • Used prison, torture, exile, execution, & gulags
      • Workers encouraged to report any suspicious people
      • 1934 - The Purges began
        • 1934 - Kirov (his main opponent) murdered in Leningrad
          • 1936 - Kamanev & Zinoviev murdered
            • 1938 - Bukharin murdered
              • 1940 - Trotsky (in Mexico) murdered
    • Cult of the Personality
      • Used prop. & censor. to intimidate, + NKVD
      • Pics edited to show Stalin as close to Lenin - not true
      • Churches closed, religion controlled, taught that Stalin > God, Muslims & Jews persecuted
      • Culture totally controlled by Stalin
      • Rewrote history: he was the only hero (+ Lenin), had nothing to do with atrocities
      • Brainwashed Proletariat with processions & rallies

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