Stalin's Launch of the Great Terror The Great Terror of 1936-1938 came after a period of success, with the completion of the First Five Year Plan and the Peasants had been collectivised to make food for the workers in the factories. Yet there was still opposition to Stalin's leadership inside the party from Ryutin; Ryutin argued that Stalin should be removed from the position of General Secretary. Stalin then called for the execution of Ryutin (most communist did not believe in killing their own), Kirov, Stalin's supporter and the head of Leningrad headed the majority against the execution. This made Kirov very popular in the party and when there was a vote in the Central Congress for the Politburo, Kirov received more votes than Stalin - although these votes mysteriously fanished. In 1934 Kirov was assassinated is suspicious circumstances by a young man called Nikolaev, maybe Stalin was behind it? These were the events leading up to the Great Terror and may have influenced Stalin in launching it, because of the opposition showed by a few in his own party. Total control of the Communist Party and of Russia would have something Stalin would have wanted, especially from 1932 onwards after Kirov was apparently more popular in the Central Committee. This may have worried Stalin as the people who voted for Kirov where the people he placed there and how dare they vote against him. The Moscow Show Trials helped create a sense of fear in Russia that gave Stalin control over his workers completely, making them work harder and become more productive. The show trials lasted over three years, with three different trials. The first in 1936 w... ... middle of paper ... ... who had gone against him. So if he had been in total control before 1936 and had not faced opposition from Ryutin and Kirov and not been so popular with congress, the Great Terror may not have been launched. Although he still needed a work force and needed the workers to be more productive to ensure the success of crash industrialisation, and he still would have held a grudge against Trotsky, Zinoviev and Bukharin, so he probably would have still gone ahead with the Great Terror whatever the circumstance. Yet the two main reasons were his personality, which gave him that ruthless streak, which demanded total control, the Great Terror was the only way Stalin could have done this with a ruthless act that showed everyone what he really was like and also gave him the complete control of the workforce, army and government.
I believe Stalin's main reason for starting the terror was to keep politicians and citizens from organizing and overthrowing Stalin with a revolution, much like the way Stalin ove...
The Development of Totalitarianism Under Stalin By 1928, Stalin had become the undisputed successor to Lenin, and leader of the CPSU. Stalin’s power of appointment had filled the aisles of the Party Congress and Politburo with Stalinist supporters. Political discussion slowly faded away from the Party, and this led to the development of the totalitarian state of the USSR. Stalin, through.
death in 1953. But how is it that Stalin emerged as the new leader of
Originally platformed by Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin took control of the communist party in 1924 when Lenin died of a stroke. Communist ideals were heavily in opposition to classical liberal values; Whereas Liberalism stressed the importance of the individual, Communism sought to better the greater good of society by stripping many of the individual rights and freedoms of citizens. Communism revoked the class structure of society and created a universal equality for all. This equality came with a price however. Any who opposed the communist rule were assassinated in order to keep order within society. Joseph Stalin took this matter to the extreme during an event known as the Great Purge. The Great Purge, also known as The Great Terror, began in 1936 and concluded in 1938. During these two years, millions of people were murdered and sent to labour camps in Siberia for opposing the Communist party and the ultimate dictator, Stalin himself. In some cases, even those who did not oppose the regime were killed. Sergey Kirov was a very popular member of the communist party and Stalin saw this as a possible threat to his ultimate power. As a result, Stalin order Kirov to be executed. Stalin furthered his violation of individual rights by introducing the NKVD who worked closely with the russian secret police force. One of the primary goals of the secret police was to search out dissidents who were not entirely faithful to the communist regime. This violation of privacy caused histeria en mass in the Soviet Union and millions were killed as a result. The Soviet union resisted liberalism to such an extreme that it resulted in the deaths of millions of people, leading to some of the darkest days in russian
For most people that know who Joseph Stalin was, they can agree on one thing: Stalin was one of the most brutal and ruthless leaders that mankind has ever seen. He is known as the instigator and leader of the Reign of Terror, which incorporated extremely horrifying purges. These purges have been estimated to have killed five times as many people as the Holocaust. The purges also helped him establish his power base, which allowed him to build one of the most powerful countries in its day and age. But he was not born evil, in fact, when he was a child, family and friends said he was shy. This does not mean he didn’t have a bad childhood, which happened quite often in rural Georgia. The pain of his childhood built as the years went by. Growing up admiring people like Karl Marx, Machiavelli, and Ivan the Terrible only stoked the fire even more. I believe that Joseph Stalin’s reign of terror can be traced directly back to his brutal childhood and complete belief in Marxist principles.
