What does repression mean? Stalinist repressions (briefly)

Mass repressions in the USSR were carried out in the period 1927 - 1953. These repressions are directly associated with the name of Joseph Stalin, who during these years was in charge of the country. Social and political persecution in the USSR began after the end of the last stage of the civil war. These phenomena began to gain momentum in the second half of the 30s and did not slow down during the Second World War, as well as after its end. Today we will talk about what the social and political repressions of the Soviet Union were, consider what phenomena underlie those events, as well as what consequences it led to.

They say: an entire people cannot be suppressed endlessly. Lying! Can! We see how our people have devastated, become wild, and indifference has descended on them not only to the fate of the country, not only to the fate of a neighbor, but even to our own fate and the fate of children. Indifference, the last salutary reaction of the body, has become our defining feature. ... That is why the popularity of vodka is unprecedented even on a Russian scale. This is a terrible indifference, when a person sees his life not chipped, not with a broken corner, but so hopelessly fragmented, so disgraced up and down that it is still worth living for the sake of alcoholic oblivion. Now, if vodka were banned, we would immediately have a revolution.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Reasons for repression:

• Forcing the population to work on a non-economic basis. There was a lot of work to be done in the country, but there was not enough money for everything. Ideology formed new thinking and perception, and also had to motivate people to work practically for free.
• Strengthening personal power. For the new ideology, an idol was needed, a person who is unquestioningly trusted. After the assassination of Lenin, this post was vacant. Stalin had to take this place.
• Strengthening the exhaustion of a totalitarian society.

If you try to find the beginning of repression in the union, then the starting point, of course, should be 1927. This year was marked by the fact that massacres began to take place in the country, with the so-called pests, as well as saboteurs. The motive for these events should be sought in the relationship between the USSR and Great Britain. Thus, at the beginning of 1927, the Soviet Union became involved in a major international scandal when the country was openly accused of trying to transfer the hotbed of the Soviet revolution to London. In response to these events, Great Britain severed all relations with the USSR, both political and economic. Domestically, this step was presented as preparation on the part of London for a new wave of intervention. At one of the party meetings, Stalin declared that the country "must destroy all remnants of imperialism and all supporters of the White Guard movement." Stalin had an excellent reason for this on June 7, 1927. On this day, the political representative of the USSR, Voikov, was killed in Poland.

As a result, terror began. For example, on the night of June 10, 20 people were shot dead for contacting the empire. These were representatives of ancient noble families. All in all, in June 27, more than 9 thousand people were arrested, who were accused of high treason, complicity with imperialism and other things that sound menacing, but are very difficult to prove. Most of those arrested were sent to prisons.

Pest control

After that, a number of major cases began in the USSR, which were aimed at combating sabotage and sabotage. The wave of these repressions was based on the fact that in most of the large companies that worked within the Soviet Union, senior positions were occupied by immigrants from imperial Russia. Of course, most of these people did not feel sympathy for the new government. Therefore, the Soviet regime looked for pretexts by which this intelligentsia could be removed from leading posts and, if possible, destroyed. The problem was that it needed a solid and legal basis. Such grounds were found in a number of lawsuits that swept through the Soviet Union in the 1920s.

Among the most striking examples of such cases are the following:

• Shakhty business. In 1928, repressions in the USSR affected miners from Donbass. A show trial was made out of this case. The entire leadership of Donbass, as well as 53 engineers, were accused of espionage with an attempt to sabotage the new state. As a result of the proceedings, 3 people were shot, 4 were acquitted, the rest received a prison term of 1 to 10 years. It was a precedent - society enthusiastically embraced the repressions against the enemies of the people ... In 2000, the Russian prosecutor's office rehabilitated all the participants in the Shakhty case, in view of the absence of corpus delicti.
• Pulkovo case. In June 1936, a large solar eclipse should have been visible on the territory of the USSR. Pulkovo Observatory appealed to the world community to attract personnel to study this phenomenon, as well as to obtain the necessary foreign equipment. As a result, the organization was accused of espionage ties. The number of victims is classified.
• The case of the industrial party. Those accused in this case were those whom the Soviet government called bourgeois. This process took place in 1930. The defendants were accused of attempting to disrupt industrialization in the country.
• The case of the peasant party. The Socialist-Revolutionary organization is widely known under the name of the Chayanov and Kondratyev group. In 1930, representatives of this organization were accused of attempts to disrupt industrialization and of interference in agricultural affairs.
• Union Bureau. The Union Bureau case was opened in 1931. The defendants were representatives of the Mensheviks. They were accused of undermining the creation and implementation of economic activities within the country, as well as links with foreign intelligence.

At that moment, a massive ideological struggle was taking place in the USSR. The new regime tried with all its might to explain its position to the population, as well as to justify its actions. But Stalin understood that ideology alone could not establish order in the country and could not allow him to retain power. Therefore, along with ideology, repressions began in the USSR. Above we have already given some examples of cases from which the repression began. These cases have raised big questions at all times, and today, when the documents on many of them have been declassified, it becomes absolutely clear that most of the accusations were unfounded. It is no coincidence that the Russian prosecutor's office, having examined the documents of the Shakhtinsk case, rehabilitated all the participants in the process. And this despite the fact that in 1928 no one from the party leadership of the country had a thought about the innocence of these people. Why did this happen? This was due to the fact that under the guise of repression, as a rule, everyone who did not agree with the new regime was destroyed.

The events of the 20s were just the beginning, the main events were ahead.

Socio-political meaning of mass repressions

A new massive wave of repression within the country unfolded at the beginning of 1930. At that moment, the struggle began not only with political competitors, but also with the so-called kulaks. In fact, a new blow by the Soviet regime against the rich began, and this blow caught not only wealthy people, but also the middle peasants and even the poor. Dekulakization was one of the stages in delivering this blow. Within the framework of this material, we will not dwell in detail on the issues of dispossession, since this issue has already been studied in detail in the corresponding article on the site.

