Stalin's show trials 1936-38

Question 1

Trial of the 16 excuse

Answer 1

Dec 1931, Sergei Kirov assassinated. NKVD arrested thousands of Bolsheviks, including Zinoviev + Kaminev. Show trials organised for propaganda.

Question 2

Trial of 16 - what happened

Answer 2

All 16 charged with involvement in plot to kill Kirov + overthrow gov. Stalin promised not to kill Kaminev + Zinoviev if they confessed. They was no evidence, all executed

Question 3

Trial of the 17 - date

Answer 3

Jan 1937

Question 4

Trial of the 17

Answer 4

17 influential party members charged with being conspirators in the Anti-Soviet Trotskyist Centre. When tortured, they implicated other officers + high ups eg. Rykov + Bukharin

Question 5

Red army Purge

Answer 5

Many in the Red Army served under Trotsky -> Stalin couldn’t trust them. May 1937 NKVD announced they discovered a Trotskyist organisation in the army, 8 commanders charged with passing military secrets to Germany. Purge of 30,000 officers

Question 6

Trial of the 21 - date

Answer 6

March 1938

Question 7

Trial of the 21 - who was tried

Answer 7

Bukharin (Editor in Chief of Pravda), Rykov (PM)
Yagoda (Former Head of NKVD) + 18 others

Question 8

Trial of the 21 - charges

Answer 8

Plot to kill Stalin+ Lenin + enemy collaboration. Yagoda charged with German spying, misuse of power+ trying to kill his successor. Bukharin managed to disprove several of his claims

Question 9

Show trials outcomes

Answer 9

1.2mill killed+13mill died from gulag conditions
Show trials formed great purge of Stalin’s real + imaginary foes
Old Bolsheviks gone

Question 10

Stalinism

Answer 10

Centralised control of industry + agriculture + totalitarian Stalin rule