Stalins Establishment and Consolidation of power

Page 1

Stalin Establishment and Consolidation

The Great Terror: The period of 1937-39

Punishment was given to

- peasants who resisted collectivisation (kulaks)

- factory workers who did not work hard enough

- managers who did not meet targets

- party members who were considered too passive

Terror was one of the ways that Stalin ruled. Peopled feared and didn't oppose him. except kirov.

Sergei Kirov= took over administration of the Leningrad part after Zinoviev's demotion -->murdered in 1934, suspected that Stalin ordered his murder.

The Purges

- Engineers and managers included the Shakhty trials. The aim was to instil labour discipline and to punish anyone who failed to meet quotas

Shakhty Trials: Trials of 'foreign experts' and 'class elements' blamed for breaking machinery and sabotaging the FYP. The broken machinery was most likely done by unskilled workers but the experts were the scapegoats. Public trials were held and 11 death sentences.

- The communist party was purged to ensure all members were loyal to Stalin. It began after Riutin's criticism of Stalins leadership

- Purge of the leadership of the party after Kirovs death

- Purge of the military. --> targeted officers of the armed forces

- Random quotas issued to local party branches. --> had to arrest a specify number of enemies of the state whether they existed or not

-Kamenev and Zinoviev were accused of plotting Kirovs murder so were tried and executed. =Stalin was targeting influential Bolsheviks.

- The head of the NKVD objected to Stalin's execution of party leaders and was replaced by Nikolai Yezhov who admired Stalin so followed instructions.

-Bukharin and Rykov were put on trial for betraying the party and were executed in 1938 after confessing.

- Stalin reduced the quotas and imprisoned and executed Yezhov as he got a bit carried away with the purges

The constitution of 1936

It gave the impression that the USSR was a liberal state however this was not the case. Stalin was just concerned with their image abroad.

The constitution stated that it guaranteed:

-Freedom of the press

- Freedom of thought

- The right to public assembly and all other human rights

However the rights were only guaranteed if they were in accordance with the interest of the workers, if not, it was forbidden.

Popular Policies:

- His rejection of NEP as people felt it was like capitalism

- His punishment of kulaks was supported by the peasants who resented the rich neighbours

- Stalins society brought social mobility and terror brought employment opportunities and the possibility of promotions

-