Party composition and governing bodies in repression

A new wave of political repression in the USSR began at the end of 1934. At that time, there was a significant change in the structure of the administrative apparatus within the country. In particular, on July 10, 1934, the special services were reorganized. On this day, the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR was created. This department is known under the acronym NKVD. The structure of this unit included such services as:

• Main Department of State Security. It was one of the main bodies that dealt with almost all matters.
• Main Directorate of Workers 'and Peasants' Militia. This is an analogue of the modern police, with all the functions and responsibilities.
• Main Directorate of the Border Service. The department was engaged in border and customs affairs.
• Main administration of camps. This administration is widely known today under the abbreviation GULAG.
• Main fire department.

In addition, in November 1934, a special department was created, which was named "Special meeting". This department received broad powers to combat the enemies of the people. In fact, this department could send people into exile or to the Gulag for up to 5 years without the presence of the accused, the prosecutor and the lawyer. Of course, this applied only to the enemies of the people, but the problem is that no one knew for certain how to define this enemy. That is why the Special Meeting had unique functions, since any person could be declared an enemy of the people. Any person could be sent into exile on one simple suspicion for 5 years.

Mass repressions in the USSR

The events of December 1, 1934 became the reason for massive repressions. Then Sergey Mironovich Kirov was killed in Leningrad. As a result of these events, a special procedure for court proceedings was approved in the country. In fact, we are talking about expedited court proceedings. All cases where people were accused of terrorism and aiding terrorism were transferred under a simplified system of proceedings. Again, the problem was that almost all people who fell under repression were included in this category. Above, we have already talked about a number of high-profile cases that characterize the repression in the USSR, where it is clearly seen that all people, one way or another, were accused of complicity in terrorism. The specificity of the simplified system of proceedings was that the verdict had to be delivered within 10 days. The accused received a summons the day before the trial. The trial itself took place without the participation of prosecutors and lawyers. Upon completion of the proceedings, any requests for clemency were prohibited. If, in the course of the proceedings, a person was sentenced to death, then this punishment was executed immediately.

Political repression, party purge

Stalin organized active repression within the Bolshevik party itself. One of the illustrative examples of the repressions that affected the Bolsheviks happened on January 14, 1936. On this day, the replacement of party documents was announced. This step has been discussed for a long time and was not a surprise. But when the documents were replaced, new certificates were not given to all party members, but only to those who "earned trust." Thus began the purge of the party. If you believe the official data, then when the new party documents were issued, 18% of the Bolsheviks were expelled from the party. These were the people to whom repression was applied, first of all. And we are talking about only one of the waves of these cleansing. In total, the cleaning of the party was carried out in several stages:

• In 1933. 250 people were expelled from the party's top leadership.
• In 1934-1935, 20 thousand people were expelled from the Bolshevik party.

Stalin actively destroyed people who could claim power, who were powerful. To demonstrate this fact, it is only necessary to say that of all the members of the Politburo of 1917, only Stalin survived after the purge (4 members were shot, and Trotsky was expelled from the party and expelled from the country). There were 6 members of the Politburo at that time. In the interval between the revolution and the death of Lenin, a new Politburo of 7 people was assembled. By the end of the purge, only Molotov and Kalinin survived. In 1934, the next congress of the party of the CPSU (b) took place. 1934 people took part in the congress. 1108 of them were arrested. Most were shot.

The assassination of Kirov exacerbated the wave of repression, and Stalin himself appealed to the party members about the need for the final extermination of all enemies of the people. As a result, changes were made to the Criminal Code of the USSR. These changes stipulated that all cases of political prisoners were considered on an expedited basis without the attorneys of prosecutors for 10 days. The executions were carried out immediately. In 1936, a political trial of the opposition took place. In fact, Lenin's closest associates, Zinoviev and Kamenev, were in the dock. They were charged with the murder of Kirov, as well as an attempt on Stalin's life. A new stage of political repression began against the Leninist guard. This time Bukharin was subjected to repressions, as well as the head of the government Rykov. The socio-political meaning of repression in this sense was associated with the strengthening of the personality cult.

Repression in the army

Since June 1937, the repressions in the USSR have affected the army. In June, the first trial took place against the high command of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA), including the commander-in-chief, Marshal Tukhachevsky. The army leadership was accused of attempting a coup d'etat. According to the prosecutors, the coup was to take place on May 15, 1937. The accused were found guilty and most of them were shot. Tukhachevsky was also shot.

An interesting fact is that out of 8 members of the trial, who sentenced Tukhachevsky to death, later five were themselves repressed and shot. However, from that time on, repressions began in the army, which affected the entire leadership. As a result of such events, 3 marshals of the Soviet Union, 3 army commanders of the 1st rank, 10 army commanders of the 2nd rank, 50 corps commanders, 154 division commanders, 16 army commissars, 25 commissar corps, 58 division commissars, 401 regimental commanders were repressed. In total, 40 thousand people were subjected to repression in the Red Army. It was 40 thousand army leaders. As a result, more than 90% of the command staff were destroyed.

Increased repression

Beginning in 1937, the wave of repressions in the USSR began to intensify. The reason was the order No. 00447 of the NKVD of the USSR dated July 30, 1937. This document also stated the immediate repression of all anti-Soviet elements, namely:

• Former fists. All those whom the Soviet government called kulaks, but who escaped punishment, or were in labor settlements or in exile, were subject to repression.
• All representatives of religion. Anyone who has anything to do with religion was subject to repression.
• Participants in anti-Soviet actions. Everyone who ever spoke out actively or passively against the Soviet regime took up such members. In fact, those who did not support the new government belonged to this category.
• Anti-Soviet politicians. Inside the country, all who were not part of the Bolshevik party were called anti-Soviet politicians.
• White Guards.
• People with a criminal record. People with a criminal record were automatically considered enemies of the Soviet regime.

• Hostile elements. Any person who was called a hostile element was sentenced to death.
• Inactive items. The rest who were not sentenced to death were sent to camps or prisons for a term of 8 to 10 years.

