The Use Of Terror In The 1930s Flashcards
When did the purges begin
1932 and got more violent from 1934
Who was affected by these purges
Anyone who posed a threat to stalins rule, industrialisation, and collectivisation
First victims were managers and workers accused for wrecking the 5 year plans, kulaks oppposed to opposition of collectivisation.
Then artists were attacked for being against the state
Confessions would lead to people snaking and more arrests made
What did lenin use to find people to purge
The NKVD
Key dates of the purges
1928 - 55 engineers accused of sabotage, 5 shot, 49 imprisoned
1932 - ryutin critised stalins policies, stalin angry put him on trial, sent to exile
1934 - thousands of communist party members arrested 40,000 in leningrad alone
1935 - senior communist members arrested, rooted out those supporting trotsky
1936 - the show trials of old bolsheviks, brainwashed into confessions
1937 - stalin determined to remove all opposition to the red army. Commander in chief and 7 other generals arrested and shot - had disagreemnets with stalin in civil war
1938 - almost every party and state leader in every soviet republic had been purged. Stalin stopped prges and blamed NKVD - which itself was purged to remove all knowledge
1940 - trotsky murdered by stalin’s agent in mexico
Reasons for purges
Threats to stalins position - enemies wanted to overthrow and murder him
Links with economic policies - s thought he was the only person who could transforn the soviet union to an industrialised country, labour camps was best for mass labour
Percieved treachery - thought that he purged armed forces as he suspected leading officers were spies 30,000 purged
Persecution complex - he was carzy thinking evryone was aginst him
Stalin not resposible - once they started, they were diffult to stop
Stalins secret police
1923 cheka renamed OGPU htn in 1934 the NKVD
Able to arrest and shoot w/o trial
‘Black ravens’ drove in black cars
Destroy stalins opponents and terrorise civilians into obedience
Victims of purges sent to gulags - manual work
The show trials
Began in 1936
Purging old bolsheviks
Accused put on trial in front of whole world and forced to confess - physcally and psychologically tortured
Created at atmospheer of fear
Last show trial was march 1938 - bukharin and rykov
consequences of purges
Human cost was enormous- millions dead Whole societies terrorised 1938 8 million in labour camps Removal became known as great terror Little trust Removal of generals almost let Germany to against russia 1941-42
