Stalin's purges
- Created by: lyd_kate
- Created on: 05-02-18 10:09
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- Purges
- Political enemies
- Many old supporters e.g Radek returned to Stalin after 'left turn' - key posts
- No evidence of plotting against leadership, western agents in USSR but no links to senior politicians
- Trotsky leader in exile large network but mainly for communication, NKVD aware
- Kamenev, Zinoviev, Bukharin were 'has beens'
- Industrial enemies
- Shakhti Trial - Vyshinski prosecuted specialists, 1928 spy confessions
- Bacteriologists shot after confessing to wrecking.
- Further trial of Metro Vickers in 1933
- Machines broke down. Targets not met. Unskilled workers & long hours.
- No real opposition
- Internal enemies
- Govt run by Stalinists, institution cleansed of old opponents
- Molotov thought 2nd 5 year plan too much
- Debate over bureaucracy industry, rural affairs - Syrtsov. Appeal to him against Molotov + Kaganovich?
- Realists had to make it work, quarrelled over party discipline
- Riutin Affair direct attack on Stalin, evil genius
- Politburo refused to kill him, threat or Lenin collective leadership?
- Govt run by Stalinists, institution cleansed of old opponents
- Kirov Murder
- Alleged to have told Stalin others wanted hime to be General Secretary
- Debate over whether he was liberal
- Assassin accessed his office even though he was a known stalker
- Emergency powers straight after
- Trotsky never blamed Stalin. Radek who was accused allowed to draft 1936 constitution
- No direct rift between him & Stalin, Assassin alone?
- Moscow Show trials
- Kirov case reopened Kamenev & Zinoviev = 'Trotskyists' network found internal NKVD struggle
- Old Bolshevik confessions, no real power so purges planned
- Kemerovo mine explosion - sabotage. Politburo divisions. Confessions for families? USSR?
- Defendants implicated former rightists, e.g Bukharin Stalin secretly watching. Responsible?
- Kirov case reopened Kamenev & Zinoviev = 'Trotskyists' network found internal NKVD struggle
- Army
- 50% Officer corps shot despite Nazi threat, but Red army larger than expected, many arrested & reinstated
- Plot, betray Russia to Nazis, likely NKVD forgeries
- Stalin's paranoia, many enjoyed autonomy, he disliked it
- Ezhovchina, most killed 1937-8 not party/army
- Stakhonvite Movement - worker/manager tension
- Zhdanov & Stalin viligance, to 1937 remove poor leaders
- Political enemies
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