What happens when the person holding the scepter has no sense of security? The great cleansing in Stalin's time is a vivid interpretation of this. After three trials, 11 members of the Political Bureau during Lenin's period were shot dead, 1162 party representatives in the early Soviet Communist Party were executed, 1095 were executed, and 44 of the 49 most important leaders in the early Soviet Communist Party were executed.
The internal cleansing of the army was even more brutal. Five field marshals executed three, 15 group commanders executed 13, 50 of 57 army commanders were executed, 110 division commanders were executed, and 35000 officers were executed, which completely paralyzed the entire Soviet army. This was also the reason why the German army was able to successfully fight outside Moscow in the early days of World War II.
In addition, a large number of scientists and intellectuals have also been severely persecuted, some directly executed, and some exiled. According to statistics, more than 90% of Soviet cadres were purged at that time, and this was only the data from the Soviet Central Archives. As for how many cadres were purged locally? How many are disposed of privately? This data cannot be counted out, and no one knows the fact.
At that time, the Soviet Union made a large number of false and unjust cases. Anyone suspected by Stalin could be found with criminal evidence the next day and executed within a week. Almost all party members and cadres in the whole country became spies or traitors. As a result, at the beginning of the Soviet German war, there were more than 200 independent battalions and more than 140 independent regiments on the front line, all composed of Soviet citizens. They regarded the invading German army as the savior, and joined in in a systematic way, which is unique in human history.
After Stalin's death, people are reflecting on a large number of unjust, false and wrong cases in the history of the Soviet Union, especially those caused by the anti revolutionary movement in the 1930s. Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, said in a summing up tone at the conference to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the October Revolution that Stalin and his cronies "committed huge and unforgivable crimes" in the anti revolutionary movement.
This sentence nailed the "Great Purge" campaign launched by Stalin to the judgment platform of history. Then why did Stalin do this? How horrible is this anti terrorist movement? It also starts from the welcome applause of the Soviet Union's No. 2 figure Kirov that exceeded the specified time.
01. From the inner party struggle and the murder of Kirov
In the 1920s, there were three major political struggles in the Soviet Communist Party (Bolshevik) after Lenin's death. The first was the struggle with Trotsky from 1923 to 1926. The second was the struggle against Trotsky, Djinoviev and Gaminiev's "new opposition" from 1925 to 1927. The third was the struggle against Bukharin from 1928 to 1929, or the anti rightist struggle. After these struggles, the three reactionary factions suffered ideological defeat. These three intra Party struggles had a direct impact on the anti counter revolutionary movement in the 1930s.
Stalin's victory in the opposition struggle laid the ideological foundation for further pushing the Soviet Union to the socialist road envisaged by the early leaders. So, in accordance with his own ideas, he "marched ahead by winning" and targeted the attack on a large number of "bourgeois intellectuals" left behind by the old society, most of whom were experts and professors in enterprises, factories and mines, and colleges and universities.
This movement against "bourgeois intellectuals" began in 1928 with the so-called "Shaht Incident" in which technical experts destroyed mines. After this incident, the director of the National Security Bureau, Jakoda, arrested a group of intellectuals. Later, the Security Bureau found three "counter revolutionary organizations", namely the so-called "Industrial Party", the "Alliance Bureau" and the "Labor and Peasant Party", and arrested a large number of intellectuals successively. From 1932 to 1933, more than 100 Trotskyites were arrested.
During this period, although large-scale arrests were carried out, there were not many killings. At the 20th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party, the vast majority of these people have been rehabilitated. The Soviet Union launched a campaign of killing after the assassination of Kirov in 1934.
In 1934, the Soviet Communist Party (Bolshevik) held the 17th National Congress. Except Trotsky, who had been expelled from the Soviet Union at that time, all the leading figures of the opposition in the past attended and admitted their mistakes. After the meeting, with the consent of Stalin, Bukharin was appointed as the editor in chief of the News, and Gaminiev also served as the leader of the Academy of Sciences Press. It can be said that everyone is happy. At that time, people called this congress a conference of unity.
However, there are also splits lurking in the unity. According to the Soviet History published in Moscow in 1964, many delegates hoped that Kirov would replace Stalin at this conference, but Kirov himself did not agree.
Kirov was five years younger than Stalin and was an old Bolshevik who joined the Party in 1904. He made contributions to the struggle against Trotsky and established high prestige in the whole party. When the General Assembly voted to elect the Central Committee members, only 3 votes disagreed with Kirov's election, while 270 votes disagreed with Stalin, and the delegates applauded Kirov more than the specified time.
Kirov was suddenly assassinated in December of that year, which is still an unprovoked case. Khrushchev said in his speech at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union: "Up to now, there are still many inexplicable and incomprehensible places hidden in the Kirov incident. People have reason to suspect that Nikolai Yafu, who assassinated Kirov, may get the help of someone who works as a guard." Is that really the case?
