The Great Terror and the Purges
Stalin was responsible for the deaths of millions of Russians during
his ruthless dictatorship. He died in 1953 having been in power for
29 years. His doctor was too scared to take his pulse in case he was
still alive!
You will learn –
•How Stalin had all his enemies wiped out
•What happened to millions of ordinary Russians who were forced into
prison camps
“one death is a tragedy. A
million is just a statistic”
The Murder of Kirov
Kirov was a popular member of the Bolsheviks. In 1934 he was
mysteriously murdered and Stalin used this to bring about the
“great terror” when anybody who could possibly challenge Stalin
was put on trial and imprisoned or shot. We now know that Stalin
arranged Kirov’s murder.
One by one the important
Bolsheviks were captured by
Stalin’s secret police and given a
“show trial”. This was called the
Purges.”
The Purges
One by one Stalin’s old friends were rounded up and put on trial.
Kamenev, Zinoviev and Bukharin among many others suffered.
They were tortured and confessed to crimes they could not have
possibly carried out.
Stalin signs a death
warrant. It is said
that he would spend
five hours a day
doing this!
Source A
“Ordinary Russians who spoke up against Stalin, or who were simply
in the wrong class made up most of Stalin’s victims. However,
Stalin used the secret police against leading Communists. Having
defeated his main rival, Trotsky, Stalin wanted to remove all
possible rivals.”
How fully does the source explain the reasons behind Stalin’s
purges?
4
You must use evidence from the source and your own knowledge.
Source B
“All the old Bolsheviks were arrested by the secret police and
eliminated as rivals It was not even safe to criticise Stalin in private
for fear of ending up in a labour camp.”
How far do sources A and B agree about Stalin’s purges?
4
The Gulags
These were giant labour camps set up in Siberia. Prisoners were
forced to work as slave labour in temperatures below 40 degrees
centigrade. They lived in cramped, overcrowded sheds and were
fed rotten meat and vegetables.
Watch the film extract very carefully. Write down as many things
you see as you can.
Source A is a photo of the gulags taken in 1935
How useful is this
photograph as evidence
of the gulags? 3