All cases were now considered in an even more accelerated mode, where most cases were considered en masse. According to the same order of the NKVD, repressions were applied not only to the convicts, but also to their families. In particular, the following measures of punishment were applied to the families of the repressed:

• Families of those repressed for active anti-Soviet actions. All members of such families went to camps and labor camps.
• Families of the repressed, who lived in the border zone, were subject to resettlement inland. Often special settlements were formed for them.
• A family of repressed people who lived in large cities of the USSR. Such people were also resettled inland.

In 1940, a secret department of the NKVD was created. This department was engaged in the destruction of political opponents of the Soviet regime located abroad. The first victim of this department was Trotsky, who was killed in Mexico in August 1940. Subsequently, this secret department was engaged in the destruction of members of the White Guard movement, as well as representatives of the imperialist emigration of Russia.

In the future, the repressions continued, although their main events had already passed. In fact, the repressions in the USSR continued until 1953.

Results of repression

In total, from 1930 to 1953, 3 million 800 thousand people were repressed on charges of counter-revolution. Of these, 749,421 people were shot ... And this is only according to official information ... And how many more people died without trial and investigation, whose names were not included in the list?

In the 20s and ended in 1953. During this period, mass arrests took place, and special camps for political prisoners were created. No historian can name the exact number of victims of Stalinist repressions. More than a million people were convicted under Article 58.

Origin of the term

The Stalinist terror affected almost all sectors of society. For more than twenty years, Soviet citizens lived in constant fear - one wrong word or even a gesture could cost their lives. It is impossible to unequivocally answer the question of what the Stalinist terror was based on. But of course, the main component of this phenomenon is fear.

The word terror is Latin for "horror". The method of ruling the country based on instilling fear has been used by rulers since ancient times. For the Soviet leader, Ivan the Terrible served as a historical example. Stalin's terror is in a way a more modern version of Oprichnina.

Ideology

The midwife of history - that's how Karl Marx called violence. The German philosopher saw only evil in the security and inviolability of members of society. Stalin used Marx's idea.

The ideological basis of the repressions that began in the 1920s was formulated in July 1928 in the "Short Course on the History of the CPSU". At first, the Stalinist terror was a class struggle, which was supposedly needed to resist the overthrown forces. But the repressions continued after all the so-called counter-revolutionaries were sent to camps or were shot. The peculiarity of the Stalinist policy was the complete non-observance of the Soviet Constitution.

If at the beginning of the Stalinist repressions the state security bodies fought against the opponents of the revolution, then by the mid-thirties the arrests of old communists began - people selflessly devoted to the party. Ordinary Soviet citizens were already afraid not only of the NKVD officers, but also of each other. Denunciation has become the main tool in the fight against "enemies of the people."

The Stalinist repressions were preceded by the "Red Terror", which began during the Civil War. These two political phenomena have many similarities. However, after the end of the Civil War, almost all political crimes cases were based on falsified charges. During the "Red Terror", they imprisoned and shot primarily those who disagreed with the new regime, of whom there were many at the stages of the creation of the new state.

The case of lyceum students

Officially, the period of Stalinist repressions begins in 1922. But one of the first high-profile cases dates back to 1925. It was in this year that a special department of the NKVD fabricated a case on charges of counter-revolutionary activities of the graduates of the Alexandrovsky Lyceum.

On February 15, over 150 people were arrested. Not all of them were related to the aforementioned educational institution. Among the convicts were former students of the School of Law and officers of the Semyonovsky Life Guards Regiment. Those arrested were accused of helping the international bourgeoisie.

Many were shot already in June. 25 people were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. 29 of those arrested were sent into exile. Vladimir Schilder, a former teacher, was 70 at that time. He died during the investigation. Nikolai Golitsyn, the last chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire, was sentenced to death.

Shakhty affair

The charges under Article 58 were ridiculous. A person who does not speak foreign languages \u200b\u200band has never communicated with a citizen of a Western state in his life could easily be accused of collusion with American agents. During the investigation, torture was often used. Only the strongest could withstand them. Often, those under investigation signed a confession just to complete the execution, which sometimes lasted for weeks.

In July 1928, specialists in the coal industry became victims of Stalin's terror. This case was named "Shakhty". The leaders of Donbass enterprises were accused of sabotage, sabotage, creation of an underground counter-revolutionary organization, and assistance to foreign spies.

In the 1920s, there were several high-profile cases. Dekulakization continued until the early thirties. It is impossible to count the number of victims of Stalin's repressions, because no one in those days carefully kept statistics. In the nineties, the KGB archives became available, but even after that, researchers did not receive comprehensive information. However, separate execution lists were made public, which became a terrible symbol of Stalin's repression.

The Great Terror is a term that is applied to a short period of Soviet history. It lasted only two years - from 1937 to 1938. Researchers provide more accurate data on victims during this period. 1,548,366 people were arrested. Shot - 681 692. It was a struggle "against the remnants of the capitalist classes."

Reasons for the "great terror"

In Stalin's times, a doctrine was developed to intensify the class struggle. This was only a formal reason for the destruction of hundreds of people. Among the victims of the Stalinist terror of the 30s are writers, scientists, military men, engineers. Why was it necessary to get rid of representatives of the intelligentsia, specialists who could benefit the Soviet state? Historians offer various answers to these questions.

Among modern researchers there are those who are convinced that Stalin had only an indirect relation to the repressions of 1937-1938. However, his signature appears in almost every execution list, in addition, there is a lot of documentary evidence of his involvement in mass arrests.

Stalin strove for one-man power. Any indulgence could lead to a real, not fictional conspiracy. One of the foreign historians compared the Stalinist terror of the 1930s with the Jacobin terror. But if the last phenomenon, which took place in France at the end of the 18th century, presupposed the destruction of representatives of a certain social class, then in the USSR people were often arrested and executed that were not related to each other.

So, the reason for the repression was the desire for one-man, unconditional power. But a formulation was needed, an official justification for the need for mass arrests.

