Reign of Terror: Stalin's Barbarous Tactics to Seize Power
The death of Vladimir Lenin created a power vacuum within the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin understood power was not given, it was taken. So he did.
History is full of examples of intense political repression and state-sponsored violence. Of them, few are more horrifying than what swept across the Soviet Union from 1936 to 1938. So horrific in fact that it goes by two names, both representative of how bad things were. Those names: the Great Purge or the Great Terror.
Filling a Vacuum
Joseph Stalin had emerged from the power vacuum created by Vladimir Lenin’s death. The Communist Party in the Soviet Union was filled with Stalin's rivals and enemies. Men who had fought hard to keep Stalin from ascending to power. And when his first five year plan failed, calls for his removal grew louder. Stalin did what he infamously did best.
Leveraging his power, Stalin set to work targeting and eliminating those who stood against him. It was 1936 and he was hell bent on consolidating his power and creating a climate of fear. To make the Soviet Union a global power, he needed an obedient populace.
Coming for Anyone and Everyone
A part of Stalin’s vision of a future Soviet Union included the creation of a new Soviet society. To help him accomplish that, he went after nearly everyone. Dissenting members within his own party, intellectuals, peasants, and ethnic minorities.
Victims of the Great Purge would come from all walks of Soviet life. High profile members of the Old Bolsheviks. Lenin’s closest allies during the Russian Revolution. Ranking members of the Red Army. No one was safe.
To make the Soviet Union a world power, Stalin believed in industrialization, collectivization, and re-education. He felt that the Soviet people weren’t yet loyal enough to him. Eliminating intellectuals would make it easier for his re-education campaigns to foster increased loyalty. The loyalty he needed to be successful.
State-Sponsored Violence
To carry out the purge, Stalin used the Soviet secret police, also known as the NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs). They arrested millions. Claiming charges of treason, espionage, and sabotage, those not executed on the spot found themselves imprisoned. They were tortured so mercilessly that many confessed to the crimes they never committed.
Those who weren’t sentenced to death were sent to gulags and labor camps. While there, many would wind up dying from disease, starvation, or being overworked. Stalin’s hopes of creating submission and obedience through fear became all too real.
An End to the Purge
By 1938, Stalin called for an end to the purges. He declared that those enemies within had all been removed. In the wake of the Great Purge it is estimated that over 700,000 people perished. There are some historians who believe the number is closer to 1.2 million.
Aside from the human carnage, the Great Purge had a devastating impact on the Soviet Union. Both the Communist Party and the Red Army were shells of what they once were. The removal of many of the country’s skilled workers and intellectuals set back Soviet development.
The state-sponsored violence and terror destroyed the lives of millions of Soviets. It also instilled an ever-present atmosphere of terror and fear. The mistrust and massive surveillance that propelled the Great Purge would remain a part of Soviet life for decades to come. Its legacy continues to be felt today.
History for the Hurried:
May 2, 2011: U.S. Special Operations Forces killed Osama bin Laden during a raid on his secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The raid marked the culmination of a decade-long manhunt for the elusive leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization based in the Middle East.
May 5, 1893: The Wall Street Crash of 1893 began as stock prices fell dramatically. By the end of the year, 600 banks closed and several big railroads were in receivership. Another 15,000 businesses went bankrupt amid 20 percent unemployment. JP Morgan had to step in and save the economy fourteen years later.