NKVD

The NKVD (Secret Police)

In 1934, the OGPU was reorganized to create a new secret police force known as the NKVD. The job of the NKVD was to continue to stamp out any opposition to communist rule.

Enemies of the people

A common crime pursued by the NKVD was being an ‘enemy of the people’.
Such crimes were tried by 3-person troikas of NKVD officers, often on the basis of minimal evidence.
- People were tried for contact with foreigners, not cutting pictures of Trotsky from textbooks.

Techniques

The NKVD used extreme techniques, including mass arrests, forced confessions, and informants. Many political prisoners were executed.
From 1935, the NKVD had quotas for how many arrests it needed to make.
- This meant that citizens were often arrested for no crime at all.

The GULAGS

A system of camps, known as ‘GULAGS’ were set up. They housed 8 million prisoners by 1941.
Many were political prisoners, but there were also peasants, workers convicted of wrecking (disrupting factory work) and those who had been arrested just to meet quotas.
The GULAGS provided huge amounts of slave labour for industry and the railroads. They were particularly prevalent in the east, particularly in Siberia.

1The Leadership Struggle, 1924-1929

1.1Struggle for Power 1924-28

1.1.1Stalin & his Rivals

1.1.2The End of Lenin & Stalin

1.1.3Stalin & the Communist Party

2Five Year Plans & Collectivisation

2.1Changes in Industry

2.1.1Industrialisation & Gosplan

2.2Agriculture & Collectivisation

2.2.1Five Year Plans & Grain Hoarding

2.2.2Collectivisation

2.2.3Kulaks

3Purges, Show Trials & The Cult of Stalin

3.1The Use of Terror in the 1930s

3.1.1Purges

3.1.2NKVD

3.1.3Show Trials

3.1.4Labour Camps

3.2Propaganda & Censorship

3.2.1Art & Religion Under Stalin

3.2.2Media & the Cult of Stalin

3.2.3The Cult of Stalin

3.2.4History

4Life in the Soviet Union, 1924-1941

4.1Life in the Soviet Union

4.1.1Living Conditions & Ethnic Minorities in the USSR

5The Second World War, 1941-1953

5.1USSR in the War

5.1.11941-1942

5.1.21943-1945

5.2Stalin & WW2

5.2.1Stalin's Popularity

5.2.2Post-War Consolidation

5.3Post-War Recovery

5.3.1Economic Recovery

5.3.2The USSR by 1953

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