Occasion

On December 1, 1934, Kirov was killed. This event became the formal reason for the Killer was arrested. According to the results of the investigation, again fabricated, Leonid Nikolaev did not act independently, but as a member of an opposition organization. Stalin subsequently used Kirov's assassination in the fight against political opponents. Zinoviev, Kamenev and all their supporters were arrested.

The trial of the officers of the Red Army

After Kirov's murder, the military trials began. GD Guy was one of the first victims of the Great Terror. The commander was arrested for the phrase "Stalin must be removed", which he uttered while intoxicated. It is worth saying that in the mid-thirties, denunciation reached its climax. People who worked in the same organization for many years stopped trusting each other. Denunciations were written not only against enemies, but also against friends. Not only for selfish reasons, but also out of fear.

In 1937, a trial took place over a group of officers of the Red Army. They were accused of anti-Soviet activities and assistance to Trotsky, who by that time was already abroad. The following were on the execution list:

• M. N. Tukhachevsky
• Yakir I.E.
• Uborevich I.P.
• Eideman R.P.
• V.K. Putna
• Primakov V.M.
• Gamarnik Ya.B.
• Feldman B.M.

The witch hunt continued. In the hands of the NKVD officers was a record of the negotiations between Kamenev and Bukharin - the discussion was about the creation of a "right-left" opposition. In early March 1937 with a report, which spoke of the need to eliminate the Trotskyists.

According to the report of the General Commissioner of State Security Yezhov, Bukharin and Rykov were planning terror against the leader. A new term appeared in Stalin's terminology - "Trotskyist-Bukharin", which means "directed against the interests of the party."

In addition to the aforementioned politicians, about 70 people were arrested. 52 were shot. Among them were those who took a direct part in the repressions of the 1920s. For example, state security officers and politicians Yakov Agronom, Alexander Gurevich, Levon Mirzoyan, Vladimir Polonsky, Nikolai Popov and others were shot.

Lavrenty Beria was involved in the "Tukhachevsky case", but he managed to survive the "purge". In 1941, he took up the post of General Commissioner of State Security. Beria was already shot after Stalin's death - in December 1953.

Repressed scientists

In 1937, revolutionaries and politicians became victims of Stalin's terror. And very soon the arrests of representatives of completely different social strata began. People who had nothing to do with politics were sent to the camps. It is easy to guess what the consequences of the Stalinist repressions are after reading the lists below. The "Great Terror" became a brake on the development of science, culture and art.

Scientists who became victims of Stalinist repression:

• Matvey Bronstein.
• Alexander Witt.
• Hans Gelman.
• Semyon Shubin.
• Evgeny Pereplekin.
• Innokenty Balanovsky.
• Dmitry Eropkin.
• Boris Numerov.
• Nikolay Vavilov.
• Sergey Korolev.

Writers and poets

In 1933, Osip Mandelstam wrote an epigram with a clear anti-Stalinist overtones, which he read to several dozen people. Boris Pasternak called the poet's act suicide. He was right. Mandelstam was arrested and sent into exile in Cherdyn. There he made an unsuccessful suicide attempt, and a little later, with the assistance of Bukharin, he was transferred to Voronezh.

Boris Pilnyak wrote The Tale of the Unquenched Moon in 1926. The characters in this work are fictional, at least so the author states in the preface. But to everyone who read the story in the 1920s, it became clear that it was based on the version of the murder of Mikhail Frunze.

Somehow, Pilnyak's work got into print. But it was soon banned. Pilnyak was arrested only in 1937, and before that he remained one of the most published prose writers. The case of the writer, like all others like it, was completely fabricated - he was accused of spying for Japan. He was shot in Moscow in 1937.

Other writers and poets who were subjected to Stalinist repression:

• Victor Bagrov.
• Julius Berzin.
• Pavel Vasiliev.
• Sergey Klychkov.
• Vladimir Narbut.
• Petr Parfenov.
• Sergei Tretyakov.

It is worth telling about the famous theatrical figure, charged under Article 58 and sentenced to capital punishment.

Vsevolod Meyerhold

The director was arrested at the end of June 1939. His apartment was later searched. A few days later, Meyerhold's wife was killed. The circumstances of her death are still not clear. There is a version that the NKVD officers killed her.

Meyerhold was interrogated for three weeks and tortured. He signed everything that the investigators demanded. On February 1, 1940, Vsevolod Meyerhold was sentenced to death. The verdict was carried out the next day.

During the war

In 1941, the illusion of the abolition of repression appeared. In Stalin's pre-war times, there were many officers in the camps who were now needed at large. Together with them, about six hundred thousand people were released from prison. But this was a temporary relief. In the late forties, a new wave of repression began. Now the ranks of "enemies of the people" have been joined by soldiers and officers who have been in captivity.

1953 amnesty

Stalin died on March 5. Three weeks later, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a decree according to which a third of the prisoners were subject to release. About a million people were released. But the first to leave the camps were not political prisoners, but criminals, which instantly worsened the criminal situation in the country.

Brief description of the myth

Mass political repression is a unique feature of the Russian state, especially during the Soviet period. "Stalinist mass repressions" 1921-1953 accompanied by violations of the law, tens, if not hundreds of millions of citizens of the USSR suffered. The slave labor of the prisoners of the GULAG is the main labor resource of Soviet modernization in the 1930s.

Value

First of all: the word "repression" itself, translated from Late Latin literally means "suppression". Encyclopedic dictionaries interpret it as "a punitive measure, a punishment applied by state bodies" ("Modern Encyclopedia", "Legal Dictionary") or "a punitive measure emanating from state bodies" ("Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary").

There are also criminal repressions, i.e. the use of coercive measures, including imprisonment and even life. There is also moral repression, i.e. creating a climate of intolerance in society towards some forms of behavior that are undesirable from the point of view of the state. For example, the "dudes" in the USSR were not subjected to criminal repressions, but were subjected to moral repressions, and very serious: from cartoons and feuilletons to expulsion from the Komsomol, which in those conditions entailed a sharp reduction in social opportunities.

