The Terror & the Purges

The Purges under Stalin - 1930s

Purges describe the mass arrests, imprisonment and execution of political prisoners, dissidents or threats to Stalin in the USSR. By 1933, 18% of Communist party members had been expelled for disloyalty. The Great Purge (or Great Terror) was between 1936 and 1938.

The purges

The purges were used as a way to distract people from economic issues and challenges and to secure Stalin's position.
Executions were used to set an example to other potential dissenters (opponents of the regime) or threats to Stalin.
Purges helped to control communist party bosses in small towns, and to prevent corruption and disloyalty to the Party leadership (Stalin).
Explosions in the Keremovo mines in 1936 were blamed on enemies, rather than unsafe conditions.

Reason for the purges

Stalin wanted to deal with any potential internal opposition and strengthen his position.
Stalin was concerned about Hitler and Nazi Germany rearming in the second half of the 1930s.
The purges were a way for the Communists to forcibly take control across Russia. They did not have full control over all areas.
Thousands of powerful people in the Communist party and army were killed in the purges.

Show trials

'Show trials’ were an important part of the purges. They made examples of people who Stalin disapproved of.
Factory managers who were accused of 'wrecking' (acts against the state e.g giving wrong commands) were often put through show trials.
Factory managers resented extremely productive workers known as Stakhanovites, and were blamed alongside supposed ‘experts’ for economic failures.
Any people who were potential threats to Stalin's political power, like the 'Old Bolsheviks' were tried and executed.

The end of the ‘Old Bolsheviks’

The purges killed many of the 'Old Bolsheviks' like Kamenev and Zinoviev. These were the communists who had been in the party in the early days of the Russian revolution of 1917.
Executing or discrediting any rivals allowed Stalin to consolidate his position fully at the top of the Communist party.
Stalin was suspicious of the army's power so he tried to weaken it. There is no evidence of any plots against Stalin within the army, but 35,000 officers were still arrested between 1937 and 1938.

Kamenev and Zinoviev

Zinoviev and Kamenev were candidates to lead the Communist party after Lenin's death.
Kamenev and Zinoviev were executed in August 1936 after a show trial during the Great Purges. They were blamed for killing a Communist party official, Kirov and for attempting to kill Stalin. They reportedly pled guilty to avoid execution, but were executed anyway.
Kamenev's sons were executed in 1938 and 1939 and his wife was executed in 1941.
Kamenev & Zinoviev were cleared by the Soviet government in 1988.

The Great Terror, 1937-38

As many ‘experts’ were arrested and removed during the purges, the development of the Soviet Union was stunted.
As many as 8 million people were arrested during the Great Terror (1937-38). 1 million were shot. 2 million died in the labour camps. The numbers are still disputed by historians.
- The vast majority were, however, innocent of any crimes.

Kirov and Yagoda

Sergei Kirov, a Bolshevik party leader in Leningrad was killed in December 1934. This sparked mass arrests and repression increased after this. Some historians suggest that the murder was planned by Stalin/the state and was an excuse for the Great Purge.
Genrikh Yagoda, the head of the NKVD (Soviet intelligence agency), was exectued in March 1938 for 'wrecking', Trotskyism and for failing to arrest enough ‘enemies of the people’. Yagoda had overseen the show trials and execution of Kamenev and Zinoviev.

The 'Show Trials' of 1936–1938

‘Show trials’ were used for high profile prisoners.

Public nature of the 'Show Trials'

Most ordinary people were not given the right to a trial. Show trials were for high profile Russians.
The script was written in advance for show trials and everyone knew what the outcome would be.
Films of the 1936-38 show trials were released around the world.

The most high-profile trials

Zinoviev and Kamenev’s trial took place in 1936.
They were made to confess to aiding the now-exiled Trotsky in terrorist activities.
Bukharin then received his show trial in 1938.
Stalin had fully eliminated all of his former rivals.

The outcome

People often confessed to crimes they had not committed in the hope of mercy, in an attempt to protect their loved ones and because of their fear of torture.
The show trials created the impression of the existence of a real threat to the USSR from internal enemies.
Many workers actually supported the show trials, because it gave them a way to denounce their bosses for personal reasons, and to get them fired or arrested as a result.

The Army and Labour Camps

The effects of purges were wide-ranging and led to many members of society ending up in labour camps.

The army

Stalin purged the Russian armed forces.
81 of 103 generals and admirals were killed.

Labour camps

Labour camps in Russia were known as the gulags.
20 million Russians ended up in gulags during Stalin's rule.
The gulags were mainly located in Siberia.
Half of those sent to the gulags died.

1The End of Tsardom

1.1Russia's Economy & Society

1.1.1Industrialisation

1.1.2Living & Working Conditions

1.2Nicholas II's Autocracy & the Court

1.2.1Growth of Revolutionary Opposition

1.2.2The 1905 Revolution & the October Manifesto

1.2.3Reforming Russia Before 1914 - Stolypin

1.2.4The Duma & Political Stalemate

1.3The First World War

1.3.1The Impact of Military Defeats

1.3.2Social & Economic Effects of WW1

1.3.3Romanov Unpopularity

1.3.4The Tsar's Abdication

1.3.5Top Grade AO2/3 - The End of Tsardom

2Lenin's New Society

2.1The Provisional Government

2.1.1The Failure of the Government

2.1.2Social & Economic Problems

2.1.3Lenin & Trotsky

2.1.4The Growth of the Bolsheviks

2.1.5The October / November Revolution

2.1.6Top Grade AO2/3 - The Provisional Government

2.2The Impact of Lenin's Dictatorship

2.2.1The End of the First World War

2.2.2The Cheka

2.2.3Red Terror & Centralisation

2.2.4The Civil War & The Red Army

2.2.5Propaganda

2.2.6Top Grade AO2/3 - Early Bolshevism & the Civil War

2.3Social & Economic Developments

2.3.1War Communism

2.3.2The Kronstadt Rising

2.3.3The New Economic Policy (NEP)

2.3.4The Achievements of Lenin & Trotsky

2.3.5Top Grade AO2/3 - Social & Economic Developments

3Stalin's USSR

3.1Stalin the Dictator

3.1.1The Power Struggle to Succeed Lenin

3.1.2The Communist Party & Government

3.1.3The Terror & the Purges

3.1.4The Secret Police

3.1.5Cult of Personality

3.1.6Propaganda & Censorship under Stalin

3.1.7Top Grade AO2/3 - Stalin's Dictatorship

3.2Stalin's Modernisation of the USSR

3.2.1Collectivisation

3.2.2Five Year Plans

3.2.3Social & Economic Consequences

3.2.4Social & Economic Consequences 2

3.2.5The Extent of Modernisation

3.3Impact of the Second World War

3.3.1Stalin's Wartime Leadership

3.3.2Political, Economic & Social Consequences of War

3.3.3Top Grade AO2/3 - Modernisation of the USSR

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