Dictatorship and Stalinism

Question 1

What was state terror?

Answer 1

-Emerged under Lenin
-Security functions carried out by OGPU
-Use of violence, imprisonment and labour camps, forcing people to submit to Stalin.

Question 2

Pre-1934 terror

Answer 2

-Stalin used terror in rise to leadership and to enforce collectivisation.
-1930 he expelled former supporters for criticising collectivisation.
-Sent specialists and engineers to labour camps during 5YP.
-At the end of the first 5YP, Ryutin imprisoned and Zinoviev and Kamenev expelled from the Party (as well as 14 others).

Question 3

What was the NKVD?

Answer 3

-Led by Ygoda then Yezhov then Beria.
-Controlled internal security and ordinary police.

Question 4

What was Kirov’s murder?

Answer 4

-17th Part Congress 1934 divisions between Stalin who wanted to maintain rate of collectivisation and other Politburo members who wanted to soften it.
-Kirov spoke out and received standing ovation.
-Following day he was ‘murdered’, and Stalin claimed it was part of a Trotskyite terrorist plot.

Question 5

Impact of Kirov’s murder

Answer 5

-Decree issued the following day giving Yagoda (NKVD) power to arrest/execute anyone guilty of ‘terrorist plotting’.
-Over 100 Party members shot and thousands more arrested/sent to prison camps.
-Signal for the regime to tighten.
-June 1935 death penalty extended to anyone aware of activity.

Question 6

Significant arrests after Kirov’s murder

Answer 6

-Jan 1935, Zinoviev, Kamenev and 17 others arrested.
-12 NKVD members found guilty and imprisoned.

Question 7

What were show trials?

Answer 7

-Political tool
-Public trials with journalists to ‘prove’ that the USSR were facing opposition from ‘enemies of the state’.
-Means by which Stalin could justify the purging of his enemies/threats to his authority.

Question 8

How did show trials work?

Answer 8

-Verdict never in doubt
-Task of NKVD to extract a signed confession. Could be done through gentle persuasion or starvation and physical/mental torture.
-April 1935 decree issued that children over 12 found guilty would be subject to death penalty (able to threaten families).

Question 9

Significant show trials

Answer 9

-Kamenev + Zinoviev = first show trial
-Bukharin, Tomsky, Rykov etc. all executed after show trials.
-Trotsky eventually tracked and eliminated.

Question 10

What was the Stalin constitution?

Answer 10

-Marked progress towards socialism
-Celebrated triumphs
-Declared socialism had been achieved
-Promised local autonomy to ethnic groups and support for national cultures and languages
-Extensive statement of civil rights