What was the Stalinist Great Purge?

The Stalinist Great Purge, also known as the Great Terror, was a period of intense political repression and state-sponsored violence orchestrated by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin between 1936 and 1938. During this time, Stalin aimed to consolidate his power by eliminating perceived threats within the Communist Party, the military, and broader Soviet society. The purge led to the execution, imprisonment, and exile of millions of people, fundamentally reshaping the Soviet Union's political and social fabric. The Great Purge remains one of the darkest chapters in Soviet history, marked by paranoia, coercion, and the obliteration of opposition. Stalin’s rise to power following Lenin’s death in 1924 was marked by intense rivalries within the Communist Party. By the early 1930s, Stalin had outmaneuvered key rivals, such as Leon Trotsky and Nikolai Bukharin, but he remained deeply paranoid about potential opposition. The Great Purge was largely driven by Stalin’s desire to eliminate any real or imagined dissent that could threaten his control. The Soviet Union was undergoing rapid industrialization and collectivization during the early 1930s, policies that caused widespread suffering, including famine and discontent among peasants and workers. Stalin used the purge to suppress potential unrest and consolidate control over the implementation of his policies. Stalin justified the purge as a necessary step to root out "counter-revolutionaries" and "enemies of the people" who, he claimed, were sabotaging the socialist project. This rhetoric framed the purges as a means of safeguarding the revolution and maintaining the purity of Communist ideology.

The Great Purge began with a series of highly publicized trials of prominent Communist Party members, including the Trial of the Sixteen (1936), the Trial of the Seventeen (1937), and the Trial of the Twenty-One (1938). These trials featured fabricated charges of treason, espionage, and sabotage, with the accused coerced into giving false confessions through torture and threats. Defendants such as Bukharin, Zinoviev, and Kamenev were executed after being found guilty in what were essentially pre-determined verdicts. Stalin extended the purge to the Red Army, accusing high-ranking officers of treason. The most notable victim was Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky, a respected military strategist, and several other senior commanders. This decimation of the military leadership left the Soviet Union vulnerable in the years leading up to World War II. The Soviet secret police, known as the NKVD and led by Genrikh Yagoda, Nikolai Yezhov, and later Lavrentiy Beria, were central to carrying out the purge. They orchestrated mass arrests, interrogations, and executions, often targeting individuals based on quotas rather than evidence. The purge extended beyond the Communist Party and military to broader society, targeting intellectuals, scientists, artists, and ordinary citizens. Millions were sent to the Gulag labor camps, where many perished from harsh conditions and overwork.

During the purge, an estimated 1.2 million people were arrested, with 700,000 executed on charges of being "enemies of the state." Executions were carried out in secret, often through shootings in NKVD facilities or remote locations. Those not executed were frequently sent to labor camps, where they endured brutal conditions, forced labor, and starvation. The Gulag system became an essential part of Stalin’s repressive machinery, imprisoning millions during the purge. Local NKVD officers were given arrest quotas to fulfill, leading to indiscriminate targeting of individuals. The climate of fear also encouraged citizens to denounce one another, often as a means of self-preservation or personal gain. The purge left the Communist Party devoid of experienced leaders, replacing them with loyal but often incompetent individuals. This consolidation of power around Stalin transformed the Soviet Union into a totalitarian state, where dissent was virtually impossible. The removal of skilled military leaders significantly weakened the Red Army, contributing to initial Soviet failures during World War II. The military’s purge left it unprepared for the German invasion in 1941. The climate of fear stifled intellectual and cultural life in the Soviet Union. Writers, artists, and scientists were often among the purged, leading to a loss of creativity and innovation. Ordinary citizens lived in constant fear of arrest, with even minor expressions of dissent potentially leading to severe punishment. The mass arrests and executions caused significant demographic disruption, with countless families torn apart. The loss of skilled laborers and intellectuals also hampered economic and scientific development.

The Great Purge began to wind down in 1938, as its excesses became increasingly apparent even within the Soviet leadership. Nikolai Yezhov, who oversaw much of the purge as head of the NKVD, fell out of favor and was executed in 1940. His successor, Lavrentiy Beria, began to moderate the campaign, although repression remained a hallmark of Stalin’s rule until his death in 1953. Stalin shifted focus to external threats with the rise of Nazi Germany, redirecting resources and attention to preparing for war. The Great Purge is one of the most infamous examples of state-sponsored terror in modern history. It showcased the extent to which Stalin was willing to use fear and violence to maintain his grip on power. After Stalin’s death, his successor Nikita Khrushchev denounced the purges in his Secret Speech at the 20th Party Congress in 1956, acknowledging the injustices committed and initiating a process of de-Stalinization. The purge remains a subject of historical debate, with interpretations ranging from viewing it as a calculated strategy by Stalin to eliminate threats to his power to an expression of his deep paranoia and mistrust.

Craig Payne is a University lecturer, runner, cynic, researcher, skeptic, forum admin, woo basher, clinician, rabble-rouser, blogger and a dad.