Show Trials

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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.

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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