Stalinism, Politics And Control 1929 - 1941

Question 1

Machinery of state terror

Answer 1

Emerged under Lenin who established Cheka in December 1917 and from 1922-1934 security functions carried out by OGPU.
Stalin extended terror - expected Trotsky from USSR and removed bukharin from the politburo in 1929

Question 2

Early purges

Answer 2

1930, Stalin expelled some of his former supporters for criticising excesses of collectivisation
Shakhty trial 1928, managers and technicians at Charley coal mine questioned pace of industrialisation and were handed snow trials, were executed + gosplan was purged of critics end of 1st FYP - renewed signs of opposition particularly due to 1932- famines

Question 3

Ryutin platform

Answer 3

circulated a 200 page document calling for Stalins dismissal and an end to forced collectivisation in march 1932 - stalin called for execution and although he was overruled (showing he did not have full control yet) Zinoviev, Kamenev and 14 others were spelled for failing to report the document

Question 4

NKVD

Answer 4

USSR internal security passed to NKVD in 1934 led by Yagoda and then Yezhov
ordinary police under control of NKVD and labour camps reorganised into national network - Gulags

Question 5

17th party congress

Answer 5

split between stalin and others who spoke about stopping forced grain seizures
title of general secretary was abolished and replaced with ‘secretary of equal rank’ for kirov and stalin

Question 6

kirovs murder 1934

Answer 6

december 1934 by nikolayev- stalin was quick to claim this was a Trotskyite plot
decree then published giving Yagoda power to arrest, execute anyone found guilty of treason plotting - over 100 party members shot
Jan 1935 - Zinoviev and Kamenev imprisoned

Question 7

the show trials

Answer 7

tool in Stalinist russia - public trials to justify disposal of enemies of the state while still retaining popularity, predetermined outcome - task of NKVD to extract confession
april 1935 - new law passed that children over the age of 12 would be subject to the same punishments as adults
19-24 August 1936 - Zinoviev and Kamenev accused of alliance with Trotsky and plotting to kill Stalin, 14 others accused alongside them, defendants confessed despite no material evidence and were executed
Sept 1936 - Yagoda replaced Yezhov as had not been active enough and failed to secure confession of Rykov and Bukharin

Question 8

Stalin constitution 1936

Answer 8

Drafted by Bukharin
declared that socialism had been achieved
proclaimed USSR as a federation of 11 republics - promised local autonomy to ethnic groups
elections every four years with everyone over the age of 18 having the right to vote, including former people
freedom of speech, right to an education and welfare
these promised rights were largely ignored and central control exercised over republics budgets and little real regional independence

Question 9

mass terror and repression at local levels

Answer 9

July 1937, NKVD Order 00447 drawn up by Yezhov, established small NKVD committees at regional levels. These were to classify Kulaks and anti soviet enemies, work to a system of quotas
an arrest list was drawn up including managers and scientists, in theory these quotas could not be exceeded but in practice it was easy to obtain Yezhovs approval
within a month, over 100,000 had been arrested and 14,000 sent to the Gulags
NKVD became keen to root out those considered dangerous, party officials were often denounced and everyone was encouraged to root out hidden enemies

Question 10

mass terror and repression at central level - Trial of 17, January 1937

Answer 10

17 prominent communists who were accused of plotting with Trotsky, spying and sabotaging industry
13 sentenced to death

Question 11

mass terror and repression at central level - Military purge May- June 1937

Answer 11

fearing a military coup, Stalin ordered the arrest of Tukhachevsky (commissar for defence) - accused of plotting with Trotsky and 6 other top military commanders were executed in June 1937
‘great purge’ of the red armer - 11 war commissars, all but one of senior air force commanders - approx 50% of military officers were executed or imprisoned and around 1/4 of these reinstated by 1940
1937-38, 74 million officers were shot for refusing to approve the execution of people whom the officials believed innocent

