Yezhovschina Flashcards
What happened at the start of the Yezhovschina?
-July 1937 established small NKVD committees at regional and Republic level to search out ‘former kulaks, criminals and other ani-Soviet elements’.
-Sorted them into two categories: death + gulags
-Arrest list drawn up and quotas set.
-Quotas could easily be extended by Stalin.
How many purged within a month?
-Over 100,000 arrests
-14,000 sent to gulags
-NKVD began selecting individuals at random, targeting the easily persuaded.
What was everyone encouraged to do?
-Root out ‘hidden enemies’
-E.g neighbours etc.
-Created huge mistrust everywhere.
What was the Trial of 17?
-Jan 1937
-17 communists accused of trotskyite plot.
What was the military purge?
-May-June 1937
-Stalin feared a military coup
-Mikhail Tukhachevsky + Yan Garnarnik arrested as well as 6 top military commanders
‘Great Purge’ of Red Army = 11 war commissars, 8 admirals and 50% of officer corps in all 3 services.
-Around 1/4 arrested were reinstated by 1940 (war approaching).
What was the Trial of 21?
-March 1938
-Bukharin, Rykov, Yagoda, Tomsky, and other communists accused of trotskyite plot.
-Bukharin refused to give a full confession and was a tough opponent.
What were the gulags?
-Provided cheap labour for industrial projects.
-Surge in inmate numbers from 800,000 in 1935 to 5.5-9.5 million by end of 1938.
-Prisoners deliberately worked to death/murdered outright.
-Possibility of early release and idea of ‘re-education’ abolished.
-Appalling conditions: meagre rations, inadequate clothing, poor and overcrowded conditions and lack of medical provisions.
Treatment of national minorities
Wave of national deportations from 1937.
-Koreans, Poles, Germans.
-1941 over 400,000 Volga Germans deported to Siberia and Central Asia.
-National communists who showed distaste towards Stalin’s policies were purged.
-Revival of antisemitic attitudes.
-Virtually entire party leadership of non-Russian republics replaced 1937-38.
Why did the purges end?
-Threatened to destabilise industry and administration.
-Trotsky tracked down and killed.
-Stalin used Yezhov as a scapegoat and replaced him with Beria.
Evidence that Stalin was responsible for the purges.
-Crucial in starting and ending.
-Suicide of Stalin’s wife possibly contributed.
-Stalin was suspicious, vindictive and paranoid.
-He was obsessed with reinforcing his position and wreaking revenge on fellow Bolsheviks who had been his rivals/opponents.
Other explanations for responsibility of purges.
-Stalin simply applied it more ruthlessly.
-It is part of the communist system.
-Necessary part of economic change.
-Over-zealous officials in provinces who followed their own independent agenda.
-Response to threat of military coup.
-Self-escalating (fear fed on fear).
Impact of the Yezhovschina/purges.
-Stalin in supreme power and dictator.
-All rivals removed.
-Part a compliant tool of Stalin.
-Many ordinary people given chance to ‘shake up’ management due to vacancies in top ranks.
-Loss of experienced army officers detrimental for war.
-Other areas of society deprived of skilled personnel e.g teachers, engineers, specialists.
