Stalin - Opposition and Purges 1932-38 Flashcards
Who were sent to labour camps?
- bourgeois specialists
- saboteurs
- engineers
When was the Shakty Show Trial?
1928
What was the Shakty Show Trail?
Used as a scapegoat for the industrial failure of the 1st 5YP
- 53 engineers accused of ‘counter-revolutionary activity’
- forced to confess in ‘show trial’
- 5 executed, 44 imprisoned
What did the Shakty Show Trial herald?
An industrial terror
What happened in the ‘Industrial Show Trail’ of 1930?
A group of industrialists were accused of saboteurs
Who was accused in the Metro-Vickers trial?
British Specialists
Who was Yagoda?
- member of checka in 1920
- 1930 in charge of labour camps
- 1934-1936 in charge of NKVD
- accused of being a ‘Trotskyite conspiracist in 1937
- shot in March 1938
What did Yagoda propose in 1929/30?
To build on the corrective-labour camps established by Lenin - this would create a new series of camps with 50,000 prisoners per camp
What does gulag mean?
‘economic colony’ - a way of exploiting the prison population
What problem did the White Sea Canal pose?
100,000 prisoners were employed in 1932 - 25,000 died in the winter 1931/32
- when opened it proved useless to bigger shipping
- it was only 12 feet in depth
What was the ‘crisis of 1932’?
A series of events that provoked Stalins paranoia
What were the events in 1932?
- Stalin’s wife suicide, letter stating she criticised Stalin and sympathise with his political enemies
- 1932 ‘Great/Terror Famine’ in Ukraine, caused by Stalin
- two opposition groups emerged
When was Bukharin re-elected to the Central Committee?
June 1930
What were the opposition groups of 1932?
- informal ‘Old Bolsheviks’ group
- Ryutin Platform
What was the outcome of these opposition groups?
- first, were arrested with the leader removed from the Party
- second, Ryutin and inner circle arrested (Stalin called for their execution but was ruled over the Politburo for this)
What did the Ryutin Platform do?
Sent an appeal to remove Stalin
Who else was arrested?
24 old bolsheviks, including Zinoviev and Kamenev
When was Ryutin killed?
1937
When was a general purge of the Party announced?
April 1933
What was the Kirov Affair?
- 17th Party Congress
- Stalin voted 150 negative
- Split opened about pace of industrialisation
- Kirov was strongly supported
- Kirov murdered
What was abolished at the 17th Party Congress?
The title ‘Party Secretary’ and replace with ‘Secretary of equal rank’
When was Kirov murdered?
1 Dec 1934
What was passed the day after Kirov’s murder?
Law giving Yagoda the power to make arrests to anyone suspicious of ‘terrorist plotting’
How many were arrested in December?
6500
Who were arrested in January 1935?
Zinoviev, Kamenev and 17 others accused of terrorism
How many were arrested in 1935?
11,00 former people
How many party members were expelled in 1935?
250,000
When did the ‘Great Terrror’ occur?
1936-1938
Who was involved in the show trial of August 1936?
Zinoviev and Kamenev
What were Zinoviev and Kamenev found guilty of?
A Trotsky inspired plot to kill Stalin
What was the outcome of the August 1936 show trial?
All were executed
Who replaced Yagoda in 1936 as head of NKVD?
Yezhov
Who was accused in the January 1937 Show Trial?
17 prominent communists
How many were sentenced to death in the January 1937 show trial?
13 after confessing
When was Bukarin expelled from the party?
1937
What was the show trial in May/June 1937 focusing on?
Military
Who was accused in the military show trial in 1937?
‘heroes of the Civil War’
What happened to the 767 High Command?
- 512 executed
- 29 died in prison
- 13 committed suicide
- 59 placed in jail
When did the third Political show trial take place?
March 1938
Who was involved in the March 1938 show trial?
Bolsheviks like Bukharin and Yagoda
What were the March 1938 show trial accused of?
Trotsky-Zinoviev collaboration to assassinate leaders, all were shot
What was the Yezhovshchina?
A purge of the ordinary citizens
When was the Yezhovshchina?
1937-1938
When was Yezhov replaced? Who by?
Beria in December 1938
How many of the CC at the 17th Party Congress were arrested and shot?
70%
How many national minorities were put on trial?
350,000
How many members of the NKVD were arrested?
23,000
Who was used as a scapegoat for the ‘Great Terror’?
Yezhov - shot in February 1940
Who was sent to labour camps?
- bourgeois specialists
- saboteurs
- engineers
