Dictatorship and Stalin Flashcards
What permeated the Soviet Union in the 1930s?
State terror
What event heightened the machinery of terror?
Kirov’s murder in 1934
What happened in 1928?
The Shakhty trial - Managers and technicians who questioned pace of industrialisationW
hat happened to the Managers and Technicians of the Shakhty coal mine?
5 were executed and others were imprisoned after a show trial - criticised the FYP
When was Trotsky expelled from the USSR?
Trotsky - didn’t admit to being wrong
When was the ‘Industrial Party’ trial?
1930
What was the ‘Industrial Party’ tiral?
group of senior industrialists and economists accused of plotting coup to wreck economy
Who was expelled from the party in 1932?
Zinoviev and KamenevWh
Who was imprisoned?
Maremyan Ryutin - criticised collectivisation
How did Ryutin criticise Stalin’s collectivisation?
through the ‘Ryutin platform’ - Stalin said assassination attempt??
Wanted to execute him - Kirov said no, expelled 14 people from party
How many members did the communist party have in 1933?
3.2 million members
How many ‘Ryutinites’ were expelled in the 1933 purge?
570,000
How did purges differ under Lenin?
generally led to loss of party membership
What took over the OGPU’s functions in 1934?
the NKVD
When did Stalins policy come under attack?
Seventeenth Party congress (Jan-Feb 1934)
What did some members of the politburo want in early 1934?
slower pace of industrialisation and grain requisitioning
Which of Stalin’s allies sided with those against him in early 1934?
Sergei Kirov - speech received standing ovation
What happened to Stalin’s position of General Secretary in 1934?
was abolished -
Stalin, Kirov, Zhdanov, Kaganovich - made ‘Secretaries of equal rank’
When and why was Kirov shot?
1 Dec 1934 - having an affair with persons wifeWho did
Who did stalin blame for Kirovs murder?
the Trotskyite threat
Who was the head of the NKVD?
Yagoda
How many Party members were shot or arrested - guilty of ‘terrorist planning’?
100 shot,
thousands arrested
When were Zinoviev, Kamenev and 17 others arrested and accused of causing terrorism?
Jan 1935 - 5-10 years imprisonment
When was the death penalty extended from those engaged in ‘subversive activity’ to anyone aware that didn’t report it?
June 1935
How did the NKVD make sure a signed confession was achieved?
through sleep deprivation, beatings, starvation and torutre
What did the age of punishment decrease to in April 1935?
12 years old - same way as adults.
used to threaten to charge defendants children - extract confession
When was the first major show trial?
16, August 1936
Who were charged for Kirov’s murder (and pleaded guilty) in the first major show trial?
Kamenev and Zinoviev, along with 14 others
Who drafted the Stalin Constitution, and when was it introduced?
Bukharin, introduced in 1936
What did the Stalin Constitution intend to do?
Celebrate triumphs of previous years, and declare socialism has been achieved
What did the Constitution proclaim about the USSR?
a federation of 11 Soviet Republics, with a supreme soviet that met in the Supreme Soviet,
What replaced the Congress of Soviets in 1936?
the Supreme Soviet
What rights were set for Ethnic groups in the Stalin Constitution?
promised autonomy within the Union, with support for culture and language
Who were promised elections every 4 years under the Stalin Constitution?
everyone over 18 - even ‘former peoples’ (bourgeois elites)
What rights were set out in the Stalin Constitution?
Freedom from arbitrary arrest,
freedom of press,
freedom of religion,
right to free speech
What were citizens guaranteed in the Stalin Constitution?
work, the right to education and social welfare
What were largely ignored from the Stalin Constitution?
the promised rights - republics allowed to leave, but Stalin didn’t let it happen
