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Russian history > The Great Terror > Flashcards

The Great Terror Flashcards

1
Q

what was the purpose of the purges in theory

A

to cleanse the party of those who were not committed to the ideals of building communism but to promote their own personal interests in a one party state

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2
Q

what was the purpose of the purges in reality

A

stalin used the purges to get rid of any member that was thought to be a threat to the power of stalin or in opposition to him or his policies

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3
Q

Give the 7 other reasons why the terror was introduced

A
  • rapid industrialisation
  • ryutin platform
  • 17 party Congress
  • terror economics
  • the shakhty trials
  • Stalin’s paranoia
  • murder of Kirov
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4
Q

What did the great terror help transform Russia into?

A

A totalitarian dictatorship

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5
Q

During the 17th party congress, how many votes were won by stalin and Kirov

A

Stalin: 927
Kirov: 1225

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6
Q

What did Ryutin create and circulate?

A

A 200 page document highly critical of Stalin

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7
Q

What did Ryutin call Stalin?

A

The “evil genius of the Russian revolution”

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8
Q

What did Ryutin urge?

A

Stalin’s removal from the party

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9
Q

How did Stalin want to punish Ryutin and who opposed him?

A

He wanted the death penalty for Ryutin

Kirov and Ordzhonikidze opposed him

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10
Q

What did Kirov’s opposition to Stalin over Ryutin lead to?

A

Stalin felt betrayed and became increasingly paranoid about opposition from within his own party

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11
Q

When was Ryutin arrested?

A

22nd September 1932

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12
Q

When was the Ryutin platform

A

1932

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13
Q

What was Ryutin found guilty of and how long was his sentence

A

Being an enemy of the people

Sentenced to 10 years in prison

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14
Q

Why were Zinoviev and Kamenev expelled from the party?

A

For failing to report the existence of the Ryutin report

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15
Q

When was Ryutin executed?

A

10th January 1937

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16
Q

What happened to Ryutin’s two sons and wife?

A

The sons were executed

The wife was sent to the gulag

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17
Q

What was the congress of the victors intended to be?

A

A celebration of Stalin’s economic achievements

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18
Q

What did the result of the congress of the victors show?

A

That stalin was not as popular as Kirov in the Communist party

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19
Q

As a result of the seventeenth party congress what title were Stalin and Kirov given?

A

Secretary of equal rank

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20
Q

How did the title of equal rank to Kirov affect Stalin’s position?

A

He was no longer secure as leader, he could be removed or demoted at any time

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21
Q

Explain how splits in the party over collectivisation encouraged the use of terror

A

Local party secretaries were unwilling to push forward and were reluctant to get rid of bourgeois specialists

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22
Q

What was Stalin’s response to the local party secretaries reluctant to toe the party line

A

A Chistka was launched to remove these elements

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23
Q

How many communist party members lost their cards as a result of the Chistka

A

By 1933 22% of them

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24
Q

What economic purpose would the terror serve?

A

It would allow stalin to blame economic problems on political enemies

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25
Q

How could the ongoing problems of the five year plans be explained?

A

By the presence of wreckers in the workplace

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26
Q

Who did Stalin say the wreckers were in the employment of?

A

Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev

27
Q

What did Stalin’s use of terror to purge “wreckers” allow him to do?

A

Create scapegoats for the economic problems that might have otherwise been blamed on Stalin

28
Q

Where were the majority of the people purged in the great terror sent?

A

The gulags

29
Q

What happened in the trial of the Shakhty engineers?

A

Industrial specialists from middle class or foreign backgrounds were accused of sabotage, spying or anti-socialism

30
Q

When was the Menshevik Trial?

A

1931

31
Q

What were those in The Menshevik Trial tried and found guilty of?

A

Economic sabotage

32
Q

Who did Stalin fear within the party?

A

The old communists

33
Q

Why did he fear the old communists

A

They had been firm supporters of Lenin

34
Q

Other than the old bolsheviks, who did stalin fear?

A

The Red Army and Secret Police

35
Q

How did stalin attempt to exclude Kirov from the politburo?

A

By insisting that he stayed in Leningrad to supervise the local party

36
Q

When was Kirov murdered

A

In 1934

37
Q

Who was blamed for the murder of Kirov?

A

Nikolayev

38
Q

Who else was arrested for the conspiracy to murder Kirov?

A

Zinoviev and Kamenev

39
Q

In which 3 ways was Kirov’s death convenient for Stalin?

A
  1. The murder had rid him of his most important rival
  2. It gave stalin a pretext for hunting down the “secret terror group” that probably never existed
  3. The murder showed political dissidents were plotting acts of terror and justified the execution of party members who opposed Stalin and his policies
40
Q

What were the three Moscow show trials?

A
  1. The trial of the 16
  2. The trial of the 17
  3. The trial of the 21
41
Q

Who was on trial in the trial of the 16?

A

Kamenev and Zinoviev

42
Q

What were Kamenev and Zinoviev charged with?

A

The murder of Kirov and plotting to disrupt the five year plan

43
Q

How were Kamenev and Zinoviev persuaded to confess?

A

Probably with torture

44
Q

What happened to Kamenev and Zinoviev as a result of the trial?

A

They were executed

45
Q

What year was the trial of the sixteen?

A

1936

46
Q

When was the trial of the seventeen

A

1937

47
Q

Who was on trial during the trial of the 17?

A

Trotsky’s former allies, e.g. Pyatokov and Radek

48
Q

What were they charged for in the trial of the seventeen?

A

Plotting with foreign powers

49
Q

When was the conveyor belt system first used?

A

The trial of the seventeen

50
Q

What did the conveyor belt system involve?

A

Torture

Sleep deprivation

Questioning

Until the defendant confessed

51
Q

How many of the seventeen were killed?

A

13 of 17

52
Q

When was the trial of the 21

A

1938

53
Q

Who was on trial in the trial of the 21?

A

Bukharin and Rykov

54
Q

What were the 21 accused of?

A

Attempting to overthrow socialism and attempting to assassinate Lenin

55
Q

How was Bukharin persuaded to confess political responsibility for the crimes?

A

Stalin threatened to execute his wife and baby

56
Q

What happened to Bukharin and Rykov after the trial

A

They were both executed

57
Q

What did the Moscow show trials achieve?

A

They eliminated the last surviving communists who could claim to have been close to Lenin and therefore had an authority that was independent of Stalin

58
Q

When was the Doctrine of the Sharpening Class Struggle presented?

A

1937

59
Q

What did the Doctrine of the Sharpening Class Struggle provide?

A

An ideological justification for the necessity of further terror

60
Q

When was Yagoda arrested?

A

1937

61
Q

How many NKVD men perished by the end of the 1930s?

A

23,000

62
Q

When was Yezhov’s bloodbath?

A

1937-1938

63
Q

What percentage of adult males were executed or sent to labour camps during yezhov’s bloodbath?

A

10%

Russian history (11 decks)

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