As a recent foreign example of repression, one can cite the current widespread practice in North America of not allowing lecturers whose views are dissatisfied with students from speaking at universities, or even dismissing them altogether from teaching. This applies specifically to repression, and not only moral - because in this case there is the possibility of depriving a person and a source of existence.

The practice of repression has existed and still exists among all peoples and at all times - simply because society is forced to defend itself against destabilizing factors, the stronger the possible destabilization is.

This is the general theoretical part.

In today's political circulation, the word "repression" is used in a very specific sense - meaning "Stalinist repressions", "mass repressions in the USSR in 1921-1953. This concept, regardless of its dictionary meaning, is a kind of "ideological marker". This word itself is a ready-made argument in a political discussion, it does not seem to need definition and content.

However, even in this usage, it is useful to know what is really meant.

Court sentences

"Stalinist repressions" were raised to the rank of "marker word" by NS. Khrushchev exactly 60 years ago. In his famous report at the plenum of the Central Committee, elected by the XX Congress of the CPSU, he significantly overestimated the volume of these repressions. And he overestimated as follows: he read out quite accurately the information about the total number of convictions under the articles of "treason" and "banditry" handed down from the end of 1921 (when the Civil War in the European part of the country ended) and until March 5, 1953, the day of death, - but he structured this part of his report in such a way that the impression was created that he was talking only about convicted communists. And since the Communists constituted a small part of the country's population, then, naturally, the illusion of some incredible total volume of repression arose.

This total volume was assessed by different people in different ways - again, guided by considerations not scientific and historical, but political.

Meanwhile, the data on the repressions are not secret and are determined by specific official figures, which are considered to be more or less accurate. They are indicated in the certificate drawn up on behalf of N.S. Khrushchev in February 1954 by the USSR Prosecutor General V. Rudenko, the Minister of the Interior S. Kruglov and the Minister of Justice K. Gorshenin.

The total number of convictions - 3 770 380... At the same time, the actual number of convicts is less, since quite a few were convicted for different elements of a crime, then covered by the concept of "Treason to the Motherland", several times. The total number of people affected by these repressions for 31 years, according to various estimates, is about three million people.

Of the 3,770,380 mentioned sentences 2 369 220 provided for serving a sentence in prisons and camps, 765 180 - exile and expulsion, 642 980 - capital punishment (death penalty)... Taking into account the sentences under other articles and on later studies, another figure is also given - about 800,000 death sentences, of which 700 thousand are enforced.

It should be borne in mind that among the traitors to the Motherland were naturally all those who, in one form or another, collaborated with the German occupiers in the Great Patriotic War. In addition, thieves in law were also included in this number for refusing to work in the camps: the camp administration qualified the refusal to work as sabotage, and sabotage was then one of the various forms of treason. Consequently, there are several tens of thousands of thieves in law among the repressed.

I can add another purely household option: let's say you dragged a sheet of iron at the factory to cover your shed. This, of course, qualifies as theft of state property under a purely criminal article. But if the plant you work at is a defense plant, then this may be considered not just theft, but an attempt to undermine the state's defense capability, and this is already one of the elements of a crime provided for in the article "Treason to the Motherland."

During the period while L.P. Beria acted as the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, the practice of issuing criminality for politics and "political appendages" in purely criminal cases stopped. But on December 15, 1945, he resigned from this post, and this practice was resumed under his successor.

Here's the thing. The then Criminal Code, adopted in 1922 and revised in 1926, was based on the idea of \u200b\u200b"external conditioning of crimes" - they say that a Soviet person breaks the law only under the pressure of some external circumstances, wrong upbringing or "heavy legacy of tsarism." Hence - the inconsistently mild punishments provided by the Criminal Code for serious criminal articles, for the "weighting" of which political articles were added.

Thus, it can be judged that, at least, of the convictions under the article “treason to the Motherland” handed down under N.I. Yezhov, about half of the sentences were unfounded (we pay special attention to what happened under N.I. Yezhov, since it was during this period that the peak of the repressions of 1937-1938 fell). How far this conclusion can be extrapolated to the entire period 1921 - 1953 is an open question.

The history of mankind goes back thousands of years, but at any period of development people had to be governed in order to maintain the necessary integrity of society. The formation of power institutions, the stormy process of social stratification, the unpopularity of certain measures in the eyes of the population - all this gave rise to such an impact as repression. This punishment allowed the state to consolidate the social system to suit its interests.

The importance of punitive authorities for the authorities

In general, much attention has been paid to the coercive apparatus for a long time, otherwise it would have been impossible to maintain order and the effective development of the country. It is indisputable that at different historical stages the significance of punitive bodies either increased or, conversely, decreased, but their presence is a prerequisite for the emergence and existence of the state. Having made a short excursion into history, it can be noted that the activity of the repressive apparatus increases at critical moments, be it revolutions, wars, mass acts of civilian disobedience. Suffice it to recall the periods of the two revolutions of 1917 in Russia. At this time, punitive measures acquired an unprecedented scale, and it could not have been otherwise, because the Civil War began, and whoever seizes power will determine the subsequent development of the country. Therefore, both opposing sides used such an effective measure of influence as repression. This made it possible to achieve the loyalty of the population, although often it was only superficial.

I. V. Stalin's trump cards

The further course of events in our country showed the need for the existence of an extensive and well-trained personnel of the punitive apparatus. The victory in the Civil War and the presence of a large stratum of oppositionists of various kinds within the country made the need for a qualified security system a vital necessity for the Bolsheviks. In addition, in the struggle for power between party functionaries, such a reliable method as repression has always been used. This became the hallmark of the rule of I. V. Stalin. Having subjugated the power bloc of the Bolshevik government, he was fully able to turn it to his advantage. With the help of a set of violent measures, Iosif Vissarionovich cleared his way to supreme power after the death of V.I.Lenin. The "leader of all nations" well understood the need to have the executors of his will at hand, he also realized that not everyone would obey him out of goodwill, so he created a real monster of the USSR's punitive apparatus, it was the united GPU-MGB, which was alternately headed by the faithful servants of Koba.

