How far do you agree that Stalin's paranoia was the main cause of The Great Terror? Between the years 1936 and 1938 Russia experienced the Great Terror as a result of Stalin using the secret police to persecute all those he believed to be a threat to his power. The result was more than 10 million deaths in Russia. Many reasons are said to be the cause of The Great Terror. Stalin's paranoia being one of the considered causes Terror as he feared he would fall from power like other key members of Communist Party like Trotsky and Bukharin.
How far do you agree that the most important result of the oppression was the strengthening of Stalin’s political dominance? The Great Terror had a profound effect upon the Communist Party and on Soviet society as a whole and it was most famous aspect of Stalin’s Russia. This terror grew from his paranoia and desire to be the absolute leader, and was enforced by the NKVD as well as his public show-trials. It developed into a terrifying system of labour camps (or gulags) and purges. Stalin’s oppression had many results including, but not limited to, the strengthening of his political dominance.
In order to do this Stalin instituted a party purge to silence the opposition of Riutin and his supporters, the assassination of Kirov, executed delegated party congresses, The trial of the twenty-one and general Purges. Between the years 1929-34 Stalin faced opposition from within the communist party A purge was the systematic elimination of opponents by Stalin, The assassination of Kirov allowed Stalin to use it as an excuse to begin the purges. In 1932, Kirov had helped to defeat Stalin on an important issue concerning Mikhail Riutin, who had circulated a document that was highly critical of Stalin. Stalin was furious and demanded Ruitins execution. However the central committee and the politburo refused to order Ruitin’s execution, Stalin viewed this as a betrayal.
Organizations such as the HUAC were corrupt and overflowing with power at the time, ruining lives for their own self indulgence. It was a time to be afraid of everyone and everything, because you never knew who might be a communist spy for Russia. O 2. Red Scare (first and second) The first red scare was brought about by the immense and widespread fear of Bolshevism
The key defendants that were removed were Trotsky, Kamenev, Buhkarin, Yagoda and Zinoviev. This was significant in allowing Stalin to establish his personal dictatorship as they removed all of Stalin’s rivals from the 1920’s thus creating fear among the USSR showing that if you did anything that Stalin disliked, your life would be in danger, particularly because these people had been in positions of power therefore people obeyed all of Stalin’s orders. This lead to the wider terror among ordinary people. They were denounces, arrested and sent to Gulags by the NKVD. It is estimated that between 1934-8, 20 million Russians were sent to these gulags.
In total, at least 7386,000 people were murdered all because tyrannical, self-obsessed leaders wanted to further their own ends. Develop own thoughts and relate them back to the topic. In Arthur Miller’s play ‘The Crucible’ , Abigail Williams acts as a catalyst for the literal witch hunt which ensues, a parallel for the metaphorical witch hunt that played out in the Unites States in the ‘50s and ‘60s as any person with a link to the Communist party was “hunted out” and forced to confess at the HUAC. Abigail creates massive conflict in Salem, pointing the finger away from her own mistakes, pretending to act as ‘God’s finger’. However when she realizes she has an opportunity to further her own ends even further; where she and john Proctor can be together again.
John majors government came into office after the downfall of Margret Thatcher, which ultimately created divisions within the party. Not only did the party suffer from the internal conflict but also faced the problems of the recession after the ‘Lawson boom’. In order to stabilise the economy he joined the ERM getting a good deal but ultimately resulting in ‘black Wednesday’ causing Major to raise interest rates to 15%. This was political suicide and he soon lost the support of the press we had once relied so much on to get re-elected in 1992. The housing market also plummeted leading to negative equity, which the majority of the working class could not afford resulting in the repossession of their houses combined with the drastic increase in unemployment Britain was in a mess.
Stalinist Russia during the late 1930’s experienced extreme changes and suffering in all sectors of society, including the military. The weakening of Russia’s military strength under Stalin’s rule is aptly described by Mary Leder in the novel “My Life in Stalinist Russia.” “No matter what the answer may be, it is an irrefutable fact that the Soviets did not use the two-year break to build up their defenses. On the contrary, Stalin continued to undermine the army by arresting its most talented leaders. He strengthened Germany by selling it the raw materials it needed to conduct the war. [1]” Through sources such as first hand accounts like the statement above, along with in-depth textbooks, I was able to understand the linear timeline of the Red Terror, and how the Red Terror was inextricably tied to the Russian casualties and suffering in World War II.
In this way, many people were intimidated into voting for the Nazi Party. Once again, Hitler targeted the Communists more than other groups. He used the emergency decree issued by Hindenburg and banned all Communist Party meetings and
In November of 1917, Lenin and his communist followers known as the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government and set a communist government in Russia. However, in 1924, Lenin died and Stalin assumed leadership of the Soviet Union. Stalin was a ruthless leader who brought many changes to the Soviet Union. Stalin’s goal was to transform the Soviet Union into a modern superpower and spread communism throughout the world, and he was determined to sabotage anyone who stood in his way. Stalin’s rule brought both harmful and beneficial consequences to the Soviet Union.