Faction, Terror + The Purges

Cards (24)

  • Bolsheviks faced opposition from day one in power. Thousands of "Anti-Bolsheviks" were sent to labour camps.
  • The Cheka implemented the Red Terror during the Civil War. This was meant to eliminate "enemies of the people".
  • Lenin issued a "ban on factions" in 1921. This was meant to curb criticism.
  • Stalin exploited Lenin's methods. He intensified Terror in particular.
  • Stalin eliminated actual opposition and potential opposition. This included members of the Central Committee.
  • Stalin feared his colleagues would betray him because of his wife's suicide and criticism of collectivisation.
  • A million members of the Communist Party were excluded from 1932-33. Purges on senior members were systematic after that.
  • Kirov was killed in 1934. Stalin used this as a pretext with Trotskyite and Zinoviev-Kamenev members by arresting multiple factions of the party.
  • Trotskyites and the Zinoviev-Kamenev factions existed in the Communist Party at the time of Kirov's murder.
  • Zinoviev and Kamenev were shot at a "show trial" in 1936. 14 Bolsheviks were also killed.
  • Key Bolshevik leaders and military high commanders were executed in 1937.
  • Bukharin, Rykov and Yagoda - former head of NKVD were shot in 1938.
  • Trotsky was assassinated in Mexico in 1940.
  • Stalin's terror was increasingly aimed at citizens from 1938 onwards. The public were encouraged to inform the government about "hidden enemies".
  • The planning of arresting citizens was similar to planning industrial production targets. Hundreds of thousands of people were executed or died in prison.
  • 1 in 18 people were arrested during the purges.
  • One lesser known element of the purges was the deportation of national minorities. Poles and Germans are examples of this.
  • Stalin deported national minorities during the purges as he feared they would join an invading army. 100,000 Poles were shot during the campaign.
  • Stalin called a halt to the terror in November 1938 because the people were frightened.
  • Stalin achieved elimination of all opponents as a result of the purges. He replaced these people with Stalinists.
  • Stalin obtain control of the Party and the people post-purges.
  • Martin Sixsmith stated that "class enemies were rounded up and executed for their social origin" after the 1918 Lenin assassination attempt.
  • D. Volkogonov said Stalin began the purges because he was "driven by a powerful need to win".
  • Orlando Figes said the Great Terror was an amalgam of "Party purging and great show trials".