5. Opposition Flashcards
(34 cards)
1
Q
3 types of opposition Bolsheviks faced:
A
- other political groups
- opponents throughout empire - tsarist officers to peasants
- ideological opposition - bourgeoisie, upper classes
2
Q
the Cheka from 1918
A
- 1918 ets. Moscow base in the Lubianka building
- housed a prision
- controlled units of red guard and military
- most provances had own cheka branch
- 1922, renamed GPU + 1923 OGPU (joint state political directorate)
- 1934-43 under control from NKVD (ppls commisassariat for internal affairs)
3
Q
faction and control
A
- 1921 lenin concerns turned to oppsoition within his party
- 1920-21 serious disagreements about political and econ policy
- e.g. Workers’ opposition under Aleksander Shlyapkinov + Alexandra Kollontai demanding works have more control over own affairs
- belived such discussion weakened party
- 1921 ‘ban on factions’ = all members had to accept decision of central committee
- opposed = threated w/ expulsion
- debate and challenged = removed
4
Q
red terror, what brought it about?
A
- CW ‘18-21 brought new wave of coersion against both real and ‘assumed’ enemies, creating ‘red terror’
- aug 1918 attempt on lenins life provided excuse frenzied written attack on ‘ bourgeois’
- cheka rounded up 1000s on who label may be pinned
- confessions and names of ‘acomplices’ ontained by tourture
5
Q
red terror - role of cheka
A
- sept 1918 Sovnarkom gave cheka authority to find, question, arrest + destroy families of any suspected traitors
- Yadow Sverdlov (chairman of Bolshevik Central Committee) spoke ‘mercliless mass terror againsts all opponents of the revolution!’
- SR’s and mensheviks branded traitors 500 shot in petrograd alone
6
Q
red terror escalated
A
- local cheka agents took matters into own hands
- sought incrimination and discovered ‘hidden’ op
- victums tsar and fam to ordinary workers as association w/ ‘class enemy’
- 8k presists excuted 1921 for failing to hand over valuable church possessions
- 1918-21 estimated 500k to 1 mil shot
- others toutered or sent labour camps, died as resukt of physical labour, lived on rations
7
Q
Kronstadt uprising
A
- march 1921
- response to Bolshevik policies, demanding political freedoms and economic reforms.
- 16,000 sailors participated
- 15 demands, including free elections and freedom of speech.
- Bolshevik gov, under Lenin, viewed the rebellion as a major threat + mobilized around 50,000 Red Army troops to suppress it.
- Red Army stormed Kronstadt on March 17, 1921
- approx 10,000 Red Army soldiers and 5,000 rebels were killed or wounded.
- thousands of rebels were executed or sent to labor camps.
The harsh response highlighted the Bolshevik regime’s determination to maintain control and the internal dissent within the party.
8
Q
stalin and oppsoition to 1932
A
- extended Lenin’s use of terror to enforce his policies
- 1929, Soviet prisons overcrowded with kulaks, bourgeois specialists, wreckers, and saboteurs, prompting Genrikh Yagoda to propose expanding corrective-labor camps.
- New camps, aka gulags, designed to house 50,000 prisoners each + contribute to economic growth;
- 1934, these camps housed a million people and were under the control of the OGPU, later the NKVD.
9
Q
The Shakhty show trial of 1928
A
- 53 engerneers in coalmine accused of ‘counter rev activity’
- marked Stalin’s strategy of using scapegoats for economic chaos, leading to industrial terror that deprived hundreds of bourgeois specialists of their jobs and lives.
- 5 executed, 44 sent to trial
10
Q
1932 crisis - Nadezhda’s Suicide (November 1932)
A
- Stalin’s wife, Nadezhda, committed suicide, leaving note criticizing his policies + showing sympathy for his political enemies.
- event reportedly “unhinged” Stalin, leading him to distrust even those closest to him.
- suicide publicly reported as death from appendicitis.
11
Q
crisis of 1932 - challenges
A
- Famine occurred in the countryside.
- Workers’ strikes in industrial towns criticized the Five Year Plan and Stalin’s leadership.
- Stalin’s position was insecure; Nikolai Bukharin was re-elected to the Central Committee in June 1930.
- Some of Stalin’s former supporters were expelled for criticizing collectivization.
12
Q
1932 crisis - opposition within party
A
- Old Bolsheviks Group:
- Leonid Smirnov, who held meetings debating Stalin’s removal.
- Members arrested by OGPU, Smirnov was expelled from the Party. - Ryutin Platform:
- Led by Martemyan Ryutin, criticized Stalin’s direction and personality.
- Papers related to this group were found in Nadezhda’s room.
- Ryutin and circle arrested; sentenced to ten years in prison and was shot in 1937 on Stalin’s orders.
- 24 members expelled and exiled, including Zinoviev and Kamenev, for failing to report the group’s existence.
13
Q
1932 crisis
party purge
A
- april 1933
- Stalin announced general purge of the Party.
- Over the next two years, over 18% of Party membership were branded “Ryutinites” and purged.
- Most purged members were relatively new and deemed careerists by Stalin.
14
Q
17th party conference
A
- 1934
- Stalin announced defeat of the “anti-Leninist opposition”
- received 150 negative votes in Central Committee elections, only three officially recorded.
- split emerged between hardliners and moderates, Kirov advocating for stopping forcible grain seizures and increasing workers’ rations.
- Kirov received a standing ovation, while only Molotov and Kaganovich firmly supported Stalin.
15
Q
General secretary title
A
- abolished
- Stalin, Kirov, Zhdanov, and Kaganovich were given the title Secretary of Equal Rank.
