Other contributing reasons as to why Stalin was personally responsible for the purges is due to the ‘purging’ fitting the pattern of previous actions taken by Stalin. These include collectivisation, which liberated the class know as the kulaks by either being shot, put into labour camps or sent away to unworkable land. Therefore as the purges included party membership no longer being valid, being put on trail for ‘treason’ which mainly resulted in death, or being sent to labour camps in extreme terrain, which were all attempts to try and rid the Communist Party of ‘traitors’, this coincided with his previous actions.
In addition another, not as important, but certainly valid reason which indicates that Stalin was personally responsible is due to him being seen at the public ‘show trails’. In particularly Bukharin’s where he was hiding behind a certain, which indicates that he was trying to influence the verdict on Bukharin.
Although revisionist historians claim that the ‘show trails’, arrests and chistki are unconnected events, therefore it is unfair to blame Stalin for the purges on the basis that he was present at ‘show trails’ and trying to influence there outcomes.
Other key points that indicate that Stalin was not responsible for the purges are that Lenin actually initiated purges by using ruthless treatments against opponents in the 1920’s, such as very drastic treatments of ‘The Whites’ in the civil war which included shooting the Romanov family, and setting up the first labour camps. This clearly shows that Stalin was simply following his predecessor’s lead.
In addition due to Stalin committing these purges there would be serious consequences for the USSR as all those purged resulted in the USSR being weakened politically, economically, and militarily. For instance the effect that the purges had on the economy were that despite all the best workers/labours working in the labour camps, which was an exceedingly cheap source of labour, this resulted in unqualified workers not knowing how to fully operate the machinery left in the towns, which in turn lead to a low out put in productivity.
The effects that it had on the military were that all the eleven War Commissars were removed from office, 75/80 of those on the Supreme Military Council were executed, and 14/16 army commander were removed along with 2/3 of the divisional commanders, amongst other purges. As a result all three services (navel, air, and army) were severely undermanned and staffed by inexperienced or incompetent replacements. This was very dangerous action to undertake as the onset of war was looming.
Therefore if the purges would lead to such drastic consequences why would he initiate it?
In conclusion despite there being no conclusive evidence whether or not Stalin was personally responsible for the purges during the 1930’s, and despite Stalin authorising the mass killings and benefiting directly due to all his opposition being executed or removed from within the party, which meant that Stalin was free to do what he desired, Lenin did actually instigate the purges which Stalin only continued on doing. Also it is now believed that Ezhov, who was the head of the NKVD between 1936-38, was responsible for the ‘Great Purges’ and historians have renamed this period the ‘Ezhovchiria’. Therefore I believe that Stalin was not responsible for the purges.
