USSR Topic 3 - Control Flashcards
(11 cards)
Murder of Kirov
dec 1934 ass by Leonid Niklayev
within hours Stalin took control and order executions of terrorists involved
6500 people arrested that december
led to purges, 250k party members expelled
stalin blamed zinovievites - 843 assocaites arrested
Purges
purged old competitors
1936 - trial of 16 ZK
1937 - trial of 17 trotsky former allies
1938 - trial of 21 - Bukharin
7-8 mil arrested and sent to gulags
1.5 mill executed
created atmosphere of fear
Yezhov (chief of NKVD)
helped stalin purge
each NKVD branch had a set type of people to hunt
7-8 mill arrests
1.5 mil exec
1938 stalin became suspicious of yezhov
dec 1938 replaced
feb 1940 executed
NKVD
carried out purges
used to obtain false confessions through torture
they replaced the cheka 1934
order 0047 meant enemies could be tortured without trial
also ran gulags in siberia and the north 12 mil died in total
Gulags
12 mil died
NKVD ran
criminals, political oppostion, religious people…
prisoners forced to do hard labour
one camp employed 250k prisoners to build Belomor canal
supported 5 yr plans
Purge of armed forces
1937 - 8 general arrested and shot for “plotting with germany”
1939 all admirals shot
25k red army officers executed
weakened USSR in WW2 however as removed experienced officers and red army officers so russians army weakened
Propoganda
social realist novels - how the steel was tempered
cinema used to retell events of soviet history
artists, film makers had to produce socialist realism
places named after Stalin and people had to clap when his name was mentioned
Changes to soviet interp of history
schools used “short biography of stalin” to teach
old communists purged so their history dissapeared
young children didnt know who trotsky was
Censorship
government censors prevented anything critical being released
content of newspapers, radios, films and books checked
school subjects like history rewritten to present Stalin as hero.
1936 - 30 films and 10 plays removed for “containing the wrong message”
Cult of Personality
1929 - stalin presented as hero whos political thinking matched that of Marx and Stalin
pravda portrayed him as heir to stalin - father of nation
posters and paintings showed him as Lenin’s disciple
glorification of stalin as god-like being increased his control
posters painting and statues appeared everywhere
refered as “universal genius” by media
Control of education
children indoctrinated
16-23 young communist league - taught about socialism and helped to build industrial city komsomolsk
increased stalins control of education
children taught that stalin was great leader
school leavers sent to work in factories
Stalin insisted on uniforms
