Stalin started the purge trials to get rid of anyone who didn’t agree with him. The purge lasted from 1936 to 1938. “The purge came as a reaction to dissatisfied Communist Party members who saw Stalin as an undemocratic bureaucrat with an appetite for corruption” (“Stalin’s Great Purge”, 1). Stalin used it as a way to strike fear into citizens and anyone who opposed him. He was able to rule his country with an iron hand. (“Stalin’s Great Purge”, 1) There were different parts of the purge, the three main purge trials and the secret police. The purge trials were for more political figures, and the secret police worked more behind the scenes. They would be judge, jury, and executioner to seemingly random citizens. Citizens would be falsely accused, …show more content…
The accused consisted of Grigory Yevesyevich Zinovev, Lev Borisovich Kamenev, Ian Smirnov, and 13 more. The group was accused of forming a terrorist group to remove Stalin from power. They were also blamed for the assassination of Sergey Mironovich Kirov. They were all found guilty on August 24, 1936, and were executed. (“Purge Trials”, 1) In January 1937, the second purge trials began. The accused were G.L. Pyatakov, G.Y. Sokolnikov, L.P. Sebryakov, Karl Radek, and 17 other defendants. The group was accused of forming an “anti-Soviet Trotskyite Centre”. They were also accused of sabotaging the soviet economy, and planning to overthrow the soviet government. They were found guilty and almost everyone was executed. The people who were not executed were Sokolnikov, Radek, and two others who were given 10 year sentences. (“Purge Trials”, 1) The third trial was in March 1938. At the trial there were twenty-one defendants who were accused of sabotage, and espionage, with intent to destroy the soviet regime. The defendants were suspected of murdering the secret police chief V.R. Menzhinsk. Nikolay Ivanovich Bukharin was accused of plotting to kill Linen in 1918. All the defendants except three were sentenced to death on March 13, 1938. (“Purge Trials”,
In November of 1945, forty-eight staff members were tried. Including Josef Kramer, eleven members were sentenced to death, nineteen members were imprisoned, which included Herta Bothe, fourteen were set free, and the remaining four were too ill to stand trial. “On December 12, 1945, British military authorities executed Kramer and his codefendants.” (ushmm.org)
Many people were hanged, even though they were innocent. Many years later during the WWII era, there was a lot of speculation about communists and their impact in America. This era was known as the McCarthyism era, because, Sen. McCarthy was the leading America into an anti-communist state. In one case in particular was of a U.S. Air Force Lieutenant, Milo Radulovich, who was released from the Air Force due to the fact that his father, read a newspaper which was from Serbia, because he has a Serbian background, the Air Force believed his was pro-communism, since the newspaper favored communism. The Air Force also believed Milo was pro-communist because, his sister peacefully protested outside a hotel which didn’t allow a communist member to stay at.
As relations changed between Russia and the rest of the world, so did the main historical schools of thought. Following Stalins death, hostilities between the capitalist powers and the USSR, along with an increased awareness of the atrocities that were previously hidden and ignored, led to a split in the opinions of Soviet and Western Liberal historians. In Russia, he was seen, as Trotsky had always maintained, as a betrayer of the revolution, therefore as much distance as possible was placed between himself and Lenin in the schoolbooks of the 50s and early 60s in the USSR. These historians point to Stalin’s killing of fellow communists as a marked difference between himself and his predecessor. Trotsky himself remarked that ‘The present purge draws between Bolshevism and Stalinism… a whole river of blood’[1].
Initially, the first human right that Stalin violated during his reign as dictator of the Soviet Union was everyone is entitled to fair and public hearing by an impartial tribunal. Natasha Petrovskaya was tried three times and still convicted guilty. The judges were biased and were not at all interested. Mikhail Belov was tried by a court of three pro-Bolshevik judges, a troika, and it took 10 minutes to figure out his sentence. Olga Andreyeva was treated unfairly as she did not even get a trial she was simply given 10 years in the G...
In total forty million people died in this massacre. The first people rounded up were the Trotskyites. This massacre matters because forty innocent million people died. Just like what Hitler but Stalin didn’t like Hitler but he did the same thing as hitler but the only difference was that Stalin killed his own people. The people that Stalin they could’ve done some good for the world and they could’ve changed how we thought as humans. But we will never know now because these innocent people are killed. At least one person out of those forty million people killed could’ve done some good. Forty million people that’s a lot of grandchildren that will never see
The Rosenberg Case is still a controversial topic today. With the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the American values such as liberty and tolerance were relegated into the background. With ambiguous evidence, their sentence is viewed as neither legally nor historically defensible. It is the product of the era that the trial took place in, which was ruled by Cold War sentiment, Red Scare and McCarthyism. The case sparked a lot of debate and protest abroad, but the Rosenbergs were nevertheless executed. It remains and will ever remain ambiguous if they were actually Soviet spies, to what extent the information they might have leaked would have been of use to the Soviet Union, and if their executions were justified. But in the McCarthy-era, their executions functioned perfectly for fueling the Red Scare and strengthening the Cold War environment.
