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The Great Purges ('cleansing an organism of impurities), Screenshot…
The Great Purges ('cleansing an organism of impurities)
examples: bukharin (party lader), Englesina Cheshkova's family (party officials), Ogorodnikov & Golubitsky (worker and manager),
first communist party purge took place in 1918 and there were periodic 'chistki' throughout the 1920s
after the murder of Sergei Kirov at the end of 1934 the situation changed, from 1936, especially in 1937-38 many Bolsehvik party members were disposed of
chitska 1932-35 (20% of the party was expelled non-violently)
the show trials, public execution
the Yezhovshchina
lenin used terror and class warfare to crush opposition. Stalin extended on this especially to push through the 5 year plans. millions of kulaks were killed or sent to labour camps
workers and engineers accused of sabotage were sent to the growing Gulag
Gosplan was created
many of the arrests and subsequent interrogation occurred between 11pm and 3 am. NKVD officers drove around in vehicles called 'ravens'
confessions were important they legitimised the arrest and proved the state was right. it was a logical strategy that worked when there was no real proof.
Kirov Murder Mystery a great mystery, stalin and his subordinates probably planned the disposal of Kirov for many reasons : he was getting a lot more support at the 17th party congress
used this murder for a prefect and justification for the great purges over the next few years
death of Ordzhonikidzekidze
purging the party, traitors and spies had infiltrated the party according to Stalin and party members usually had tp start denouncing others
purges were widened to all sectors of society, anybody could be deemed an oppositions and could be arrested or pruged
media campaigns started encouraging ordinary people to criticise party officials, bureaucrats and managers to seek out the 'hidden enemies'.
victims of terror increased exponentially, because anyone who had a connection to an accused person were arrested
reasons for arrest were arbitrary: critiquing Staling, telling a joke about Stalin, being friends or related with someone who is arrested.
many soviet citizens died in prisons either by being shot or from torture. vans marked 'meat' regularly arrived at Moscow cemeteries to deliver their loads the naked bodies that filled the cemetries
those who did not die were sent to the gulag, some of the worst and most feared with in the north in the kolyma region where the freezing conditions made it unbearable and the relentless hard work and inadequate food and clothing killed many.
Osip mandelstam
forced labour was used on big projects like the White Sea canal where its estimated that over 100,000 people died because of the appalling questions
end of the purges: Stalin called a halt to the terror attacks by 1938. yehzov replaced by Beria. arrests slowed down but central committee members and army officers were purged well into 1939. administrative systems were collapsing havinga. negative impact on industrial production
stalin balmed Yehzov and the NKDV for the excess of terror
Trotsky was mudered by a hitman in 1940 on Stalins orders
the purges continued in a very reduced form in the Second World War
why do historians disagree about the pruges. the nature of the topic - its scale, its definitions, what it involves. they have different political perspectives - socialism and communism. they use different source. revisionists challenge the totalitarian view. the times in which they write are different
totalitarian view: stalin was the planner and architect of the purges, he exercised much personal controller arrests and directives. stalin used terror as a tool to control the party. stalin used terror as a mechanism to control the populace in 1977-1938. the NKDV was an entrustment of a disciplined state apparatus which carried out orders passed down from the top. stalin sought to get rid of old Bolsheviks who may present a threat to his leadership Stalin's personality and paranoia were central to the way the purges were carried out.
revisionist view: Stalin is responsible for the terror and set it in process, but his personality alone is not enough to provide a sufficient explanation for the scale and form of the purges. He did to exercise the personal control of the process ascribed to him and he himself had little idea about what was going on in some areas. the soviet state was chaotic in the mid 1930s, it was confusing and there was conflict between Moscow and the rest of the USSR. the centre used purges to try and get control but they spiralled out of control and gained a momentum of their own. the NKDV was riven by internal divisions, units within the organisation often acted on their own initiative. the machinery of terror was not well organised. many people were selected at random, denounced or implicated by their own colleagues or other people. terror was generated from below as well as above.
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victims of the purges