Bone progress

The repressions in the USSR acquired a truly grandiose character in the 30s of the last century. They have already begun to be applied even in relation not to an individual person, but to entire associations, and even peoples. Stalin set a clear goal of suppressing even the slightest discontent by eradicating it in the bud. He did not take into account either public opinion or the advice of his entourage. This policy of the General Secretary of the CPSU (b) can be compared with the oprichnina policy of Ivan IV, who also used the most severe repression against dissenting people. If we draw a parallel, it can be noted that both in the 16th and 20th centuries, the goals of the rulers coincided - to achieve unquestioning obedience. If in the first case the tsar fought with the willfulness of large feudal lords to strengthen the centralization of the country, then in the second case the leader tried to quickly put the country on a par with industrialized European states, and this can be done by suppressing any manifestation of oppositional moods in society.

The mass repressions carried out by the Soviet government were brutal, and they could have been caused by a simple anonymity in relation to any person, that is, bypassing the presumption of innocence in the USSR, they were first punished and then investigated. So, completely loyal and trustworthy citizens fell into the flywheel of the punitive authorities. However, Stalin achieved the final result, industry was restored in the shortest possible time, dissatisfaction was shown, in fact, only mentally. "Revealing processes" thundered all over the country. Extra-judicial troikas worked day and night, looking for enemies of the people. Repression is what became the style of government of Joseph Vissarionovich, and he put this method of punishment at the head of all methods of combating public discontent and manifestation of disobedience, both for personal purposes and for the interests of the country.

The history of Russia, like that of other former post-Soviet republics in the period from 1928 to 1953, is called the “era of Stalin”. He is positioned as a wise ruler, a brilliant statesman, acting on the basis of "expediency." In reality, he was driven by completely different motives.

Talking about the beginning of the political career of a leader who became a tyrant, such authors shyly ignore one indisputable fact: Stalin was a recidivist convict with seven "walkers". Robbery and violence were the main forms of his social activity in his youth. Repressions have become an integral component of his state policy.

Lenin received a worthy successor in his person. “Having creatively developed his teaching,” Iosif Vissarionovich came to the conclusion that the country should be governed by the methods of terror, constantly instilling fear in his fellow citizens.

The generation of people, whose lips the truth about Stalin's repressions can be expressed, is leaving ... Are the newfangled articles whitening the dictator a spit at their suffering, at their broken life ...

The leader who sanctioned torture

As you know, Iosif Vissarionovich personally signed the execution lists for 400,000 people. In addition, Stalin tightened the repression as much as possible, authorizing the use of torture during interrogations. It was they who were given the green light to complete lawlessness in the dungeons. He was directly related to the notorious telegram of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks dated 01/10/1939, which literally untied the hands of the punitive authorities.

Creativity in introducing torture

Let us recall excerpts from the letter of Komkor Lisovsky, who is being pushed around by the leader's satraps ...

"... Ten-day conveyor interrogation with severe vicious beating and without the possibility of falling asleep. Then - a twenty-day punishment cell. Further - the compulsion to sit with arms raised up, and also stand bent over, with his head hidden under the table, for 7-8 hours ..."

The desire of the detainees to prove their innocence and their failure to sign fabricated charges caused an increase in torture and beatings. The social status of the detainees did not play a role. Recall that Robert Eikhe, a candidate for membership in the Central Committee, suffered a broken spine during interrogation, and Marshal Blucher in Lefortovo prison died of beatings during interrogation.

Leader motivation

The number of victims of Stalin's repression was numbered not in tens, not in hundreds of thousands, but in seven million who died of hunger and four million arrested (general statistics will be presented below). Only the number of those executed was about 800 thousand people ...

How did Stalin motivate his actions, striving immensely for the Olympus of power?

What does Anatoly Rybakov write about this in Children of the Arbat? Analyzing the personality of Stalin, he shares with us his judgments. “The ruler whom the people love is weak, because his power is based on the emotions of other people. It's another matter when people are afraid of him! Then the power of the ruler depends on himself. This is a strong ruler! " Hence the leader's credo - to instill love in yourself through fear!

Steps adequate to this idea were taken by Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. Repression became his main competitive tool in his political career.

The beginning of revolutionary activity

Iosif Vissarionovich became interested in revolutionary ideas at the age of 26 after meeting V.I. Lenin. He was engaged in robbery of funds for the party treasury. Fate gave him 7 exiles to Siberia. Stalin was distinguished by pragmatism, prudence, indiscriminate means, harshness towards people, and egocentrism. Repressions against financial institutions - robberies and violence - were his. Then the future leader of the party took part in the Civil War.

Stalin in the Central Committee

In 1922, Iosif Vissarionovich receives a long-awaited career opportunity. Ailing and weakening Vladimir Ilyich introduced him, together with Kamenev and Zinoviev, to the Central Committee of the Party. Thus, Lenin creates a political counterbalance to Leon Trotsky, who really claims to be the leader.

Stalin simultaneously heads two party structures: the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee and the Secretariat. In this post, he brilliantly studied the art of party undercover intrigue, which was useful to him further in the fight against competitors.

Stalin's positioning in the red terror system

The machine of the red terror was launched even before Stalin came to the Central Committee.

09/05/1918 The Council of People's Commissars issues a Resolution "On the Red Terror". The body for its implementation, called the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (VChK), operated under the Council of People's Commissars from 12/07/1917.

The reason for such a radicalization of domestic policy was the assassination of M. Uritsky, chairman of the St. Petersburg Cheka, and the attempt on V. Lenin by Fanny Kaplan, acting from the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. Both events took place on 08/30/1918. Already this year, the Cheka launched a wave of repression.

According to statistical information, 21,988 people were arrested and imprisoned; 3061 hostages were taken; shot 5544, imprisoned in concentration camps 1791.

