chapter 9

Question 1

purges

Answer 1

• began in 1932
• more violent from 1934
• purged anyone who opposed collectivisation or industrialisation
• first victims were people who ‘wrecked’ the first 5 year plan
• 1937 - anyone accused of acts against the state (artists, musicians, writers etc)
• millions dead and imprisoned

Question 2

key features of the purges

Answer 2

• 1928 - 55 from shakhty mines put on trial, 5 shot, 49 imprisoned
• 1932 - ryutin criticised economic policies, expelled and exiled
• 1934 - thousand of members of communist party arrested after murder of kirov (40k+)
• 1935 - senior communists arrested, thousands denounced and expelled
• 1936 - show trials of old bolsheviks
• 1937 - stalin began removing any potential threats in the red army (90% of generals purged by 41)
• 1938 - almost every party/state leader purge, stalin halted them and blamed the secret police, yezhov purged
• 1940 - murder of trotsky

Question 3

reasons for purges

Answer 3

• threats to stalin’s position
• stalin not totally responsible (snowball effect)
• links with economic policies (anyone who stopped stalin from reaching his goals, wanted to send people to labour camps)
• perceived treachery (thought leading officers were spying for germany and japan)
• persecution complex (paranoia)

Question 4

murder of kirov

Answer 4

• stalin believed he was a possible rival
• criticised industrialisation
• murdered, probably on stalin’s orders
• claimed the murder was against the party
• kirov’s supporters were arrested

Question 5

secrete police

Answer 5

• december 1917 - cheka, killed opponents of bolshevik’s from 1918-23
• 1923 - ogpu, instrument of terror
• 1934 - nkvd
• decree against terrorist acts after murder of kirov - could arrest/execute without trial
• drove around in black cars (black ravens)
• army of informers
• arrested 1 million people between 1937-8, half of them shot
• yezhov purged in 1938 and replaced by beria

Question 6

labour camps

Answer 6

• gulags
• 13 million died from cold/hunger/maltreatment
• 1928 - 30k prisoners
• 1938 - 7 million

Question 7

show trials

Answer 7

• began in 1936
• 14 old bolsheviks accused of organising kirov’s murder and plotting to assassinate stalin
• forced to confess to improbable crimes (plotting to murder lenin)
• trotsky accused of leading them
• lasted until march 1938, where bukharin and rykov were accused and shot

Question 8

consequences of the purges

Answer 8

• by 1938 stalin was the last remaining bolshevik from 1917 rev.
• 12 million executed, died in labour camps, in prison, in labour camps by late 1938
• almost led to defeat against germany due to lack of officers
• able engineers and scientists arrested, decline in quality of products
• disappear of trust