- likely move to spread responsibility for econ crisis, theoretically making Stalin no more important than other secretaries.
- announced thru 17th party conference
16
Q
Kirov affair
A
- murdered under suspicious circumstances, possibly implicating Stalin.
- Stalin claimed part of a Trotskyite conspiracy led by “Zinovievites.”
- decree issued day after assassination, giving NKVD head Yagoda powers to arrest and execute anyone found guilty of “terrorist plotting.”
- approx. 6,500 people arrested under this law in December 1934.
17
Q
january 1935
A
- Zinoviev, Kamenev, 17 others arrested + accused of instigating terrorism
- 843 former Zinoviev arrested jan/feb
- 11k former ppl arrested, exiled or in caps
- 250k party mebers expelled as ‘anti-Leninists’
- e.g. Abel Yenukidze = chairman of central committee expelled for helping ‘oppositionists’ find work in Kremlin
18
Q
The great purges 1936-8
1936 Show Trial
A
- Involved Zinoviev, Kamenev, and 14 others.
- All 16 found guilty of a Trotsky-inspired plot to murder Stalin and other Politburo members.
- All executed along with 160 accomplices.
- Yagoda replaced by Nikolai Yezhov as NKVD chief.
19
Q
The great purges 1936-8
1937 Show Trial
A
- Involved 17 prominent communists, including Radek.
- Accused of plotting with Trotsky to sabotage industry and spy.
- 13 sentenced to death; Bukharin expelled from the Party and arrested.
20
Q
The great purges 1936-8
Purge of the Military (May/June 1937)
A
- Eight senior military commanders, including Tukhachevsky, arrested, tortured, and executed.
- Out of 767 High Command members, 512 executed, 29 died in prison, 13 committed suicide, 59 jailed.
- Substantial purge of military intelligence; about a quarter reinstated by mid-1940.
21
Q
The great purges 1936-8
1938 Show Trial
A
- Involved 21 Bolsheviks, including Bukharin, Rykov, and Yagoda.
- Accused of conspiring with the Trotsky-Zinoviev terrorist organization.
- Bukharin and 16 others executed.
22
Q
The Yezhovshchina, the purge of ordinary citizens, 1937-8
Expansion of Purges
A
- Great Purges merged with Yezhovshchina under NKVD head Nikolai Yezhov.
- Terror spread from Party hierarchy into Soviet institutions, towns, and villages.
- Thousands from all sections of society were terrorized, executed, or sent to labor camps.
23
Q
The Yezhovshchina, the purge of ordinary citizens, 1937-8
Politburo Resolution (July 1937)
A
- Condemned “anti-Soviet elements” in society.
- arrest list of over 250,000 individuals, including artists, musicians, scientists, writers, managers, and administrators, created.
- quota system required each region to find a proportion of oppositionists.
24
Q
The Yezhovshchina, the purge of ordinary citizens, 1937-8
Surveillance and Fear
A
- Ordinary citizens encouraged to root out “hidden enemies” and report on fellow workers, friends, and family.
- NKVD maintained vigilance, employing “reliables” in offices, universities, and factories.
- Continuous and random arrests led to widespread fear; many Soviet citizens died in prison.
25
# The Yezhovshchina, the purge of ordinary citizens, 1937-8
Height and Decline
- persecution peaked in mid-1937 and lasted until December 1938.
- Lavrenti Beria replaced Yezhov in December 1938, marking the end of the Yezhovshchina.
26
purges, what happened to LEADING PARTY MEMBERS
- 70 % members of Central Committee at the 17th Party Congress arrested and shot.
- 1966 delegates to the congress, 1108 were artested.
- Old Bolsheviks both the left + right removed through show trials.
- Party members were encouraged to criticise and denounce others, leading to local as well as high.
level Central Party purges.
27
purges, what happned to MINORITY NATIONALITIES
- Leaders of national republies charged with treason and removed.
- Georgia, two state PMs, 4/5 regional Party secretaries + 1000s lesser officials lost posts.
- 350,000 people from minority ethnic groups were put on trial, inc 140,000 Poles.
28
purges, what happened to ARMED FORCES
- 8 senior generals, 3/5 marshalls, all eleven war commissars, all eight admirals (and replacemenents] shot
- All but one senior airforce commanders, approx 50% of officer corps in all 3 services and a substantial number in military intelligence were also tried; many were shot.
29
purges, what happened to NKVD
- Yagoda and more than 23,000 NKVD men were put on trial
- most shot.
30
purges, what happened to PEASANTS AND INDUSTRIAL WORKERS
- kulaks represented around 50 per cent of all arrests and more than half of the total number of executions.
31
# end of purges
post 1938 slowdown
- Purges of Stalin's opponents
- Yezhovshchina threatened state stability, impacting industry and administration.
- Stalin scapegoated Yezhov for excessive zeal and replaced him with Beria in November 1938.
32
# end of purges
18th party congress
- Declared the end of "mass cleansings."
- Reviewed around 1.5 million cases:
- 450,000 convictions quashed
- 128,000 cases closed
- 30,000 people released from jail
- 327,000 returned home from the gulags
33
# end of purges
outcome of high-profile Bolsheviks
- Yezhov arrested and executed in February 1940.
- Trotsky assassinated in Mexico by a hired killer in 1940.
- Most old Bolsheviks, potential rivals to Stalin, were eliminated.
34
# end of purges
stalins power?
- Post-purges, Stalin had absolute control over the Party.
- The quashing of sentences and release of prisoners helped restore faith in the system.
- Stalin maintained high popularity and a subservient populace.
