How true is it to say that Stalin effectively removed opposition to the exercise of his personal power up to 1941?
Joseph Halligan History Coursework Part B How true is it to say that Stalin effectively removed opposition to the exercise of his personal power up to 1941?From the 1920's onwards, Stalin set the stage for gaining absolute power, through a number of campaigns of repression against groups which opposed the Communist Party and Stalin himself. The use of terror became a central part to Stalin's rule during the 1930's with the launching of The Great Purges against opposition to Stalin. It can be seen that Stalin did effectively remove opposition to the exercise of his personal power until 1941 when Germany invaded Russia. The term 'purge' in Soviet political slang was an abbreviation of the expression 'purge of the party ranks.' However, Stalin's terror changed its meaning to almost certain arrest, imprisonment or even execution.It is important to realise that purges in themselves were common throughout Soviet government. The Communists seized power without any real popular support and as a consequence, had to use fear and violence to maintain their position in power. There are many similarities between Stalin's terror and the terror before his rule. During the 1920's there was the banning of other political parties as well as the killing of hostages which pre-dated the same acts which took place during Stalin's reign. In 1928 there was the Shakhty show trial of engineers accused of wrecking coal mines which pre-dated the Moscow show trials in the 1930's. Going back even further, the Tsar had secret police in the Okhrana which meant Stalin's NKVD were nothing new. Therefore, it can be said there was a tradition of terror in Russian history and that Stalin had just escalated a tendency that had always existed. However, there are some significant differences between the use of terror in the 1930's under Stalin's rule and its previous uses. The main difference was the terror in the 1920's was usually applied to obvious opponents of the party; whereas the terror in the 1930's was mainly against members of the party and against people had committed no offences to be considered as opposition. Another major difference was the earlier terror had occurred under exceptional circumstances in the civil war, when Communist rule was under threat. The terror in the 1930's took place while Communist rule was firmly in place.It is necessary to make a clear distinction between 'The Purges' and 'The Terror'. The purges were the attempts to 'clean-up' the party so that unworthy party members who only joined for their own advantage were expelled. They were also attempts to ensure the party members were loyal, dedicated and
active. Whereas 'The Terror' is the name given to the use of fear by Stalin to control the population and to remove his opponents. There were many attempts to clean up the Communist party in the early 19360's. In 1933 and 1934 a general purge of the party was launched where alien, unreliable and disreputable elements were expelled from the party. At the end of 1934 nearly one million members were expelled from the party and Ryutin was jailed. Also in this year a New Central Purge Commission was set up. In 1935 there was a verification of party documents ...
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active. Whereas 'The Terror' is the name given to the use of fear by Stalin to control the population and to remove his opponents. There were many attempts to clean up the Communist party in the early 19360's. In 1933 and 1934 a general purge of the party was launched where alien, unreliable and disreputable elements were expelled from the party. At the end of 1934 nearly one million members were expelled from the party and Ryutin was jailed. Also in this year a New Central Purge Commission was set up. In 1935 there was a verification of party documents where chaotic party membership records were sorted out and people who had gained membership through illegal means were expelled. However, this, like most of the early purges, was not successful and in 1936 new party cards were issued in an attempt to purge undesirable party members in 'the exchange of party documents'. It was clear to see that membership records were in a mess and that unwelcome people had joined the party for their own protection and ambition. All the purges in the early 1930's had failed to correct this situation. People like Bukharin, Zinoviev and kamenev were still alive, which shows Stalin had not effectively removed all opposition to his personal power.After the unsuccessful purges of the early 1930's, Stalin and his government ordered mass arrests and executions which occurred after 1937 in an attempt to remove all the opposition to the exercise of his personal Stalin's personal power. There are a number of motives behind Stalin's policies of terror in 1937. One of the main reasons was Stalin's frustration with Regional Party Secretaries. On many occasions these Regional Party Secretaries ignored instructions from the leadership or failed to tackle the corruption and chaos in the party organisation. An example of this was Kirov, a Regional Party Secretary, who protected Medved knowing Stalin wanted him removing. It was also an opportunity for Stalin to hold Local Party Leaders responsible for the failures of all the early purges as well as the many social and economic problems. As well as ridding the Communist party of Secretaries who refuse to tow the party line, the terror gave opportunities to the new men who were loyal to Stalin.Another one of Stalin's motives for the terror was probably the growth of internal opposition in the Communist Party to Stalin's ruthless policies, especially collectivisation and the Five-Year plans. Senior members of the party such as Bukharin, Riutin and Rykov all opposed the rapid policy of collectivisation and instead favoured a much slower approach to industrialisation. Ordzhonikidze, the Commissar for heavy industry, believed that industrial targets should be more achievable and refused to make factory managers scapegoats for the economic problems. This opposition to Stalin can be viewed as one of the many reasons for the terror.The personal ambition of Stalin is another of the major influences to the terror. The Purges and The Terror gave Stalin the opportunity to destroy any of his past enemies, destroy any potential sources of opposition and terrify the Russian population to the extent that it was impossible for any opposition to Stalin's rule to be organised. Roy Medvedev thought that the roots of the terror lay in Stalin's "inordinate vanity and lust for power." It is true that many of the initial victims of the terror were Old Bolsheviks with independent minds and who did not owe their position to Stalin. Purging this opposition allowed Stalin to bring in new loyal members who obeyed him and thus protected the exercise of his personal power.The purges could also have been motivated by Stalin's paranoia. Evidence suggests Stalin saw opposition everywhere and he told Khrushchev "I trust nobody, not even