Opposition and repression 1917-1941

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Why did opposition against Lenin protest about/want?

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Government

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1

Why did opposition against Lenin protest about/want?

  • Workers wanted soviet elections, a free press and a constituent assembly- wanted a democracy

  • Overthrow of the Sovnarkom

  • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

  • Increase in support for other socialist parties

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2

What was the aim of the red terror?

  • Terrify all social groups into co-operation with the regime

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3

Why did Lenin say terror was necessary?

  • He faced enormous political and economic challenges during the civil war and terror was necessary in order to respond to crisis

  • it was to protect the workers- prevent counter revolution

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4

What did Lenin do when the crisis passed?

Disbanded the Cheka in Feb 1922

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5

What did Lenin replace the Cheka with?

GPU- continued work of secret police

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6

How do critics on Lenin see the foundations of Stalins “great purges”

As coming from Lenin’s red terror

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7

What happened to those who opposed rapid industrialisation and collectivisation under Stalin in 1928?

Subjected to violence by OGPU and red army

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8

What were those who opposed collectivisation called ?

Kulaks

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9

What did Peasants do to resist collectivisation ?

  • Slaughtered animals

  • Less grain harvested

  • Peasant uprisings (13,570 or 2.5 million peasants)

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10

What happened to villages that refused to collectivise ?

Soviet airforce was called in to bomb remote villages

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11

What policy was there less opposition to?

The five year plans

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12

What was used to motivate managers and workers to meet the demanding targets set by Gosplan?

Terror

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13

Who was out on trial in the Shakhty show trial?

53 engineers from the Shakhty coal mine

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14

What were the 53 engineers accused of doing?

  • “counter revolutionary activity”

  • There had been a drop in production at the mine- showed others what would happen if they didn’t reach targets

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15

Why was the “industrial party” put on trial in 1930?

  • Blamed for sabotaging the first five year plan

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16

Who was put on trial in the “Menshevik” trial?

  • Leading figures in the earlier drawing up of the first five year plan and the prosecution of the wreckers now found themselves on trial because of their Menshevik background

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17

What was full by 1929?

Prisons

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18

Who suggested an expansion of gulags/prison camps?

  • Yagoda- Deputy chairman of the OGPU

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19

By 1934 how many prisoners were in the gulags ?

Over 1 million

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20

Who was the star and received more votes then Stalin in the 17th Party Congress?

Kirov

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21

Who was killed in a car accident following the murder of Kirov?

Kirov bodyguard and some NKVD men

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22

Who was arrested and eventually executed lined to the death of Kirov?

Zinoviev and Kamenev

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23

In 1936 how many arrests/expulsions from the party were made?

11,000 arrests and 250,000 expulsions

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24

Who replaced yagoda as head of NKVD?

Yezhov

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25

What are the three theories as to who killed Kirov?

  1. Nikolayev-expelled from the party in Leningrad- Kirov was the head and rumours that his ex wife had an affair with him- map of Kirov route to work and a plan to murder was found in his possessions

  2. Stalin ordered Kirov’s murder

  3. Kirov was a victim of in fighting between KKVD and the Leningrad party

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26

Why may Stalin have the motivation behind killing Kirov?

  • Kirov spoke out against the use of force against peasants

  • Kirov had become more popular within the party- polled more votes at the 17th party congress

  • Several provincial party secretaries and was urged to take over as General Secretary- Kirov rejected idea

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27

Who was put on trial in the 1937 show trial (number 2)

  • Piatakov, Radek and Sokolnikov

  • Leading figures in the communist party who had questioned Stalins policies especially the pace of industrialisation

  • Confessed to forming an “anti soviet Trotskyist centre”

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28

Who was put on trial at the 3rd trial in 1938?

  • Bukharin, Rykov and Yagoda

  • Bukharin- confessed to involvement in plots against Stalin and was shot

  • Yagoda- confused to an array of crimes including murder of Kirov- shot with family

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29

Who shared Stalins vision in terror?

Yezhov

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30

Who oversaw the most bloodthirsty period of terror?

Yezhov (“the bloody dwarf)

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31

How many people did Yezhov want to get arrested In his “arrest list”

250,000 (anti soviet elements)

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32

What system did Yezhov implement ?

A quota system

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33

What percentage of those arrested had to be shot?

28%

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34

Who was purged in 1937?

The red army

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35

How many deputy commissars for defence and members of the supreme military council were shot?

  • All 11 deputy commissars for defence

  • 75/80 members of the supreme military council were shot

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36

Who was the “civil war hero” that was also tried and executed?

Marshal Tukhachevsky

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37

What percentage of the army officer corps was imprisoned/executed?

50%- 35,000

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38

What was the consequence of the purge of the red army?

  • Effectiveness of armed forces reduced

  • Incompetent leaders whose knowledge of military tactics was limited and very outdated - heavy emphasis on Cavalry on the battle field- Nazis had huge tanks

  • Tukhachevsky on the other hand used up to date and modern weaponry

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39

What percentage of the communist was expelled in 1938?

20% and thousands shot

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40

What percentage of membership in 1939 joined the party before 1920?

10%

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41

Why were “old Bolshevik’s” also arrested/executed ?

They were present when Stalin was not an all powerful dictator

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42

How many out of the 1,966 delegates that were present at 17th party congress (where Kirov topped the poll) were arrested by 1939?

1,108

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43

What was the best way that communists could stay in power?

By being loyal to Stalin

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44

From 1929 who did the Poltiburo contain?

Stalins most loyal supporters

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45

Who never asked Stalin for the release of his wife from the gulag?

Kalinin the president of the USSR

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46

How many party members were there in 1935 in comparison to 1939?

1935- 2.5 million

1939- 1.5 million

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47

How many party members were executed?

600,000

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48

Why were younger members recruited in late 1930s?

  • Younger

  • Better educated

  • Would be able to operate five year plans more effectively

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