Reign of Terror: The Great Stalin Purges
The purges of the USSR started in the mid-1930 and continued throughout till the late 1930’s. Just about two years after Stalin came to power over the Soviet Union. By the mid-1930’s Stalin believed that the “Old Guard”, the Bolshevik Party started by Lenin, was going to present a threat to him and his reign. Stalin suspected that everyone around him who had any ounce of power was a threat to him so he wanted them dealt with. In December 1934, the popular head of the Leningrad party, Sergei Kirov, was murdered. This murder allowed Stalin to gain more power, then when the Politburo Party joined him, he increased his power even more, and the purges began.
The first people rounded up by Stalin were labeled “Trotskyites”. These “Trotskyites” were put into prisons run by NKVD who used both physical and psychological torture to gain information about other “traitors” to their cause. Stalin increased the ante of terror when he himself signed the decree that made it so families liable for the crimes committed by their husbands of father, children aged 12 years could also be executed.(http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/) In order to keep these arrests and executions legal, Stalin made it so major figures were given the “luxury” of a public trial.
It is estimated that between 1934 and 1939, one million party members were arrested and executed. During this same period it is thought by historians that 10 million were sent to gulags, with many that were sent ended up dying.
The first people rounded up by Stalin were labeled “Trotskyites”. These “Trotskyites” were put into prisons run by NKVD who used both physical and psychological torture to gain information about other “traitors” to their cause. Stalin increased the ante of terror when he himself signed the decree that made it so families liable for the crimes committed by their husbands of father, children aged 12 years could also be executed.(http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/) In order to keep these arrests and executions legal, Stalin made it so major figures were given the “luxury” of a public trial.
It is estimated that between 1934 and 1939, one million party members were arrested and executed. During this same period it is thought by historians that 10 million were sent to gulags, with many that were sent ended up dying.