myself". Also Khrushchev stated that Stalin had "committed his excesses to boost and guarantee his own security, the continuation of his supremacy and the supremacy of his policies within the Soviet Union."Another possible reason for The Terror was because of a genuine fear of impending war from fascist Germany. This made the leaders think it necessary to remove any opposition that would be able to criticise Stalin's handling of any war that could occur.The event which triggered The Great Purges was the murder of Kirov in 1934. It was after the 17th Party Congress in 1934 that Kirov emerged a clear threat to Stalin's leadership. It is thought that at the Congress, some party officials had approached Kirov secretly with the proposal he should take over as General Secretary. Of the 1,966 delegates at the Congress, 1,108 of them died within a few years. It is thought Stalin considered Kirov a threat to his economic policies and he was growing in popularity in the party. Although it has never been proven, it is almost certain Stalin was involved in Kirov's assassination. What we do know is Stalin cleverly turned the resulting political turmoil to his advantage by unleashing a political witch hunt directed against the 'Old Bolshevik' members of the party who were least loyal to Stalin. On the 16th December 1934, Zinoviev and Kamenev and 13 others who had earlier opposed Stalin, were arrested. It is also notable how Stalin further protected his personal power by ensuring his loyal followers were rewarded and promoted to key positions. Zhdanov was promoted to Kirov's position and Khrushchev was placed at the head of the party in Moscow. Also Vyshinsky was placed in the Law Courts and conducted many of the later show trials.Show trials were yet another way Stalin effectively removed opposition to the exercise of his personal power. The first show trial was held in August 1936 in Moscow. Zinoviev and Kamenev were two of the 16 party members who had been critical of Stalin in the past and were all charged with plotting terrorist activities, including the death of Kirov, on behalf of the 'Trotskyite-Zinoviev Counter-Revolutionary Bloc.' All pleaded guilty after being promised they would not receive the death penalty if they did so. However, all were sentenced to death and executed. A month later, in September 1936, Bukharin and Rykov were acquitted of charges arising out of earlier trials. This shows Stalin had not yet effectively removed all opposition to the exercise of his personal power.The Second show trial, in 1937, involved 17 less prominent figures such as Piatakov, Radek and Sokohikov. All confessed to conspiring to form an 'Anti-Soviet Trotskyist Centre' and as a result 13 were executed and the remainder were worked to death in a labour camp. After this some members of the Politburo expressed concerns over Stalin's increasing use of brutality. Ordzhonikidze raised objections to Stalin's use of terror during meetings of the Politburo. Shortly after, Ordzhonikidze died with the official cause of death being a heart attack, however, it is widely believed he committed suicide in fear of being purged by Stalin.Stalin next decide to purge the Red Army most likely because of the threat it posed to overthrow Stalin and its criticism of Stalin's policy of collectivisation. The majority of the army were peasants, who were understandably critical of their hardships resulting from collectivisation. Stalin ensured there was no possible opposition amongst the high ranking members of the army by executing 3 of 5 marshalls, 14 of 16 generals and about two thirds of all officers ranked above colonel. Commander Tukhachevsky was also executed, possibly because of an old personal grudge between himself and Stalin.In 1938 came the last and most famous of the Moscow show trials, involving 21 members of the party, most noticeably Bukharin, Rykov and the former head of the NKVD Yagoda. They were all accused of forming a 'Trotskyite-Rightist Bloc' to which they all confessed and they were all later executed. It was well known that Bukharin was against Stalin's Five-Year Plans and he therefore posed a threat to the leader.Stalin even purged the NKVD to ensure they were no threat to him. In 1936, 3000 members of the NKVD were executed and in 1939 the head of the secret police Yezhov, was dismissed and later executed. Trotsky was probably Stalin's greatest enemy and had escaped trial and was living in exile in Mexico. In 1940 Stalin's agents killed Trotsky who was one of the few remaining Old Bolsheviks.There were many consequences from Stalin's reign of terror. Stalin achieved his main aim as his position in charge was now almost unchallengeable.Uunlike other leaders, including Hitler, there was no assassination attempts on Stalin's life. This was because firstly, all possible threats and opposition were effectively eliminated as a result of Stalin's purges. Secondly, as a result of the purges the whole Soviet population feared Stalin and dared not oppose him. Also Stalin's power was increased further because when he removed opposition in the party he replaced them with new loyal men, such as, Zhdanov, Khruschev and Vyshinsky. The Communist Party was transformed as Stalin had effectively destroyed the Revolutionary generation of Communists.The exact total number of the people affected by the terror remains uncertain because the leadership went to great lengths to cover up the magnitude of population losses. Shatunovskia, a Russian writer, estimated that between 1935 and 1941 almost 20 million people were arrested, 7 million of whom were shot. Zemskov suggested that there was a labour camp population of nearly 2 million people.What is clear is that Stalin had effectively removed all opposition to the exercise of his personal power. He did this by having all his opposition such as Kirov, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin, Rykov and Trotsky killed. He did this through assassinations and through arresting and trialling members of the opposition for crimes they had not committed. This was highlighted in the Moscow show trials. Stalin also made sure nothing else could overpower him by purging thee army and the secret police. The only occasions where Stalin did not effectively remove his opponents were in the failings of the early purges and when Bukharin and Rykov were acquitted of charges in 1936. However, Stalin did succeed in having the party purged effectively later on and Bukharin and Rykov were executed two years later in the third Moscow show trial. Stalin furthered his personal power by appointing new loyal men who supported their leader with enthusiasm and affection to opponents former positions. Stalin had effectively transformed the Communist Party by destroying the Revolutionary generation of Communists. Stalin destroyed any of his past enemies, any potential sources of opposition and terrified the whole Soviet population to the extent that no opposition to Stalin's rule could be organised. Therefore I think it is true to say that Stalin removed all opposition to the exercise of his personal power most effectively. Word count: 2195