By the time Stalin came to the Central Committee, gendarmes, policemen, tsarist officials, businessmen and landowners had already been repressed. First of all, a blow was struck to the classes, which are the pillars of the monarchical structure of society. However, "having creatively developed the teachings of Lenin," Iosif Vissarionovich outlined new main directions of terror. In particular, a course was taken to destroy the social base of the village - agricultural entrepreneurs.

Stalin since 1928 - an ideologue of violence

It was Stalin who turned repression into the main instrument of domestic policy, which he substantiated theoretically.

His concept of strengthening the class struggle formally becomes the theoretical basis for the constant escalation of violence by state authorities. The country shuddered when it was first voiced by Joseph Vissarionovich at the July Plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in 1928. From that time on, he actually became the leader of the Party, the inspirer and ideologist of violence. The tyrant has declared war on his own people.

The real meaning of Stalinism, hidden by slogans, manifests itself in the unrestrained pursuit of power. Its essence is shown by the classic - George Orwell. The Englishman showed very clearly that power for this ruler was not a means, but an end. The dictatorship was no longer perceived by him as a defense of the revolution. The revolution became a means to establish a personal unlimited dictatorship.

Joseph Vissarionovich in 1928-1930 began by initiating the fabrication by the OGPU of a number of public processes that plunged the country into an atmosphere of shock and fear. Thus, the cult of Stalin's personality began to emerge from the courts and the instilling of terror in the whole society ... Mass repressions were accompanied by public recognition of those who committed non-existent crimes as "enemies of the people." People were brutally tortured to sign the charges fabricated by the investigation. The brutal dictatorship imitated the class struggle, cynically violating the Constitution and all norms of universal human morality ...

Three global lawsuits were falsified: "The Union Bureau case" (putting the managers at risk); "The case of the industrial party" (imitated the wrecking of the Western powers in relation to the economy of the USSR); "The case of the working peasant party" (an obvious falsification of damage to the seed fund and delays in mechanization). Moreover, they all united into a single cause in order to create the appearance of a single conspiracy against Soviet power and provide room for further falsifications of the OGPU-NKVD organs.

As a result, the entire economic leadership of the national economy was replaced from old "specialists" to "new cadres" who were ready to work according to the instructions of the "leader".

Through the lips of Stalin, who provided the state apparatus loyal to repression with the conducted trials, the Party's adamant determination was further expressed: to oust and ruin thousands of entrepreneurs - industrialists, merchants, small and medium-sized; to ruin the basis of agricultural production - the well-to-do peasantry (indiscriminately calling it “kulaks”). At the same time, the new voluntarist party position was masked by "the will of the poorest strata of workers and peasants."

Behind the scenes, parallel to this "general line", the "father of peoples" consistently, with the help of provocations and perjury, began to implement the line of eliminating his party competitors for the highest state power (Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev).

Forced collectivization

The truth about Stalin's repressions of the 1928-1932 period testifies that the main target of repression has become the main social base of the village - an efficient agricultural producer. The goal is clear: the entire peasant country (and those actually at that time were Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic and Transcaucasian republics) had to turn under the pressure of repression from a self-sufficient economic complex into an obedient donor for the implementation of Stalin's plans for industrialization and the maintenance of hypertrophied power structures.

In order to clearly identify the object of his repression, Stalin went for an obvious ideological forgery. Economically and socially unjustifiably, he achieved the fact that obedient party ideologists single out a normal self-supporting (profitable) producer as a separate "class of kulaks" - the target of a new blow. Under the ideological leadership of Joseph Vissarionovich, a plan was developed for the destruction of the social foundations of the village that had developed over the centuries, the destruction of the rural community - the Resolution "On the liquidation of ... kulak farms" of 01/30/1930.

The Red Terror has come to the village. Peasants who fundamentally disagreed with collectivization were subjected to Stalin's trials - "troikas", in most cases ending in executions. Less active “kulaks”, as well as “kulak families” (which could include any persons subjectively defined as “rural assets”) were subjected to violent confiscation of property and eviction. A body of permanent operational management of the eviction was created - a secret operational management under the leadership of Efim Evdokimov.

Migrants to the extreme regions of the North, victims of Stalin's repressions, were predetermined by registration in the Volga region, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Siberia, and the Urals.

In 1930-1931. 1.8 million were evicted, and in 1932-1940. - 0.49 million people.

Organization of hunger

However, executions, devastation and eviction in the 30s of the last century are not all of Stalin's repressions. A brief listing of them should be supplemented by the organization of hunger. Its real reason was the inadequate approach of Joseph Vissarionovich personally to insufficient grain procurement in 1932. Why was the plan fulfilled by only 15-20%? The main reason was the poor harvest.

His subjectively elaborated industrialization plan was under threat. It would be reasonable to reduce the plans by 30%, postpone them, and first stimulate the agricultural producer and wait for a harvest year ... Stalin did not want to wait, he demanded immediate food supply to the bloated security forces and new giant construction projects - Donbass, Kuzbass. The leader made a decision - to confiscate grain from the peasants intended for sowing and consumption.

On 10/22/1932, two extraordinary commissions under the leadership of odious personalities Lazar Kaganovich and Vyacheslav Molotov launched a misanthropic campaign of "fighting the kulaks" to seize grain, which was accompanied by violence, swift triple ships and the eviction of wealthy agricultural producers in the Far North. It was genocide ...

It is noteworthy that the cruelty of the satraps was actually initiated and not suppressed by Joseph Vissarionovich himself.

Known fact: correspondence between Sholokhov and Stalin

Stalin's massive repressions in 1932-1933 have documentary evidence. MA Sholokhov, author of The Quiet Don, appealed to the leader, defending his fellow countrymen, with letters, exposing the lawlessness in the confiscation of grain. The famous resident of the village of Veshenskaya presented the facts in detail, indicating the villages, the names of the victims and their tormentors. The bullying and violence against the peasants are terrifying: brutal beatings, breaking joints, partial strangulation, staged executions, eviction from houses ... In his reply letter, Joseph Vissarionovich only partially agreed with Sholokhov. The real position of the leader can be seen in the lines where he calls the peasants saboteurs, "secretly" trying to disrupt the food supply ...

