Purges

• Purges


  A sustained campaign in which "enemies" were rooted out of Soviet society at all level
• The Great Terror


  The period between 1936 and 1938 when the purges were at their height
• Causes of the Purges


  • Murder of Kirov in 1934
  • Stalin's policies had not being going well – especially collectivisation
  • Stalin expected an attack on the USSR soon
  • Stalin's personality? Paranoia?
• Purging the Party


  1. Senior and 'old Bolsheviks' were put on trial in three big show trials

  2. Denunciations and forced confessions used as proof of a conspiracy against Stalin within the party

  3. Trotsky killed in 1940 while in exile in Mexico by an NKVD agent
• Purging the People


  1. Denunciations and informers used to report people to the NKVD

  2. NKVD drove around in cars nicknamed "ravens", generally arresting people at night

  3. National minorities such as Poles targeted dis-proportionately

  4. Writers, scientists, poets, and other educated groups also disproportionately affected
• Purging the Army


  1. Purge of the army started with arrest and execution of Marshall Tukhachevsky

  2. In all 90% of Soviet generals and many in lower ranks removed from their positions
• Propaganda - Aims


  • Strengthen Stalin's position as leader of the USSR
  • Strengthen popular support for the regime and its key policies
  • Identifying enemies for the Soviet people to fight against
• Propaganda - Core themes


  • 'Cult of Personality' built around Stalin
  • Propaganda also emphasised the successes of the USSR, especially the 5YPs
  • Focus on defeating 'enemies of the people' including kulaks, "wreckers", and foreign capitalist countries
• Censorship - Aims


  • Hide inconvenient or damaging information
  • Controlling the historical record
  • Supporting propaganda effort by removing contradictory evidence from public access
• Other ways society was controlled


  • Religious worship almost completely banned
  • Stalin had a new textbook made for schools, A Short History of the USSR
  • Youth groups created to further reinforce loyalty to the party and its values
  • Art and culture was controlled
• Linking the Purges and Propaganda


  • Aim of propaganda was to persuade people to genuinely believe in Stalin and Communism
  • Purges/repression targeted those who might challenge Stalin's rule and/or oppose his regime