Terror Complete

Question 1

Lenin’s legacy of terror?

Answer 1

Established Cheka in December 1917
‘Sharp sword of revolution’
1922- Establishment of OGPU- supervised network of labour camps

Question 2

How did Stalin initially extend terror? - not physical

Answer 2

He expelled Trotsky from the party in 1929 and Bukharin was removed from the politburo
1930– expelled some of his former supporters after criticising the excesses of collectivisation

Question 3

Define State Terror?

Answer 3

A means to control the population and remove opposition through control and fear

Question 4

What was the Shakhty trial?

Answer 4

In 1928 managers and workers of the Shakhty coal mine questioned the pace of industrialisation and were then accused of counter revolutionary activity. They were given a public show trial in which they were forced to confess- 5 executed and others received long prison sentences

Question 5

Who was Ryutin?

Answer 5

Former Moscow Party secretary and a ‘rightist’ who called for the removal of Stalin from the party. He wrote a 200 page document entitled Stalin and the crisis of the Proletariat dictatorship.

Question 6

Outcome for Ryutin?

Answer 6

Stalin wanted him executed but was over-ruled by Kirov and Ryutin was imprisoned for 10 years

Question 7

Who else suffered in the Ryutin plot?

Answer 7

Zinoviev and Kamenev as they failed to report on this document
By 1934 1/5 of party had been branded Ryutinites and were expelled

Question 8

When was NKVD established?

Answer 8

1934

Question 9

Who were the leaders of the NKVD?

Answer 9

Yagoda, Yezhov and Beria

Question 10

Background of Yagoda?

Answer 10

Joined Cheka at end of Civil War

Responsible for preparing the first major show trial in 1936

Question 11

When did Kirov oppose Stalin?

Answer 11

17th Party Congress- he spoke out against maintaining such a fast pace of industrialisation- he supported the abolishment of forcible grain seizures and an increase in workers rations
He received a standing ovation

Question 12

Impact of 17th party congress?

Answer 12

There was no longer the title of General Secretary instead Stalin and Kirov along with two others were given the title ‘ Secretary of Equal Rank’
Opportunity to share blame for eco crisis but a reduction of Stalin’s power

Question 13

When was Kirov murdered?

Answer 13

December 1934

Question 14

Who did Stalin blame for the murder?

Answer 14

Trotsky- said it was his attempt to overthrow the party

Question 15

What was published straight after Kirov’s death?

Answer 15

A decree allowing Yagoda- Head of NKVD- power to arrest and execute anyone found guilty of terrorist plotting
100 party members were shot and thousands more arrested and sent to prison camps

Question 16

How was death penalty extended?

Answer 16

June 1935 applied to anyone of subversive activity

Question 17

Nature of Kirov murder?

Answer 17

As he approached his office in the Leningrad Headquarters he was shot in the neck by Nikolayev- whose wife was possibly having an affair with Kirov
Nikolayev claimed NKVD knew about murder- some NKVD men were mysteriously killed in a car accident and others imprisoned for failing to protect Kirov- lenient treatment

Question 18

Downfall of Yagoda?

Answer 18

Pleaded guilty in 1938 to allowing Nikolayev to reach Kirov however since Yagoda was on trial himself- failed to uncover the conspiracy of Z and K and had failed to secure confessions of B and R who S wanted to implicate- he may not have been telling the truth

Question 19

Impact of assasination?

Answer 19

Signal for regime to tighten its hold over the country and begin widespread purges

Question 20

What was a show trial?

Answer 20

Public trial to which foreign journalists were invited and their function was to prove that the USSR and Stalin were facing opposition from enemies of the state- therefore the punishment they faced was justified

Question 21

Reality definition of show trial?

Answer 21

A way in which Stalin could remove his enemies- past, present or future- maintain authority- retain popularity

Question 22

How were show trials staged?

Answer 22

The verdict was never in doubt and the purpose was to demonstrate the accused’s guilt preferbly with a public admission of betraying the revolution and people

Question 23

What was the NKVD role in show trial?

Answer 23

They were to try extract a signed confession from the accused in the month leading up to the trial

Question 24

Forms of interrogation used by NKVD?

Answer 24

Subtle pressure and promises, starvation, physical and mental torture and threats to the defendant and his family

Question 25

New punishment law April 1935?

Answer 25

Children over the age of 12 were to be subject to the same punishments as adults including the death penality

Question 26

When was first major show trial?

Answer 26

August 1936 19th-24th

Question 27

What was the first show trial?

Answer 27

Kamenev and Zinoviev were to publicy be trialled for propagandist purposes
Both were accused of an alliance with Trotsky, stirring up discontent and plotting to kill Stalin
14 others were accused along side them

Question 28

Downfall of Tomsky?

Answer 28

Was under investigation for complicity with Zinoviev, half way through Z show trial S visited Tomsky with a bottle of wine and Tomsky ordered S to leave and soon after shot himself

Question 29

Outcome of first show trial?

Answer 29

Both Z and K confessed
Vishinsky - the prosecutor- closed his speech with ‘I demand that these mad dogs be shot, every last one of them’
All defendants were sentenced to death, including Trotsky in absentia

Question 30

Other significant event in year of 1936?

Answer 30

Stalin Constitution drafted by B was introduced- it was to celebrate the achievement of socialism- Stalin claimed his constitution was the ‘most democratic in the world’

Question 31

What did the constitution promise?

Answer 31

Local autonomy to ethnic groups and support for national cultures and languages
4 years elections with everyone over 18 being given the right to vote including former people- bourgeois elites- who had previously been denied the right to vote

Question 32

Main intention of constitution?

Answer 32

Impress foreigners- the promises were often ignored

Stalin did not allow any Union-republic to leave the union