This voluntaristic approach caused famine in the Volga region, Ukraine, the North Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Siberia, and the Urals. A special Statement of the State Duma of Russia published in April 2008 revealed previously classified statistics to the public (earlier propaganda in every possible way hid these repressions of Stalin.)

How many people died from hunger in the above regions? The figure set by the State Duma commission is terrifying: more than 7 million.

Other areas of pre-war Stalinist terror

Let us also consider three more directions of Stalinist terror, and in the following table we will present each of them in more detail.

With the sanctions of Joseph Vissarionovich, a policy of oppression of freedom of conscience was also pursued. A citizen of the Land of Soviets should have read the Pravda newspaper, and not go to church ...

Hundreds of thousands of families of formerly productive peasants, fearing dispossession and exile to the North, have become an army supporting the country's gigantic construction projects. In order to restrict their rights, to make them manipulated, it was at that time that the passportization of the population in cities was carried out. Only 27 million people received passports. The peasants (still the majority of the population) remained without passports, did not enjoy the full scope of civil rights (freedom to choose their place of residence, freedom to choose a job) and were “tied” to the collective farm at their place of residence with the obligatory condition of fulfilling workday norms.

The anti-social policy was accompanied by the destruction of families, an increase in the number of street children. This phenomenon has acquired such a scale that the state was forced to react to it. With the approval of Stalin, the Politburo of the Land of Soviets issued one of the most inhuman decisions - punitive against children.

The anti-religious offensive as of 04/01/1936 led to a reduction in Orthodox churches to 28%, mosques - to 32% of their pre-revolutionary number. The number of clergy decreased from 112.6 thousand to 17.8 thousand.

With a repressive purpose, the certification of the urban population was carried out. More than 385 thousand people did not receive passports and were forced to leave the cities. 22.7 thousand people were arrested.

One of Stalin's most cynical crimes is his sanctioning of a classified Politburo resolution of 04/07/1935, which allows teenagers from the age of 12 to be brought to trial and determines their punishment up to the highest measure. In 1936 alone, 125,000 children were placed in colonies of the NKVD. As of 01.04.1939, 10 thousand children were sent to the GULAG system.

Great terror

The state flywheel of terror was gaining momentum ... The power of Joseph Vissarionovich, starting in 1937, due to repressions over the whole society, became all-embracing. However, their biggest leap was just ahead. In addition to the final and already physical reprisals against former party colleagues - Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev - there were massive "purges of the state apparatus."

The terror took on unprecedented proportions. The OGPU (since 1938 - the NKVD) reacted to all complaints and anonymous letters. A person's life was ruined for one inadvertently dropped word ... Even the Stalinist elite - statesmen: Kosior, Eikhe, Postyshev, Goloschekin, Vareikis; military leaders Blucher, Tukhachevsky; Chekists Yagoda, Yezhov.

On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, leading military personnel were shot on trumped-up cases "under an anti-Soviet conspiracy": 19 qualified corps-level commanders - divisions with combat experience. The cadres who came to replace them did not possess the necessary operational and tactical skills.

Stalin's personality cult was characterized not only by the shop-window facades of Soviet cities. The repression of the "leader of the peoples" gave rise to the monstrous system of gulag camps, which provides the Land of Soviets with free labor, mercilessly exploited labor resources for extracting wealth from the underdeveloped regions of the Far North and Central Asia.

The dynamics of the increase in those held in camps and labor colonies is impressive: in 1932, it was about 140 thousand prisoners, and in 1941 - about 1.9 million.

In particular, ironically, the Kolyma convicts mined 35% of the allied gold, being in terrible conditions of detention. Let's list the main camps that are part of the GULAG system: Solovetsky (45 thousand prisoners), logging camps - Svirlag and Temnikovo (43 and 35 thousand, respectively); oil and coal production - Ukhtapechlag (51 thousand); chemical industry - Bereznyakov and Solikamsk (63 thousand); the development of the steppes - the Karaganda camp (30 thousand); construction of the Volga-Moscow canal (196 thousand); construction of BAM (260 thousand); gold mining in Kolyma (138 thousand); Nickel mining in Norilsk (70 thousand).

Basically, people stayed in the Gulag system in a typical way: after an overnight arrest and an unjust biased trial. And although this system was created under Lenin, it was under Stalin that political prisoners began to enter it en masse after mass trials: "enemies of the people" - kulaks (in fact, an effective agricultural producer), or even entire evicted nationalities. The majority served sentences ranging from 10 to 25 years under Article 58. The process of the investigation on it involved torture and breaking the will of the convict.

In the event of the resettlement of kulaks and small peoples, the train with prisoners stopped right in the taiga or in the steppe, and the convicts themselves built a camp and a special-purpose prison (TON). Since the 1930s, prison labor has been mercilessly exploited to fulfill five-year plans - 12-14 hours each. Tens of thousands of people died from backbreaking work, poor nutrition, and poor medical care.

Instead of a conclusion

The years of Stalin's repressions - from 1928 to 1953. - changed the atmosphere in a society that has ceased to believe in justice, under the pressure of constant fear. Since 1918 people were accused and shot by the revolutionary military tribunals. The inhuman system developed ... The Tribunal became the Cheka, then the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, then the OGPU, then the NKVD. The executions as part of Article 58 lasted until 1947, and then Stalin replaced them with 25 years of serving in the camps.

In total, about 800 thousand people were shot.

Moral and physical torture of the entire population of the country, in fact, lawlessness and arbitrariness, was carried out on behalf of the workers 'and peasants' government, the revolution.

The powerless people were constantly and methodically terrorized by the Stalinist system. The beginning of the process of restoring justice was laid by the 20th Congress of the CPSU.