Question 12

mass terror and repression at central level - Trial of 21, March 1938

Answer 12

21 prominent communists accused of belonging to a Trotskyite bloc - Bukharin, Rykov, Yagoda and Tomsky (committed suicide before). They faced wild and fabricated claims like plotting to kill Lenin and conspiring with the Germans. Bukharin proved a tough opponent and held out for 3 months until threats were made to his wife and child, only admitted to sum of crimes but not specific allegations, he and 17 others were executed
similar trials occurred throughout rest of USSR - provided an opportunity to settle old scores, remove those stood in the way of a promotion. Order 00447 led lower ranking party members to denounce those above them - 1/3 of all party members had been purged by the end if 1938

Question 13

The Gulags

Answer 13

1930s more Gulags were built to provide cheap labour for Stalin’s projects and house political prisoners. But from 1937 they took on a new and sinister aspect. 800,000 in 1935 to between 5 and 9 mill by 1939
deliberately worked to death or outright murdered, prisoners no longer capable of ‘re-education’ and the possibility of early release due to good behaviour disappeared
conditions in camp were appalling - meagre rations, inadequate clothing, poor and overcrowded accommodation
work expectations were high, physical demands excessive
mortality rates were 4-6 times higher than the rest of the USSR

Question 14

treatment of national minorities

Answer 14

republics were hit by economic change and suffered from a wave of national deportations from 1937
Korean minority deported to Central Asia, Poles and Germans were deported and extensive purges were carried out in newly annexed Poland and Baltic states
1941, over 400,000 Volga Germans deported to Siberia and Central Asia
‘national communists; within republics were purged and the entire leadership of the non-Russian republics was replaced
anti-Semitic attitudes revived, 2 mill Jews incorporated in 1939 due to the invasion of Eastern Poland, many Rabbis were arrested
anti-religious campaigns spread to Ukraine and Belorussia, persecution of Muslims in central Asian republics from 1928

Question 15

end of purges and death of Trotsky

Answer 15

continued well into WW2, pace slowed down after 1938
Yezhovschina had threatened to destabilise the State, industry and administration suffered. Stalin used Yezhov as a scapegoat, accusing him of excessive zeal and at the 18th party congress, declared mass cleansings were no longer needed
Yezhov was arrested, tried in secret and shot in February 1940
August 1940, Trotsky had been tracked down by Stalinist agents in Mexico City and killed by an ice pick to the head. Stalin ensured that the last of the old bolsheviks who might have had a greater claim to leadership had gone

Question 16

responsibility for the terror and purges

Answer 16

little doubt that Stalin was crucial in both starting and stopping the purges. No stranger to violence but little to anticipate scale of terror in 1930s except ruthlessness persecution of peasants during collectivisation
stalin’s wife suicide in 1932 - key moment in industrialisation of terror
stalin was obsessed with reinforcing his own position and eliminating possible rivals, personally responsible for encouraging and ending Purges
many of those anxious about terror did not believe stalin was responsible - cult of personality
- Terror was integral part of communist state - 1917 revolution, Civil war, Stalin just applied more ruthlessly and on a larger scale
-Necessary part of economic change - remove Kulaks, provide slave labour and provide scapegoats
- work of over-zealous officials in provinces who followed their own independent agenda
-response to the real threat of a military coup involving the Germans
-self-escalating, used by individuals who wanted to settle old scores, get rid of rivals and open avenues for promotion

Question 17

impact of the terror and purges

Answer 17

Stalin was in a position of supreme power with absolute control over the party - removed potential rivals and party was compliant tool of Stalin
Central committee had lost power to control membership by expulsion
expulsion of 850,000 members between 1936 and 1937. By 1939, less than 10% of the party had joined before 1920
23,000 officers were shot or dismissed, new officers had to be recruited, difficult to find and train this many - failures in early parts of WW2
deprived of skilled professionals - teachers, engineers etc. persecuted at a time when rapid industrialisation required their expertise