The Great Terror
Stalin's Russia
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- Created by: Rebecca_Jayne
- Created on: 13-01-14 22:02
Causes of the Terror
Congress of Victors
- Kirov won over Stalin many times
- Kirov was a lot more popular within the Party
- Stalin discovered Kirov's plan and purged the Party
Paranoia
- Trotsky, Zinoviev and Bukharin held strong Party positions
- Stalin had many enemies - he felt unable to trust some people within the Party and did not believe they converted to socialism
Terror economics
- Lasting issues with the Five-Year Plans
- Stalin's opponents were purposefully causing problems for him - 'wreckers' in the workforce were set out to sabotage the economy and cause more problems for Stalin's government
The murder of Kirov
- Stalin wanted Kirov excluded from Politboro
- Stalin believed that he was betrayed by the Party when they argued against him - execution of those who disagreed with him was justified
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The Trial of the Sixteen - 1936
- Main participants were Zinoviev and Kamenev - they had been in prison for over a year before the trial
- They were charged with the murder of Kirov, plotting to disrupt the Five-Year Plans and conspiring with foreign powers in order to overthrow the government
- Zinoviev and Kamenev pleaded innocent whilst in jail - they were persuaded to plead guilty despite Zinoviev's letter to Stalin claiming innocence and begging forgiveness
- It is said that Zinoviev and Kamenev were promised by Stalin that they would be pardoned if they fully confessed, however, he broke that promise
- Zinoviev and Kamenev were sentenced to death and shot, despite their begging for mercy
- They were carried to execution
- Forty three of their former allies and high-ranking Communists disappeared around the same time
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The Trial of the Seventeen (1937)
- Dealt with former allies of Trotsky - charges were plotting with foriegn powers, terrorism, sabotage and contact with Trotsky
- Trial was Nicolai Yezhov's first product of 'conveyer belt system' of interrogation
- Defendants were tortured, questioned and deprived of sleep until they confessed
- Thirteen were executed and four were sent to gulags where they perished
- Evidence provided in first trial was forged and concocted by NKVD - however, deceit was more apparent
- One defendant 'confessed' to Kirov's murder whilst already in prison
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Doctorine of 'sharpening class struggle'
- People within the Communist Party were reluctant to try Zinoviev and Kamenev
- When Bukharin became Stalin's next victim, reluctance became opposition
- Stalin dealt with it by persuading opponents Bukharin would not be a defendant at trial
- Pravda published an article informing that Vyshinsky closed investigation on Bukharin
- Stalin continued to plan the trial and execution of Bukharin
- Proposed a new theory to persuade Party of further terror - he argued that class struggle intensified as socialism advanced
- Theory ideologically justified ever-decreasing terror
- Doctorine of 'sharpening class struggle' was officially adopted by Communist Party is Central Committee meeting of February - March 1937
- 70% present at meeting would be executed within three months despite loyalty
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The Trial of Twenty One
- Trial of Bukharin, Rykov and accomplices - accused of attempting to overthrow socialism and Kirov's murder
- Bukharin was personally charged by Stalin with an attempt to assasinate Lenin
- Bukharin attempted to prove loyalty to Stalin before trial - effects were poor
- Bukharin was never tortured - Stalin threatened to execute his wife and baby instead
- He confessed to 'political responsibility for crimes'
- Refused to acknowledge guilt and never confessed to attempting to assasinate Lenin
- Bukharin was called a 'foul-smelling heap of human garbage' and 'damnable cross of a fox and a swine' by Vyshinsky
- Despite receiving a death sentence, Bukharin hoped for mercy
- He wrote to Stalin volunteering to track down Trotsky in America and 'smash his face in' - this did not work and Bukharin was shot
- Stalin showed that there would be no mercy for those who opposed him
- Trials got rid of Communists who were claiming to be close to Lenin and were seen as a threat
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Party purges
- Memos were sent out demanding that Party officials make more efforts to pick out spies and traitors
- Targets for arrest numbers were set
- 330,000 Party members were convicted as enemies between 1934 and 1938
- Stalin never completely trusted the Red Army - majority of senior officers were appointed by Trorsky so Stalin feared they may try to seize power
- Generals were tried and tortues before confessing to treason
- 34,000 soldiers were purged from the army
- Trials provided evidence of anti-Soviet conspiracy involving large number of Russians
- Order number 00447 was issued by Politboro demandin 'anti-Soviet' elements to be removed
- List was produced by NKVD of over 250,000 people believed to be involved
- Assumed that NKVD kept people under surveillance and chose victims
- Russian people collaborated with state-sponsored persecution
- Many denounced friends and neighbours to secret police - this was a survival strategy and an attempt to prove loyalty or get promotion
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NKVD
- Nicolai Yezhov replaced Yagoda as head of organisation
- Stalin announced organisation was 'four years behind'
- Arrest, execution and exile targets were set to speed it up
- NKVD was purged because some members felt loyalties to Bukharin and Rykov
- Changes achieved correct result - 'enemies of the people' were persecuted and NKVD was newly radicalised
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Consequences of the Great Terror
Economic
- Production fell - coal mines were purged which left a shortage of trained workers
- Economic havoc - Party members lied about economic facts to say targets had been reached
Social
- Families targeted and terrorised - parents arrested and children humuliated in front of entire school or university before being expelled
- Violence and punishments - 10% of adult males were executed and sent to labour camps
- Forging identities - daughter of a kulak moved to Moscow, married a working man and enrolled in a factory school to avoid being exiled to Siberia
Political
- Rivals removed - Zinoviev, Kamenev and Bukharin exposed as traitors and were executed
- Populist terror - people encouraged to expose their bosses
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Purging the Red Army
What happened?
- Execution of almost 39,000 army officers and 3,000 naval officers
- Generals who performed badly were shot
Why did Stalin attack this group?
- Russia was suffering heavy defeats
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The enemy within
What happened?
- List was drawn up of people who could be sympathetic to the Germans
- Groups were exiled to Siberia
Why did Stalin attack this group?
- Russia was under threat from Germany
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Prisoners of war
What happened?
- Soviet soldiers who were returned home were interrogated and exiled
Why did Stalin attack this group?
- He accused them of spying and disobeying his direct orders
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Purge of the Jews
What happened?
- Jews were victimised
- 12% of senior managers in 1945 were Jewish
- This fell to 4% in 1951
Why did Stalin attack this group?
- Suspicious of those with contacts in the outside world
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The Leningrad Affair
What happened?
- Over a thousand Party members were sacked
- Two hundred were arrested and charged for being traitors
Why did Stalin attack this group?
- Concerned he never stamped his authority on Russia's second city
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