The Role of Yagoda Flashcards
YAGODA keen to PROVE LOYALTY to Stalin + Ambitious nature =
Concerted attempt to build up his own empire
Under Lenin, labour camps had been places to reform class enemies. Established first 1919
What did Yagoda do to labour camps?
Rapidly expanded the under gulag —> VAST system of forced labour to support industrialisation
What does gulag stand for?
Chief Administration of Corrective Labour Camps
What did Yagoda do, using his influence with Stalin, to the role of courts in Secret Police?
Ensured secret police could deal with their opponents without court interference
Under Yagoda, what did the considerations of labour camps shift to?
From ideological to economic
What were Yagoda’s economic considerations w the gulag?
They provided a pool of labour
To exploit the economic resources of the Soviet Union
In places where no one would willingly work
Gulag conditions?
HOSTILE
Died of extreme cold/starvation— along with guards and guard dogs
Yahoda oversaw the completion of what grandiose project?
The White Sea Canal
How many gulag workers were used in the construction of the White Sea Canal?
How did they dig?
180,000
By hand, without machines…
How long was the White Sea Canal?
141 miles
Positives/ negatives in construction of White Sea Canal?
+ completed under budget
+ in less than 2 years
- at least 10,000 died
- only dug to 12 feet to cut costs—> useless to most
When and why did Yagoda’s influence increase?
1936 Great Purge
It rose as the number of arrested opponents increased
Yagoda’s task during the purges?
Arresting party Trotskyists.
When was Yagoda removed from office?
Why?
1936
- incompetence with safeguarding Kirov
- not persecuting opponents with sufficient enthusiasm
When was Yagoda shot?
1938
