What caused the great terror? The seventeenth party congress of February 1934 is seen by many as the birth of Stalins Great terror, probably the most brutal era in Russias civil history.

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What caused the great terror?

The seventeenth party congress of February 1934 is seen by many as the birth of Stalin’s ‘Great terror’, probably the most brutal era in Russia’s civil history. During the great purge Stalin literally slaughtered anyone and everyone who questioned anything to do with him; from the communist government officials to the red army leaders to the peasants. What caused Stalin to react this way? Was it his overwhelming distrust and paranoia? Or was this massacre necessary to retain power?

          What happened at the seventeenth party congress (congress of victors) for it to be seen by many as the birth of the great terror? At this meeting, the party secretary was to be elected by the leading members of the communist party- Stalin was supposed to win with ease, but he loses by over 400 votes to Kirov (who before was seen by Stalin as a loyal, good communist.) Stalin doesn’t get informed about this immediately as the party tries to cover it up, although inevitably Stalin finds out- fuelling anger and distrust with the majority of the communist party and mainly Kirov. This however was not all, when Stalin finds out some of the elder communist party members tried to convince Kirov to run for party leader. Stalin's trust in the communist leaders is destroyed- he now knows he is not secure as the leader and his already deep-seated paranoia is worsened, he realises that he is not safe within his own party- this is the start of his extreme paranoia of just about everyone in the whole of Russia, but especially of people who held power. This is the first time Stalin realises he may have to kill off his opponents to retain his power.

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        Stalin was known as a very paranoid man, he was virtually unable to trust most of his party leaders and thus had them expelled if he saw even a slight threat. Stalin felt he had many enemies and could not be at ease as everyone was out to seize his power, this was apparent as he was seen by many as an anxious paranoid man. The recent events at the congress of victors deepened Stalin's Paranoia much further, he looked at the recent cases where Trotsky Bukharin and Zinoviev has all held positions of power and were simply removed from ...

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