Great Purge: Difference between revisions

▲The purges were largely conducted by the [[NKVD]] (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs), which functioned as the [[Ministry of home affairs|interior ministry]] and secret police of the USSR. Starting in 1936, the NKVD under chief [[Genrikh Yagoda]] began the removal of the central party leadership, [[Old Bolshevik]]s, government officials, and regional party [[Political boss|bosses]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/TokaevComradeX1956|title=Tokaev Comrade X 1956|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Soviet politicians who opposed or criticized Stalin were removed from office and imprisoned or executed by the NKVD. Eventually, the purges were expanded to the [[Red Army]] and military high command, which had a disastrous effect on the military.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://universitypressblog.dept.ku.edu/uncategorized/rethinking-stalins-purge-of-the-red-army-1937-38/|title=Rethinking Stalin's Purge of the Red Army, 1937–38 |last1=Whitewood|first1=Peter|date=June 13, 2016|website=University Press of Kansas Blog|access-date=2021-12-03}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/ABBEDEFC36C8903615BEEB02D3AB2CBD/S0037677900146224a.pdf/div-class-title-the-impact-of-the-great-purges-on-the-peopleandapos-s-commissariat-of-foreign-affairs-div.pdf|title=The Impact of the Great Purges on the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs|last1=Uldricks|first1=Teddy J.|journal=Slavic Review|volume=36|number=2|year=1977|pages=187–204 |doi=10.2307/2495035 |jstor=2495035|s2cid=163664533 }}</ref> The campaigns also affected many other categories of the society: [[intelligentsia]], peasants—especially those lending out money or wealth ([[kulak|''kulaks'']])—and professionals.{{sfn|Conquest|2008|pp=250,&nbsp;257–58}} As the scope of the purge widened, the omnipresent suspicion of saboteurs and [[Counter-revolutionary|counter-revolutionaries]] began impacting civilian life. The purge reached its peak between September 1936 and August 1938 under the leadership of [[Nikolai Yezhov]], hence the name ''Yezhovshchina''. The campaigns were carried out according to the [[general line (party)|general line of the party]], often by direct orders of the [[Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|politburo]] headed by Stalin.<ref>Goldman, W. (2005). "Stalinist Terror and Democracy: The 1937 Union Campaign". ''The American Historical Review'', 110(5), 1427–53</ref> Hundreds of thousands of victims were accused of various political crimes (espionage, [[Wrecking (Soviet crime)|wrecking]], [[sabotage]], [[anti-Soviet agitation]], conspiracies to prepare uprisings and coups). They were executed by shooting or sent to the [[Gulag]] [[labor camp]]s. Many died at the penal labor camps of starvation, disease, exposure, and overwork. The NKVD targeted certain [[Soviet Union#Nationalities and ethnic groups|ethnic minorities]] such as the [[Volga Germans]], and Soviet citizens of Polish origin, who were subjected to forced deportation and extreme repression. Throughout the purge, the NKVD sought to strengthen control over civilians through fear, and frequently used imprisonment, torture, violent interrogation, and executions during its [[Mass operations of the NKVD|mass operations]].{{sfn|Figes|2007|pp=227–315}}

▲In 1938, Stalin reversed his stance on the purges, criticized the NKVD for carrying out mass executions, and oversaw the execution of [[Genrikh Yagoda]] and [[Nikolai Yezhov]], who headed the NKVD during the purge years. Scholars estimate the death toll for the Great Purge (1936–1938) to be roughly 700,000.<ref>{{Citation |title=Introduction: the Great Purges as history |date=1985 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511572616.002 |work=Origins of the Great Purges |pages=1–9 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511572616.002 |isbn=978-0521259217 |access-date=2021-12-02}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Homkes|first=Brett|date=2004|title=Certainty, Probability, and Stalin's Great Purge|url=https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=mcnair|journal=McNair Scholars Journal}}</ref> Despite the end of the Great Purge, the widespread surveillance and atmosphere of mistrust continued for decades. Similar purges took place [[Stalinist repressions in Mongolia|in Mongolia]] and [[Sheng Shicai#1937–38 purges|Xinjiang]]. While the Soviet government desired to put Trotsky on trial during the purge, his exile prevented this. Trotsky survived the purge, though he would be assassinated in 1940 by the NKVD on the orders of Stalin.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leon Trotsky – Exile and assassination {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leon-Trotsky/Exile-and-assassination |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Schatman |first=Max |title=Behind the Moscow Trials |year=1938}}</ref>