Methods of Control Under Stalin

Methods of Control Under Stalin

1. Terror

   • NKVD
   • Gulags
   • Show Trials
   • these all encouraged denunciations and caused a quicksand society

2. 1936-38: Purges

   • Purged from all walks of life
     • Political
       • Kamenev, Zinoviev
       • Rykov, Bukharin
     • Secret Police
       • Yagoda
     • Industrial
       • Pyatakov
     • Army
       • Radek
       • Tukhachevsky

3. Economic policies

   • collectivisation
   • 5 Year Plan

4. Creation of a cult personality

   • Socialist Realism: early 30s; all mediums support the state

5. Three stages of Terror: 1930-34 Chitska 1934-36 Violent purges 1936-38 Yezovchina

6. Causes

   • Paranoia
     • Trotsky sets up 4th International
   • Wants to assert position as leader
     • 1932 Riutin Platform: 'Stalin is the evil genius of the revolution'
       • Does not have absolute power
   • 1934 Congress of Victors
     • Party wants to slow down 5 year plan
     • Kirov receives more votes than Stalin
       • Murdered in 1934; Stalin uses this as an excuse to purge party

7. Consequences

   • Caused destablisation
     • Ruined the economy
   • 1938: 1/20 had been arrested; 7 million people were in death/labour camps
     • Physically and economically impossible to continue- prisons were overloaded
   • All of Stalins oppostion [except Trotsky] had been crushed
   • People lived in a state of constant fear