Presentation for POL 328 Dr. Kevin Lasher

Stalin in Power, 1929-53 Collectivization of agriculture Industrialization Repression and Great Terror Great Patriotic War Early Cold War with US

Terror -- violence or threats of violence used as a means of intimidation or coercion.

Stalinist Great Terror What was it? Attack on party members and military officials Show trials of Old Bolsheviks Intensified repression of millions (?) of Soviet citizens Creation of a mind-set of fear and obedience throughout Soviet society 1937-38

Stalinist Great Terror Why did it occur? Because Stalin was evil and insane (not really)

Stalinist Great Terror Why did it occur? Fed Stalin’s need for absolute power Eliminate any possible opposition to Stalin New blood: create party absolutely loyal to Stalin To terrorize/atomize society Manpower for GULAGs International threats (?) Excesses of “little Stalins”

Totalitarianism A form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life, the individual is subordinated to the state, and opposing political and cultural expression is suppressed.

Totalitarianism An official ideology A single mass party Terroristic police control Monopoly of communication Monopoly of control of armed forces Central control of economy CJ Friedrich and Z. Brzezinski, Totalitarian Dictatorship and Autocracy.

Totalitarianism Stalinist Variant Stalin’s cabinet Stalin’s secret police Show trials GULAGs Cult of personality

Great Terror, in context 1918-36: Considerable repression with Red Terror, GULAGs, collectivization, de-kulakization, famine, arrests, other actions 1939-53: Considerable repression with GULAGs, deportation of ethnic groups, persecution of returning Soviet POWs, persecution of East Europeans, mini-purges, attacks on Jews, other actions 1937-38: Highly intensive attack on party officials and Soviet citizens (also, randomness)

Congress of Victors: 1934 17th Party Congress in which CPSU “celebrates” the victory of collectivization and industrialization.

Congress of Victors: 1934 Kamenev, Zinoviev, Bukharin and others humiliate themselves by praising Stalin’s greatness There is a sense of accomplishment (or at least survival) but also a hope that some kind of normalcy will return to USSR Improving collectivization and industrialization Sense that Stalin’s methods were too extreme

Congress of Victors: 1934 Popular leader of Leningrad Party (Russian) Group of delegates approach Kirov about making him General Secretary (replacing Stalin) Kirov declines and notifies Stalin Sergei Kirov

Congress of Victors: 1934 For Central Committee, Stalin receives 300 negative votes while Kirov receives 3 Votes are falsified with both receiving 3 negative votes Sergei Kirov

Congress of Victors: 1934 Regardless of the details, election results showed that there was still a party faction opposed to Stalin’s leadership How serious was this opposition? Any opposition to Stalin’s power was unacceptable by this time He decided to rebuild the CPSU to create a totally obedient organization

Congress of Victors: 1934 Later on 1108/1966 party delegates were arrested and either shot or sent to GULAG 98/139 delegates elected to Central Committee were arrested and either shot or sent to GULAG -- according to Nikita Khrushchev in 1956

Assassination of Kirov Killed in Leningrad office in December 1934 Historians do not agree whether Stalin ordered the assassination or not Regardless, Stalin takes advantage of Kirov’s murder Sergei Kirov

Assassination of Kirov Stalin works with NKVD to put in place the mechanism of the Great Terror Builds in 1935 and 1936 Kirov’s death is portrayed as part of a grand conspiracy between Trotsky, Zinoviev and other Old Bolsheviks Sergei Kirov

Moscow Show Trials Three stage-managed “trials” in which Old Bolsheviks like Kamenev, Zinoviev, Bukharin, Rykov and others are forced to admit to crimes of attempted assassination plots on Lenin, Stalin and others, cooperation with Nazi Germany and Japan, and efforts to sabotage and destroy the Soviet economy.

Moscow Show Trials Trotsky-Zinoviev Terrorist Center (August 1936) Anti-Soviet Trotskyist Center (January 1937) Anti-Soviet Right-Trotskyite Bloc (March 1938) Kamenev, Zinoviev, Bukharin, Rykov, Yagoda and many other “Old Bolsheviks” who were defeated in 1920s 54 individuals tried and convicted, all but a few are shot with the rest being sent to the GULAG

Yezhov-schina Head of NKVD from September 1936-November 1938 Worked closely with Stalin on the details of arrests and sentencing of “Soviet enemies” Arrested, tried and shot in 1940 Nikolai Yezhov

Targets of Terror Top party and military officials Regional and local party/govt officials Economic managers, trade union leaders, specialists NKVD officials

Targets of Terror Intellectuals, artists, writers, etc. People with “foreign contaminants” “Old enemies” — kulaks, tsarist officials, White Guardists, other parties, clergy, capitalists Colleagues, subordinates, relatives, friends, acquaintances, etc. of above categories Average citizens (for a variety of reasons)

Targets of Terror Party members – from any and all levels Non-party members -- former CPSU, other banned parties, tsarist officials, White Guards, priests, ex-kulaks, ethnic groups, intellectuals, petty criminals, everyday citizens, others

Targets of Terror Both groups faced execution or sentences in the GULAG Probably more executions for party members and more GULAG sentences for non-party members GULAG prisoners – executed, died in prison, released

Targets of Terror 357 lists of names with 44,500 individuals to be shot Provided by NKVD and signed by Stalin and other Politburo members Both party and non-party members “Stalin’s Shooting Lists”

Targets of Terror No stronger evidence that much of Great Terror was planned and controlled by Stalin “Stalin’s Shooting Lists”

Considerations Party members who had “blood on their hands” Oppositionists Concern about 5th column and collaboration with foreign enemies

Considerations There was a kind of “threat” to Stalin and his rule A partial explanation NOT a justification

End of Great Terror Yezhov removed as head of NKVD in summer of 1938 Joint decree of Sovnarkom and Central Committee banned mass operations by NKVD Return to “normal level” of repression in 1939 and beyond

Stalin in Power, 1929-53 Repression and Great Terror Great Patriotic War Early Cold War with US

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