17) Stalin: Communist Control and Terror Flashcards
(12 cards)
Why did Stalin need to deal with the peasants/Kulaks?
- S saw kulaks as enemy of Party + leaders of peasant resistance➡️wanted to eliminate them.
- S didn’t want economy at mercy of peasants hoarding grain.
- Peasants resented attack on traditional way of life (1930 Mir abolished).
- 👨🏼🌾 blamed S for collectivisation + famine (1932-33, Ukraine, 7mn☠️starvation) - exports continued + people prevented from fleeing.
- 1930 demonstrations, riots + uprisings w/ over 2.5mn👨🏼🌾. Peasants burned crops, tools, horses + slaughtered animals.
- ”Women’s revolts” in North Caucasus most effective (carefully organised w/ specific goals)➡️difficult for troops to take action.
How did Stalin deal with the peasants/Kulaks?
- Collectivisation controlled peasantry. Crals-Siberian method - forcibly take grain + punish those who hide it➡️Party no longer had to bargain w/ peasants.
- Used local soviets + MTS (Machine + Tractor Stations) to control countryside.
- Troops brought in to deal w/ peasant riots.
- Kulaks accused of keeping best land + hoarding produce➡️causing food shortages + high prices.
- 1929 S called for liquidation of kulaks➡️any peasant opposing collectivisation dubbed kulak.
- 1930s regional quotas for kulaks (more systematic than L) - deported, shot🔫, sent to forced labour settlements or expelled from farm to settle on poorer land. Inmates of gulag labour camps built canals, roads or new industrial centres.
- 390,000 kulaks arrested - most sent to labour camps + 21,000 shot.
- 1933 stopped mass deportation of kulaks - disrupting agr + difficulties organising settlements .
- By 1933 👨🏼🌾 formed majority of Soviet camps + prison pop.
- 1932 Law of Five Ears - arrested kolkhozniks from stealing grain in kolkhozy due to hunger.
How did Stalin deal with the Church ⛪️?
•1930 thousands of churches closed, church bells melted + priests persecuted.
Why did Stalin need to deal with the military?
- Tukhachevsky (‘Red Napoleon’) = hero of Civil War, moderniser of 🔴Army + Deputy Commissar of Defence.
- Reasons unclear, but Nazi intelligence may have fooled S into believing that military elite plotting against regime.
How did Stalin deal with the military?
- 1937 began to purge 🔴Army. Tukhachevsky + 7 senior military commanders arrested, accused or treachery, tortured + shot after secret trial.
- 10,000 officers arrested + 23,000 dismissed.
Why did Stalin need to deal with national minorities?
•From 1933 threat of war (Hitler’s ⬆️power) - S feared national minorities on USSR’s western borders may form fifth column + support an invading army.
How did Stalin deal with national minorities?
- From 1937 Poles, Germans + Estonians uprooted, deported + many shot in ‘ethnic cleansing’.
- ”Polish Operation”➡️arrest of 140,000.
- From 1938 primary function of NKVD = national operations.
- At least 250,000 killed in ‘ethnic cleansing’.
Why did Stalin need to deal with anti-Soviet elements/the people?
•Stalin’s paranoia - bulk of victims were ordinary citizens.
How did Stalin need to deal with anti-Soviet elements/the people?
- Yezhovschina = ‘social cleansing’ carried out by Yezhov, head of NKVD.
- NKVD Order 00447 instructed arrest of former kulaks, active anti-Soviet elements + criminals. Either shot or sent to labour camps for 8-10yrs.
- Quotas of people to be arrested in each region. Moscow 5,000/35,000.
Why did Stalin need to deal with Party members?
- 1932 Ryutin Affair - Ryutin Platform = 200pg criticism of S’ leadership + policies.
- 1934 17th Party Congress Kirov’s suggestion stopping grain seizures + ⬆️workers’ rations popular.
- ⬆️Party discontent after 1st 5YP - calls for slowing down pace of industrialisation - S didn’t agree.
- Kirov may have received more votes than S in elections for new Central Committee.
How did Stalin need to deal with Party members?
- 1933 Party purge over 850,000 members.
- 1934 Kirov murdered.
- 1935 Moscow show trial: Zinoviev + Kamenev accused of Kirov’s murder + planning to seize power➡️1st time Party elite executed☠️.
- From 1937 Party leadership targeted w/ show trials - eliminated support bases of S’ opponents + provided citizens w/ scapegoat for failures of economic policy.
- 1937 Ryutin + his family shot🔫.
- 1938 Bukharin + Rykov tried + sentenced to death accused of sabotage.
Outcomes of the Great Terror
✅Climate of fear: people denounce each other, show loyalty to Party. Any potential opposition deterred. 1 in 18 arrested.
✅ ⬆️S’ personal power: old Bs replaced w/ young members w/ privileges, loyal to S above all. 1939 Congress - no criticism or discussion, only 19% had joined before 1920.
❌Suppression of 5th column probably unnecessary.
❌Inefficiencies: managers + engineers purged➡️3rd 5YP struggled. Replacements lacked experience. ⬇️standard of education.
