The purges was an historical event which took place in Russia from 1936 to 1938, with Stalin as the mastermind behind it. Firstly I will be talking about the three causes that led to the event; stopping the reading of Lenin’s will, Stalin’s need to get rid of individual threats to his power and also his need to weaken key groups in the USSR through the use of his terror tactics.
Secondly I will be talking about Stalin’s paranoia and what happened during the purges.Lastly I will be talking about the three consequences; Stalin’s success in weakening key groups in the USSR, his ability of getting rid of the individual threats to his power and the effect that the Purges had on the general population of the USSR and their way of life. Stopping the reading of Lenin’s will, was one of the major causes which led to the Purges. Lenin was the leader of the Bolsheviks who became the first leader of Russia after the 1917 Revolution when they overthrew the Tsar (like a king) and his family.Later in 1922 Stalin was appointed General Secretary and obtained all of the party files and heaps of information on party members.
During this time Lenin suffered several strokes, leaving unable to talk and practically paralyzed. Before he died he left a will for all party members to hear. This will stated Stalin’s immoral characteristics and that he wanted to get rid of him before he gets too much power in his hands. Lenin’s will also stated who he though should be leader; Trotsky who was a successful leader of the Red Army (Russia’s Army formed by the Bolsheviks).As General Secretary Stalin took advantage of the fact that it was his responsibility of looking after party files which somehow included Lenin’s political will. Stalin made sure that no other party member gets to read it, let alone have a glimpse of it.
By stopping the reading of the will he obtained the position as leader of the Bolsheviks and Russia. If people had known about the will, Stalin would have never became a leader; would have never started the Purges. When Stalin came into power in 1925, he had the need to get rid of individual threats to his power.Trotsky was a major threat to his power and he needed to get rid of him first and he achieved this by using both the Left and Right factions (both in the same party but had different views on how the communist world should be built). Trotsky was the first but sure was not the last. Then one day at the 17th Party Congress in 1934 a popular Leningrad leader, Sergei Kirov made a speech celebrating the success of Stalin’s Five Year Plans but questioned the need for such a large loss of human life in achieving targets.
Soon enough on December the 1st 1934, Kirov was shot in the Communist headquarters in Leningrad by Stalin’s order. Not only did he had the need of getting rid of individual threats but he also had the need to weaken key groups in the USSR through the use of his terror tactics. These terror tactics were methods to weaken his threats which included gulags, the NKVD and Show Trials. Gulags was a prison camp situated in extremely cold places such as Siberia and the Artic which provided prisoners labour.Those who were arrested and sent to Gulags were seen as threats to Stalin’s power and for those who did not obey to his rules; an example would be a group called Kulaks who opposed to Stalin’s Five Year Plans.
The NKVD was the secret police which Stalin used to arrest those found ‘guilty’. Everyone was scared of the NKVD as they were everywhere and because one day you might see this person and the next that person is gone and never to be seen again. Show trials was another method that Stalin had used which occurred three times.This was when party members (mainly the old Bolsheviks) who devoted their lives to bringing communism to Russia, had to confess to extra-ordinary crimes like spying on behalf of the Nazis in front of Russia and beyond.
These members before the show trails were driven to confusion up to the point when they believed themselves that they were guilty. Stalin had them deprived of food, warm clothes and sleep. The event of the Purges occurred from 1936 to 1938 as Stalin was very paranoid that someone would try and take his power away.He did not come up with the idea himself but from Hitler who previously carried a ‘blood purge’ to get of threats to his power.
Stalin used Kirov’s so called murderer to start the purges to make him still look like the ‘good guy’. At first Stalin used the NKVD leader Yagoda to arrest people written in lists which Stalin personally wrote himself to be purged. Yagoda only obeyed to Stalin until ironically enough he came under suspicion and gotten arrested and killed along with other NKVD agents.After Yagoda’s death Yezhov became the new NKVD leader and the purge spread to the whole community. Doctors, teachers, neighbours even parents could be arrested. No one was safe.
If you were found talking against the Stalin or the government without a doubt you would be arrested. During the Purges the Communist party dropped dramatically from 3. 5 million in 1933 to 1. 8 million in 1937. From Stalin’s paranoia the Red Army were also affected. Any one ranked colonel or above were purged resulting to 25 000 officers killed; this is because Stalin wanted to prevent a military coup.
The purges led to consequences, one of them was how it really did weaken key groups in the USSR. Purging off the Red Army was not the smartest idea as he did it a time when Hitler was threatening the USSR. When the Nazi eventually invaded Russia through the plan ‘Operation Barbarossa’, within 24 hours Russia lost most of their air force and within a week a million servicemen had died. This was due to the fact that those who were sparred during the purges were too scared to make decisions and had to cope the best they could. During the Purges he also gotten rid of the old Bolsheviks.At first there were 25 original members in the end of the Purges only one was left standing; Stalin.
With no other original members others were afraid to oppose him. Another consequence was that Stalin was able to get rid of individual threats to his power. He succeeded in getting rid of Trotsky and he also Zinoviev and Kamenev who they previously accused Stalin for dictatorship and again other communist members were afraid to oppose Stalin and try to take away his power. Thirdly the most important consequence was the effect that the purges had on the general population.The purges had a massive effect on the USSR and their way of life.
You couldn’t trust anyone. Your neighbour could have denounced you and even children were brain washed to report their own parents. Ultimately their freedom of speech was taken away as anything they said could risk their life. The purges was sparked by three causes that led to the event; stopping the reading of Lenin’s will, Stalin’s need to get rid of individual threats to his power and also his need to weaken key groups in the USSR through the use of his terror tactics.During the purges many were affected and devastated by the deaths. The purges also led to three consequences; Stalin’s success in weakening key groups in the USSR, his ability of getting rid of the individual threats to his power and the effect that the Purges had on the general population of the USSR and their way of life.
From the purges Stalin took away the trust and freedom from the citizens of Russia.