The war attracted attention from the police after a while, which led to Police chief David Hennesy getting shot and killed by members of the Matranga. Nine of the Matranga crime family were put on trial for the murder, but before they could be convicted or set free, a lynch mob that was worried that they might be set free, attacked them at their holding cells. Eleven of the mafia members (nine on trial plus two visitors) sucumbed to injuries that they suffered during the attack. None of the lynch mob were charged with murder, because it would be too hard to figure out which members of the mob actually killed them.
...t anarchists put on trial were condemned of conspiracy to murder. Four were hanged, one killed himself, and three were pardoned later. This incident led to the end of the Knights of Labor, which was incorrectly associated with the bomb throwing. It was an all-around bad day.
They could arrest anyone on suspicion of being an enemy of the state without any evidence. But Stalin used the NKVD as a central control to a bigger extent than the Tsar. During the purges (1934-38) the NKVD were vital. They arrested twenty million people in 1937 and created fear amongst communist workers, which became their biggest motivator.
In order to conclude the extent to which the Great Terror strengthened or weakened the USSR, the question is essentially whether totalitarianism strengthened or weakened the Soviet Union? Perhaps under the circumstances of the 1930s in the approach to war a dictatorship may have benefited the country in some way through strong leadership, the unifying effect of reintroducing Russian nationalism and increased party obedience. The effects of the purges on the political structure and community of the USSR can be described (as Peter Kenez asserts) as an overall change from a party led dictatorship to the dictatorship of a single individual; Stalin. Overall power was centred on Stalin, under whom an increasingly bureaucratic hierarchy of party officials worked. During the purges Stalin's personal power can be seen to increase at the cost of the party.
People say that the Stalin’s Great Purges could otherwise be translated as Stalin’s Terror. They grew from his paranoia and his desire to be absolute autocrat, and were enforced the NKVD and public show trials. When someone went against him, he didn’t really take any time in doing something about it. He would “get rid of” the people that went against industrialization and the kulaks. Kulaks were farmers in the later Russian Empire. (“Of Russian Origin: Stalin’s Purges). There were many reasons as to what caused the Great Purges but the main one seems to be Stalin. He believed that the country had to be united under the circumstances that he becomes the leader if it was to be strong. The Soviet Union was industry was weal and in the decline, obviously lacking the capacity to produce enough meal and heavy machinery for the imminent war.
The “Red Scare” was consuming many American’s lives following World War 1. After the war ended, anarchist bombings began, and a general fear of socialists, anarchists, communists, and immigrants swept the nation. There had always been resentment to immigrants in America, and these attacks just intensified these feelings. Americans were concerned that, because the Russian Revolution occurred, that it would happen in America next. The government began sweeping immigrants up and deporting them. Many innocent people were arrested because of their views against democracy. Although Sacco and Vanzetti were on trial for murder, their beliefs of how society should be run was the main focus in the trial.
As a dictator Stalin was very strict about his policies, especially working. For instance. Stalin had set quotas very high , as they were very unrealistic. The workers had very long days, and under the rule of Stalin most people worked many hours in overtime, and resulting in no pay. Stalin treated workers very, very harshly. Those who did not work were exiled to Siberia or killed. Some may say you got what you deserved in Stalin’s time. Those who worked very hard for Stalin sometimes got bonuses such as trips, or goods likes televisions and refrigerators. The workers had to conform to Stalin’s policies . Stalin’s harsh treatment of workers received a very unwelcoming response, but in fact the liberal amount of goods that the workers had made, had in fact
On July 17, 1950, Julius Rosenberg was arrested for "conspiracy to commit espionage" and just 25 days later for the same charge Ethel Rosenberg was also arrested. After being arrested they were noticed by the FBI after David Greenglass accused Julius in his statement to the FBI. They were both placed in jail and were placed at 100,000 dolla...
In order for it to work, Russia had to become an industrial power at all costs. Stalin removed anyone he though could possibly turn against his plan and stay in the way. Over the next few years, he executed many of the old Bolsheviks who had led the revolutions as well as many military officers.