The Great Terror Flashcards
How did the Congress of Victors cause the Red Terror?
- Vote for Central Committee - Kirov got 1,225 votes whereas Stalin only got 927
- Some Bolsheviks anonymously approached Kirov trying to persuade him to stand as General Secretary
- Exposed insecurity of Stalin’s powerand fed into his paranoia culmiating in hard repercussions for the majority
- 70% of those who were elected at the Congress were arrested and shot
COUNTER SK: Many people praised Stalin at the Congress for the preceding year’s harvest, former opposition had acknowledged their sins and praised Stalin also
How did Stalin’s paranoia cause the Red Terror?
- Zinoviev, Kamanev, and Bukharin were still in the party and he didn’t trust that they had truly converted in support of Stalin. They were former rivals and all knew the truth about Stalin’s rise to power and heard Lenin’s Testament
- Yagoda, second in command of the OGPU attempted to gain Stalin’s favour by fueling his suspicions and giving extensive reports of discontent in the countryside
- Stalin’s paranoia lead him to believe that brutal surpression was necessary
COUNTER SK: Criticism was often directed at local officials and not Stalin - he actually recieved millions of letters praising him and asking for help
How did terror economics cause the Great Terror?
- Difficulties in the 5 Year Plans were blamed on ‘wreckers’ in the workforce pushing guilt away from Stalin e.g. trial of Shakhty engineers, the trial of state farm and agricultural officials in 1933 both found guilty of economic sabotage
- Purges also created a reservoir of cheap labour - prison camps who worked on major soviet building projects e.g. Magnitotogorsk
- Out of 274,670 convictions in 1936 only 1,180 ended in execution
COUNTER SK: 5 Year Plan was quite successful - 14% annual industrial growth rate, at the same time as Western Great Depression - no need to hide economic ‘failings’
How did the death of Kirov cause the Red Terror?
- Kirov helped defeat Stalin when he pushed to get Riutin executed for circulating a document that was highly critical of Stalin
- in 1934 Kirov was murdered by a lone gunman. Stalin blamed Leonid Nikolayev and accused Zinoviev and Kamanev of conspiracy
- Within hours of Kirov’s death, Stalin issued a decree authorising the swift execution of his political oppnonets
- Kirov’s death gave Stalin final justification needed for the Red Terror
COUNTER SK: Stalin’s purges may have already begun secretly - NKVD had previously withdrawn all but 4 of Kirov’s body guards - Stalin may have been involved in the assassination
What change was made to the NKVD in 1936 and why?
- Yagoda was replaced as head of the NKVD by the more radical Yezhov
- Stalin did not trust Yagoda was loyal as a 1928 secret report claimed that he supported Bhukarin and the right wing over Stalin
- Stalin also saw him as incompetent and that he could’ve been harsher in handling the Kirov affair and the Trial of the Sixteen
What changes were made to the NKVD in 1937 and why?
- When Yezhov became leader in 1937, Stalin announced the organisation was 4 years behind and set targets for arrests, executions, and exiles in order to speed it up
- Many of the old NKVD felt loyalty to Bukharin and Rykov and were opposed to indiscriminate terror in what should’ve been a socialist society
- As such, the NKVD was purged and many were replaced with new members who were either thugs or career administrators who met targets to gain promotion
- There was a renewed vigour in the NKVD and the new recruits set out persecuting enemies of the people
What evidence is there that the secret police helped Stalin consolidate power?
Kept people subdued through fear. Could not trust anyone due to unknown nature of secret police - ensured both covert and overt compliance:
- OGPU would storm into people’s homes in the early hours of the morning
- When Stalin became leader he issued a public decree that gave the OGPU authority to seek out ‘hostile elements’
- The NKVD enforced soviet policy ruthlessly both inside and outside the party using torture which was sanctioned by a special decree of the state
What evidence is there that the secret police DID NOT help Stalin consolidate power?
Counter SK
Unlike the Cheka, the OGPU could not shoot counter revolutionaries at will - suspected criminals had to be brought before a judge
What evidence is their that purges and show trials helped Stalin consolidate power?
- Trial of the Sixteen 1936 allowed him to execute Zinoviev and Kamanev after they gave false confessions.
- Trial of the Seventeen 1937 dealt with Trotsky and his supporters. 13/17 were executed with the remaining 4 sent to gulags
- Doctrine of ‘Sharepening of the Class Struggle’ convinced other party members that more right wing members like Bukharin were hindering the party from becoming truly socialist
- Trial of the Twenty One 1938 - Bukharin, Rykov, and their accomplices were executed after giving false confessions
What evidence is their that purges and show trials DID NOT help Stalin consolidate power?
Counter SK
The purges of the early 1930s began peacefully with members simply losing their party card for being a hinderance to Stalin’s plans and authority
What evidence is there that the gulags helped Stalin consolidate power?
- Under Stalin, new camps were set up in the frozen artic north and Siberia
- Hard labour - 14 hour working day with poor conditions - disease was rife and mass malnourishment was common
- This shows the gulags would be a strong deterrent against opposing Stalin
- By 1941 the forced labour system had engaged about 3,350,000 prisoners - Stalin was able to physically remove many oppositions
- The gulags provided a cheap labour force which would support his 5 Year Plans thus gaining him party support as his policies were successful
What evidence is there that the gulags DID NOT help Stalin consolidate power?
Counter SK
- There are reports of slow work and faked productivity levels in gulags
- There was cultural and religious development in camps
- Thus, although opposition could be sent away they didn’t become compliant in these camps
CONSENSUS: The produndity of their threat still decreased