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.
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.
...ns of anti-Bolsheviks and according to Service, 500,000 sent to the Gulags through 1917-21. Pipes highlights the significance of the Red Terror as ‘a prophylactic measure designed to nip in the bud any thoughts of resistance to the dictatorship.’ Lenin also used class warfare to terrorise the middle classes and hostile social groups. This played well with the workers and soldiers and made it difficult to criticise the new government. As a result, Lenin’sintroduction of the Cheka (1917) and the emergence of the Red Terror (1918) ensured his rule was absolute not only within the party but across the Soviet Union.
The Great Terror, an outbreak of organised bloodshed that infected the Communist Party and Soviet society in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), took place in the years 1934 to 1940. The Terror was created by the hegemonic figure, Joseph Stalin, one of the most powerful and lethal dictators in history. His paranoia and yearning to be a complete autocrat was enforced by the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), the communist police. Stalin’s ambition saw his determination to eliminate rivals such as followers of Leon Trotsky, a political enemy. The overall concept and practices of the Terror impacted on the communist party, government officials and the peasants. The NKVD, Stalin’s instrument for carrying out the Terror, the show trials and the purges, particularly affected the intelligentsia.
Stalin’s hunger for power and paranoia impacted the Soviet society severely, having devastating effects on the Communist Party, leaving it weak and shattering the framework of the party, the people of Russia, by stunting the growth of technology and progress through the purges of many educated civilians, as well as affecting The Red Army, a powerful military depleted of it’s force. The impact of the purges, ‘show trials’ and the Terror on Soviet society were rigorously negative. By purging all his challengers and opponents, Stalin created a blanket of fear over the whole society, and therefore, was able to stay in power, creating an empire that he could find more dependable.
Stalin’s leadership of the Soviet Union can be best described as a period of terror and censorship. In other words, he was very strict, considering the fact that he created the totalitarian government. In order to create this type of government, Stalin used fear and propaganda. He took part in The Great Purge, which was a campaign of terror that was supposed to eliminate anyone who threatened Stalin’s power. He also relied on secret police, who would arrest and execute any traitors. The online blog, “The Reasons For the Failure of The Russian Revolution”, brings up information on how Stalin planned to rule as dictator of Russia. It has been noted, “This ‘reshaping’ had three main aspects: the elimination of all dissent; the liquidation of all forms of democracy and of working class organisation; the slashing of the living standards of the working class and the physical annihilation of millions of peasants” (Text 5). This quote explains how Stalin wanted to industrialize Russia, which includes the deaths of several peasants of Russia. The Russians did not just die from The Great Purge, but also from Stalin’s Five-Year Plan. The Five-Year Plan was an attempt to industrialize the Soviet Union. It was also a plan for increasing the output of steel, coal, oil, and electricity. He had control over economic resources, including farms and
Stalin had twenty-one trials throughout the Blood Purges, but he had four key trials. Almost every Bolshevik participant in the revolution was imprisoned because of his hatred towards them. Most of the men imprisoned were political leaders that were a threat to Stalin. His first greatly known trial was the sixteenth trial which took place in late 1936. That trial involved Zinoviev, Kamenev, Smirnov, and Rachkovsky. His next trial was the seventeenth one which was in January 1937. That one included Pyatakov, Serebryakov, Muralov, Sokolnikov, and Radek. The twenty-first trial was the final one, and that one was very important. It 's important because it involved the Red Army generals. The generals were Rykov, Bukharin, Krestinsky, Rakovsky, and Yagoda.
"Analyse the methods used and the conditions which helped in the rise to power of Joseph Stalin“.
The Effects of Stalin on Russia Much like Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin was one of the most ruthless and despised people in the recorded history of the world. Stalin, though, found it fit to abuse his people in any way he saw fit. This man started what history now calls "The Great Purge. " Through the late 1920's when the rest of the world was living it up as the roaring 20's came to an end, Joseph Stalin was setting the stage for gaining absolute power by employing secret police repression against opposing political and social elements within his own Communist Party and throughout society.
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.