mass arrests of loyal party-state bureacracy

denunciation of loyal stalinists

• summer of 1937

• mainstay of stalin’s majority in the central committee

• highest officials below politburo level + 1000s of officials associated with and patronised and protected by them + “their family circles” were swept away

• “clan politics”

leadership in every field and every organisation

• planning agencies, trade unions, komsomol and education was hit

• set local denunciations in motion

  • stalin’s letters to molotov and kaganovich are full of attacks on bureacracy and above all ministries connected with the economy

• networks of collusion grew up as all tried to survive

• problem = impossibly high targets

• stalins response = purge

motivations for purging

• provided scapegoats for the crises in the economy + difficulties faced by ordinary people → places blame firmly on party leadership at a republican, regional and district level and on economic managers

• it swept away the bureaucratic families and clans stalin distrusted so much

• new appointments = younger people, solid proletarian elements who owed their education and appointment to stalin

august 1937 show trials of local rural officials

• trials = run into hundreds with stalin pressing personally for the execution of the convicted

• adds to climate of fear

• officials, professionals and managers in all hierarchies risked being accused of wrecking, sabotage or the abuse of power