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Causes of the great terror - Coggle Diagram
Causes of the great terror
Stalin's personality
A extremely paranoid man who is suspicious of others. Stalin is seen to be a 'very distrustful man, sickly suspicious seeing everywhere about him as enemies, double dealers and spies'. This is probably due to the suicide of his wife leading him to think that those around him would betray him.
Stalin is a person who bears grudges and takes revenge on those who had problems with him in the past. Especially those from the original Bolsheviks who weren't that nice to Stalin.
Stalin is a violent man by nature. If he is pressured he would resort to violence as a solution to his problems
Has an inferiority complex
Sees himself as the hero of the revolution and a genius who by himself can take over the whole of Russia and lead to a Socialist society
Stalin's motives
Stalin felt threatened by the growing opposition in the early 1930s. He reacted to this by killing everyone who could be a rival so that no one could start a counter-revolution
Stalin wanted to be in a position of absolute power
He wanted to bring the party under his total control so they could carry out the policies he wanted. Or he wanted to control the people . The terror crushed opposition and any critics
By the late 1930s Stalin was convinced that there was a good chance for war. He wanted to remove anyone who threatened his foreign policy. He also didn't want anyone to slow down industrialization as the Soviet Union needed weapons
Problems with the party
The central party of Moscow was having real problems controlling the party in the regions and localities. The local level political administration could be seen as lazy and often did not obey orders. For example during collectivization they did not identify Kulaks as they were useful to the community.
Industrial town leaders or local bosses in order to meet production targets they did not want to purge the specialists.
Party members reacted in two ways
Used coercive tactics such as show trials in order to create an atmosphere where no one felt safe and everyone felt that they could be targeted
Encourage lower levels of the party to criticize everyone higher up. This then went out of control as everyone was accusing each other
Economic difficulties
There were problems and many people could not meet the production targets set by Stalin. There was also a downturn in the economy as a result of technical problems. because of this Stalin and the elites contributing to the great terror by
Stalin wanted to "motivate" managers and economic administrators so he encourage criticism from below - attempting to 'mobilize the masses'. Workers gladly helped Stalin to identify managers and officials as the cause of their problems. This eventually went out of control as accusations were thrown at everyone.
This was tied to the Stakhanovite campaign of 1936. This was not only done to increase productivity but also to persuade workers to put pressure on managers and demand tools and materials to improve production rates. Managers who didn't listen to workers' demands were blamed and were classified as a Sabatier
The leadership needed scapegoats for their failures. Leaders blamed the "enemies " for sabotage and wrecking
Social instability
The disruption caused by the 5-year plan had created an unstable society. Mass urbanization led to social tension and tension in overcrowded cities which lacked basic facilities and services. There was a great deal of hostility in the cities and countryside towards the communist party and the government. The government then resorted to the terror of the purges to stifle criticism of the leadership to control people and keep them working.
Position of the NKVD
Some historians argue that the terror was conducted by the NKVD with such vigor as it was in their interests as an institution. Within the NKVD there are a lot of divisions and power struggles. This is mainly in the countryside and areas outside of Moscow.
The Gulag
Due to the large amount of accusations many are sent to the Gulag, The terror allowed slave labor and many of tasks prisoners had to do were life threatening. Stalin needed money that industries earned from foreign exports to buy in western technology
External threats
Prospect of war looked increasingly possible in the late 1930s as Hitler began his campaign with his foreign policy. This increased the pressure for military industries to increase production. With the terror, it was possible to encourage people to work faster. The purge could also get rid of anyone who opposed of Stalin's plans.